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Re-Top, Re-Finish or Sell; '81 Hamer Special - Kahler'ed, sad!


Drew816

Re-Top, Re-Finish or Sell  

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I’ve had my ’81 Hamer Special for many years now, back when I got the guitar I had three of four that had Kahler’s and though I wasn’t a big fan nor user, they didn’t really bother me much. Over time that’s changed, they work, they can be made to work but compared to other trem’s they’re just not my thing. This is the only guitar I have that has a Kahler now, the Kahler needs to go or the guitar does…

The guitar plays and sounds great, I re-fretted it what 8 or so years ago and overall it's in great shape (back finish is good, few marks, no structural issues, it ROCKS!). The neck is typical of this era and a bit on the small side, but I can deal with it. I like it as a hot-rodded take on the original “Specials” with P-90’s in it but have run it with hums too (I just have that sound covered about 10 other ways). Also note the hole drilled thru the top for another switch that was way too close to pickup selector to make it of any use (and they had more room to work with, what the heck?!?).

RE-TOP: SO, do I want to re-top this thing? What would that even cost and is it worth the hassle? Who does this kind of work? My local luthier is good but it would be two forever’s and a day before he got around to this (though I’m not in a major hurry, just trying to figure out where to go) and lord only knows what it would end up costing from him (he's not cheap!).

RE-FINISH: The Kahler and extra switch holes could be plugged and the top shot in an opaque finish. Tangerine Orange, Marty Bell Sparkle Red (big or medium flake). The finish on the back could be maintained and the top finish blended in either of the first two options, not easy but it can be done (and Marty has done a top only finish for me before).

SELL: Or Sell? I don’t expect I would get much out of it but someone out there might like a Kahler’ed Special from back in the day. Leave it as a mod’ed relic from the 80’s and move on.

And if a re-top or refinish, what kind of bridge do I get that at least approximates the original (which is of course long gone!)?

Thoughts? 

Thanks!!

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The "top" is only a veneer, so at least there's not a big price tag for materials if you choose to put a new one on.  If you went all out, you'd easily spend 100-150% of the guitars current value.  

As for the bridge, there's just nothing that does a great job of approximating the sustain block.  You could try to pry one out of someones hands here, but it would add another $250+ to your total.

If it were me, I'd only have the hole filled and install a Faber wraptail.

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My Sunburst was retopped, rebound, and refinished.  There was a little more than that done, but the labor was about what I could have bought another guitar. 

If you have the hole plugged and go with an opaque finish you will have a large amount of money in that.  Finding a correct bridge is going to have a price tag, too. 

Do you love the neck on that Special enough to essentially buy it all over again?  If not, sell it and move on.  Otherwise, you will have more in the guitar than you will ever get back. 

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There are holes through the body, they're plugged in the back; you just can't see them in this pic. So that means a different type of bridge from this era? Still it would be a costly pain to find an original (IF I could find one), this I already know. And if I'm not putting an original back on then does a re-top and rebuild really get me anywhere?   

I'm leaning towards throwing it back on and selling but thought I'd ask. I hate the thought but not sure I want to deal with the process either unless there's a pro out there that can walk me through all this.

Who's done re-top work for the Hamer crew here in the past?

Good points so far, keep them coming...

 

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16 hours ago, gtrdaddy said:

It's going to cost you way more money than the guitar is worth to fill holes, replace the cap, refinish, replace the bridge...ooofah.

If I had let logic rule the game, I wouldn't have the Victim Explorer, the Fackyo II, or the OM Standard.  

Spend the money to make it the way you want it.  Use your creativity. Modify it in a way which you wouldn't with a guitar that was original or valuable.   

Or sell it.  

Either one.  

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                                       Hmmmm........................it COULD all go away.....................but what is it worth for you to do so. Done right it won't be cheap but then again nothing ever is. Here is SHARK's Hamer Sunburst done by HFC member "MURKAT". Jay did a amazing job IMHO but you can see what is involved to make it "RIGHT"  BAD BAD BART..................love that guitar!http://www.ntlguitar.com/bad-bad-bart.html

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19 hours ago, cynic said:

The "top" is only a veneer, so at least there's not a big price tag for materials if you choose to put a new one on.  If you went all out, you'd easily spend 100-150% of the guitars current value.  

