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Post by heem6 on Jul 12, 2009 12:40:15 GMT -5
You don't see these often! I've always wanted one and I love the inlays on this neck.
The bad part is that these came with Lace Sensor pickups, not Seymour Duncans. It looks like the volume and tone knobs and pickup ring and backplate have been replaced, too. It's probably a very cool guitar, but would take maybe a couple hundred bucks to revert to stock. Also, a pretty big crack on it. Even so, I wouldn't mind owning it, if the price was significantly lower.
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180381360785&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:Watchlink:middle:us |
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r0r0
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Post by r0r0 on Jul 13, 2009 23:46:42 GMT -5
I've never seen one of these before! Thanks for the post.
Years ago I owned one of those HM Strat "Budweiser" promo guitars. I had heard that they were constructed in Fender's custom shop (I don't know if this is true or not.. it seems unlikely,) and when I found one that was cheap, I snagged it.
This HM Strat "Ultra" reminds me of it in several ways. My Budweiser HM Strat only had a rosewood fretboard with dot inlays, but other than that, from memory, it was virtually the same as this guitar. Floyd Rose trem, H-S-S, and the same type of neck plate as featured here.
I'll see if I can find pics (highly unlikely, but hey...) and if so, I'll post em.
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Post by heem6 on Jul 14, 2009 0:55:28 GMT -5
That's cool, rOrO. I'm sure everyone would love to see it.
We had a posting of one when the board was hosted at Yuku. Here's a link with the info: heavymetalstrat.yuku.com/topic/82/t/Strange-Headstock-logo-on-my-HM.html
Here's a blurb on the HM Ultra's:
Later on (~1990), Fender introduced the USA HM Strat Ultra that is considered by many to be superior to the previous HM versions. Fender HM strat ultra differs in that it has 4 Lace Sensor pickups in SSH configuration (these pickups are considered less noisy and aggressive (and sometimes less preferred for HM strat) than those found in the Fender HM Strat), a smaller 'digitalized' Strat logo (considered to be a more discrete) and an ebony fingerboard with split-triangle inlays. The Fender logo on the headstock is mother of pearl.
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Post by heem6 on Jul 21, 2009 22:40:11 GMT -5
This HM Ultra ended with no bids and no sale.
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Post by nickwellings on Jul 23, 2009 7:42:55 GMT -5
I think the ask price was too high, Jim. Almost at normal retail it would have been 20yrs ago.
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Post by heem6 on Jul 23, 2009 11:59:48 GMT -5
Definite agreement, Nick.
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caine
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Post by caine on Sept 14, 2009 20:46:51 GMT -5
This HM Ultra ended with no bids and no sale. No, It did NOT end with no bids!! I made him an offer via the "make an offer" option and got it for about 1/2 of what he was asking for his buy in now price. Still, a little too much considering that really only the neck is "original." But I've been looking for one of these things for a long time--mainly because of the neck. I really don't care for the Lace Sensors that it was supposed to come with but it would have been cool just to have them so I could always have had the theoretical option of going back to stock. It has a mix of chome and black hardware and I'm assuming that all of the chome hardware for sure (string retainer, nut lock, trem arm, knife edge trem studs, tuner washers) are NOT original. It also has a chrome standard pattern neck plate instead of the offset neck plate that was otherwise being used on the HM's and HRR's at that time. The neck plate is about 10 or less years old and is not from that era (90-92). None of the electronics are original, nor are the knobs. And the neck does have a hole were there was once an offset screw (has five screw holes) but the body is a standard pattern type and so is not shaved for the offset neck plate. So, the body must not be original either. It's really just an Ultra neck and maybe the black tuners are original. The main body of the trem is black while, as noted previously, the rest of it is chrome. Perhaps that part of it is original but who knows. What is really odd is the neck is in immaculate condition. Other then some discoloration on the back--like from sweat or something, the fretboard and frets are in great condition and the headstock, the finish on the face of the headstock and logo are perfect still. So, what the hell happened to the rest of this guitar? What would compel some dufis to take this guitar apart and then have to throw a bunch of mis-matched parts together to make it into what it is? A basterized Strat Ultra. There is no serial number on the neck either. Weird. It has a mother of pearl inlay "Fender" and ebony fretboard and of course the HM neck profile.  What I guess I'm going to do is snag a regular HM off eBay, hopefully one from around 90-92 (which is when the Ultra was in production) and try and put it back to as close to stock as possible, minus the lace sensors. I will then throw the regular HM neck and this body on eBay. It currently has a Pearly Gates, bridge pu. Which is both odd and sort of makes sense at the same time. It sort of defeats the point of the HM but on the otherhand, it matches up with it in a way, depending on what you want to achieve. The PG is sort of a "scooped" pu while the HM has a somewhat mid-hump tone to it because of the basswood body. The Dimazio h1 (super 3) is also a mid hummy pu.  You can see the "5th hole" that is filled in where there was once an offset screw in it. Also, even though it cleary states "made in the usa" on the headstock and the Ultra was supposed to be special order from the custom shop, the dark red marking in the center is said to be an inspection mark from the factory in Japan. That is, according to Jim Shine: jimshine.com/Misconceptions/common_misconceptions.htmsquare neck pocket and much newer era neck plate:    |
