Hamer Cruisebass - UK request (scratchplate scan)

[planetgaffnet]

Morning
I own the Hamer Cruisebass shown below.  While I'm deeply in love with the thing, I would love a single-ply black scratchplate for it.  Don't worry - it'll be attached with double sided tape (or the woodworkers trick of masking tape/superglue/accelerator), no holes.  I suppose first love was always the version shown on the postcard flyers that you picked up in music shops when I was a kid.

Anyhow.  Has anyone in the UK got a Cruisebass that I can i) offer up and see whether it fits and ii) use to create a template (or forward on to someone to make a new guard?  I'm based near Reading, Berkshire.  If you're nearby, happy to pickup and return.

Thanks!

 

Edited December 21, 2024 by planetgaffnet

[planetgaffnet]

OK...no joy.  I'll try another route. 

On a global level(!), could someone maybe remove their plate and make a scan of it and attach it here?  Perhaps a .pdf, 100% scale? 

There are a lot of images on a Google search, but they're small/low resolution. 

Thanks!

[Jimbilly]

mine is also without scratchplate, but I have a sensible solution:  buy one with a pickguard! 

[planetgaffnet]

12 minutes ago, Jimbilly said:

mine is also without scratchplate, but I have a sensible solution:  buy one with a pickguard! 

Heh.

They're hard enough to find as it is on this side of the pond, scratchplate or otherwise!

[planetgaffnet]

We seem to have guys over here that can make up a plate off a .pdf scan.  The plate just needs to be scanned face up.

[Cboss]

https://www.pickguardplanet.com/hamer-cruise-bass-rick-neilsen-pickguards/

Just have them make what you want with no screw holes, it will be perfect

[planetgaffnet]

On 12/8/2024 at 12:06 AM, Cboss said:

https://www.pickguardplanet.com/hamer-cruise-bass-rick-neilsen-pickguards/

Just have them make what you want with no screw holes, it will be perfect

Wrong model/shape!

[planetgaffnet]

Sorry to bump this...nobody can help?

I just need a scan of the pick guard, face-up, 300dpi, PDF.  I've found a guy who will scale things up here and shoot me over a template to offer up.

HELP!!

😄

[mathman]

I have an 83.  Would that year’s work?

[planetgaffnet]

On 12/21/2024 at 6:00 PM, mathman said:

I have an 83.  Would that year’s work?

Hello - sorry for the delay, Christmas and all that!

If the body shape is the same/similar to the above, then yes!  The guy cutting the pickguard has said he can alter things to accommodate the nuances of pickup positions.  I'l shoot you a PM.

Thanks!

[planetgaffnet]

Brief update!

@mathman was kind enough to shoot me over a scan; I've had the schematic back from a place called Gig.Ink here in the UK (see attached); this is UK A4 papersize.

Just tweaking the neck pocket size; mine's a mm or two bigger.  Will post an update once I have the plate.

 

Hamer Cruise Bass TEMPLATE.pdf

[planetgaffnet]

Order in...should see it in about a week.

Weeee!

[mathman]

On 12/30/2024 at 6:42 AM, planetgaffnet said:

Brief update!

@mathman was kind enough to shoot me over a scan; I've had the schematic back from a place called Gig.Ink here in the UK (see attached); this is UK A4 papersize.

Just tweaking the neck pocket size; mine's a mm or two bigger.  Will post an update once I have the plate.

 

Hamer Cruise Bass TEMPLATE.pdf 165.11 kB · 12 downloads

I thought to mention that in the US we use US Letter.  I could have scanned as A4 but I guess I just expected them to be able to change their settings.   That may be the slight difference you experienced.  Glad it worked!

 

[HSB0531]

On 12/7/2024 at 7:06 PM, Cboss said:

https://www.pickguardplanet.com/hamer-cruise-bass-rick-neilsen-pickguards/

Just have them make what you want with no screw holes, it will be perfect

Yes, much easier.

[cmatthes]

15 hours ago, HSB0531 said:

Yes, much easier.

Not the correct model of Cruisebass though.

[Cboss]

It is worth an inquiry to them with a picture; I've spoken to them on the phone and they have many templates that are not on the order pages

[planetgaffnet]

On 1/1/2025 at 12:59 AM, mathman said:

I thought to mention that in the US we use US Letter.  I could have scanned as A4 but I guess I just expected them to be able to change their settings.   That may be the slight difference you experienced.  Glad it worked!

 

Genuinely quite excited about this.  First time I saw a Cruisebass it was an earlier iteration and hanging [new] in a shop in Denmark Street, London (see the postcard flyer below/not my image).  It was exactly this model.

I was just doing a paper-round back then; for my measly £5.00 a week it might have taken several years to amass enough moola to have bought one!