As for the bridge, there's just nothing that does a great job of approximating the sustain block.  You could try to pry one out of someones hands here, but it would add another $250+ to your total.

If it were me, I'd only have the hole filled and install a Faber wraptail.

A couple of years ago I was looking for a Sustain Block Bridge and was offered not one but two, by a member here who very kindly offered to sell them at his cost price which was $450 each! I don't think that they would have gone down in price since then, if anyone has Sustain Block Bridges for $250, I'll take TWO please... :-)

ps I didn't buy the two that were offered because with import duty and taxes and shipping they would have cost me around $1,200 (I live in Germany) which was way over my budget...

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10 hours ago, DaveX said:

A couple of years ago I was looking for a Sustain Block Bridge and was offered not one but two, by a member here who very kindly offered to sell them at his cost price which was $450 each! I don't think that they would have gone down in price since then, if anyone has Sustain Block Bridges for $250, I'll take TWO please... 🙂

ps I didn't buy the two that were offered because with import duty and taxes and shipping they would have cost me around $1,200 (I live in Germany) which was way over my budget...

Wow!  I sold the ones I had here for $150 and maybe $200 a couple of years ago?  Before that, I gave two away...


Sheesh!

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On ‎9‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 7:23 AM, DaveX said:

A couple of years ago I was looking for a Sustain Block Bridge and was offered not one but two, by a member here who very kindly offered to sell them at his cost price which was $450 each! I don't think that they would have gone down in price since then, if anyone has Sustain Block Bridges for $250, I'll take TWO please... :-)

ps I didn't buy the two that were offered because with import duty and taxes and shipping they would have cost me around $1,200 (I live in Germany) which was way over my budget...

I tried, and failed, to have John Mann at MannMade make Sustainblock replicas......he has the machine-shop, the tooling, the expertise (original bridge designer/manufacturer to PRS who made bridges for them for 30 years), and the specs.  I sent him an original USA Hamer TLE for a few months to dis-assemble and take all the measurements and make a prototype......then I got excuses/delays/run-around.  For months.  I gave-up working with him - he wants to sell his designs/products, when he's darned-good-and-ready to make them.  I told him there was a LINE of people who would pay for them if he made them...to no avail....back to square one.  I still need a Sustainblock for a Blitz project Stike is finishing-up, if anyone has a line....

I'm the guy who dumped something north of $1,200 into an eBay-special Chap I bought for $400 to build something 'cool'.  Ryan Welcome worked with my Luthier and custom-cut a fresh hunk of tonewood to plug the holes in the guitar body occupied by the single-coils - he used a laser.  To say the work was 'precise' was an understatement.  It's only money - if you have the neck you want in the guitar, there's no reason to get rid of it.  There's no point in fussing about 're-sale value' - your axe lost OEM cred years ago, so no harm in putting it back to where you want it.  Plenty of quality Luthiers out there who would GLADLY fill and re-top that guitar to your exact specs.  Uncle Greg has done it numerous times - a fresh veneer top would make all of those holes/sins disappear.  The hard part would be finding the bridge you want.

Isn't Mr. Shishkov using a Gotoh or Hipshot hardtail bridge?

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12 hours ago, Hbom said:

Someone said they were going to build some.

About a year ago.

About two years ago.

Three or so years back.

Every once in awhile.

its a giant investment for some one to make upfront. I got them priced several ways. I also contact a few companies that make similar types hard tail bridges , no interest. It easy to the the parts machined , but getting them machined to the point the finish is good enough to polish. Polishing them is the bear of the process.

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Regarding the dearth of sustainblock bridges:  Playing devil's advocate, why not use a rosewood (or other) shim like the originals and then use a thinner 6-saddle bridge like this one:  https://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/All_Hardware_and_Parts_by_Instrument/Electric_Guitar_Parts/Electric_Guitar_Bridges_and_Tailpieces/Non-trem_Electric_Guitar_Bridges/Gotoh_Hardtail_Bridge.html?

 

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