Project - Hamer Explorer

flatfourfan · 2011-02-21T07:49:25+00:00

All started the end of last year when I saw that giggsy was selling his Hamer (Slammer). I made an offer and didn't think anything else of it until I saw that a week or so ago it was still up for sale. So I reminded him that my offer still stood. A deal was made and I collected it. (hope you don't mind me linking to your pick giggsy?????) I had discussed with guidopimp what I wanted to do with it and as long as the wood was straight and the frets were good, I'd take it. So getting it home and plugging it in, I realised that it needed some serious work. (note, from my understanding the mods were done by the owner BEFORE giggsy) Basically, the wiring was 100% shot, I knew that the pots were way too small and the pups didn't have much output, but as long as the body and neck were good, then I was happy. So off to Guido's house I went and found out what was needed...... 1) He rewired the whole guitar, he had it stripped to the bones on his dining room table and there were loads of tut tutting and saying WTF??? 2) The pups that were in there were about 4200, I think one was about 4300. (Garbage, but we already knew that), he had a spare set that he loaned me from his box. 3) Selector switch was shot, guido raped his project for parts, what a man....... 4) Pots were swapped out and the wiring configuration changed to what I prefer....... 5) He adjusted the neck and still noticed that something wasn't right, but he went on. 6) Neck was shimmed about 2mm He dropped her off yesterday and wow.............this is by far the nicest set up guitar that I've had. Action is super low, it's so easy to play and is probably about 100x better to play with than when i got it. The dude has some mad skills. He did say that the mass of wood behind the bridge is giving the bassy sound. I didn't really think of it until I compared it to my other guitars. So next upgrade is a pup swap. The Plans????? Well after selling the CMT last week, I'm going after the distressed look, just because it looks so damn fine......Body is going to be sanded down to wood, cause I'd like to know what's underneath, I suspect that it's basswood, looking inside the neck slot and the pick up cavity, I'm just glad that it's not ply. Guido reckons with a 500XL from Bill lawrence (to counter the bass sound that the guitar is giving) and I'm just waiting for a quote on one and will order that. Basically like this, but I want to give it the very worn in look. Work will more than likely start in a week or so, the only real jobs that need to be done are the body sand down as well as the headstock sanding down. Just in case you were wondering about the Gary-san..............it's going to be in the Gibson script.........lol. Gary is my name by the way.................. White pick guard and a classic look will complete it.......Guido may make some comments and corrections to what I've said as he actually did all the work. Thanks bud.......

Jacquesg4j

Awesome ... also replied!

flatfourfan

Jacquesg4j wrote Awesome ... also replied!

replied............the AEG agent just called me back and said all packs are R85 each per pack of 3 as they are special order........I'm going to hand my sander to a mate and have him modify it to fit the smaller belts............I can't believe it's cheaper to just buy a new sander........lol.

thanks J...............mind if I bring a camera along to snap some pics for the updates?

Jacquesg4j

You can give Klingspor Abrasives a call... They make belts to the size you want!

flatfourfan

Jacquesg4j wrote You can give Klingspor Abrasives a call... They make belts to the size you want!

thanks, I spoke with a rep at klingspor yesterday, but at R20 a belt and a minimum order of 20 belts, it's a tad pricy for what I need it for, but I think that this is a great time for my wife to give in to my nagging........she wants a bench done for the garden.........perfect time to hold her ransom for new tools.

slyd

Hey fff. How's things getting on after the hiccup? Can't wait to see more!

flatfourfan

slyd wrote Hey fff. How's things getting on after the hiccup? Can't wait to see more!

Everything is boxed until the weekend. I'm going through to Jacques workshop on Friday and I'm going to sand down the front and back. I've already done the horns with a circular abrasive disk and that's got the worry spot sorted out. I see that I'm more than likely going to ahve to bleach the sides to get the black stain out as it does sink in pretty deep into the grain. But I'm very sure that I'll be able to turn this guitar around. I few nights this week in the garage should have the sides done, so that Friday should be pretty quick. Plans after the initial sand down is to lay a 3mm ply sheet on the front and then hopefully sand it down once it's glued in place as I only need the lower ply.....

Will post pics when there is progress.

giggsy

I'm sure your'e keen on giving it back to me now........ or chucking it against the wall!

