The whole family of modified Hamer guitars - Oh yeah. A new boat too.

The blue guitar called "Iced Nine" started as an awkward little one. A Hamer Californian that obtained weird options that I have never seen on a Hamer Californian before. Different machining, dimensions, pickup combinations, etc. I purchased it when I was in a hotel room in Detroit. I liked the guitar, but it needed some work. I played it for a good while, but, indeed, it needed a few things. After tearing it apart, I decided to give it a few more things I had not planned. I cut the back of the neck to be more comfortable to me. I cut the first asymmetrical neck pattern I have ever carved. I re-planed the fret board and decided on a compound radius. The radius begins at 14" and travels to 16.75". All the frets were yanked out and I installed extra jumbo stainless frets. Drilled the head stock with my typical tungsten rods for stability and mass. Drilled the neck joint of the body and installed carbon fiber shafts running long ways to add stability to the mahogany body. Painstakingly, I machined down all of the Floyd pads to match the new radius. Then moved the volume knob further away from the kill zone and installed Bourns pot and a Dimarzio 3 way. Dimarzio supplied the Gravity Storm bridge and Air Norton neck pickups. Let's just say; The thing screams. But sounds more like a mahogany necked guitar. Very fat and powerful in the low mids and warm through the upper registers. Almost LesPaul-esque. It certainly is a joy to play.
But, we weren't done yet. I really wanted a Jason Becker Kiesel guitar. They wouldn't make the YingYang in a 25.5 layout, so the green guitar went under the knife. Finished very similar to Iced9, the green guitar was given the same treatment, but a little flatter radius at the 27th fret. It has a Jason Becker pickup in the bridge, with graphtech upgrades and all the standard Wannabe tricks. It is a bit of a monster, as well.

 

The SK-51 is complete.

This carbon fiber labor of love took an amazing amount of effort and time. Without a doubt, it is the finest thing to ever come out of the WannabeRacing stables. Yes, 100% in house.

Well, till next time - - -