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How can this be a Hamer Chaparral?


filtre_

Question

Hi folks

I just bought this Hamer guitar out of curiosity. Price was pretty close to treefiddy so the decision was easy. There was not much information provided by the seller but I know the experts here can help.

So here is what the pictures tell me:

Brand: Hamer

Model: Chaparral Custom, setneck

Serial number: 514710

Fretboard: ebony with boomerang inlays (yeah), 22 frets

Color: pink?

Obviously, the white pickups are not original and also the original Kahler tremolo was removed and replaced with a Floyd copy. Not sure about the knobs but they could be original. I plan to put back on a period correct Kahler and locking nut if I can find one.

Here are my questions to the experts in this forum:

  • didn't Hamer start to built Chaparrals in 1986? so how can this one be dated to 1985?
  • fretboard has 22 frets, not 24 like other Chaps - was this a custom option?

I noticed some more oddities compared to other Chaps:

  • the 1986 version had a strat-style front mounted jack plate, this one doesn't
  • the first Chaps had mini-switches, this one has a blade switch
  • control cavity backplate is not triangular

I am curious if this was an early prototype or custom order.

Appreciate your help to here. Will share more images once I have picked up the guitar.

80er-hamer-gitarre.jpg

780763824_5_Big.jpg

780763824_4_Big.jpg

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Good ol #1! Played enough to need 11 refrets. yes. ELEVEN. I'm still working on getting a guitar to the point of needing ONE refret. That guitar is just going crumble to dust one of these days.

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Son-of-a-bee-yotch!  Another steak knife ruined. 

An unrecoverable mess.  An atrocity.  Send it to me.  I'll give you $370.  A tidy little profit for you.  A little electrical tape and a can of yellow Rust-o-Leum, viola, its a Hamer Eddie Van Halen test bed.  Off to eBay we go!  

I disagree with HSB0531.  How can it be restored when we cannot definitely know what it was?  You have $350 into it.  Its a nice start.  Turn it into your dream axe.  Find a great finisher and great guitar luthier and go with your dream.  No, not a guitar tech!  Cheers!

caddie

ps-What's the story on those knobs!  Re-entry damage on Apollo 13? 

 

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Since it is well played and need a refret, it may have just spent many gigs on beer soaked stages propped against an amp....or the owner played it in sweaty shirts in that classic stance, where you rest the butt end on your sweaty stomach and point the neck upward. Either one over many years would cause the finish to start to break down.

If you hate the trem on it and want to put the original back on....I would just have the missing wood replaced, paint the trem cavity black and leqve the rest original. Looks great and a cool, early Chap. Love the original color!

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Hi Folks

So here is an update to the story.

I finally sent the guitar to Jay (aka Murkat here in the forum) who currently works on getting it - well, restored or rather remastered.
@murkat: feel free to chime in.

Jay was so kind and got in touch with Jol for some additional info on this guitar.
Thanks to that initiative, we know that the guitar entered the Hamer logs on 12/19/1985 which is consistent with the serial number.
Moreover, the entry indicates that it was PPK (Pearl Pink) and equipped with a FRT (Floyd Rose Tremolo).

So it was not equipped with a Kahler Fulcrum when it left the factory but with a Floyd Rose.
That is interesting because the missing behind-the-nut string lock suggested a Kahler.

What is also interesting is that it was referred to as a "Strat Mini" in the factory log book.
This is probably a reference to the original order and indicates it was a custom order.
Unfortunately, no destination or customer name was mentioned in the logs.
However, the original owner told me that he did not order this instrument from Hamer but bought it new in a local music store here in Switzerland.

In the process of getting it back to former glory, Jay made some interesting observations when stripping the old paint.
Obviously, the guitar had been sent back to Hamer for corrections as multiple layers of paint would indicate.
Plus on the headstock, there was an old logo under the paint beneath the final logo (logo on top of logo).
It tells the story of a guitar that was custom ordered as a "Strat Mini" and sent back to Hamer by the customer for corrections.
Finally, the guitar was bought by its original owner - presumably because the customer had stepped out of the deal.
Given the large trem route and the odd combination of a Floyd and behind-the-nut string lock, we have a prime suspect.

Jay will fix what's wrong with it and equip it properly with a FRT system - basically set it up the way it should have been in the first place when it left Hamer in 1985.
Once that is done, Stike will be in for new paint job. That is the plan.

So here are some images, courtesy of Murkat. Stay tuned.

DSC_0004.jpegDSC_0005.jpeg

DSC_0006.jpegDSC_0007.jpeg

DSC_0008.jpeg

 

 

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