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Post by wilmer on Mar 27, 2011 7:45:56 GMT -5
I registered here because I have been playing a Fender HM Strat Ultra for some years now, but not so many know the Fender HM guitars. Mine has the reddish colour I guess is called Crimson Frost. I have changed the Lace pickups to a Dimarzio Area 61 in the neck, a Area 58 in the mid, and a splitable Dimarzio Breed in the bridge. It sounds and plays like cream and butter. I had a Fender Stratocaster 1965 in the early 70s, and it was a really good instrument, but my HM Strat Ultra is actually better. The trem is extraordinary good, the playability is outstanding, and the sound(s) are now just beautiful. Here´s a clip from soundclick where I play my HM Strat Ultra. It´s just an improvisation in the studio. You can see a pic of the guitar too: www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=865183&songID=10344489 |
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mrfist9
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Post by mrfist9 on Mar 27, 2011 13:46:06 GMT -5
Welcome to the Ultra Club. You might have the 6-7 Hm Ultra ever to reach the realms of the internet. I love mine and don't see myself every seeing another they are that rare.
Take some pictures and put them up here. It would be great to see another Ultra that exists.
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Post by wilmer on Mar 27, 2011 14:18:20 GMT -5
You can see my Ultra at the soundclick-link in my first post. And it looks exactly like the one in your avatar. Isn´t the colour called Crimson frost? It has a quite poison-red colour in daylight, and there is some glitter in it, so it it´s like frost in sunlight. Ah, beautiful!
I found my HM Ultra in a guitar shop, and it had a modest price tag and was labeled "Strat Plus". Since I knew about the Strat Plus model I knew it was not a such, but I was curious so I played it for some minutes and realized it was the best Strat I had ever played - and I have played a lot. OK, I bought it without knowing what model it actually was; it was that good. It took me some weeks to find out that it was a HM Strat Ultra - a very rare model. I was very happy with everything except the pickups, but I have now Dimarzioised it - but I have kept the original Lace pickups. OK; it´s the best Strat I have ever played. The sound is just to die for.
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mrfist9
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Post by mrfist9 on Mar 27, 2011 14:27:43 GMT -5
Oh ok I see know you're wilmer from Harmony Central. Theres a guy on there named TomcatMF and I bought mine from him. Personally I believe the guitar is rarer then believed. If about a 1000 existed I think we would see more than just the few that seem to exist. If you look on the front page of the site heavymetalstrat.com/ Click on Gallery and scroll to the bottom. You can see lbeast's collection in which he has 3 Hm Ultras. I'm not sure what the Color is called. I always thought ours was Crimson Burst. But who knows?
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Post by wilmer on Mar 27, 2011 15:18:00 GMT -5
Yes, I´m that Wilmer.  I know that Tomcat succeeded to find a HM Ultra, but said to me he was not so happy with it? The problems he mentioned, in my opinion, could be easily fixed by a luthier, though. I took mine to Åke Björnstad in Gothenburg and he had no problems to fix the minor problems. You still got the original pickups? I liked mine a lot from start: they had a sustain I´ve never heard from an electric guitar. It was like Miles Davis; you could hold out a tone for a minute if you wanted. Incredible. But they had were somewhat dirty and did not have the tone I wanted. I changed to a Dimarzio Area 61 in the neck, an Area 58 in the mid and a Breed in the bridge. It now does not have that special sustain, but the tone is what I have had in my brain for many years. I´m very happy with it. I´ve heard that the HM Strat Ultras were made in less than 900 examples. And I´m almost sure the colour is Crimson Frost (?): shut down the lights and put a spotlight to the guitar: it´s like frost a sunny winter day. Perhaps we should start a club for HM Ultra players? |
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mrfist9
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Posts: 191
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Post by mrfist9 on Mar 27, 2011 15:43:46 GMT -5
Yes it still has all the original pickups. I don't think a Ultra club would be large enough to be considered anything.
The only 4 colors known to exist are Red Burst, Blue Burst, Red Swirl, and the Brown Burst.
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Post by lbeast on Mar 27, 2011 21:41:12 GMT -5
Just judging from the Fender color chart from the same era, '90-'91, the colors are called Crimson Frost, Blue Frost, Black Pearl Burst (this one is not 100%), & Firestorm. I'll need a true and correct copy of the Vol. 3 Fender Frontline to rule out any other color names for the Tobacco Burst colored HM Strat Ultra.
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Post by wilmer on Mar 28, 2011 11:57:49 GMT -5
I have had my HM Strat Ultra since 2004, and looked at Ebay and forums to see if there are other players who has one. But I´ve only found Tomcat at HC so far - except from you here. And I have seen 1 at Ebay. So yes, perhaps you´re right. It is said they had to be ordered from factory, and perhaps not so many ordered a Heavy Metal Strat Ultra in the early 1990s when metal suddenly became less popular?
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mrfist9
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Ya I'm just that Awesome
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Post by mrfist9 on Mar 28, 2011 12:37:31 GMT -5
Incase you didn't see in my post Tomcat sold his to me. Truthfully I think all this guitar needs is some publicity or famous artist usage and we could be millionaires! Not really but a guy can dream right.
Also I have a question for the both of you. Does either of your Ultra(s) have a kind of tight and slow moving selector switch. Mine kinds of needs some more force to move it. I'm not sure if this is a problem a design flaw or improvement. Also am i the only person who can see 3 big circles through the pickup covers on the Laces.
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Post by wilmer on Mar 28, 2011 13:56:40 GMT -5
Oh, yes, I saw that Tomcat sold his to you. Some years ago I made a review at HC and I guess there were two more reviews; one guy from Holland and one from the US. There was also a guy who reviewed one at the more common "Strat Ultra"-section, and described it as having no pickguard, with a Kahler trem and sharkfin-inlays - obviously a HM Strat Ultra. It´s fun to have a rare model, of course, but the reason for why I purchased a Strat was that my Les Paul-SG 1961 had become too rare and expensive to bring to a gig. So I purchased another one, at least too rare.  My selector is moving smoothly. And I can see no circles on the originals Fender-Lace pickup covers? |
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mrfist9
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Post by mrfist9 on Mar 28, 2011 15:29:58 GMT -5
I think the bulging circles are on yours. If you look at the 2nd picture of the brown one it has it too.
It looks as if someone had shoved 3 dimes on top of the pickups.
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Post by wilmer on Mar 28, 2011 15:45:40 GMT -5
OK, now I understand what you mean, and my originals has it too. Seems to be from the machine that puts the covers on?
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Post by lbeast on Mar 29, 2011 16:52:25 GMT -5
I have seen 3 Firestorms (including mine) for sale on eBay over the years, along with 3 Crimson Frosts, 2 Tobacco Bursts (including the one on Strat Central), and only one Blue Frost, and I own it. The Blue Frost has a black edge with silver metal flake overspray on the edge and the Crimson Frost one has just a black edge, no metal flake look at all. I have seen 3 HM Ultra Basses over the years in Silver Frost, a kind of purplish sunburst, & tobacco burst. There was a HM Ultra bass for sale on eBay about a year ago for $500.00 in California. I always wanted one to go with the HM Ultra Strat, but just didn't have the coin at the time to purchase it. I have photos of all these guitars on a disc somewhere, probably in my storage. God help me with that mass disorganization. 
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Post by wilmer on Mar 30, 2011 8:34:27 GMT -5
Blue Frost....ouch, that´s just beautiful.
My Crimson has small, almost invisible, "frosty" flakes in the black edge. I didn´t see it myself first, but saw it first when the light accidently was out, and I had a spotlight on it.
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