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caine
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Post by caine on Sept 14, 2009 20:51:28 GMT -5
Hey, I just joined this board and I'm not seeing a way to subscribe to a thread. Is there a way to do that? I see you can bookmark and disable smiles but no subscribe to thread...  |
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caine
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Post by caine on Sept 14, 2009 20:57:15 GMT -5
Also, in regards to the Jim Shine link in my first post, you can see an HM on there that shows five holes in the neck, similar to what I had mentioned about my Ultra. In my case, my ultra neck was clearly mounted on an offset pattern body at one time and is now on a standard pattern body. But on Jim's website, he shows an HM neck with five holes also. I asked him about that and he said,
"The standard hole pattern exists because it was used to mount the neck in the fretting process. They did not make a special jig just for these one off necks, they used the same jig. The 5th hole was added when mounted to the body. Had they used ESP to supply the necks, ESP had a jig made for such a pattern, but Fuji did not."
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Post by heem6 on Sept 14, 2009 21:25:24 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum, Caine. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks to this board is the lack of ability to subscribe to threads.
Interesting find. I can't figure out where that body is from since it doesn't look like an HM, a Fender Showmaster or a Squier Showmaster. That bottom horn is slimmer than all of the above.
We've sent a couple emails back and forth to Jim Shine as well.
Good luck on the restoration. It shouldn't be too hard to find an HM body. When you finish, you'll have a rare guitar indeed.
I'm sure the '59 would sound good, but I just can't imagine having a vintage-style pickup on an HM Strat. To me it seems like putting 75-R14's on a Ferrari. But you might have different preferences, which is cool too.
Glad to see someone rescuing one of these!
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caine
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Post by caine on Sept 14, 2009 22:33:42 GMT -5
Interesting find. I can't figure out where that body is from since it doesn't look like an HM, a Fender Showmaster or a Squier Showmaster. That bottom horn is slimmer than all of the above. I could not find any stamps or writing inside the body anywhere. To me, it appears to be a Jackson Soloist copy body. The Warmoth bodies usually have a stamp in the neck pocket:  But, there are alot of companies out there making replacement bodies and DIY kits. |
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caine
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Post by caine on Sept 15, 2009 12:25:08 GMT -5
Ok, now I'm REALLY confused! I just looked at that link to the "budweiser" guitar and the body I have with this HM Ultra neck is the EXACT SAME THING! 1. Same exact shape 2. Same exact knob and switch positions 3. Same exact electronics cavity cover shape and configureation 4. Standard four bolt pattern instead of the offset pattern I copied and pasted the address to the images from that link here:   Does anyone know where I can get some good pics of a known to be original Ultra? |
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Post by heem6 on Sept 16, 2009 10:40:22 GMT -5
I MIGHT have a pic or two of an ultra on my hard drive at home. I've only seen a couple pictures ever. I'll try to remember to look that up for you.
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Post by nickwellings on Sept 18, 2009 21:33:41 GMT -5
I had a look in the big HM Strat photobucket account and couldnot see one. Like Jim, i might have one somewhere un-uploaded.
For the meantime, that sure isa bit of a puzzle on the Ultra. could always be a mutt. Maybe someone at Fender saw a stack of old bodies and new Ultra necks and had an idea. Sometimes that happens. Fender took to putting two point trems on Deluxe squeirs recently as the USA models which previously had 'em subtly changed the trem design I think.
What's the serial on your ultra, caine? Finding an Ultra body will be hard...maybe a local lutheir can copy an existing HM body for you.
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Post by heem6 on Sept 19, 2009 16:42:49 GMT -5
Here you go Caine. I thought there was one over on Strat-Central and I managed to find it. I read a couple reviews where the owners said they had a flame maple veneer top, that might be what this is. I would guess it's still a basswood body, since that's the standard for shredder guitars. 
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