My HM Story and a couple of Q's

[landofunland]

Hello!

Great to find this forum and community of HM fanatics!

I’m hoping someone will be able to tell me something about my HM, as it’s a little different than any other I’ve seen.

It has 2 Humbucking pickups, no single coils and no route outs for a single on the body. I’ve looked at a ton of pictures throughout this forum and haven’t seen one like it. It was brand new when I bought it (around 1990). It has 1 volume, 1 tone knob, a 3 position pickup toggle switch and the little coil switch. I’ve only made one mod to the guitar, I didn’t like the plastic “F” knobs and day one I replaced them with black metal ones. I think I threw the originals away! Doh!

The color is: black crackle
Neck is rosewood
Tremelo is Kayler
Knobs: 1 Volume \ 1 Tone \ 1 Coil
Serial: E960784

I am curious though if anyone has any knowledge of my model with the dual humbuckers. I looked at page 2 of the online Strat manual (http://decande.nl/manual.pdf), but none of the three models listed shows two humbucking pickups. So I don’t really know what I have. If anyone has seen one like this and can give me any information, I’d greatly appreciate it.

I will post more pictures in another week or so. These are just some iPhone pics I had handy right now.

Currently the guitar is in the shop. Wondering if anyone else has experienced this or not: When I first got the guitar and for many years after, I could hit a harmonic, pull the trem UP and the note would literally soar up to the STRAT-osphere (pun intended). In 2007 I took it in to get its first setup ever to fix the intonation. When I got it back, the intonation was perfect, but I could no longer pull the trem out more than a half note. The luthier told me it hadn’t been set up properly from the start and in order to fix the intonation he had to drop the bridge (I think?) which caused the inner workings of the trem to be impinged by the interior wood of the body. He said if I wanted to pull the bar out further, he’d have to route the inside of the body. Fast forward to last week – I found some mad money and spoke to the current luthier at Guitar Center about it. He said he was quite confident he could safely do the job and get some play back into the trem pull-out. I told him how important the guitar is to me and he belayed my fears, saying that he wouldn’t take the job on if he thought he’d mess up the guitar’s integrity in any way. So I should get it back late next week.

Anyone else have a similar Kayler pull-out issue like this?

Thanks for listening!

Glenn





Embarrassingly dusty pickups \ bridge…

[nickwellings]

The "no longer able to pull up" thign sounds WEIRD! It's a fact that if you try and set the Spyder like you doa Floyd, you will get little to no pull up room. But just loosen the trem claw springs and you will get the pull up ability you needed.

The whole "drop trem, need to rout if you wanna pullup" sounds like BS to me. Granted, it took me a long time to work out why my Spyder would not pull up, but it is because I was trying to set the top of the Spyder level with the guitar body, as a Floyd. No need to do this with a Spyder IMO.

I'd be pretty wary of the dude who intonated your HM. When you say, eh dropped the bridge, do you mean adjusted the post heights? I hope to god he didn't go routing stuff.

I think there were a few variations of the HM. The HSS is the most common, and there is an "H" one, and I have seen a few 2H. I think the 2H is much less common.

[tomn8er]

Hi Glenn,
I have the exact Strat in a red Marble. I will post a Pic when I get back home next week. I am wondering the same thing as you. I don't see these come around EVER! My issue is that my Coil Cut switch is broke and I need to replace it. I can't find one the correct size. They are either too small like they were made for a pickguard, Or Gigantic and I would have to drill out the Body (NOT HAPPENING). Also, I would like to ask you a favor. Can you please take a picture of the Wiring cavity for me. The wires popped off the Coil Tap and 3 way when I was trying to replace the switch and I am a bit stumped. I may just put a Push Pull Volume control in that spot and split the Volume of the 2 humbuckers. I can't wait to start playing it. I found it on CL for $500 and loved it becasue it was so different.

[landofunland]

Nick - thanks for your comments. My 'drop the bridge' comment is just me generalizing what the luthier said back in 2007. When he opened it up, only three of the four springs were attached inside. He said all four should be attached, but when reattached the height of the bridge then wasn’t conducive to proper intonation. Mechanics isn’t my thing, so I can’t explain more than that because I don’t really understand it myself. In any case, when I dropped the guitar off last week, the current luthier opened it up while I was there. After examining it, he said he understood why the other guy said it needed to be routed. He definitely gave me the impression he knew what he was doing. It was supposed to finished last week, but when I called last Thursday he said he hasn’t been able to get it on the bench yet and said it should be done at the end of this week. I really miss it. I’ve been playing my daughter’s ¾ scale POS for the past 10 days. I’ll certainly post back and let you know how things went when I get it back. One other thing – I don’t often get to play a lot of different electric guitars, pretty much just my own. I thought my action was OK, but he said he could drop it down more than it was. Woo-hoo! Do it, says I.

