Hameritis pin heads on neck- buy or walk away?

[VincentYGB]

Mid 90's with these pinhead types. Do I consider this a minefield waiting to go off or being it's 25 years old it may have..."stabilized".

[hamerhead]

No worries. Buy it!

[kizanski]

Smallest case of Hameritis in recorded history.  

[HamerCustomEr]

It has been stable for decades already.  Buy it!  You will love it!!

[cmatthes]

Those have probably been there since the guitar was in its first year out of the shop and that's not a sort of thing that really spreads.

[crunchee]

It kinda reminds me of what the HFC calls 'Pizza Day' too, which  IIRC seems to be an occasional factory thing, and is also only cosmetic and doesn't/shouldn't get any worse.  Question to the OP: do any of those areas on this guitar look like fingerprints or a handprint?

[kizanski]

1 hour ago, crunchee said:

It kinda reminds me of what the HFC calls 'Pizza Day' too, which  IIRC seems to be an occasional factory thing, and is also only cosmetic and doesn't/shouldn't get any worse.  Question to the OP: do any of those areas on this guitar look like fingerprints or a handprint?

Probably the best (worst?) known example of this is on a really great '95 Standard Custom which made the rounds here. Don't know where it currently lives.

An entire hand print (and I know whose) can be seen on the back of the guitar. 

An otherwise beautiful guitar. Light, resonant, felt great.  So of course I sold it.

Cubby the Cat looks on, judgingly. "Don't sell that, dummy."

I didn't listen.

[VincentYGB]

That's a killer axe (sweet looking cat too). We have similar color appreciation. Here's the one I'm speaking about.

[kizanski]

14 minutes ago, VincentYGB said:

That's a killer axe (sweet looking cat too). We have similar color appreciation. Here's the one I'm speaking about.

If the price is something you can do, grab it.  

[ArnieZ]

No expert here, but had something similar on an artist custom long since gone! Was told at Hamer those spots were grain filler. No explanation As to why they were so visible. No worries about the guitar in question!

arniez

[VincentYGB]

Turns out hameritis is more extensive. Some areas on the back of the neck;  a couple on the back and a small area on top near the selector.

 

[kizanski]

1 minute ago, VincentYGB said:

Turns out hameritis is more extensive. Some areas on the back of the neck;  a couple on the back and a small area on top near the selector.

Doesn't bother me at all, provided the price is reasonable.  What's the seller asking?

[VincentYGB]

$1100 shipped. 1996 flame top Artist & OHSC. Wrap around bridge has been replaced and it has TV Jones Classics. It's a dealer and I had already paid him when he held up the sale to send more pics. We're negotiating right now. What do you think?

[Hbom]

I've been watching that guitar for a couple of months. I didn't want to ship this winter. But it looks to be a nice example at a fair price. And the dealer has been good to me in the past.

But I have experience with hameritis and believe that it greatly improves my tone.

In a nutshell, I would say buy it! Close your eyes and play it. You will never hear those little spots.

 

[kizanski]

1 minute ago, VincentYGB said:

What do you think?

I think it's silly that it isn't in your house already.
Don't "negotiate" yourself out of that deal.

[VincentYGB]

Just feeling rather iffy at the moment after GC sent me this Artist Korina that is talked about on the sale page. It needs a fair amount of fretwork and pickup replacement. Received it Monday and here's how they shipped it 2000 miles after they "forgot the case" and wrapped it in a single layer of un-taped bubble wrap with no other packing. A UPS survival miracle and the case arrives today. Returning that one.

[kizanski]

6 minutes ago, VincentYGB said:

Just feeling rather iffy at the moment after GC sent me this Artist Korina that is talked about on the sale page. It needs a fair amount of fretwork and pickup replacement. Received it Monday and here's how they shipped it 2000 miles after they "forgot the case" and wrapped it in a single layer of un-taped bubble wrap with no other packing. A UPS survival miracle and the case arrives today. Returning that one.

Fret wear and general condition is one thing - you need to have that straight beforehand - but a person shipping a guitar like that shows a complete disregard (one could actually make a case for hostility or contempt) for their employer and the customer, not to mention the guitar.
This doesn't happen by accident.

[VincentYGB]

57 minutes ago, kizanski said:

Fret wear and general condition is one thing - you need to have that straight beforehand - but a person shipping a guitar like that shows a complete disregard (one could actually make a case for hostility or contempt) for their employer and the customer, not to mention the guitar.
This doesn't happen by accident.

Agreed there. The particular GC had most of their employees in Covid quarantine and it took them a week to ship but still no excuse for this. I'm sending the manger pics after the case arrives today.

[VincentYGB]

The Artist Flametop will be traveling here to the Rattlesnake Retreat in AZ. I asked him to hold shipping until next week as it's supposed to warm up slightly. Thanks for the helpful remarks.

[kizanski]

Just now, VincentYGB said:

The Artist Flametop will be traveling here to the Rattlesnake Retreat in AZ.

[cmatthes]

Those are great guitars.

That form of "Hameritis" is caused by a reaction from the buffing compound reacting with the clearcoat - it has never been conclusively determined, but my best guess is that it hit the buffing wheel before things were totally cured and the compound dust got into the finish and the bubbles were due to the resulting chemical reaction.  It seems to have been the kind of thing that became apparent after shipping too - not something that would be spotted by the eagle eyed Hamer QC team.

[benjammin308]

On 2/17/2021 at 10:59 AM, Hbom said:

I've been watching that guitar for a couple of months. I didn't want to ship this winter. But it looks to be a nice example at a fair price. And the dealer has been good to me in the past.

But I have experience with hameritis and believe that it greatly improves my tone.

In a nutshell, I would say buy it! Close your eyes and play it. You will never hear those little spots.

 

I don't buy guitars without hameritis because they sound so good.  You will be very happy, and if not send it to me.

[Menehune]

On 2/17/2021 at 2:40 PM, cmatthes said:

Those are great guitars.

That form of "Hameritis" is caused by a reaction from the buffing compound reacting with the clearcoat - it has never been conclusively determined, but my best guess is that it hit the buffing wheel before things were totally cured and the compound dust got into the finish and the bubbles were due to the resulting chemical reaction.  It seems to have been the kind of thing that became apparent after shipping too - not something that would be spotted by the eagle eyed Hamer QC team.

Well, that explains the constellation of little bubbles across the neck of the '96 Studio Custom I just picked up. The guitar may also be a contender for Most Pizza Day Fingerprints Ever, Plus What Looks Like a Handprint on the body back. The top is fine, and the finish "features" appear only on the back of the guitar and then only in bright penlight illumination.

Enjoy your beautiful guitar,@VincentYGB.

[VincentYGB]

9 hours ago, Menehune said:

Well, that explains the constellation of little bubbles across the neck of the '96 Studio Custom I just picked up. The guitar may also be a contender for Most Pizza Day Fingerprints Ever, Plus What Looks Like a Handprint on the body back. The top is fine, and the finish "features" appear only on the back of the guitar and then only in bright penlight illumination.

Enjoy your beautiful guitar,@VincentYGB.

Thanks, we'll see how it pans out as delivery is today.