To HM or not to HM?!

[Sct13]

Call and ask Kim of HM, he is very easy to speak with. I'm fairly certain he can do what you might want.

However the processes may require a complete refin, mostly due to color matching...

But the only one who can answer that are the guys at HM

 

[Actinic]

Ima gonna tell ya what I would do. First thing, find a guitar with really great tone. You might have to audition a hundred to find the right one. HM this? NO FRIGGIN' WAY.

For all the other guitars in your life, pick one which can use the makeover. I know some guys get a woody with a purdy geetar. Send that one to Kim. Put it in a glass case to impress your friends.

The tone monster is for your ears, and the HM is for your eyes. Understand this dichotomy, and you will have mastered the secret to happiness.

 

[Known4tone]

hey, I struggle to feed this....

but its basically run its course....I'm too stressed over it actually...

I really just want to play and not worry about tone this, and accurate that....

After this HM I am making some choices and cutting a few loose, I don't need more than three guitars, four if you count the bass.

An Acoustic, a Les Paul and a Strat....I might keep two LP's

Trust me you need a good Telecaster.

 

[Pappy58]

Personally I'd spend the HM money on another used historic, but, it's your money.

Yup ^^^^

 

[sikoniko]

Ima gonna tell ya what I would do. First thing, find a guitar with really great tone. You might have to audition a hundred to find the right one. HM this? NO FRIGGIN' WAY.

For all the other guitars in your life, pick one which can use the makeover. I know some guys get a woody with a purdy geetar. Send that one to Kim. Put it in a glass case to impress your friends.

The tone monster is for your ears, and the HM is for your eyes. Understand this dichotomy, and you will have mastered the secret to happiness.

have you ever played a guitar that has had a makeover?

 

[sikoniko]

hey, I struggle to feed this....

but its basically run its course....I'm too stressed over it actually...

I really just want to play and not worry about tone this, and accurate that....

After this HM I am making some choices and cutting a few loose, I don't need more than three guitars, four if you count the bass.

An Acoustic, a Les Paul and a Strat....I might keep two LP's

it's kind of funny, but when I was first getting into historics and wanting to buy one my level of participation was high. now that I have what I want, I am mainly just a spectator.

 

[Sct13]

Trust me you need a good Telecaster.

I had a Telecaster first....Then a Strat for 25 years....

I just never bonded with the Tele. They do sound good though

 

[Sct13]

it's kind of funny, but when I was first getting into historics and wanting to buy one my level of participation was high. now that I have what I want, I am mainly just a spectator.

yep curiosity in check....know all I want to know....I need to find another item of mystique .....any vintage crystal balls out there?

Maybe some vintage lego's??

 

[Duane_the_tub]

I think the general consensus is that the Guitar does come back better ...

I know a very sad little guitar currently back at HM, getting work UNdone that would beg to differ. Granted, it wasn't the fault of the shop guys at all - just some interesting choices by the original client.

That said, one thing that did surprise me was the neck reshape. Kim insists that real Bursts have much slimmer necks than most of the reissues, so if you go with his "formula" you may be in for an eye-opener once you get the instrument back. He also doesn't do razor blade weather checking like Murphy and the Gibson guys do, so his aging looks different from what the factory puts out. More authentic? Probably, but definitely different. You aren't getting anyone's initials carved into your nitro, that's for sure.

Make no mistake, his work is top-notch. But know what you are getting.

 

[Big John]

...can someone speak more to the guys that offer quality a la carte services, i.e. a neck recarve and refinish only?...

All luthiers do the "a la carte" thing.

 

[Deus Vult]

I know a very sad little guitar currently back at HM, getting work UNdone that would beg to differ. Granted, it wasn't the fault of the shop guys at all - just some interesting choices by the original client.

That said, one thing that did surprise me was the neck reshape. Kim insists that real Bursts have much slimmer necks than most of the reissues, so if you go with his "formula" you may be in for an eye-opener once you get the instrument back. He also doesn't do razor blade weather checking like Murphy and the Gibson guys do, so his aging looks different from what the factory puts out. More authentic? Probably, but definitely different. You aren't getting anyone's initials carved into your nitro, that's for sure.

Make no mistake, his work is top-notch. But know what you are getting.

More info please? This is the first I think I've ever heard of such a thing

 

[sonsofthedesert]

Originally Posted by Actinic View Post
"Ima gonna tell ya what I would do. First thing, find a guitar with really great tone. You might have to audition a hundred to find the right one. HM this? NO FRIGGIN' WAY.

For all the other guitars in your life, pick one which can use the makeover. I know some guys get a woody with a purdy geetar. Send that one to Kim. Put it in a glass case to impress your friends."

