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Sunburst appreciation thread


Travis

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updated, bought it a mile from my house!!! A quick question, whats a good polish/cleaner?? ... Serial is 91021. Included a pic with my SG2000.. I gots to say Flamey!!

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" whats a good polish/cleaner??"

want to make it pop?

buffing arbor station and compounds done by a proffesional ;)

Stew Mac has a great new polish, silica free.

Been using it with great results.

(I think it is re bottleled Mensura)

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Beautiful 'burst!

A mile from your house? Have you known about it for a while, or did you just discover it?

If Murkat is talking about StewMac's Preservation Polish, I've been using that with great results for a while now, too. Large bottle is cheap and lasts a good while.

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Its been apart of a daily Craiglist routine to do a Hamer search. When I saw the ad for a 79 Hamer Sunburst (Location Ballard). I had to do a double take, because a yr. ago I was trying for awhile to sell my 1980 Sunburst on Craigs. ( I thought it was a republish of my ad). The price was right, and I was going to try to go lower, but DANG it was so fine, it looks like a 1yr old guitar that never saw a gig. The seller was selling it for his father who bought it, but never really picked up being a guitar player, so... it sat in a closet all these years. Seller is a cool dude ( had a KILLER OLD HI-FI), has a great band, but was very happy with his equipment.So.. it was for sale. I love this Hamer, but, owning something this nice makes me kind of cringe ( I am not worthy, and I dont want to ad my own dings).

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Loverly one and while looking/searching, found the 0 1631 there...without any knowledge of the owner..

http://s530.beta.photobucket.com/user/flangerdeluxe/library/82%20HAMER%20REFIN/1980%20Hamer%20Sunburst

At least for keeping a trace if collectors may be around (I am a bit further..)

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Greetings HamerHeads,

Apologies if I repeat myself because I think I posted about my '82 Sunburst many years ago here when the forum was on a different platform (?), but my Hamer count has doubled in the past week (a '96 Standard and an '05 12-string bass, in addition to the Sunburst and a '95 3-hole P-90 Duotone) so I’m reacquainting myself with the awesomeness of the HFC. Anyway, here’s my ’82 sunburst Sunburst, which has had a colorful if somewhat brutalized life, SN 2 5329 (pardon the crappy photography).
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Being a complete Tullaholic, but a bassist back then, I figured my first 6-string electric would be what Martin played, and Sam Ash had this one in stock to which I took one look and said to myself, “The Bursting Out axe!”. I was too young and stupid to really know what the default specs were--and the sales guy mumbled something about it being a custom order that the purchaser backed out on--so I had no idea that the neck width (1-11/16") and Tune-o-matic weren’t standard. At least I think it's a narrower than normal neck because every other Sunburst I've played has been 1-3/4". The only other dot-neck flat-top I’ve seen with a TOM is at http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/my-other-guitars/28646-hamer-guitars.html but maybe it's a carved top. I guess the finish would suggest that.
I had a strap-lock disaster a few years after purchase and the guitar fell off, face down on a hard-wood floor, which is why the finish is blasted along the larger bouts. Lot of belt buckle rash...just a lot of wear from playing. Needs a fret job too.
Around '85 I had the brilliant idea (?!) of putting in EMGs. Why? No idea. So I put an 81 in the bridge and a 58 in the neck (the pickup that was so noisy even EMG abandoned it), with a Pi2 Phase Inverter switch (might as well start drilling holes in the top for good measure!...moron) to maintain the ability to get the faux-Peter Green out of phase option that was hard-wired to the original DiMarzios...which I then lost. Double score!
Then after about 20 years of wondering why my tone sucked (caveat: the EMGs just weren’t a good match for this guitar--I love the EMG SAs in my FrankenStrat and the PJ set in my Aerodyne Jazz Bass), I swapped out the EMGs for Suhr DSHs and put in an old-fashioned phase switch. Back in the 80s when John was the lead tech at Rudy’s he was really cool to me as a high school snot, did some great mods for me, and pretty much taught me everything I know about setting up guitars, so I figured I’d give his pups a shot and they blew me away. But having just picked up this ’96 Standard in the same livery…
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...I want to get the Sunburst back as close as possible to the original spec and a more vintage output, so I spoke with DiMarzio this morning and am going to order some slightly overwound PAF 36th Anniversary pickups in double cream and zebra. Even overwound they’ll still be cooler than the DSHs. Actually, I’d appreciate any input from HFCers as to how hot to have them wound to match the original DiMarzios. The stock DC resistances for the DiMarzio PAF 36ths are 8.60 Kohm (bridge) and 7.31 Kohm (neck).
So then there’s the bit about this being what my friend Noah calls the “Les Paul Signature Hamer Sunburst.” In the early 90s Noah and I would go see Les pretty much every Monday at Fat Tuesday’s for almost two years. Never jammed with him or anything, but we had a few drinks and laughs together and got on a first name basis. He also spun around on his chair once to change an amp setting and clocked me in the friggin’ head with his headstock we sat so close. Anyway, Les used to give me a lot of crap for not owning a Les Paul, at one point theorizing that I might be “light in the loafers” for not having one. (I since fixed that by picking up this LP Supreme.) So I told him my Sunburst was based on a TV and he said to bring it in. So I brought it to a show and after most folks had left he told me to put it on the bar, which I did...and then he went to town on it with a Dremel tool, carving “To Matt, Keep pickin’! Les Paul” on the top, with pieces of finish flying everywhere, closed the case and said, “Now you got a signature model!”.
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Greetings HamerHeads,

... I spoke with DiMarzio this morning and am going to order some slightly overwound PAF 36th Anniversary pickups in double cream and zebra. Even overwound they’ll still be cooler than the DSHs. Actually, I’d appreciate any input from HFCers as to how hot to have them wound to match the original DiMarzios. The stock DC resistances for the DiMarzio PAF 36ths are 8.60 Kohm (bridge) and 7.31 Kohm (neck).

