Rebuilt! New old Hayman 1010 guitar day

Funkfingers

Masochist! 

HarrySeven

Funkfingers said:

Masochist! 

Correct! Just one of the numerous reasons my Rickenbacker 330 had to go…

1Strat2many

The EC strings referred to in the original ad were almost certainly the Sound City “designed for...” sets sold through their long gone Shaftesbury Avenue shop. I tried a few sets and IIRC string gauge was something like 10 to 38 with an 015 third. Hayman in the late 60s/early 70s came under the Dallas Arbiter umbrella, as did Sound City and others, they were better known then for their Drums than the Guitars. I remember the Guitars played pretty well for cleaner styles but never seemed to wean most players off of the Gibson/ Fender roundabout. Nice to see them still have a following though.

Funkfingers

HarrySeven said:

Funkfingers said:

Masochist! 

Correct! Just one of the numerous reasons my Rickenbacker 330 had to go…

330? I don't recall that one. Only a certain 230 Hamburg.

Offset

1Strat2many said:

The EC strings referred to in the original ad were almost certainly the Sound City “designed for...” sets sold through their long gone Shaftesbury Avenue shop. 

Sound City... I'm wracking my brain to remember why that rings such a loud bell.  Can you help me out?!

Funkfingers

Shops, amps, effect pedals, anti-Apartheid protests?

I, I, I
Ain't gonna play Sound City. 

NickL

Offset said:

1Strat2many said:

The EC strings referred to in the original ad were almost certainly the Sound City “designed for...” sets sold through their long gone Shaftesbury Avenue shop. 

Sound City... I'm wracking my brain to remember why that rings such a loud bell.  Can you help me out?!

Amps: they were early versions of what became Hiwatt, branded to sell through the shop. Pete Townshend used them.

The other (unrelated) Sound City was the studio in LA used by Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Neil Young and various others, and where Nirvana recorded Nevermind. Dave Grohl made a film about it and has its old Neve desk in his own studio.

guitars4you

Offset said:

1Strat2many said:

The EC strings referred to in the original ad were almost certainly the Sound City “designed for...” sets sold through their long gone Shaftesbury Avenue shop. 

Sound City... I'm wracking my brain to remember why that rings such a loud bell.  Can you help me out?!

In a nut shell - Ivor Arbiter was the main man at Dallas/Arbiter, a major distributor of the day in the music trade - It later became CBS/Arbiter and was the main distributor for Fender Guitars - This was during the mid late 70's and think most of the 80's - Until Fender eventually set-up their own distribution

Going back to the days of Dallas/Arbiter they distributed Carlton Drums - They re-named this Hayman which was originally a drum company - The Hayman Guitar project followed later - In part, as they feared losing the Fender distribution option to the UK

Prior to this, Ivor opened one of the first 'dedicated' music shops with Drum City - dedicated to only selling drums - It was here that Ivor sold The Beatles/Ringo a Ludwig Drum kit and it was Ivor that designed the famous The Beatles logo on the bass drum

Dallas/Arbiter established the brand Sound City for amps and later opened The Sound City Shop in Shaftesbury Ave 

Late 70's Ivor opened the 'famous' Fender Soundhouse Shop on Tottenham Court Road - effectively a flag ship store for Fender products - It was a short lived project, mainly thanks to a shop Fire

Ivor had a son, John Arbiter, who later opened the famous Soho Soundhouse store and later became part of  Turnkey - And I believe his daughter, Joanne, was the first to introduce Karaoke products into the UK

guitars4you

1Strat2many said:

The EC strings referred to in the original ad were almost certainly the Sound City “designed for...” sets sold through their long gone Shaftesbury Avenue shop. I tried a few sets and IIRC string gauge was something like 10 to 38 with an 015 third. Hayman in the late 60s/early 70s came under the Dallas Arbiter umbrella, as did Sound City and others, they were better known then for their Drums than the Guitars. I remember the Guitars played pretty well for cleaner styles but never seemed to wean most players off of the Gibson/ Fender roundabout. Nice to see them still have a following though.

