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The long running saga: De-Kahlering and restoring-ish my ’81 Special


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                                                    Very cool guitar and it looks very nice from the photos you have posted. I like the idea and look of the exposed coils on the guitar also both Zebra and Cream but it's your guitar so you enjoy it the way it pleases you. I thought long and hard about removing the Kahler 2300 from my first 1979 Black Hamer "Sunburst" which was a marvelous guitar in every other way. The Kahler on that guitar worked fine ,just as it should but I used it sparingly so I thought about having it removed and replaced with a "Sustain Block" bridge. But ultimately with all the costs involved in doing so it made little if any sense money wise to do that. If I had done that and later put it up for sale it would still always be regarded as repaired/refinished guitar hence I would never be able to recoup the monies spent.gvUlGYr.jpgvgbEt53.jpg

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22 hours ago, kizanski said:

Those are "reverse zebras"  (yes, I'm That Guy).
...and crème rings, FFS!

Kidding.
It looks great.

Sweet Baby Jebus, you Hamer Porn addiction it out of CONTROL! Seek Immediate Psychoanalysis.

Reverse Zebras, ppplllllttttzzzz!  😉

I have the original cream rings, they're more like brown rings at this stage. They look like a$$ on this setup, there's no other color that matches and they surely don't match the "cream" of the pickups. 

If you saw this in person I think 98% of you would agree, the original restoration pictures really are the way to leave the guitar; it looks just plain EVIL in all Black front and Red Back. And after all, it is all about "the looks" when you get right down too it. 

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22 hours ago, ARM OF HAMER said:

                                                    Very cool guitar and it looks very nice form the photos you have posted. I like the idea and look of the exposed coils on the guitar also both Zebra and Cream but it's your guitar so you enjoy it the way it pleases you. I thought long and hard about removing the Kahler 2300 from my first 1979 Black Hamer "Sunburst" which was a marvelous guitar in every other way. The Kahler on that guitar worked fine ,just as it should but I used it sparingly so I thought about having it removed and replaced with a "Sustain Block" bridge. But ultimately with all the costs involved in doing so it made little if any sense money wise to do that. If I had done that and later put it up for sale it would still always be regarded as repaired/refinished guitar hence I would never be able to recoup the monies spent.gvUlGYr.jpgvgbEt53.jpg

 

Looks great and if it works, it's a piece of history as tons of guitars got Kahler'ed in this time period so it's fun to see some of them remain. 

All that being said, that '79 is begging you for a De-Kahlering and Re-Top.  😉

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5 minutes ago, Drew816 said:

I have the original cream rings, they're more like brown rings at this stage. They look like a$$ on this setup, there's no other color that matches and they surely don't match the "cream" of the pickups. 

Someone with a vintage Special/Sunburst/Standard would likely pay you dearly for them.

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On 4/16/2021 at 10:30 AM, Drew816 said:

 

Looks great and if it works, it's a piece of history as tons of guitars got Kahler'ed in this time period so it's fun to see some of them remain. 

All that being said, that '79 is begging you for a De-Kahlering and Re-Top.  😉

                                                                        It IS a lot of work to do it right but yes it can be done..........................here is THE SHARK'S "BAD BART" back when it underwent it's "DEKAHLERING" by Jay [MURKAT] here on the HFC.    Bad, Bad Bart - NTL Guitar

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1 hour ago, ARM OF HAMER said:

                                                                        It IS a lot of work to do it right but yes it can be done..........................here is THE SHARK'S "BAD BART" back when it underwent it's "DEKAHLERING" by Jay [MURKAT] here on the HFC.    Bad, Bad Bart - NTL Guitar

I always wondered why they put the maple veneers on the Sunbursts that received opaque finishes. Seemed like an unnecessary step for something that doesn’t affect the tone and won’t ever be seen...

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10 minutes ago, Travis said:

I always wondered why they put the maple veneers on the Sunbursts that received opaque finishes. Seemed like an unnecessary step for something that doesn’t affect the tone and won’t ever be seen...

Built in batches before finishing was determined 

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3 hours ago, ARM OF HAMER said:

                                                                        It IS a lot of work to do it right but yes it can be done..........................here is THE SHARK'S "BAD BART" back when it underwent it's "DEKAHLERING" by Jay [MURKAT] here on the HFC.    Bad, Bad Bart - NTL Guitar

 

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3 hours ago, ARM OF HAMER said:

                                                                        It IS a lot of work to do it right but yes it can be done..........................here is THE SHARK'S "BAD BART" back when it underwent it's "DEKAHLERING" by Jay [MURKAT] here on the HFC.    Bad, Bad Bart - NTL Guitar

Yeah, fantastic work on that one. If Murkat's skill were a 10, mine would be a 1.25 on a good day! And that guitar looks amazing when completed, I had that page book marked.

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