Post by r0r0 on Jul 8, 2009 14:21:10 GMT -5
It's great to run into this board.. I just registered and wanted to share my HMs with you all. Please forgive me for the poor pic quality (they're attached at the bottom of this message.)
Pink HM:
The guitar on the right, the pink HM, I've owned for 12 years, which is far longer than any other guitar! There are dozens of stickers placed on it, which is something that my (then) infant daughter and I did over the years. When I look at them now, it reminds me of how my teenager was back then, and all of the fun times we shared. Because of the history, I consider this to be her guitar, and I'll pass it on to her when it's time.
This is my #1 guitar. I used to collect guitars, and owned this alongside very expensive boutique instruments. I custom ordered a Suhr back in 02. I've owned numerous Andersons. I've had a bunch of hand-made professional grade instruments. This HM sounded at least as good as the best of these, and the HM's neck profile is far more comfortable for me. I made recordings comparing this to some of the other guitars, and my friends felt the HM sounded better, even though they didn't know it was the HM.
I've made some small modifications to this guitar. I replaced the bridge+neck pickups. The neck is a standard Duncan Hot Rails, which is super hot and juicy. The bridge is my all-time favorite humbucker, the DiMarzio Norton. People, this pickup ROCKS in these guitars! It has the output of a JB, except it's a little darker and buttery and more woody sounding than a JB. Super awesome through a distorted amp. I gig with this guitar in my punkpoprock band through my VHT pittbull 1/2 stack, and it sounds amazing.
I've also sanded the finish off the neck & fretboard, so it's bare wood. It gets dirty fast, but I clean it up ever time I swap strings. DiMarzio locking strap is installed. The coil tap switch operates on both neck/bridge pickups.
Finally, I constructed a wooden trem block into the tremolo cavity, so that the trem is pretty much push-down.
Magenta HM:
I've had this guitar for around 4 years now -- and for a long time, I didn't play it because it needed a ton of work. I didn't have time to invest in it. The bridge pickup was shorting out, the electronics were flaky, and it was missing parts to the locking nut. Also, the trem was somewhat dirty -- but it was nothing a bunch of elbow grease couldn't fix (lighter fluid + toothbrush.)
I had a Duncan Dimebucker laying around, and installed it in this guitar. The neck pickup is a DiMarzio HS-3, which the previous owner installed. The previous owner also sanded/oiled the back of the neck, so it looks very broken in and feels GREAT. Feels like a killer oil-finished Ernie Ball neck. The guitar is hotter than my Pink HM, and has a different type of sound entirely.. I'm glad that both of them have different personalities.
I've spent about $100 ordering parts from Kahler's site, and have restored this to factory condition as far as the trem/nut. I fixed the electronics (installing new 5-way and coil tap switches,) gave it a full setup, intonated on my strobe tuner, etc.
It smokes!!!!!!
I'll keep this one as clean as I can, so that it can be passed on in relatively stock shape.
No doubt that these guitars look out of style, but they're really special. Fortunately my band has a silly image, and my mates are hella cool, so it's totally okay to bring these out to rock even in 2009. We gig regularly and these get real-use outside of my bedroom.
Pink HM:
The guitar on the right, the pink HM, I've owned for 12 years, which is far longer than any other guitar! There are dozens of stickers placed on it, which is something that my (then) infant daughter and I did over the years. When I look at them now, it reminds me of how my teenager was back then, and all of the fun times we shared. Because of the history, I consider this to be her guitar, and I'll pass it on to her when it's time.
This is my #1 guitar. I used to collect guitars, and owned this alongside very expensive boutique instruments. I custom ordered a Suhr back in 02. I've owned numerous Andersons. I've had a bunch of hand-made professional grade instruments. This HM sounded at least as good as the best of these, and the HM's neck profile is far more comfortable for me. I made recordings comparing this to some of the other guitars, and my friends felt the HM sounded better, even though they didn't know it was the HM.
I've made some small modifications to this guitar. I replaced the bridge+neck pickups. The neck is a standard Duncan Hot Rails, which is super hot and juicy. The bridge is my all-time favorite humbucker, the DiMarzio Norton. People, this pickup ROCKS in these guitars! It has the output of a JB, except it's a little darker and buttery and more woody sounding than a JB. Super awesome through a distorted amp. I gig with this guitar in my punkpoprock band through my VHT pittbull 1/2 stack, and it sounds amazing.
I've also sanded the finish off the neck & fretboard, so it's bare wood. It gets dirty fast, but I clean it up ever time I swap strings. DiMarzio locking strap is installed. The coil tap switch operates on both neck/bridge pickups.
Finally, I constructed a wooden trem block into the tremolo cavity, so that the trem is pretty much push-down.
Magenta HM:
I've had this guitar for around 4 years now -- and for a long time, I didn't play it because it needed a ton of work. I didn't have time to invest in it. The bridge pickup was shorting out, the electronics were flaky, and it was missing parts to the locking nut. Also, the trem was somewhat dirty -- but it was nothing a bunch of elbow grease couldn't fix (lighter fluid + toothbrush.)
I had a Duncan Dimebucker laying around, and installed it in this guitar. The neck pickup is a DiMarzio HS-3, which the previous owner installed. The previous owner also sanded/oiled the back of the neck, so it looks very broken in and feels GREAT. Feels like a killer oil-finished Ernie Ball neck. The guitar is hotter than my Pink HM, and has a different type of sound entirely.. I'm glad that both of them have different personalities.
I've spent about $100 ordering parts from Kahler's site, and have restored this to factory condition as far as the trem/nut. I fixed the electronics (installing new 5-way and coil tap switches,) gave it a full setup, intonated on my strobe tuner, etc.
It smokes!!!!!!
I'll keep this one as clean as I can, so that it can be passed on in relatively stock shape.
No doubt that these guitars look out of style, but they're really special. Fortunately my band has a silly image, and my mates are hella cool, so it's totally okay to bring these out to rock even in 2009. We gig regularly and these get real-use outside of my bedroom.
