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.
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.
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".
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!
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kkeller
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.
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.
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".
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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