WTF? This can't be Hamer factory work, can it?

[DaveH]

I don't know about the strap button, but I'm pretty sure the dots are off center.

[GuitarGuy65]

6 hours ago, crunchee said:

IMO, sometimes strap buttons were put on that way on purpose, offset from the center line towards the bass side.  I had a mid '90's Eclipse once that had a offset strap button like this, and two other Eclipses from that time frame that didn't...and no sign on the one that had the offset strap button that it was redone or was a mistake, and it hung just fine on a strap.   My '85 Cruisebass has the butt end strap button offset like this as well, with no signs of having been relocated.   Seems like I've seen other examples of factory Hamers with the offset strap button, going back as far as the early '80's.  Besides this Sunburst, that is.  Maybe it was done like this to prevent neck dive?

The Electraglide SMG has an off-set strap button on the bottom too from the factory...

[kizanski]

All of the Specials & Sunbursts had off-center strap pins back then.

 

[cmatthes]

8 hours ago, Marvelicious said:

I don't know that there was such a thing as a "factory 2nd" from Hamer... I was thinking about that the other day when looking at a Hamer with some finish flaws that supposedly left the factory after they shut down. Anyone ever seen a Hamer 2nd? 

1. There were no factory seconds.

2. No guitars left the factory after they were shut down.  Once they were done, they were done.

[Stike]

9 hours ago, BadgerDave said:

That does look like TiteBond.  Do you suppose someone lost the backplate screws and glued it on?  

 

15 hours ago, bubs_42 said:

@BadgerDave, this one looks really familiar to me. I do believe this one has been floating around for a while, the back was a clean as the rest of the guitar a few years ago, then if popped up on Ebay and the some dbag waited 35 years to put a belt belt buckle to it. The bridge is the first I've seen, that is pretty big move and taking a really good look, it probably should be in the middle of those two positions. LOL I guess, you could take another shot at it? LOL 

I'm kind of thinking there might have been a refin at some point. The pores in the mahogany don't look right, more like sawdust/debris that wasnt blown/cleaned out and cleared over than actual pore filler.

[Marvelicious]

10 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

1. There were no factory seconds.

2. No guitars left the factory after they were shut down.  Once they were done, they were done.

This one supposedly left with an employee according to the seller - a member here and former Hamer dealer. Either way, the finish isn't up to par and to my eyes looks like the wood didn't get sanding sealer or grain filler. For the record, the seller was completely up front about the flaws.

[cmatthes]

5 minutes ago, Marvelicious said:

This one supposedly left with an employee according to the seller - a member here and former Hamer dealer. Either way, the finish isn't up to par and to my eyes looks like the wood didn't get sanding sealer or grain filler. For the record, the seller was completely up front about the flaws.

That’s different.  If it’s the Studio with the Standard headstock, that wasn’t built at the Hamer shop.

[Marvelicious]

Nope... Korina Newport.

[bubs_42]

On 2/24/2019 at 8:15 PM, Jakeboy said:

What is the debris in the rearmost screw-holes? Is it solder? That is a hot mess....

You need to stop this whole thread and just drive over there for an "In Hand" inspection. Its only and hour away. 

[Jakeboy]

Oh shit! Bubs is right! It is only an hour away...but Wood glue holding on the backplate? Solder in the old bridge screw holes...it looks like they ran the bridge ground into one of the holes....the wiring looks messy....but the price is right if you move it over a decimal place. 

This thing stinks to high heaven.....sirens, red flags, and buzzers are all going off.....

[Drew816]

Preddy guitar one way or the other, not $3.5k preddy but still, wow!

And more learned for the HFC Masters, I didn't know anything about the 79-80 bridge mess; I'm not worthy!!!

[JohnZ]

21 hours ago, kizanski said:

All of the Specials & Sunbursts had off-center strap pins back then.

 

Didn’t even notice until now - anyway, confirmed

[JohnZ]

Just now, JohnZ said:

Didn’t even notice until now - anyway, confirmed

Checked on my centauras...same with the early ones 😮  The sparkles are centered

[cynic]

3 hours ago, Drew816 said:

I didn't know anything about the 79-80 bridge mess

That's because there was no 79-80 bridge mess

[mirrorimij]

At first I thought it looked like wood grain filler that leaked into the cavity and wasn’t wiped.    

