Hamer Steve Stevens ?

[Uglyfuzzface]

Hi ,,, I have a Steve Stevens guitar and having trouble dating it ...it doesn't have a serial number on the back of the headstock and my guitar tech seems to think the paint work is original so maybe not re finished..

However when I opened the trem cavity and control cavity it had hand written numbers ( both the same ) one had a symbol next to it .. Did hamer ever do this from the factory? .

It also had a sticker on the back of the head stock from the original importers in the UK from the 80s so looks like it left the shop like that ..

Will post some pics , any help would be great thanks .

[Jem]

That may actually be an original refinish.

I do remember, back around '86 or '87, either Allbang or the chain in East Anglia (who's name escapes me) had a shipment where the paint had really sunk back into the grain, so much so they were refinished here in the UK before going on sale. Saying that, memory seems to serve that they were all painted black but this may have been a similar case.

I brought my Gary Moore new from Allbang's and you can see the grain on the headstock through the paint so the factory may have had some issues at the time. I think Allbang & Strummit went belly up around the early 90's so the guitar would have only been a few years old so I am thinking it could very well be a refin from new situation.

[Uglyfuzzface]

Actually that seems to me to be the most probable answer ,,, the sticker from the shop was a bitch to get off and I would imagine it would have been on since the day it was sold , so maybe they refinished or touched up imported guitars at the shop ... How would this effect the value ?

[Jem]

Price wise, it was probably worth more with the sticker on it to tell the story LoL

Prices are a bit weird over here, you get guys putting stripped junkers up for a £1000 + yet Benner picked up a nice marble graphic one (I know it's nice as I almost brought it twice in the previous 20 years) at much less than that.

Price will depend, the lack of serial number is a bit of a blow but as mentioned previously, the number that was handwritten fits perfectly in the range, the Allbang sticker points to it being legit but refinished at entry and overall it looks in quite nice nick.

[Uglyfuzzface]

Yer I thought that about sticker but had to make sure the serial number wasn't there ,, I kept pictures with it on just to prove that ,,, it's a great playing guitar and just set it up , gonna rock out on it at the weekend and see how I feel about keeping it as all the hardware is original

[cmatthes]

I'd still refin it in the Neon Barney Rubble graphic if you dig that. A pro refin at this point isn't going to drastically impact the value, as there really is no shortage of SS-1s with dots. Better to have the finish you want, that is associated with that guitar/artist, and that might be more attractive to other potential buyers down the road. As long as it's a top notch pro-job, it might be worth it.

[Uglyfuzzface]

Any advise on replacement black tuners from hamer ?

[cmatthes]

I think there's an era-appropriate set of original black 6-in-lines on eBay right now...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/hamer-usa-guitars-branded-6-inline-black-tuners-from-1986-chaparral-/251964684813?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aaa43fa0d#ht_106wt_901

[Uglyfuzzface]

Oooo thanks

[Uglyfuzzface]

Damn they only ship to USA and Canada

[cmatthes]

You in the UK? You could always buy it and have it sent to somebody here who could send it to you.

[Uglyfuzzface]

Cheers thanks will have a think 😀