jer_vic Posted December 2, 2023 Posted December 2, 2023 So I bought this on Sept. 1, off of Seattle Facebook Marketplace. My brother met the guy in a parking lot and did the deal for me. My first chance to get down there (I'm on Vancouver Island, Canada) was last (Thanksgiving) weekend. The ad said "Needs work." When I asked him what kind of work it needed, he replied "I don't know". From the pictures, the guitar looked a little rough. My biggest fear was that someone had messed with the electronics, and/or the sustainiac board was gone, and that the neck wasn't straight. Colour I think is Midnight Blue Metallic? When I got it back home, I did an assessment: missing tremolo arm missing tremolo spring back plate one missing locking nut mounting screw weird cardboard shim between the neck and the body ugly "devil smoking a cigar" sticker on the body a few paint chips, and a fair number of lines in the finish some gook on the neck, and some marks that you can't really feel 18th fret was sticking up a bit on the high E side of the neck a buggered up sustainiac battery cover. It looks like it sat for a long time, the batteries corroded, seized the hinge on the cover, and someone broke one of the rivets holding the cover to the hinge trying to get it open. damaged Floyd Rose fine tuner tensioning plate it also appears that someone had messed up the positioning of the saddle assemblies and such, as the strings didn't follow the curve of the neck I'm not sure if the tuners are original - perhaps someone can weigh in on that one stripped screw head on the electronics back plate (I did this one, oops...) The good news was that the neck seems straight, and the electronics all seem original and unmolested. I fixed most of the above issues, removing the sticker and the neck gook with some lighter fluid, replaced the missing parts (fine tuner tension plate is on order), tapped down the 18th fret with a plastic screwdriver handle, new batteries, put the saddles in (what I think is) the correct order, new strings, oiled the fretboard, some polish and set it up as best I can (NOT an expert by any means). I dripped a tonne of Liquid Wrench into the hinge for the sustainiac battery cover and it's moving pretty freely now. Not sure how to repair the broken rivet at this point, and I think there's a little magnetic strip missing from the body of the guitar, and something missing from the inside surface of of the cover (a metal plate? there's glue residue there....). Anyway, verdict is it's going to be a decent guitar. Everything works as it should, including the sustainiac system (although I can't say I'm very impressed with that - maybe it needs some adjusting). I'm going to take it to a pro to have a look at the 18th fret, as it is still protruding a bit, and I'm done with beating on it. Before pictures:
Victor (Fret Friend) Posted December 2, 2023 Posted December 2, 2023 I'd sort that for you no problem! I'm moving to Canada (Ottawa) in 2024: my wife is Canadian. You probably need it done way before I move though. Would be a pleassure to sort it for you though! Here's a Hamer I did a couple of years ago...
jer_vic Posted December 2, 2023 Author Posted December 2, 2023 12 hours ago, Victor (Fret Friend) said: I'd sort that for you no problem! I'm moving to Canada (Ottawa) in 2024: my wife is Canadian. You probably need it done way before I move though. Would be a pleassure to sort it for you though! Here's a Hamer I did a couple of years ago... Cool video, and thanks for the offer. Yeah, I'm going to get it looked at next week, I think. I'm hoping it's just that one fret, and everything else is fine. As far as I can tell, it is, but definitely not an expert.
Brooks Posted December 10, 2023 Posted December 10, 2023 Nice score, could have been much worse. Sustianiacs are fun!
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