PSA - ‘97 hog Standard USA $2500 CL Jacksonville

[Greg G]

https://jacksonville.craigslist.org/msg/d/jacksonville-1997-hamer-usa-standard/7764068730.html

Edited July 28, 2024 by Greg G

[Tortious]

Interesting. Are those the original pickups? Also hard to tell if it's the 'USA' case. Didn't those come without pickguards?

Edited July 28, 2024 by Tortious

[kizanski]

26 minutes ago, Tortious said:

Interesting. Are those the original pickups? Also hard to tell if it's the 'USA' case. Didn't those come without pickguards?

Not the original pickups.  

They came with pickguards, but some custom orders did not.  

[RobB]

Original case. Non-fitted interior. 

[cmatthes]

That’s nice!

[BTMN]

@zorrow

[crunchee]

I had one of these many years ago, seems like Hamer made a good number of these in '96 and '97.  They're a little different from a Standard Custom (besides the trim), as the neck heel on these is curved rather that square, with a little ledge at the neck/heel joint.  Mine also had a two-piece body joined down the center, dunno if these were all like that or not.

[bruce919]

I had 291, 294, & 295 years ago. All but the bridge pickup looks to legit. Someone else here needs to snag it. 

Photo is from 20 years ago. most have moved on some are here with fellow HFC'ers. 

Edited August 2, 2024 by bruce919

[JES1680]

Ohhh an affordable standard. I'm close to this guy too. 

Are these the same as a standard? Or are there differences? 

Thanks guys. 

[cmatthes]

9 hours ago, JES1680 said:

Ohhh an affordable standard. I'm close to this guy too. 

Are these the same as a standard? Or are there differences? 

Thanks guys. 

Different heel, slightly different body (usually 2piece), but essentially the same, as it IS a Standard.

[DaveH]

Wish I had grabbed one of these when they were going for $700-ish.

[Hbom]

12 minutes ago, DaveH said:

Wish I had grabbed one of these when they were going for $700-ish.

Kind of wish I hadn't sold mine when they were selling for twice that.

[BTMN]

If I had the money I would have two again. Love the one on the left  😎👍🏁

Edited August 2, 2024 by BTMN

[HamerCustomEr]

15 hours ago, BTMN said:

If I had the money I would have two again. Love the one on the left  😎👍🏁

Two?!  What luxury!  I would happily settle for one!

[BTMN]

I do only have one. I used to have two and if I was flush with about $2500 I would snatch up this one above in Jax. 🫣😳😜

[Tortious]

It wasn't quite a Bonamassa safari, but it had its moments.

Contacted seller, was going to meet on Sunday the 4th. Saturday the 3rd, up at 4AM, up to Port St Lucie & back for work most of the day, but got back before 3. Hurricane Debby was starting to head up toward Florida and cause issues. Contacted seller, made arrangements to meet that evening instead. So after 200 miles of driving and working all day, jumped in the car and drove another 580 miles to Palm Coast and back (seller did what he said he would in ad, drove south from Jacksonville).

Met in a parking lot, made deal. Seller said he got the guitar on here. That's an HFC t-shirt in the case. He said the seller he got it from had it with it, thought it should stay with the guitar. Said it's an XXL. So that may no longer stay with the guitar.

It seemed nice for the minute I played it in the parking lot. Hameritis around neck joint, one minor chip in the finish at the point at the bottom, but overall in nice shape for its age. He said he had replaced the original Duncans, but wasn't sure what exact pickups they were, mentioned a couple of possibilities. It also had an extra bridge, a couple of tailpieces, and bridge posts in the case.

Got back home about 11:30PM. Long day. Was thinking I could go over some things with it the next day, since it was likely to be rather stormy all day. Just as I got back, got a pressure light. Got out the inflator and pumped the offending tire up.

Next day at noon, tire is down to 6 lbs. Reinflated, hit the tire shop. Took them a while to find, but there was a small cut on the inner sidewall. No clue how that happened. The other 3 tires did fine even at the slightly over posted limits speeds I was at (there were a lot of cops on 95 that day too, which is unusual). So the tire added another $250 to the trip cost, and wrecked the idea of going over the guitar that day.