Tomn8er – Please do post a pic of your red HM - I’d love to see it. How long ago did you get it? Is the red its original finish?
Sorry to hear about your broken coil switch. Although not exact, perhaps this one on Warmoth will work? www.warmoth.com/Switches-C80.aspx
In any case, I should be getting my guitar back at the end of this week and I’d be happy to post a pic of its wiring cavity. I’ll post one of the routing done as well.
One thing I really like about this model, Tomn8er and hopefully you’ll see this when you get your switch fixed – I love the clean sound the guitar produces when the pickup switch is in the middle and the coil switch is on single. Holy crap, what a nice pretty ringing sound it makes. Of course I like all its sounds, but when I play clean, that’s the setting I like best.

Question: does anyone know – are my 2H pickups Dimarzios? Is that the only kind of humbucking pickups that were used in H M Strats?

[tomn8er]

Hey Glenn,
It is the original color. Like yours but Red. I will get pics up when I return home on Sunday. I have 2 other HM type strats with Kahlers (22 fret), and they both pull up fine. I am trying to remember how my spyder sat. I am pretty good setting up floating trems. If I remember correctly, If you lower the posts, and release some tension on the springs, it will bring the back of the trem up and give you room to pull up. If you need to, you can shim, or actually the HM has the adjusment where you don't even need to use shims on the neck to bring it in-line with the bridge. What I am saying is, I am pretty sure there needs no routing done to do 1 1/2 note pull ups on the high E string. I know I want my HM to remain Stock, and I am sure my son will appreciate that in 20 years
If you can hold out until Sunday, I will test mine and take pics of what I mean before the luthier hacks up a classic.

[tomn8er]

I was correct. I can pull up a mile. How do You post pics here?

[The Guitar]

The Spyders are a wedge shaped unit compared to a Floyd which is flat. This looks to be the reason yours no longer pulls back, because who set it up didn't kjnow tthat. The rear of the unit should raise a little bit higher than the front, like so;

[Followup]

I got the guitar back. I don't think the guy routed it. I see no evidence of that inside where the springs are in the back. It now pulls out maybe 2 whole notes (instead of .5), which is better than it was. I was exptecting more but I'm satisfied. Action a bit better now as well. Thanks for posting that picture, Mr. "The Guitar". I don't feel like I can take it back to the same place. I'll ask around to see if I can find someone with Kayler Spyder experience and perhaps try again sometime.

For: NickWellings:
As promised, here's a couple of pictures of my stock 2H wiring setup closet... Hope it helps!

[followup 2]

[landofunland]

Duh, the above two picture posts were me, the original poster. I forgot to log in when posting these last few. Wish I could delete them and repost under my own persona. Doesn't look like I can.

Tomn8r - to post pics, create an account on Photobucket, post pictures there. Once posted, hover over the image and choose the "IMG Code" link to paste here on the message board.

[tomn8er]

Thanks!
btw... I just bought another HM. It is the Turquoise blue. It has 2 "Lace Transensors" in the middle and neck. Anyone know if these came stock with this option? I just found it on Craigslist for $425 and drove 2 hours to pick it up. I need to set it up, but it is gorgeous and in Excellent Shape. I played it for a couple minutes and the "AGI Lace Transensors", sounded pretty good. I need to pull the 9's off it and set it up with my usual 11's and add a spring. I Promise pictures when I set up the Photobucket account.

[landofunland]

Hey, congrats on your new HM! How does it compare in playability to your first one? Looking forward to your pics.

[tomn8er]

Here it is!!!! This is the 2 Humbucker. I will Post some of the Turquoise if this Photobucket works for me
Also, I NEED A COIL TAP SWITCH FOR THE HM I bought a dozen different ones off of Ebay and none of them fit the Pre-existing Hole in the HM Body... and I AM NOT drilling out the hole. Where can I find one? anyone? please?

[tomn8er]

And Here is the newest addition. The spot is camera flash. Check out the Lace Transsensors. Does anyone know if they are stock? I know they were used on Fenders of that era. They Sound awesome. I have alot of Hum on the Humbucker in the non-split mode. I think it is a ground issue. If I hold the Coil Tap it goes silent. Nice Hot Humbucker. The TBX tone control I think causes alot of the hum because if I cut the treble it goes away. Don't really like the TBX, but...
Also, I am tempted to Disconnect the Coil Tap. I will never ever use it on the Bridge. I WILL use it on the other HM with the 2 Humbuckers for a nice single coil sound on the neck pickup.

[tomn8er]

I am tempted to put a second volume control with a coil tap where the Coil Tap switch was on the 2 Humbucker HM. It would give me the option to not only control each Humbuckers volume individually, but split the coils as well...
Opinions y'all??