peedenmark7 Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 I normally wouldnt waste the time/space posting an ebay rant,,,,its not my m.o.but ...I love the green on this chap, and wouldve pulled the trigger about 10 times over had some goof not changed the floyd out for a wonderbar....I realize green is an acquired taste.....its just this one hurts a little...http://cgi.ebay.com/1986-Hamer-Chaparral-U...1QQcmdZViewItem
Scooter Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 I normally wouldnt waste the time/space posting an ebay rant,,,,its not my m.o.but ...I love the green on this chap, and wouldve pulled the trigger about 10 times over had some goof not changed the floyd out for a wonderbar....I realize green is an acquired taste.....its just this one hurts a little...http://cgi.ebay.com/1986-Hamer-Chaparral-U...1QQcmdZViewItem +1,000!!!!
peedenmark7 Posted May 17, 2006 Author Posted May 17, 2006 well the chap sold.... killer color...that blk/wht graphic special is interesting... graphic looks factory but unless you have it in hand , really hard to tell.. I am sure there are refins to black specials to trump up values...I have had a couple of those graphic'd specials one in particular very simlar to the one on ebay........ campy, but interesting early attempts at what was to eventually come...I shouldve kept my checker/soccer ball looking one...it was sick clean..I am a sucker for black and white graphics...its nuts what people will do... why would one rip a sustian block off only to put something similar to it, back on..?
Travis Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 What the fuck is a wonderbar?!?! And why would someone do that?
tafkathundernotes Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 What the fuck is a wonderbar?!?! And why would someone do that? It's like a Kahler, only not as good.
peedenmark7 Posted May 17, 2006 Author Posted May 17, 2006 wonderbars were fairly popular back in the day, my thoughts were it was an over engineered rockinger.didnt they have some of the same features as a steinberger trans-trem? a big clunky looking unit...
holLoWskull Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 I kept refreshing my browser on that guitar thinking "should I...shouldn't I". Thank God someone else hit BIN quickly and removed the temptation for me.
HAMERMAN Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 didnt they have some of the same features as a steinberger trans-trem? I think you may be right, when set up properly they can transpose.IIRC Washburn pushed the wonderbar in a lot of their adds back in the day.
hamerboy_ Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 Since I already have 3 short-scale Chap's, I'm not too upset I missed this one. But a green one would have made a welcome, not to mention interesting addition to the family.-Bobby
Nuclear Wessel Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 From what I remember from those old Washburn ads (Wonderbars were factory equipment on top of the line Washburn shred guitars in the 80's) the advantage they claimed it had was instead of using springs, it used a torsion(sp?) bar, which they claimed brought the trem back in tune more reliably. It also used a shaft with ball bearings as its fulcrum rather than a knife edge against two posts. It was a little more elaborate than a Floyd. Some would say over engineered. I don't know what it did to the tone of the guitar, but I haven't heard good things from others who've owned guitars that had them.
black magic Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 If that was stock, I would have bought it also!! Too bad that dood did that to it. Who is that Meri$$$ anyway? He loves Hamers and is tough to get by at times. Jack.
Jason01 Posted May 17, 2006 Posted May 17, 2006 Don't think the wonderbars can pitch shift like a trans trem can, at least I never saw any way to do it with the one that some butcher put on my strat. As far as I know the only real value in them is that you don't need to route the guitar for the trem so only 4 holes in the guitar top instead of a great big gaping hole. They are big ginormous trems though.
peedenmark7 Posted May 18, 2006 Author Posted May 18, 2006 I never really got the "follow the trend trems".... I grew up with the nonfuctional fender trems...floyd got it right... the rest were patent compromises....sure....... some of the early '80s vintage trem equipped charvels actually worked depending on who did the final assembly that day...I feel almost physically challenged when using anything other than a floyd, muchless hoping that something other than, will stay in tune..I can live without a floyd... but after 22 yrs its so 2nd nature to work with and set up. ......plus the trem cavity in some instances really adds to the guitars acoustic properties depending on the wood and layout.actually locking trems are pretty non factor today, other than from a collectors standpoint...... I no longer gravitate to them...nobody of mention is dive bombing, warbling, bla bla, etc.... thus in turn worrying about trems staying in tune these days...Its funny that someone spent the money to bring kahler back from the grave... would seem to me a losing venture...markets and trends change.... probably for the better...or we'd all have the same boring guitars...
cwgatti Posted July 15, 2006 Posted July 15, 2006 I have the SAME guitar. Color and all, except it has a floyd rose!!!! It is ugly, yet georgous. Mine is nicer, and I am SELLING it!!!!
cmatthes Posted July 15, 2006 Posted July 15, 2006 cwgatti - that Chap green is BEAUTIFUL! The graphic Special is almost 100% likely to have the original finish. It isn't really worth refinning a Special to add $25-$100 to the value for the graphic.The serial numbers on the black guitars were inked in yellow so that it would show up, however in the early 80s, that ink often faded rapidly (and graphic Specials are particularly known for this).Sometimes a blacklight can help pull something out, but I've only heard of that working one or two times. Serial can chime in, as he's had a few of those.
LordOfTheThighs Posted July 16, 2006 Posted July 16, 2006 To be quite frank, I've owned guitars with Floyds, Kahlers, and Wonderbars. In my experience, the Wonderbar was the most "reliable". Never a prob with coming out of a maximum whammy dive. No, it ain't gonna win any beauty contests, but it does perform very good. It always reminded me of a blower sticking out of the hood of a car. Some cars just don't look good with a blower. I know a lot of ppl love their Floyds, but I've found them to be the toughest to work with. Once you get them dialed in, they're ok, but that winds up taking LOTS of time for an unexperienced schmuck, like myself. Here's a pic, 1985 iffin' I ain't mistaken, of my Wonderbar equipped Blitz. I had to pretty my face up a little bit. My Joe Perry autographed t-shirt, Eric Carr drumstick, and my Paul Stanley 1982 smashed guitar also in there. ~Switching on Way-Back Machine~
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