In the last month, all I've got to was touching up a couple case scuffs. That's when I realized how awful these cases are. The guitar can slide around in it, hitting the headstock and lower point when it does. I'm surprised more of these weren't damaged just going from the factory to the dealers. Really surprised anyone at Hamer would approve that, but obviously they did.

A few days later, I saw an Gibson Explorer case appear on DGS site. So I popped it into a case for one of my Explorers, and while it's not ideal due to the thicker body, it was way better than the original, so I grabbed the one from Dave's. It just had one small piece of brown tolex torn at one of the ends, other than that, still smelled new. Touched that up with a brown magic marker and some glue.

Finally today, I got to restring it, check the intonation, and see what kind of pickups they are. It has a Bare Knuckle in the neck, and a Wagner in the bridge (that just had a 'JWP' stamped in the plate, had to search a bit to find out what that meant). No clue which models they are, but at least they are decent. If I end up not liking them, a set of Gravelins will work too, no big deal. But I still haven't plugged it into anything other than a tuner. Maybe tomorrow.

The bridge is a Faber, a wider Nashville style. In the case was another Faber, a thinner ABR style. Might change back to that at some point, will see how it goes with this one. Tailpiece is a Gotoh, and the two tailpieces in the case were another Gotoh and a very lightweight Faber. So there are some options, but for now it's the way that I got it.

 

Edited September 2, 2024 by Tortious

[The Shark]

Glad you snagged it.  I thought seriously about it, but just had other irons in the fire.  Sounds like a real odyssey.  How's the weight?

Congrats!

[Tortious]

Weight seems not obscene. Thanks for the reminder, I'll need to put it on the scale at some point to check.

I think it's a one piece body, could not find a seam.

[Jakeboy]

Congrats on a nice Standard.

[The Shark]

44 minutes ago, Tortious said:

Weight seems not obscene. Thanks for the reminder, I'll need to put it on the scale at some point to check.

I think it's a one piece body, could not find a seam.

That's impressive, if it's a one piece body.  

[Tortious]

Ya cranked up my ocd a little. 🙃

[RobB]

Those 90s (non-form-fitted) Standard cases aren’t really up to the task. A Standard that was shipped to me ended up with a mangled lower horn. The lower case-pocket crossmember tore loose from the staples in transit. Said staples chewed the guitar up like a beaver. Ugly. I nearly shat myself when I opened the case. Sent it back for a refund. 

The above is an illustration why it is so important to make sure the guitar can NOT move around in the case when shipped. It must be totally isolated from movement. Before it goes into the shipping box, shake the case up and down, back and forth. You shouldn’t feel any movement if the guitar inside is properly isolated with padding. 

Edited September 2, 2024 by RobB

[BTMN]

On 7/29/2024 at 8:42 AM, bruce919 said:

I had 291, 294, & 295 years ago. All but the bridge pickup looks to legit. Someone else here needs to snag it. 

Photo is from 20 years ago. most have moved on some are here with fellow HFC'ers. 

 

Mahstand3 aka ***295

[BTMN]

18 hours ago, RobB said:

Those 90s (non-form-fitted) Standard cases aren’t really up to the task. A Standard that was shipped to me ended up with a mangled lower horn. The lower case-pocket crossmember tore loose from the staples in transit. Said staples chewed the guitar up like a beaver. Ugly. I nearly shat myself when I opened the case. Sent it back for a refund. 

The above is an illustration why it is so important to make sure the guitar can NOT move around in the case when shipped. It must be totally isolated from movement. Before it goes into the shipping box, shake the case up and down, back and forth. You shouldn’t feel any movement if the guitar inside is properly isolated with padding. 

I was just thinking about posting about my 2001 standard. The same thing happened in that case too.  I got lucky and there was just one small point hole in mine. 😡

[Tortious]

I got to plug it in to an actual amp today. Sucks that I live in a condo and can't really crank it, for that I have to do headphone amps. Still, it's pretty kick ass. Pickups didn't scream 'replace me'. Overall just a really great guitar.

I think I'll be selling one of my Explorers at some point.

Thanks for posting this, Greg G! I never would have known about it otherwise.