[Disturber]

54 minutes ago, planetgaffnet said:

Genuinely quite excited about this.  First time I saw a Cruisebass it was an earlier iteration and hanging [new] in a shop in Denmark Street, London (see the postcard flyer below/not my image).  It was exactly this model.

I was just doing a paper-round back then; for my measly £5.00 a week it might have taken several years to amass enough moola to have bought one!

 

Joe recently wrote about that exact picture of the Cruise bass:

"I still have the one in that photo. It’s one of the first if not the very first ones. There were some very important features I wanted when designing it. Think P Bass familiarity with Thunderbird sound as well."

I am not sure how much, and in what way, the mahogany vs the three piece maple neck affects the tone. The three piece maple neck came sometime in 1985 - 1986. Does it take away some of the Thunderbird sound? 

I like the first headstock better than the headstock that came with the maple neck. The first headstock is more "gibson", a bit larger and looks cooler. The 2nd headstock design is more modern and sleeker.

I really love my 1988 Cruisebass though. It has a great tone and the neck is very easy to play. It is a truly great bass and I find it better sounding and easier to play than my friends Strandberg and Music Man basses.

[planetgaffnet]

On 1/3/2025 at 1:22 PM, Disturber said:

Joe recently wrote about that exact picture of the Cruise bass:

"I still have the one in that photo. It’s one of the first if not the very first ones. There were some very important features I wanted when designing it. Think P Bass familiarity with Thunderbird sound as well."

I am not sure how much, and in what way, the mahogany vs the three piece maple neck affects the tone. The three piece maple neck came sometime in 1985 - 1986. Does it take away some of the Thunderbird sound? 

I like the first headstock better than the headstock that came with the maple neck. The first headstock is more "gibson", a bit larger and looks cooler. The 2nd headstock design is more modern and sleeker.

I really love my 1988 Cruisebass though. It has a great tone and the neck is very easy to play. It is a truly great bass and I find it better sounding and easier to play than my friends Strandberg and Music Man basses.

When I got the Cruisebass in the top photo (this is a photo of what it looked like when it arrived), the pickups didn't seem to have much oomph; they were right under the strings - very close - and there was very little downwards adjustment.  I decided to have a lookie (like you do), took them out and found the bar magnets that should have been attached to the underside of the pickups had come off/deattached and were stacked on top of each other.  I was honestly loathed to reattach/test/remove etc. so sourced a replacement set of P/J pickups and bought a set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups. 

These pickups are fine, but as my other basses were all active I pulled the original loom and dropped a John East Retro 3 unit in.  I've obviously kept all the original guts and that'll go into the box whenever I decide it's time to sell this on, but for now it's a keeper.  Smitten kitten.

I found the bass on a Reverb advert and at one point it had been in Russia, before being imported to the UK by someone in Scotland, so it's had a bit of a journey.

[planetgaffnet]

Scratchplate arrived today from gig.ink here in the UK.  £45 shipped.  Fantastic stuff.  So happy!

Thanks to @mathman for the original scan!

[Jimbilly]

that looks great!

[HSB0531]

On 1/3/2025 at 7:20 AM, planetgaffnet said:

Genuinely quite excited about this.  First time I saw a Cruisebass it was an earlier iteration and hanging [new] in a shop in Denmark Street, London (see the postcard flyer below/not my image).  It was exactly this model.

I was just doing a paper-round back then; for my measly £5.00 a week it might have taken several years to amass enough moola to have bought one!

While waiting to take delivery on my standard bass in 1981, I saw this very same ad and fell in love with it.  This was odd, because I never liked the Fender Jazz bass.  Still to this day, if I could afford one in like new condition in transparent red with the black pickguard, I'd buy it.

[planetgaffnet]

2 hours ago, HSB0531 said:

While waiting to take delivery on my standard bass in 1981, I saw this very same ad and fell in love with it.  This was odd, because I never liked the Fender Jazz bass.  Still to this day, if I could afford one in like new condition in transparent red with the black pickguard, I'd buy it.

I think Hamer got things 100% correct (in the UK) regarding marketing; from memory nothing in the music press, but you'd go up to London and there'd be these postcard sized flyers in guitar shops and piles of these US Letter sized flyers of the Vectors and others.

[kizanski]

5 hours ago, planetgaffnet said:

Scratchplate arrived today from gig.ink here in the UK.  £45 shipped.  Fantastic stuff.  So happy!

Thanks to @mathman for the original scan!

Big visual improvement.  

[HSB0531]

1 hour ago, planetgaffnet said:

I think Hamer got things 100% correct (in the UK) regarding marketing; from memory nothing in the music press, but you'd go up to London and there'd be these postcard sized flyers in guitar shops and piles of these US Letter sized flyers of the Vectors and others.

I also think that Jol got the image and graphics just right.  There's the way the bass is positioned that sets off the look.  It's lean looking.  The angular pickguard sets off the jazz-bass themed curves and sharp pointed offset double cut upper horns.