It really does look like titebond.

I wonder if Steve could shed some light on the ghost image of the second bridge placement.

[tbonesullivan]

Looks like the grain filler on the back is dripping into the control cavity? Almost looks like they were trying for a "limed mahogany" type of look.

Just.. weird. I would hope that if the bridge was moved at the factory, they would have done a better job of cleaning up, and making new channels for the strings.

Something just ain't right about this.

[mirrorimij]

Why only one set of holes for the grommets on the back?  That bridge mount and the string holes are drilled front to back and the string grommets are counterbored using those string holes.  There should be two sets unless someone at the factory realized their mistake before the bit went through the back.  And on all six strings?  Seems unlikely but I’m stumped.  I can’t see any funny business on the back of the guitar body.

[kizanski]

33 minutes ago, mirrorimij said:

Why only one set of holes for the grommets on the back?

Great question!

[cynic]

Because there’s only one set of holes for the strings on the front.

[kizanski]

3 minutes ago, cynic said:

Because there’s only one set of holes for the strings on the front.

Sure, but the bridge was clearly mounted and in (the wrong) place long enough to make a permanent impression on the top finish.
I find it hard to believe it was mounted without string holes and then moved.  Could those sting holes have worked for the original bridge placement?

[burningyen]

58 minutes ago, mirrorimij said:

Why only one set of holes for the grommets on the back?  That bridge mount and the string holes are drilled front to back and the string grommets are counterbored using those string holes.  There should be two sets unless someone at the factory realized their mistake before the bit went through the back.  And on all six strings?  Seems unlikely but I’m stumped.  I can’t see any funny business on the back of the guitar body.

Looks to me like someone widened the top openings of the string holes with a rasp rather than redrilling.

[cynic]

45 minutes ago, kizanski said:

I find it hard to believe it was mounted without string holes and then moved.  Could those sting holes have worked for the original bridge placement?

What I see is the original, factory drilled bridge mounting holes and string holes that correspond to the first impression.  The only drilling done beyond that was a very sloppy, crooked, non-factory, templateless effort for three additional bridge mounting holes.  No second set of string thru holes were ever drilled, the originals only mutilated/modified to "work" with the second bridge location.

[marcnorth]

Here's my 87 B8S and my B4M

[BadgerDave]

On 2/25/2019 at 8:59 PM, Marvelicious said:

This one supposedly left with an employee

This is an interesting possibility.  Maybe the guitar was ID'd as defective by Hamer QC and an employee was allowed to keep it as it was assembled with the bridge in the wrong position.    Or possibly it was an employee build and he messed up the bridge placement.  Either way, the guitar may have left the factory prior to the "repair".  The funkiness under the bridge could be a later amateur attempt to fix the intonation problem. 🤓

Pure speculation, but it makes more sense to me than assuming that anyone at Hamer did the rough cutting of the string slots or the toothpick and solder screw hole patch.

 

And I agree that the seller took the high road in the listing by showing clear photos.

[Marvelicious]

28 minutes ago, BadgerDave said:

This is an interesting possibility.  Maybe the guitar was ID'd as defective by Hamer QC and an employee was allowed to keep it as it was assembled with the bridge in the wrong position.    Or possibly it was an employee build and he messed up the bridge placement.  Either way, the guitar may have left the factory prior to the "repair".  The funkiness under the bridge could be a later amateur attempt to fix the intonation problem. 🤓

Pure speculation, but it makes more sense to me than assuming that anyone at Hamer did the rough cutting of the string slots or the toothpick and solder screw hole patch.

 

And I agree that the seller took the high road in the listing by showing clear photos.

My post you quoted was in reference a different guitar - a Korina Newport - but I imagine it is possible that this is a similar scenario.

Either way, I can't really imagine Hamer just missing the mark by a quarter inch. I wonder if perhaps the body was intended for a 25.5" scale neck? Maybe as a special order or even just an experiment...