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NHD: '85 Scarab II


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So here it is! Some stupid guy posted a PSA here on the board. Pablo, you are to blame! ;)

First, I have to admit that for quite a long time I've regarded the Scarab as one of the ugliest creations Hamer ever made. :ph34r: So I bought the guitar kinda half-heartedly. But it seemed to be in an acceptable condition, unusual color, Brexit still pending, seller seemed to be credible, my offer was accepted ... and it was a missing link in my Hamer collection!

It arrived last Friday, meticulously packed, incl. original Hamer case. Looking at the fretboard it was obvious that the guitar had not been played much for quite some time (it stuck in the case for about 25 years, as the seller told me today). And that's how it looked:

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It definitely needed some TLC and my full "steel wool and oil"-treatment. Things are getting better ...

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and even better ...

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And here it is, and it is so cool:

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These discolourations on the back couldn't be removed by my own means. But these are the only bad news.

The color of this Scarab is hard to capture: I suppose the finish once was a bright sky-blue but now it has aged to a beautiful kinda sea-foam green!!! At least if you see it in person.

And it definitely rocks!!! Hard!!!

Hope you like it, too.

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I like it, a lot. Congrats.

Thinner neck, I suppose...?

how does it play and sound?

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It has a medium thin (whatever that means) but remarkably wide neck. I got to get used to it, first.

The sound of the Hamer Slammer pickups is great: a lot of bite and treble with the bridge PU and an extremely full, rich and dark sound at the neck. Both pickups switched together, the sound gets a bit nasal (out of phase?), unusual but useful. 

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The acoustic voice of the guitar is less convincing: I will try to describe it ... better not.

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Congrats. I was watching that one but had no guitar funds right now. It looks very cool!

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Yeah Dave, it is sad that I don't have that ☹️ but congrats to you @boundandcrowned! And thanks for sharing the pics! That is really cool. 

If that guitar was in the USA I would have probably bought it right away but I just couldn't try and deal with the International hassles and the CITES scared the hell out of me. Too much risk for me I guess.

Congrats. Now if there was a zulu someone would want to sell in the USA....😁 (hint, hint)

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Those pickups are the COVETED 10kΩ Slammers. Monster hot PAFs on steroids... identical in the neck and bridge. Neck is quite dark yet articulate & responsive... almost raw and unrelenting in it's upper midrange. The bridge is sort of like an Axis humbucker... a darker and bassier 'SD '78 Custom Shop pickup. Hamer put them in most of the Class of '85. Later on the Slammer pickups were designed to replicate an SD JB except for a brass baseplate instead of nickel/silver.

9 out of 10 Hamer fans prefer the 1st Gen 10kΩ Slammers FWIW.

The guitar is gorgeous... the black Kahler is sort of rare in my experience but I could be wrong about that (Scarab85 has one on his Scarab). I think you're gonna love it. Sitting down in a hard chair is a bit difficult but it works on the couch.

The pickups are only two conductor... sometimes a magnet flip is in order for those two conductor Slammers. they often threw two identical pickups in a guitar and that's not going to yield an attractive middle position.

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Actually what I've seen most is the black Kahler on the Scarab. But I have seen a couple on the net with Floyd Rose trems (not sure if these are aftermarket or factory) and actually saw a pic of a sustain bloc bridge believe it or not. Also, there are some chrome Kahler's which I think just don't look right. Since I grew up seeing my friend's black hardware red/black zulu with Kahler, that's kind of the way I like them and think they look best even though I really don't like tremolo's. The Scarab and a Strat I have are my only tremolo guitars.

Not sure what my Slammer pickups rate at but are original from 85 I believe. Sound pretty hot with a lot of treble in the bridge PU. Pretty fat sounding neck PU too.

The thing about the Scarab is that even though they were a "production" guitar as far as I understand, you don't see many in the wild so I wonder how many were really made.

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1 hour ago, Scarab85 said:

Actually what I've seen most is the black Kahler on the Scarab. But I have seen a couple on the net with Floyd Rose trems (not sure if these are aftermarket or factory) and actually saw a pic of a sustain bloc bridge believe it or not. Also, there are some chrome Kahler's which I think just don't look right. Since I grew up seeing my friend's black hardware red/black zulu with Kahler, that's kind of the way I like them and think they look best even though I really don't like tremolo's. The Scarab and a Strat I have are my only tremolo guitars.

Not sure what my Slammer pickups rate at but are original from 85 I believe. Sound pretty hot with a lot of treble in the bridge PU. Pretty fat sounding neck PU too.

The thing about the Scarab is that even though they were a "production" guitar as far as I understand, you don't see many in the wild so I wonder how many were really made.

Yeah, I suppose that the Hamer factory did use a lot of black Kahlers in 1985... as the pink and red zulus had black Kahlers. I bought my Scarab off of the rack in 1986 and was deciding between the pink, red or the Ferrari red Scarab... I went with the Ferrari red which had a chrome Kahler.

Those Scarabs with the Floyd Roses were Scarab I models. A lot of Scarab I models just had a single bridge humbucker and a pickguard from my recollection.

I'm certainly glad that the Scarab is getting some love these days.

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15 hours ago, crunchee said:

Excellent score!  It's hard to find a pointy Hamer that hasn't been beat up, and that one hasn't been, I guess it was protected by all that dirt and grunge!  Congrats!

Thanks! Yes, I think that's the secret!

As a side note some trivia. That's what the seller wrote after I'd received the guitar:

"Yes well I think it has basically been in its case for about 25 years. It belonged to my father-in-law, who played a lot in his teens and 20s (he even used to hang around with the guys who later became Def Leppard!) but he hasn't played for a long long time."

FWIW, I didn't ask the seller not a single question about weight, neck size, acoustic voice or other BS before buying! I never do.

 

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On 6/3/2019 at 12:42 AM, boundandcrowned said:

sound gets a bit nasal (out of phase?),

I would assume...

Congratulations! That’s a great score.

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Don't feel guilty @boundandcrowned...ha ha.😀 That is a wonderful find. I just want to thank you for sharing the pictures. They are fantastic. If you have any full shots you feel like adding to the Scarab Appreciation thread that would be fantastic. Congrats again.

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Nice!!!!  Great color, and great shape now that you've got the crud off. Personally I never got along with kahlers, but that one looks to be in great shape.

 

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