Hamer SS1 with a stamped serial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[martin-uk]

Is it just me or doe's this serial number look out of place?

martin.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ultra-Rare-Unique-Ha...1QQcmdZViewItem

[Steve Haynie]

It depends on who and when the headstock was repaired. A headstock crack is mentioned in the description. The copyright notice and serial number would have been in a slightly different place.

Hamer stamped serial numbers into the headstocks of older guitars they refinished. Even if they did not do the repair, someone was smart enough to stamp in the serial number. The serial number is in about the right range for 1988.

[cmatthes]

Looks like an '88 stamp to me. It's most likely that Hamer did the repair and stamped a current serial number on it when they did the work.

Or else it's just an '88 SS-1. I had one of those.

[Jem]

Anybody notice it's 24 fret - it's not an '83 model and could well be one of the very last...i'm sure they listed it into '88 or it was still available as a special order.

Oh, i notice he now says '84, he said '83 this morning. If you look the crack is still there so i summise that it hasn't actually been repaired and is probably just a shock crack where it's been dropped or a tension crack because of using those bloody great bolts through the back.

[cmatthes]

I didn't think that they had the Steve Stevens sig until late '84 or early '85. It wasn't there on the earlier "Proto SS" models. I know that the back of the headstock decal says "1984" on it, but that's just when Hamer did their agreement with Mr. Stevens. You could still get an SS-1 in the early 1990s. It was in the large format catalog and I have it in a '90-'91 pricelist as an available model. It could be an '88 model - not sure why he thinks it's an '84, other than the headstock back decal date (??).

[Jem]

Chris, i've seen lots listed as '84 when they weren't, i always pressumed that it was because the Steve Stevens logo on the back says 1984 so people just assumed that was when they were made. Mind you saying this my Proto SS (ie no mention of Mr Stevens at all) is an '85...perhaps they just ran out of waterslides that week And yes, i remember now, it was still available in the 'Action / Reaction' catalogue which was '90 or '91 - i very nearly brought one in marble from Chandlers around '93'ish but i just couldn't afford it. I know one thing though, the 24 fret wasn't out until at least '86 or perhaps as late as '87 so i'd probably say this is original - especially as it's this side of the pond.

Jem

[serial]

Proto SSs were made into 1985. The ink on the licensing probably took a little time to dry.

Serial numbers were both inked and stamped in 1988.

[cmatthes]

Jem:

I hear ya - that Marble SS-1 nearly kept me awake at night. THAT was an incredible finish! Very '90s, but they did such a great job on it. I had a Blue Marble Cali and a SFG Marble Chap V Max, but never tracked down an affordable SS-1!

[Jem]

Chris, the one in Chandler's was sublime, the marble finish almost made me cry...so did the 900 pound price tag ! My ex wife and i then took a walk around Kew Gardens which was almost next door and she kept telling me to go sign a form and nail the sucker - to this day i wish i had.........................

[AdmiralB]

You could still get an SS-1 in the early 1990s.

I have a 1990 SS2. It's got to be one of the last ones, it has the signature decal and a non-drillthrough locking nut.

[serial]

You could still get an SS-1 in the early 1990s.

I have a 1990 SS2. It's got to be one of the last ones, it has the signature decal and a non-drillthrough locking nut.

Probably VERY few, if any after that. Steve had gone by that point or close to it.