Best of luck though - my Grant Les Paul, which was an abolute mission (and cost a fortune) to return to a playable guitar, is still my favourite and I wouldn't ever consider selling it - hopefully Gary-san turns out the same!

flatfourfan

Giggsy wrote I'm sure your'e keen on giving it back to me now........ or chucking it against the wall!

Best of luck though - my Grant Les Paul, which was an abolute mission (and cost a fortune) to return to a playable guitar, is still my favourite and I wouldn't ever consider selling it - hopefully Gary-san turns out the same!

What's nice about project Gary-san is that I got it to the position of a great playable guitar before gutting it, so I know that it plays just great, it's just the wood work that needs attention. Building it up and stripping it down is childsplay. I'm still only in for R300 more than what I paid for it.

flatfourfan

Minor update............I moaned a bit to AEG as my belt sander that I had from them uses a size of belt that no-one makes, so a gentleman called Case (honestly) calls me and offers me a new belt sander at cost which impresses the crap out of me, until I think....hang on, what if cost is based on a R4500 belt sander as my model was an industrial model and not cheap...................so Case emails me today............."just waiting on a dust bag for your new sander, latest model, varible speed.......................................no charge."

How awesome is that?

guidothepimmp

Thats not bad eh? good service... :-\

flatfourfan

guidothepimmp wrote Thats not bad eh? good service... :-\

I'll say.........Nice to see that there are companies still around that go that extra mile.

flatfourfan

Will update with some pics on Monday as imageshack is giving me uphill. Good news though.

The guitar is in raw form again and looks the tits....A visit to Jacques got me sorted in about 20 minutes. I can't thank this guy enough, what would of took me a weekend to do was sorted ASAP and it's way better than I could of done.

Some of the toys that we got to play with.

Overall we took off about 2/3 mm off the front and about the same on the back. I'm hoping to get the laminate sorted, but at the moment I'm not happy with what they supplied. The finish is way to glossy and not matt like I ordered. I can't even dull it down. So If I can get the height and ction sorted out, then I may just go with a tele style knob panel up front.

Damn I'm loving this build. It's nice to see natural wood again. Will be doing some mock up tomorrow to see if I can do this as I'm a bit worried that everything has changed and that I'll have to lay up a layer of wood and then just plane it down.

guidothepimmp

looking good, when we whipping in that dimarzio ?

flatfourfan

guidothepimmp wrote looking good, when we whipping in that dimarzio ?

hopefully in a month or so. I have to figure what I'm going to do regarding the laminate as the red oak looks crap and there is no ways that I'm putting it on. I'm more than likely going to get a slab of red oak and sand the bastard down. Bit of a waster, but I can't get my hands on anything that's worthy of this guitar.

I may even see if I can get a slab of pine and take that sucker down.

Who knows...........

slyd

Looks great again! Get it on the move, dude ?

Jacquesg4j

:yup: YUP... That would be me!

flatfourfan

Jacquesg4j wrote :yup: YUP... That would be me!

Dude, I've sent you a pm, I need your advice on something. My laminate turned out to be junk.

Jacquesg4j

flatfourfan wrote
Jacquesg4j wrote :yup: YUP... That would be me!
Dude, I've sent you a pm, I need your advice on something. My laminate turned out to be junk.

None recieved?

flatfourfan

I put it up in the forum............people may as well see all of the build.

Firstly.............thanks a million, I really can't that you enough.

Well i go to pick up my laminate after I left your place and it's gabage, total sh*t. What I ordered and what I got was two different things, I wanted a sheet of red oak and got some cheesy cupboard laminate that you'd use in a kitchen. There is no ways that I'm putting it on a guitar, I'd have to add a door handle on there or something.........lol.

So here's my options as I can't leave it at the current thickness as I need the 4mm build up on the front to get my spacing and action right.

1) Buy a sheet of pine the same size as the body and attach it to the front and then work it down with hopefully your help?

2) Buy some actual oak and then work that down following the same method as above?

I'd like option 2, but I'll more than likely be buying a few oak planks, planing them and then laminating them and then join that to the top of the guit and then work it down. I'd like to do that on the front only.

Any advice?

Jacquesg4j

mmmm... Is the laminate veneer or melamine? Let me try and source some veneer and see if I can find some 3mm VENEER! That should be a lot easier than planing a 25mm piece of wood down to 3mm! Will let you know if I find something!

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