Help ID this 1985 Hamer Special

[Case]

Howdy, 

my buddy just recently nabbed this extremely clean 1985 Hamer Special from Lidgett Music in Iowa. After doing some digging, he was curious if there was any interesting history on this one as it shows some odd traits (mix or earlier and later specs), but the serial number seems to be pretty clear from '85. Refin? Custom order? Has this one been in the "family" before?

https://www.lidgettmusic.com/electric-guitars/p/hamer-1985-special-in-sunburst

Features:

Smaller Headstock

Odd nut with a "shelf" (as though it may have replaced a locking nut?)

Checkerboard Logo

Hamer Branded Tuners

Hamer U.S.A. Guitars pickups (stamped on the back of the brass pickup bass plate)

Serial number clearly a “5” + 5 digits that fall into the appropriate general sequence to be an ’85

Slightly increased cutout on the treble side

knobs sit pretty high off the face of the body but:

    Pots appear original, no re-soldering. Hamer stamped on the pots.

    Pickups wired out of phase.

    There is a ground wire to a lug on one of the screws on the control cavity cover

 

Thanks for any tips or info!

[Dave Scepter]

Super nice... congrats 👏 

[bruce919]

I had an 84 Sunburst with that same type of nut. While you still see Special & Sunburst in this time frame they were not made in large quantities during this period. Parts such as nut were just pulled out the same bin as they used on Blitz's & Vectors. Same with knob and such. 

Look at the pickup backs. I would guess the neck is stamped Hamer (DiMarzio made) while the bridge is just stamped DiMarzio. 

 

 

[DaveL]

I just bought a used Murphy Lab Junior from Lidgett,  they get some cool stuff and were great to deal with.   

That's a nice looking special... not sure what's up with the shelf but otherwise looks pretty clean.   

[cmatthes]

2 hours ago, Case said:

Howdy, 

my buddy just recently nabbed this extremely clean 1985 Hamer Special from Lidgett Music in Iowa. After doing some digging, he was curious if there was any interesting history on this one as it shows some odd traits (mix or earlier and later specs), but the serial number seems to be pretty clear from '85. Refin? Custom order? Has this one been in the "family" before?

https://www.lidgettmusic.com/electric-guitars/p/hamer-1985-special-in-sunburst

Features:

Smaller Headstock

Odd nut with a "shelf" (as though it may have replaced a locking nut?)

Checkerboard Logo

Hamer Branded Tuners

Hamer U.S.A. Guitars pickups (stamped on the back of the brass pickup bass plate)

Serial number clearly a “5” + 5 digits that fall into the appropriate general sequence to be an ’85

Slightly increased cutout on the treble side

knobs sit pretty high off the face of the body but:

    Pots appear original, no re-soldering. Hamer stamped on the pots.

    Pickups wired out of phase.

    There is a ground wire to a lug on one of the screws on the control cavity cover

 

Thanks for any tips or info!

Features:

Smaller Headstock - That's the regular headstock for that era.

Odd nut with a "shelf" (as though it may have replaced a locking nut?) - That's the regular "production" Lubitrak nut for that era

Checkerboard Logo - That's not unusual, if they had one lying around.  Specials weren't in the catalog that year, but could be ordered.  They transitioned over to the "Stadium Logo" around that time.

Hamer Branded Tuners - Standard for that era

Hamer U.S.A. Guitars pickups (stamped on the back of the brass pickup bass plate) - Usually would have been double-black "Slammers" (Hamer U.S.A. stamped on the back) by DiMarzio, but the Creme/Zebra was also available either with certain finishes or by request.

Serial number clearly a “5” + 5 digits that fall into the appropriate general sequence to be an ’85 - Yep.

Slightly increased cutout on the treble side - Nope.  That's the regular body shape of that era.

knobs sit pretty high off the face of the body but:  Most likely, the knobs were switched from the black plastic Hamer ridged knobs from that era.  Those would fit normally, since they have a deeper profile.  It's possible that the bonnet knobs are aftermarket, or maybe original from Hamer, but didn't fit the longer shafted pots correctly

    Pots appear original, no re-soldering. Hamer stamped on the pots. - Normal

    Pickups wired out of phase. - Normal

    There is a ground wire to a lug on one of the screws on the control cavity cover - Normal

[Case]

Thanks so much for all the replies!

 

[topekatj]

Link no longer works, now you have to post pictures!

and, DIBS!