10/38 is a copy of the original Fender string gauge
normally you associate a 38 low e with an 8 gauge set
I’ll need to google it but think fender originally offered two different 10 gauge sets with either a slinky format- as you say 15G and 38 low E - then a regular 10-46 gauge 
I’m guessing that Sound City would have had their strings wound/commissioned by someone like Cathedral or Picatto

guitars4you

guitars4you said:

1Strat2many said:

The EC strings referred to in the original ad were almost certainly the Sound City “designed for...” sets sold through their long gone Shaftesbury Avenue shop. I tried a few sets and IIRC string gauge was something like 10 to 38 with an 015 third. Hayman in the late 60s/early 70s came under the Dallas Arbiter umbrella, as did Sound City and others, they were better known then for their Drums than the Guitars. I remember the Guitars played pretty well for cleaner styles but never seemed to wean most players off of the Gibson/ Fender roundabout. Nice to see them still have a following though.

10/38 is a copy of the original Fender string gauge
normally you associate a 38 low e with an 8 gauge set
I’ll need to google it but think fender originally offered two different 10 gauge sets with either a slinky format- as you say 15G and 38 low E - then a regular 10-46 gauge 
I’m guessing that Sound City would have had their strings wound/commissioned by someone like Cathedral or Picatto

Just checked -CMS - Cardiff Music Strings - 

guitars4you

Found it - Original Fender 150 string gauges were
150SL  8 to 38
150XL 9 to 40
150L 10 to 38

paulnb57

It Lives!
Refretted the neck
 Did a deal for a new body in Obeche same as the original
 Custom scratchplate
 Made a new control plate

Yes, the neck plate is wonky, that's how it was on the original

 Not one for the purists, but now it a reliable, usable instrument

The original body is being rebuilt



Thanks to Ced from the Hayman Facebook group for making the new body
to @ICBM for the vintage switch
@ Alegree for the frets
@ Whoever it was on here who sold me the WRHB's
Tim at Scratchit for the custom scratch plate
 Joe the lovely Daughter in Law, who Im sure swore lots at the PC and Circuit machine, replicating the Hayman logo
Halfords for the lacquer

Rowby1

When I was starting out on guitar I was offered a 2020 as an upgrade to my Zenta Telecaster. 

For one thing I couldn’t quite afford it, iirc the guy wanted £250 which was a lot when you’re earning £32 a week less tax. 

Also it had the lowest action (not seen a guitar since with such a low action) and the lightest strings (8s or maybe even 7s) so I couldn’t play anything in tune with my ham fisted 16 year old technique.  

Offset

@paulnb57 - nostalgia on a plate!  Brilliant!

BillDL

Damn, why did you remove the improvised "String Butler" that used strap buttons as alignment rollers?  That was a great idea

That's a really fine looking guitar now and it's been expertly restored to hopefully last another 40 to 50 years without being molested and butchered.

I recall seeing some Hayman guitars on the pre-owned hangers in some music stores in the early 80s but they never interested me at the time while I was drooling over Strats, Yamaha SGs, and other popular brands and models of guitars that I couldn't afford.  As with the new Shergold guitars at the time, the bulbous body shape, unusual headstocks, and large control plates with slider switches on those Hayman guitars seemed too clunky for my tastes.  I now really like some of those quirky "bulbous" shapes though, but I still don't think I could completely warm to some of the more extreme Burns body shapes.

paulnb57

BillDL said:

Damn, why did you remove the improvised "String Butler" that used strap buttons as alignment rollers?  That was a great idea

Look a little closer Bill and you will see I reinstated the string guides, which although they look like strap buttons they are actually made as string guides, I initially rejected them as ugly and unnecessary, then decided that although they are indeed ugly and unnecessary, they are part of the guitars character…..

Some of those old models are just too quirky for me, but I liked this as soon as I saw it

BillDL

I have no idea why I didn't see those string guides in your photo of the whole guitar!

I think my eye was drawn to the absence of the locking nut and the overall cleaner and less cluttered look.

SlopeSoarer

Graham Coxon play his Hayman on Song 2

Musical_Mystery_Tour

Funkfingers said:

I, I, I
Ain't gonna play Sound City. 

I think you mean Sun City.