"The tone monster is for your ears, and the HM is for your eyes. Understand this dichotomy, and you will have mastered the secret to happiness."




"have you ever played a guitar that has had a makeover?"





Clearly he hasn't

I cannot overstate enough, the difference between a H.M or D.J finish compared to a Gibson finish, particularly from certain years like 2004 to 2006
Gibson= rubbery ,sticky and plastic feeling rubbish.
H.M or D.J much much closer to vintage finish, but not quite as good imo

Depends of course if this is important to you, it is to me.

And yes i do have a F......H.M and a vintage Gibson, just in case any killjoys question my credentials.

I'm also..F...... tiring of the long list of punters on this forum who have rigid negative opinions and noise about either vintage or makeovers, who have NEVER had either one in their hands.

You know who you are , so P... off.

 

[sonsofthedesert]

"Kim insists that real Bursts have much slimmer necks than most of the reissues,"



Not just Kim, but many owners as well (anecdotal evidence).


I have yet to hear that REISSUES.... have slimmer necks than bursts.

Some of my reissues have huge necks.

 

[NotScott]

He also doesn't do razor blade weather checking like Murphy and the Gibson guys do, so his aging looks different from what the factory puts out.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

 

[Duane_the_tub]

More info please? This is the first I think I've ever heard of such a thing

Check out this thread for details, but here are the nuts and bolts: A guy sent a $10K+ aged Skinnerburst to HM for the RDS makeover. They recarved the top and reshaped the neck, effectively eliminating all the factory aging in the process. The client then decided - apparently out of the blue, right before the refinishing phase - that he wanted the guitar painted with a cherry burst and aged only ever-so-slightly, rather than returned to the Skinner aesthetics. So what was once a gorgeous, aged dirty lemon:

Came back instead as a full-on Clownburst with a handful of sporadic checks in the finish and one rather odd bald spot (with no worming around it) on the back.

And to top it all off, the client had the original serial number changed to his birthday, in a 9 XXXXXX format - making the COA essentially useless. So when he got the guitar back and makeover remorse started to set in, the only way he could sell it was at a significant loss from the cost of the original Skinnerburst - let alone the cost of the makeover.

As I said, the shop did totally stellar work on the RDS: The board and top carve are fantastic, and the neck is super comfortable and playable (once you get used to it, especially in comparison to the super-thick profile that Skinners originally have). But I didn't hesitate, once I got it, to send it right back to HM to have it restored to the original finish and serial #.

I guess the lesson here is, think through exactly how you want your makeover done, and don't just make a snap decision mid-process. The ability to totally transform an instrument is powerful, and it's gotta suck to come out on the other end of that much time and money with regrets.

 

[Sct13]

I have to admit...that was a bone head move....

But whatever his reasons were, they may have been important enough to him to do this. He must have had the extra cash to burn, maybe he got it as a gift?

But its getting its self re-done to "Original Specs" now correct?

But on the other hand....I make a boner move every day ....somehow....

 

[Duane_the_tub]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

I never said it was bad, just different. Aging is obviously a divisive topic, but guys who are into "the look" that the Custom Shop achieves (and think it's cool that Tom Murphy's initials are carved into their top) are not going to get nearly the same finish, so they shouldn't expect it.

 

[Duane_the_tub]

I have to admit...that was a bone head move....

But whatever his reasons were, they may have been important enough to him to do this. He must have had the extra cash to burn, maybe he got it as a gift?

But its getting its self re-done to "Original Specs" now correct?

But on the other hand....I make a boner move every day ....somehow....

He said his plan was to keep the guitar forever, so he took the plunge and had it redone exactly how he wanted - what was, in his mind, as close to an actual Burst as he could get. I don't fault him for it, especially if he didn't care about resale (something many owners, myself included, seem to have a bit of a hang-up about) and just wanted every aspect of his "dream guitar." But the problem is, he then needed (or wanted, whatever) to flip it more or less immediately, and that whole mindset came back to haunt him. So maybe "not caring about resale" isn't realistic to begin with.

 

[Duane_the_tub]

But its getting its self re-done to "Original Specs" now correct?

Yes, and no. It is being restored to the aged dirty lemon finish it originally had. But Kim and his guys are not going to plop the Gibson "goo" on it and cut it up with a razor blade, or do a pencil drawing of the Atlantic coast on the back and "age" inside the line like a coloring book. So it's never going to look like it did pre-makeover. SKNRBRST 086 will be an aged Skinnerburst, but will likely be unique, one-of-a-kind even. I can't imagine any of the other 149 owners being crazy enough to put theirs through something like this, though I guess it's possible.

 

[FKO]

So the original owner took advice and had the neck reshaped (slimmer) to be closer to an original burst... when the neck was based on JB's original burst?! wow.. this is trippy somebody must be really high