Chaparral - What Have I Got Here?

[Michael_B]

I picked up this Chaparral from Ralph, last year. With a pending move, it went straight to storage. I finally took the opportunity to pull it out and play it. It sounds and plays great, and it has a voice unlike any other guitar in my collection. I'm curious what I've got here and was hoping to get some help identifying some things.

I see it has a Sustainiac, at the neck. Can anyone tell me about the other pickups?

The left toggle switch is the pre-amp power? What does the right-side, 3-position switch control?

How is the 5-position pick-up selector switch configured?

How is the model commonly identified?

Thanks for any help.

[serial]

There should be an on/off for the Sustainiac and a 2 or 3 position switch for different Sustainer modes as I recall.

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

All I can say is; OMG!

If that had boomers = that would be my dream guitar...

[motorpriest]

Drool worthy it is. Congrats!

[Andrew]

The singles look like black Slammers, unusual with a Sustainiac as this was the period when they switched to Seymour Duncan. The Floyd is the later FRII type with Hamer logo and that also usually goes with SDs.

I can't tell if the humbucker is a SD JB or Hamer Slammer. Slammer HB DC resistance from 89 is a whopping 16-18K, singles exactly half that.

I bet the serial number says it is an 89. (9 2XXXX).

[Michael_B]

You bet right. It's an '89.

[BubbaVO]

mojo.

[Michael_B]

Based on info on the Sustainiac site

It looks like the left toggle is on/off, while the right 3-way toggle is the "Harmonic Mode Control."

Up: "Normal" mode, the strings vibrate normally, but with infinite sustain.

Down: "Harmonic" mode. Plucked notes morph into high harmonic vibration mode. Pluck hard, and the harmonic change takes longer.

Middle: "Mix" mode. This mode gives you a softer harmonic mode on the lower strings, and fundamentals on the higher frets of the upper strings. MIX mode is actually a totally separate harmonic mode. It is not a "mix" of NORMAL and HARMONIC modes. It was named MIX mode because you get mostly harmonics but some fundamentals on the upper strings/frets, mostly all harmonics on the lower strings.

I lifted off the pickups, but didn't find any manufacturer's markings. I'll take it to work and measure the pick-up output. Thanks for the suggestion/guidance on that.

[specialk]

Eh, I think you was robbed. I can give ya $350 for it to help ease your pain.

[DBraz]

Tasty guitar. Surely you should be taking for photos and uploading them onto NGD in the message board??

[Boomerang~Junkie]

What you have there is a 100% HAMER BAD ASSERY. Wow.

[Hbom]

Eh, I think you was robbed. I can give ya $350 for it to help ease your pain.

I'll bump that bid to $385 just cause it reminds me of an old girl friend.

She turned out to be such a snake.

Great guitar! GLWTS