1988 Hamer Chaparral Sustainiac

Details

This gorgeous Chaparral Standard comes equipped with a set of OEM Dimarzio pickups and a Sustainiac system, which is powered by two 9V batteries behind a very well designed magnetic cavity on the rear. This one dates from early ‘88, with a humbucker pickup ring around the Sustainiac and neck single coil pickup - later Chaparrals direct mounted these pickups instead.

The neck on this particular example has a strong birds-eye pattern in the maple, and appears to either be sanded or it was oil finished from the factory, so it never gets sticky. I love the headstock shape and the beveled edges around the black paint - it keeps some of the look of a pointy headstock but with a bit more class. I prefer this headstock to the “beak” style Hamer headstock (commonly used on Centauras, Diablos, etc). The rosewood fretboard is very thick.

The body is mahogany, and is very small and deeply contoured, making it extremely comfortable to play in any position, and sports a german made Schaller Floyd Rose with the “Hamer” stamp. Very early bolt-on Chaparrals did come with a real Original Floyd Rose, but these are rare.

This guitar was assembled at the Hamer factory in Chicago, USA, and is the evolution of an early set-neck Chaparral model. The set neck versions had Kahler bridges and of course, painted necks, and a slightly different body shape. Pricing at the time was roughly $1400 for a standard or $1600 with the Sustainiac system as seen here, or as high as $1800 for the “Elite” version which had nicer finish options and “boomerang” fretboard inlays, usually on ebony instead of rosewood but very rarely with maple as well.