SS2 has arrived...

[AdmiralB]

...and it is indeed a '90, the serial was as I thought - 026070. It has pots dated 38th week of '89.

Don't know how much of it is original - has the original knobs for sure, but the Floyd is an Original with the old-style arm bushing. The threaded bush (as they apparently say in England) had been around for quite a while by '90, so I don't know if the bridge is original.

Obviously the X2N is a user-install, and the pickup selector doesn't look like anything I've ever seen in a Hamer - it's a little DPDT toggle.

Dunno what the neck pickup is - it LOOKS like a Duncan Vintage Flat, but it doesn't have any markings and it has shielded coaxial leads. It measures about 6.5K.

The seller described it as 'good to excellent' and it's definitely much closer to 'good'. It's all there (except for a trem arm), including all the cavity covers, and there are no breaks or cracks - not even any checking.

But it's got lots of dings and chips, and a previous owner had THE MOST corrosive body chemistry I've ever heard of. Everywhere skin would touch, the metal in the finish has tarnished through the clearcoat, so there are dark 'clouds', and the clear coat has even orange-peeled in places.

The bridge was pretty funky, even the knobs had finger-jam in the ridges.

The good news is the previous owners apparently were careful about setup. None of the Floyd parts are broken (I ALWAYS find at least a couple cracked anvils), and everything works except the selector toggle, which only works in two positions.

It cleaned up really well, though. I sanded out most of the orange peel with 1500-grit, and it polished up great. I disassembled the Floyd and scrubbed it off - it needed new intonation clamp screws as the old ones were just too damned cruddy. The baseplate is missing some black paint under the logo, but the rust looks black from a distance (LOL), and the knife edges are perfect. I added the notorious threaded bush, gotta buy an arm I guess.

I put in a new toggle - a 4PDT from an Ibanez Petrucci, so it splits the X2N in the middle postion for a hum-cancelling Tele middle tone.

Fret wear is moderate and level. It plays GREAT and it's extremely lightweight.

At this point I don't know if I'll keep it or not, but with a few hours invested and about $10 in parts I'm pretty impressed. Gotta be one of the very last SS2s.

[Guest cruster]

Sounds like you did ok. On the corrosive issue: I let my oldest son play one of my guitars recently; one I had just put new pure nickel 10s on. We worked through 'Sleep Walk' for about an hour, which was entertaining (for me anyway). When I next pulled that guitar out of its case (the next evening), the plain strings were almost completely black and the wound ones were obviously no longer fresh in certain spots. I had replaced the strings on my Studio at the same time, same brand. They still look/sound fresh. Weird.

Hope it works out for you!

[Scottcrud]

post a pic already...

[Scottcrud]

bumparoo-post some pics Rob.

[AdmiralB]

I'm on the fence about keeping it. I'd sell it for the $500 I have in it, but I like it too much as a guitar to lose anything on the deal.

[Scottcrud]

is the headstock a tilt back or staight string pull type? The SS-2 is my absolute favorite Hamer. Nice Rob.

[AdmiralB]

Tilt back. And no through holes for the clamp!

[shred dog]

cool guitar AdmiralB!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how does it play ? it's 25.5" scale right?

[AdmiralB]

Yes, 25.5 scale.

It plays friggen' great. Some guitars are beat because they were treated carelessly; this one was treated very well - the Floyd parts are all intact and functional, the frets are well-dressed and there is no edge sprout, the electronics are clean and functional...it's in the condition it is because the previous owner(s) played the hell out of it, which is what a good guitar should expect IMO.