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Just picked up this Hamer Californian Elite


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Posted

Not so strange, after all all those label branded ones were made by schaller (except the bc rich that was gotoh?)

Posted
  • I think I am going to put a triple A Matching Flame maple cap on it and have it be a Wicked Red color, Never liked this paint. My Last two were Red Sparkle.
  • With the flame maple cap in will look like it has maple binding, It will look killer. Probably Replace the Tuners with New Sperzials and get a non-branded FloyRose.
  • Neck is really Nice.
Posted

Just hold out for a Californian with the finish you really want.  You are going to spend enough on that retop/refin to make up the difference and never be able to get the money back if you sell. 

Posted
My band does lights and Don't stop believing and on all my other guitars its had to play, on the Cali it effortless.
Keeping this, might get another, but this one I will play for the next 20.

 

Hard

Posted

Here's an idea that would be less destructive and probably cheaper - just have your friends MAKE you a replacement body out of flame maple.  Hell, even do something with a maple top (maple Californians didn't have maple tops, they were solid flame maple).  You could either put the body in storage for later or even sell it and recoup most of the costs of getting the body replaced.  Trying to add a flametop to that is a dicey proposition.

Posted
20 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

Here's an idea that would be less destructive and probably cheaper - just have your friends MAKE you a replacement body out of flame maple.  Hell, even do something with a maple top (maple Californians didn't have maple tops, they were solid flame maple).  You could either put the body in storage for later or even sell it and recoup most of the costs of getting the body replaced.  Trying to add a flametop to that is a dicey proposition.

No to mention that with a replacement body you're only away from the guitar for part of a day for them to take the measurements.  You get to keep rocking it while they build, then swap the parts over!

Winning!

Posted
49 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

Here's an idea that would be less destructive and probably cheaper - just have your friends MAKE you a replacement body out of flame maple.  Hell, even do something with a maple top (maple Californians didn't have maple tops, they were solid flame maple).  You could either put the body in storage for later or even sell it and recoup most of the costs of getting the body replaced.  Trying to add a flametop to that is a dicey proposition.

Dicey indeed. Trying to bend a piece of maple thick enough to do the faux binding to the forearm contour during glueup probably is not happening. 

Posted
6 hours ago, terrencerocks said:

Been looking through all the different ones I have seen and the favorite is the blue marble

Well, the blue ones do sound better.*

 

:)

*Just a little ongoing HFC wisdom.

Posted
6 hours ago, terrencerocks said:

Been looking through all the different ones I have seen and the favorite is the blue marble

Just buy a blue marble then.  Jim O'Connor is not really interested in doing the work anymore and when he does it is expensive. 

Posted
9 hours ago, hamerhead said:

Sucks losing another Irri Cali.

Good riddance. Ugliest finish evah. :lol:

 

Posted

BTW- I'm a big proponent of making a guitar into whatever the hell you want it to be but there IS some merit to having one built to your exact specs and sparing the life of even a butt ugly one like Iridescent.

 

Burrito2.jpg

Posted
10 hours ago, diablo175 said:

BTW- I'm a big proponent of making a guitar into whatever the hell you want it to be but there IS some merit to having one built to your exact specs and sparing the life of even a butt ugly one like Iridescent.

 

Burrito2.jpg

Goodness, that is the most gorgeous green quilt I've EVER seen... I'm jealous.

Posted

The only thing I hate about having something that pretty is I wouldn't want to play it out of fear of scratching it. My Cali is full of nicks and battle scars, so I love handling and playing it. 

Posted
6 hours ago, FGJ said:

Goodness, that is the most gorgeous green quilt I've EVER seen... I'm jealous.

Yup.

At the risk of further commandeering/derailing this thread, the top on that is a 1/4" piece of quilted maple glued on a mahogany body. Just sayin'-- 

Posted

I know even if it was thicker, a lutherer steams it to bend it. 1/8th would be easy. My friend is a master Carpenter and guitar player of 50 years.

He does Bourban Bursts on 59 Les Paul Reissues that people love. I am going to see what he can do.

Posted
46 minutes ago, terrencerocks said:

I know even if it was thicker, a lutherer steams it to bend it. 1/8th would be easy. My friend is a master Carpenter and guitar player of 50 years.

He does Bourban Bursts on 59 Les Paul Reissues that people love. I am going to see what he can do.

Yup. I checked with the builder and he said it's 1/4" thick.

Posted
1 hour ago, terrencerocks said:

I know even if it was thicker, a lutherer steams it to bend it. 1/8th would be easy. My friend is a master Carpenter and guitar player of 50 years.

He does Bourban Bursts on 59 Les Paul Reissues that people love. I am going to see what he can do.

 

1/4" is about the limit. I bent this top rather like acoustic guitar sides get bent. I wet it thoroughly and pre-bent it over a very hot piece of steel pipe. Then glued it up, stuck a couple screws where the pickup routes would go later, and put the whole guitar into a vacuum press bag. The vacuum press drops about 25,000 PSI pressure on it.

Bent it over nice as you please :)

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