mirrorimij

Actually there is…..if it came from the factory with a pickguard the depth of the routing in the wood is deeper in the switch rout to account for the thickness of the pickguard. You would have to open it up and take a measurement.

It’s right around the anniversary of the Arlington to New Hartford move….1997. Just about half my life ago. About 12 of us left our lives in suburban Chicago and jumped on planes, got in cars, etc and headed East. The shop was downsized considerably and production went from damn near 100 per week down to a dozen. We lost a lot of good people that couldn’t make the move. Many said the “new” ones would never be as good. I think the team did a great job of preserving the brand from a build perspective. Many thoughts. Thank you to Frank and Jol for giving me the opportunity to move and for the advancement opportunities that followed. I’m in a much different spot in life now but a direct line can be drawn from my time at Hamer. Thanks to Dave Brown for putting up with me as a roommate/coworker for two years lol. Thank you Mike, Chip, Clay and the rest of the crew for being such a huge part of my life back then. I’ve lost touch with some but I think about you guys often and wish you all well. We did good Gentlemen. The instruments we built hang with the best of them.

They all were routed from the back and should have two cover plates on the back. One for the switch and one for the electronics cavity.

FWIW…most USA Korina Standards have a two piece body. I have a one piece body from the original run and there were only 3 or 4 that were one piece. One piece mahogany is typical for Standards and Standard Customs.

Regarding the tailpiece…..I’m not sure what they were doing in 2008 but on the original series I think Steve Ward had the tailpieces and rubber side strip sourced locally. Dave or Mike please chime in. Maybe Parallel Machine and a local plating company? I remember Steve was having difficulty sourcing the material for the side strip. I believe we ended up using stair tread cut with a die. I think the Thunderbolt tailpiece was simply brass plate that was machined in the Hamer woodshop. nice guitar!

That was a long time ago and many brain cells have died since then…..but I vaguely remember we made a Daytona for him. I don’t have any other specifics and I have no idea if the guitar discussed here is that one.

We used to do sunburst samples with flame maple scraps too. Those are really cool I wish I could find a set of those.

Whenever an employee had a birthday Annette had a very special way she would announce it over the intercom system. She was a great person. It's a sad day.

That could be the cover of the catalog.

That rasp was also used to carve the necks for the dual truss rod B12 bass necks and the asymmetric carve of the 1990s 5 string cruise basses. Hamer always bought them without the handle. I am not sure why. I have used mine with and without the handle and I prefer it without. That rasp and a cabinet scraper are two of my favorite hand tools.

That is a Shinto Saw Rasp (minus the handle). They can remove material efficiently and allow a high degree of control. The spaces allow the chips to clear. You can buy them here http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/151297/9-Shinto-Saw-Rasp.aspx

Perhaps Newman could chime in on this...... The truss rod covers shown above were standard issue on the "modern vintage" P90 Special initially. Then the truss rod cover had to be changed along with the shape of the headstock tip. The scroll of the headstock was cut with a custom made shaper knife. It was rather expensive to have a new cutter made and the new shape didn't look very different. I would guess a side by side comparison would be necessary to see the difference. I think it had something to do with a settlement between Gibson and Heritage. My impression was that Hamer was voluntarily making the changes. I smoked a lot of weed back then so I could be completely f'd up on this.

Would these truss rod covers used on the early 90's Specials be considered the "bell" style normally associated with Gibson?

I think it had something to do with an agreement or settlement with Gibson. Hamer was still using the familiar bell shape TRC when I started there in the early 90's. The scroll on the headstock changed slightly at the same time as the TRC change. That last Standard that Jackass assembled on "black tuesday" used a Gibson shaped rod cover that was supplied by the customer. I would ask Mike if that is an option.

They are brothers.