tafkathundernotes Posted June 18, 2005 Posted June 18, 2005 OK, maybe my eyes are going, but does it look like there aren't any pickups behind those covers? I don't see any polepieces. Hate to break it to the guy, but he's 13 years off in his description too. ebay Cruisebass
Hamer95USA Posted June 18, 2005 Posted June 18, 2005 Hey thundernotes, The Precision pickups in the front could either be just the pickup cover for Precision pickup or the pickup itself caved in? I also noticed the tone knob is missing. Guitar George
Hamer95USA Posted July 17, 2005 Posted July 17, 2005 Hey everybody, I bought this '82 Cruisebass off of E-bay. I didn't think it was a player's bass. Boy, was I wrong!! One thing I have to say: PLEASE HELP ME GET A TONE KNOB TO RESTORE THIS BASS!!! I tried calling Hamer USA factory on Thursday and the entire factory is on vacation. Does anyone have an extra matching knob they can sell me? This poor bass never knew what a guitar stand, guitar case or a gig bag looked like. Its previous owners must have dragged it to the gig, leaned it up on the bass amp, spilled beer on it, threw it in the back of the van and slept with it. It has dings, scratches and gouges all over. There is even a little piece of the headstock missing . The headstock is scratched up real good and the bottom of the Hamer logo is worn away. I'm tempted to have it refinished to its original finish to restore it, but I don't want to lose the ink stamped serial number on the rear of the headstock or the Hamer USA logo on the front. Could somebody restore this bass guitar's finish without removing the original logo or serial number? Can you still get Hamer USA logo from the factory to replace the one on this bass? The good news: I received the bass on Thursday. I took it on my garage workshop bench. I cleaned it up since it was dirty (as usual), tightened the bass guitar tuners which were loose and checked the headstock finish due to its movement, tightened the nuts on both volume controls since they're loose, the volume controls are missing washers, the tone control is missing the nut & washers and a knob. I'll be able to get the nut & washers, but I need a matching tone knob!! The Dimarzio bass guitar pickups were somehow dislodged from its pickup covers. How? Being slammed around? I removed the pickups and installed some foam underneath the pickups. I was able to raise the pickups back into its cover with the foam installed in the pickup cavity. I noticed the pickup cover and pickup itself was held together by a piece of black electrical tape. Is this how they came from the factory? I tightened the output jack since it was loose. I noticed the electronics are all original Hamer pots. All the OEM hardware is still on the bass. Did this bass ever have Dunlop straplock receptacles installed? I noticed the strap pins look kind of new. I'm thinking of installing chrome Dunlop straplock on it. The aluminum rear cavity cover was loose and I tightened it up. Here are some pictures of my humble '82 Cruisebass: Guitar George
tafkathundernotes Posted July 17, 2005 Author Posted July 17, 2005 Now that looks much better! You're right, it's a player.Here's what I think you need for the knob - far left column, one row up:Guitar Parts Resource / knobs
tomteriffic Posted July 17, 2005 Posted July 17, 2005 Good score at that price! I love those basses.Hard to tell from the pics but, based on a few '79-'81 guitars I have, those strap buttons may be original. That was pre-Dunlop era.
Hamer95USA Posted July 17, 2005 Posted July 17, 2005 Hey thundernotes & tomterrific, Thanks for replying with parts information and instrument history. I found it very helpful. I'm going to order my black bell knobs from Guitar Parts Resource today. I'm gonna run to the local guitar shop to get my washers and nut for the volume & tone controls. Thanks for helping me restore my humble bass. Guitar George
Hamer95USA Posted July 18, 2005 Posted July 18, 2005 Hey Hamer aficiandos, I was able to visit the local guitar shop for parts. They had the washers and nut I was looking for. I found that there wasn't much space for the washers so I installed the missing nut & missing knob on the tone pot so the hardware issues are taken cared of. I'll install the new strings and maybe lower the action a little bit. Here is a picture of it now, fully restored to the best of my abilities: I also thoroughly examing the bass for other faults and noticed these hairline cracks along the base of the neck on the treble side. Is this going to break off in time? I'm sort of worried about this sort of thing. Any comments or suggestions? Guitar George
tafkathundernotes Posted July 18, 2005 Author Posted July 18, 2005 If it was mine, I'd just leave it alone. It's a player. as long as it doesn't start spreading, I don't think it's an issue. If you had to do anything, maybe you could get away with some glue in a syringe and clamping it back down. Ask Uncle Greg.
SirDouglas Posted July 18, 2005 Posted July 18, 2005 Welcome to your bass that I ran you up on..... yes i am the one that bid it up to the price you paid for it... i dont mind beaters as i have quite a few.... i love the old cruise basses... the sound you get from them is wonderful.... jsut like ya said that one was a tad more tore up then the discription stated....but im gald your happy with it ... seems kinda odd they took so long to get it to you though since it ended a while back... Enjoy the sound.. paint is consmetic... Sir Douglas Randy
Hamer95USA Posted July 18, 2005 Posted July 18, 2005 Hey SirDouglas, What's up, my friend? So it was you who was trying to outbid me. You were the naughty little bugger making sure I paid the HFC price of $350.00. I kind of figured that it was someone on the HFC messageboard. I was asking around who is "homernut" and nobody in the HFC knew who it was. Beater basses are cool. I went from a beat up old '86 Ibanez Roadstar P+J copy bass( which I sold last week) to this '82 Hamer USA Cruisebass. I guess I didn't do too bad for an upgrade. I did a lot of general maintainence as I described in the previous postings, but it plays good now. It definitely has a beautiful, resonant tone about it whether played acoustically or plugged in. I can feel it vibrate in my chest and stomach. I just need to lower the action a bit and install new strings on it. I want some of my bass playing buddies to try this bass and let them know how cool the original Cruisebasses really are. The reason it took so long was the guy at the auction house was unavailable for about a day. Then I tried to call him while I was at work. You have to remember that Charlottesville, VA is a three hour difference than here in California. I sent a couple of e-mails and called the guy. I finally got a hold of him a couple of days later and made arrangements to ship my bass guitar case to him (since the bass never had a case or a gig bag, hence the scratches, gouges, dents and chips on the instrument) via Federal Express ground service (cheaper than UPS, better claims service, if damaged). I sent my bass case two weeks ago. It arrives at the auction house, they send it back to me, and it arrived last Thursday via Federal Express ground service. I ended up paying at least $70.00 in shipping the bass both ways. Considering what I paid for this cool bass, it was well worth it. I'm just glad that Federal Express didn't smash my bass up in transit. I was very worried that the i-Sold It auction house wouldn't package it well in a box and decided to send them my case for shipping, protection and insurance. Guitar George
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.