MN Hobbyist

My '77 Sunburst (#70034) w/ Seth Lovers

Leonard Cohen is on his first US tour in 15 years. I am privileged to have caught the Minneapolis show last week. A living legend! He has a top-notch backing band, too. He is 74 years old, so who knows if he'll tour again?

Did nobody pick anything by Zeppelin? (To be fair, neither did I in my list). Do Hamer player have a natural aversion to this band? Granted, Jimmy Page is pretty sloppy, but his songwriting and parts can be pretty magical. I would vote for "Houses of the Holy" if only it could lose "The Crunge" and "D'yer Maker".

Here's what's been wearing out my speakers lately. No real clunkers on them, I don't think. At least I never have to get annoyed and skip a song. Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced? AC/DC - Let There Be Rock Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast PJ Harvey - Rid of Me Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted System of a Down - Toxicity Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

Thanks to all you friendly HFCers for answering my questions about my guitar.

Here's an end of headstock shot: Any way of dating the neck?

Pardon my ignorance, but how do I tell if it's a 3-piece neck? By the way, here is another pic of the tuners so you can have a better look.

Too bad you don't have it anymore! It goes well with bell-bottoms, BTW. Thanks. Yeah I'm in Mpls. Maybe I'll check it out. But I fear if I start getting too interested in this stuff I'll start wanting more Hamers and that will require more money... Common problem, I imagine.

Oops yr right. I was mis-reading my measuring tape. It's 4.2cm. If a new neck has been fitted, I wonder how the serial number was retained. I'm definitely no expert, but I see no evidence of major headstock repair (other than new tuners and nut). If anything I might guess that there was a neck break and it was sent to Hamer for repair, and Hamer gave it a new neck and restamped it with the old serial number. In support of this, you can see that the paint color in the join region between the neck and body is lighter. Maybe this is normal? No idea if the new neck theory is the case, just guessing. Did Hamer do major repair work on their guitars for the general public?

I'm not sure what to compare it to, but I would say it's medium-to-chunky. To be exact the nut is 5cm wide and the neck is 33mm deep.

Thanks for the info. I imagine that those original pickups are pretty hard to come by, huh? Good eye on the shim. That makes sense. And yes, it does play well.

I've recently rediscovered my '77 Sunburst. Didn't know they were such a hot topic until I happened upon the HFC forum. It's not for sale. I play it all the time and haven't played a better guitar. I bought it in '94 and know nothing about previous owner or any mods done to it before I got it. I believe it has Seymour Duncan Seth Lover 55's in both positions. One of them, I put in to match the one that came with it. I have one of the original PU's, not installed, but it appears to be a Gibson Burstbucker, not a DiMarzio. The tuners, though Grovers, appear to be replacement ones because of the obvious holes in the back of the headstock. This guitar is very beat up and nicked but in perfect playing and sounding shape. Anyways, I have some questions on it. Specifically I'm wondering about the neck, bridge, and speed knobs. From what I've read, the earliest sunbursts with dot necks are supposed to have the octave dots both on the fingerboard and on the side of the neck be relatively far apart. Mine are close together, which makes more sense for 1979-80 models. In addition, the headstock is shorter, with a less pronounced lip shape, so it seems more like a newer model. Also the speed knobs are supposed to be black, but mine are gold. Were any of the 1977 sunbursts originally outfitted with gold speed knobs? Finally, the bridge does not have a shim under it but is solid metal with the sustain block, which supposedly didn't happen until later. Any thoughts on what's original and what's not? Any idea how much this could fetch? Again, I'm not selling but would like to know out of curiosity. Thanks in advance for any thoughts!