I talked to Dimarzio some months ago regarding getting a set of 36th Anniversarys closer to Hamer PAF specs. However, their "custom shop" is not nearly as good as Seymour Duncans, where you seem to be able to order just about anything you want - just as long as it isn't double cremes. Dimarzio refuses to sell me a pair of 36th Anniversary that are un-potted. The original Hamer paf's are not potted, that is a very important ingredient to the sauce.

I don't know why DImarzio refuses to do this, (actually I think I do, I think they are afraid that If I buy them and they put them through a rectefier amp and they squel, that I will complain on their product quality on forums like this. They don't want that. Non potted pups are not for high gain, I know that). None the less, it's not customer friendly and was a huge turn of for me for buying new Dimarzio pickups.

Here are the outputs on my old Dimarzio pups:

4 digit Standard bridge - 8,51 neck 7,50

4 digit Standard bridge 8,73 neck 8,24

79 Sunburst Custom bridge 8,87 neck 8,40

79 Sunburst Custom bridge 8,22 neck 8,17

82 Schenker Vector bridge 8,43 neck 7,72 (sold)

86 Sunburst bridge 8,45 neck 8,28

If you want a more exact version of the old DImarzio PAF:s you should try to order two original DP103 Dimarzio paf pickups, wound with slighty more mids and to the output specs above. That would be more correct. AND if possible un-potted, and also on a Dimarzio BRASS base plate - as the originals. Even if you go with the 36's check if you can order them with the brass base plate instead.

I think you still can put an order with them for the original DP103 paf, they are just not a catalogue item anymore.

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Whoa! Disturber, you are fortunate indeed to appear to have calibrated sets in your Hamers!

I have tested over 20 sets and found no such pattern. At least 40% have a higher or equal neck DC resistance. The earlier the Dimarzio the more I get the sense that they just guessed when they had enough windings on the bobbin!

And lack of a calibration pattern continues into the Slammer era (although these are usually equal).

Do you believe a resin/copper shielded vs. brass base plates makes a difference in tone? After all brass-copper isn't magnetic. But I hate the look of the new Dimarzio base-plate, cheap and nasty.

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Whoa! Disturber, you are fortunate indeed to appear to have calibrated sets in your Hamers!

Do you believe a resin/copper shielded vs. brass base plates makes a difference in tone? After all brass-copper isn't magnetic. But I hate the look of the new Dimarzio base-plate, cheap and nasty.

Yes, the sets are pretty well matched, which is very nice.

I don't know if the base plates made of brass sound different. I can't really hear it. I had a Hamer Dimarzio PAF I bough from Gino that he had mounted on an old Duncan base plate. I didn't hear that one sounding any different. And I switched that back to an original Dimarzio brass plate, to my ears the pup sounded pretty much the same after.

But I think some say the brass plate gives the pup more mids. Might be one of those rumours, like you need a wooden splicer in a paf to make it sound real. And preferably a wooden splicer from a specific type of tree type, (can't remember what Gibson originaly used). That to me sounds like total bollocks.

THen again, there are those who claim a paf can only sound like a paf if it has long mounting legs, like the old Gibson pafs. Short mounting legs apparently changes the tone.... ^_^;):D

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Is a flat top sunburst with a TOM bridge from 82 like Moxies unusual ??

It's very nice regardless and a great story to go with it, though I'm not too sure I would have been too delighted about Les carving up the top.

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It's very nice regardless and a great story to go with it, though I'm not too sure I would have been too delighted about Les carving up the top.

Yeah, I confess I did...clench...when he attacked it with Excaliber. I'm not that fussed though since I never had any intention of selling it anyway and it adds a nice story to the axe.

Disturber--thanks for all the pickup values and info. Fortunately, I hope, it looks like another HFCer has some originals for sale, so I'm looking to go that way rather than order new pickups. I'll report back.

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The photographer had to pay Gene Simmons $5,000 to publish that pic of Les.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone know what the deal is with this blackburst on eBay?: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-USA-Hamer-Sunburst-Set-Neck-Dimarzio-Black-W-case-/380189385263?pt=Guitar&hash=item58850da22f

I've asked the seller twice to fix the photo gallery and get more pics up, and once they said they would, but nada. Is this particular axe a known basket case or something?

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It's been on ebay for years, nothing wrong with it as far as I know (no affiliations etc etc) but ........

Gold hardware doesn't seem too popular and its got dots on the fingerboard and for the price being asked it should be bound and crowned.

So my abridged answer is it's too much dosh for the spec.

It might be worth chucking a reasonable offer in as it's been around so long they may drop the price to move it.

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Thanks Rich. That was pretty much what I figured. I know it's been relisted at least twice since I've been watching it, which I'm going to stop doing now.

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That is one of at least 3 Hamers that have popped up in local (Portland area) music stores that I can recall. None will sell for the asking price locally. (Hardly anyone hereabouts even knows what a Hamer is, let alone that they are worth pursuing. Most that DO come up are imports).

I think they will be lucky to get anywhere in the ballpark of their asking prices even if they link to stores nationwide.This one a case in point.

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  • 2 months later...

Had this one for a while now but only just managed to get my photobucket account sorted out so heres some pics.

79 Sunburst.

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One of the "Martin-UK collection" I liberated, many thanks to Martin for holding on to it for me.

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Serial Number 9 0940

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