LarryC Posted April 9, 2005 Posted April 9, 2005 The Sunburst thread is absolutely amazing! This entire forum is absolutely amazing! You guys are incredible and I have seen some pretty amazing axes here! I have been getting quite an education about Hamer guitars and the different ways they have been made over the years. I never really took notice of some of these details before I started visiting this site. One of these changes I never noticed before was the changes in the bridge and tailpiece configuration...ie. the earliest models of the Sunburst were designed to have the strings "through the body" whereas the later models use a separate bridge (tunomatic) and tailpiece. Something that has me puzzled is the discussion about a sustainblock. Forgive my ignorance but I'm trying to get a handle on this...I have snagged and modified a couple of pics from the Sunburst Thread...galejt's 81 Sunburst and RkR's 78 Sunburst. It was said that galejt's has the sustainblock, while RkR posted pics of his stating it was "pre-sustainblock". I have been studying these two pics looking for obvious signs and so far the only thing I can see is the bridges are slightly different. Would THIS be where the sustainblock is located? galejt's 81 with sustainblock RkR's 78 sans sustainblock The bridge on galejt's appears a bit different than RkR's...is this where the sustain block is? The shim on galejt's looks thicker and appears to conform more to the outer dimensions of the bridge assembly (if it IS in fact a shim)...is this what you are referring to or am I WAY OFF track? Thanks for your insights!
BCR Greg Posted April 9, 2005 Posted April 9, 2005 Andy Large wrote the definitive Sunburst guide.http://www.hamerfanclub.com/sunburst.html
DavidE Posted April 9, 2005 Posted April 9, 2005 "The earliest Sunbursts such as the 1978 example shown above have a bridge raised on a rosewood or ebony shim. The spacing of the strings is wider with this style of bridge so the string ferules at the back of the guitar are further apart than on later guitars. The photo. below shows an early bridge and wooden-shim. Left, an early bridge and rosewood shim." By the end of 1978 the Sunburst was beginning to evolve. The wooden shim and bridge were replaced by a purpose built bridge milled out of solid brass and chrome plated although the same pattern saddles continued to be used.Around 1980... Two small modifications were made to the Sunburst (and Special) - firstly the lower cutaway was enlarged by just a few millimeters to improve top-fret access and a new style of saddle was introduced which gave a narrower string spacing; a few guitars from the beginning of 1981 have these smaller saddles on a bridge designed for the wider style . Below shows the 1980 and 1981 style of bridge.
BTMN Posted April 9, 2005 Posted April 9, 2005 SUSTAIN BLOCKS RULE!!!! As you can tell I'm partial! Welcome Aboard fellow Import owner soon to be USA owner. Got G.A.S.?
Guest galejt Posted April 9, 2005 Posted April 9, 2005 Sir Bat. Do you have any closeups of that SB tremelo bridge (if I called it right)?Many bat thanks.JIm
LarryC Posted April 10, 2005 Author Posted April 10, 2005 Not a Trem. Sorry. No place for trem bar. BOY! Doesn't that butterscotch color just make your mouth water? Very nice axe BTMN! Actually I find that I salivate a lot more than normal when I look at most posts on this forum...go figure that one...heh
Guest galejt Posted April 10, 2005 Posted April 10, 2005 Not a Trem. Sorry. No place for trem bar. No, no, not that one. Don't you have another you got from HHB?
kizanski Posted April 10, 2005 Posted April 10, 2005 No, no, not that one. Don't you have another you got from HHB? That was Wyldbil (and if memory serves, that is a F.O.S.H.).
BTMN Posted April 10, 2005 Posted April 10, 2005 Formerly Owned SerialSteve Hamer IIRC.I dont own any Sustain Block Trem guitars. I have 2 Blitz guitars but they have Kahlers.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.