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Hamer Bass Experts, an HSB?


specialk

Question

Okay guys, needing some help on something I recently inherited. Looks like a HSB, but the headstock now has a poorly done decal, no USA at the end. Is this a USA Standard bass or import Blitz bass?

It has: Hamer USA hardware, Alembic active pickups, Zulu finish, and fits a Hamer USA case perfectly.

But no serial number on the back. TBH, the case it’s in looks pretty old, maybe the stamp wore off.

Pics, and I can take more if someone needs to see something:

 

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I used to have a couple of early-mid '80's Blitz basses...does this one have an black brushed aluminum back panel for the electronics?  Shielding paint in the electronics cavity?  If it has a three-piece mahogany body under the hopefully-original paint (you can tell by looking at the reflection of the paint surface, and look for perfectly straight lines that run the length of the body, where the paint job has sunk just the tinest bit along the seam over the years), then I'd strongly suspect it's a early-mid '80's Blitz bass, especially with those type of knobs it has (my '85 Cruisebass has those knobs, as well as the same Hamer-marked Schaller tuners).  If the back of the headstock hasn't been refinished, you can check it with a black light for any faint traces of ink from the S/N.  The only 'Standard' basses I've ever seen (in pictures) had a 4-digit impressed S/N, though there could be exceptions I don' t know about.  Just my two cents, hope this helps, someone else here on the HFC should know more about it than I do.

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2 hours ago, crunchee said:

(you can tell by looking at the reflection of the paint surface, and look for perfectly straight lines that run the length of the body, where the paint job has sunk just the tinest bit along the seam over the years)

These look good to me, but I've never seen a Standard bass in person:

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My oops, after seeing the latest photos, those knobs look like replacements to me (as in, the same type as used on Jazz Basses); originally I thought they were the slightly domed, black opaque, non-numbered plastic knobs with ridges or serrations on the side edges that Hamer used in the '80's.  Sorry!  The wiring cover and black anodized screws look to me like the ones that you'd find on a USA Hamer though; and the wood that can be seen in the screw holes looks like mahogany to me as well.

BTW, the trick for looking at a painted guitar body to find out how many pieces of wood it's made of works on pretty much any guitar body, provided the finish has dried/cured well, and/or somebody didn't cover it with a cake frosting-thick layer of paint first.

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Steve's correct.  It's a refinished Blitz Bass.

Standard Basses are different.

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My one contribution is that the zebra paint is not factory.  Hamer used ripped sheets of paper as masking to do zebra (and I believe zulu) finishes. The edges are never smooth or round.

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It's a refinished Blitz Bass.

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