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'82 Special Basket Case...


kkeller

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So, I find myself with an '82 Checkerboard-logo Special that I purchased from eBay a few years back. The shipping, as I recall, cost more than the actual guitar, but I took a chance because the pic on the auction looked like the original pickups were intact. It was missing the bridge and looked to be in really deplorable condition. I received the guitar and it had an unmistakable funk about it, was beat to death and was basically just junk.

SAM_0018.jpg

The guitar had been routed (badly) for a Kahler Pro, and many of the screws attaching the hardware had been replaced with things like sheetrock screws.

SAM_0026.jpg

But...The guitar had no breaks and the pickups were undamaged and actually worked! I brought it into the shop with the full intention of bandsawing it up and cutting my losses.

I just couldn't do it. I started talking to the techs in the shop, we decided to rescue it if we could. This is going to involve a good bit of work and skill to make this thing back into a Hamer. The initial exam showed that someone had shaved off one of the 'horns' quite a bit, almost 3/16".

SAM_0047.jpg

SAM_0039.jpg

So, the next step is to re-rout the trem cavity and block it in with a piece of mahogany. The Kahler mounting holes will be doweled and trimmed.

The plan: Since the neck angle is shallow on these, we are going to remove about .075"(+/-) of the original top and body, down to meet the sanded part, and cover the top with a AAAA maple cap. The top then gets bound with creme celluloid and I'm thinking a light Tobacco Sunburst finish. It'll get a 2-FIG bridge, new machine heads and all new hardware along with the original pickups.

I'll be posting up more pics as we go along on this project, along with descriptions of problems and solutions as we go. Stay Tuned!

Kim

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2FIG...cool.

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welcome to my world! :)

Nice to see the guys, shop, post.

Looking forward to, and I won't even criticize... :ph34r:

Jay

Ha ha ha... It's been my world for 40+ years. Feel free to pipe in here, another opinion is always welcome!

Kim

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Looking forward to seeing the transformation. I just can't understand how someone could do this to a guitar.

I have to confess to similarly mistreating a '73 Gibson SG long ago.

"How" starts with, I'll just... oops! Oh, I'll fix that by... oops! After several iterations you're quoting Col. Nicholson, "What have I done?"

Can't wait to watch this progress!

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Can not wait to see the end results! I still find it hard to belive Kim put pickups in my lil brother's guitar about 23 years ago back in Cowtown and here we are all these years later.

Life IS Good! B)

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2FIG = "Two F@%#in' Idiots in a Garage"

A few years back, when there really was no such thing as a replacement Sustainblock bridge available, a rather enterprising young gentleman HFC'er decided to locate a Bridgeport in an unheated structure one particularly cold New England winter, and set forth, hacking up blocks of solid brass, transforming them into near-exact duplicates of an '81-era Sustainblock bridge. He had them polished, plated (not necessarily in that order), and a killer repro bridge made its way into the world in very small quantities.

And ye shall know its name by the saucy "2FIG" stamp, impressed upon the respective underneathsides.

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Thursday:

Routed out a big hole in the top (large enough that the former Kahler mounts would not have to be dowelled:

SAM_0048.jpg

SAM_0049.jpg

Cut a grain-matched piece of mahogany to fill, then routed off a few hundredths of the top:

SAM_0051.jpg

Here's a close-up:

SAM_0052.jpg

Next, the top cap has been selected and bookmatched, time to glue it on...

KK

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Man... this is awesome. I kinda wish I had a hamer in bad enough shape to justify restoration. I have some with some dents and pretty substantial hameritis, but all still look great.

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Beautiful. A 2FIG too. I had a piece of 2FIG pron posted (by BCR?) which had a group shot. They were awesome looking. Anybody here got that pic?

The machinist used to twist up a mean Daytona palm bar too. I still have a few, but I am keeping them in case I get a barless DayTONE ah.

Awesome to see Kim here. Wave your magic wand and move the NAMM to Seattle so I can visit the Hamer booth!

morningstar

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