Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

[fuel0707]

I was curious if there are any other JCF-ers here who own an HM Strat. After many years of kicking myself for not buying one in the late '80's when they came out, I picked up a used one that a friend of mine had on consignment. Mine is black with a rosewood board with a pink swoosh under the graffiti Strat logo. I really like the guitar a lot and the combo of the shorter scale and the 24-frets make it a unique instrument, at least in my collection.

So what have you guys got in the way of HM's?

[Snoogans]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

I had a Black single-hum one, back in the day, that I really miss! The early ones felt better than later ones, because of the unfinished necks. The Kahler Spyder trem could be a problem,though, if you were ever to need parts for it.

[fuel0707]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

I found a site that seems to have parts available Axeparts . Also, there have been rumors that Kahler might get back into the trem business. I hope those come to fruition. Seems kind of sad that a great trem maker is just making golf clubs at this time.

By the way, it sounds like you had a pretty rare guitar. I've seen very few 1-hb HM's over the years. Almost all of the early ones I've seen are like mine and have 1-hb and 2-sc's.

[toejam]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

Those had short scales?!? [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] Kinda defeats the purpose of calling it a "Strat" if it's not the 25.5" scale. A friend of mine had a gray one in the late '80s, and I almost bought a white one with maple board in the mid '90s. I could have sworn they were regular scale.

[pro-fusion]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

I think they were 25.0" scale. I had one years ago, and it was a shredding monster with very nice tone. I've thought about getting another one for awhile now, but I've gone over big to 7-strings at present.

[etaeniura]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

I've got a Japanese HM strat from about '92-'93. It is metallic blue, has a Dimarzio Super three in the bridge, two singles, an OFR, and the small strat block letter logo. Yes, they are 25.0 scale, also a 24 fretter. They are fantastic guitars-very thin necks and wide flat fretboards. I love mine!

[Jim Shine]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

I not only had a couple, but I sold them new at the end of the run (when they had real Floyd Rose trems). They are nice guitars, but I personally prefer a Jackson bolt on over them. For the money they sell for today, they are a great value.

[Greg Crowe]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

Originally posted by etaeniura:
I've got a Japanese HM strat from about '92-'93. It is metallic blue, has a Dimarzio Super three in the bridge, two singles, an OFR, and the small strat block letter logo. Yes, they are 25.0 scale, also a 24 fretter. They are fantastic guitars-very thin necks and wide flat fretboards. I love mine!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have 2 of these, both 92 models. One is exactly like yours in metallic blue, the other in a black with silvery swirl. I don't care for the earlier versions with the Kahlers. Only the 92-93 models had Original Floyd Rose trems.

[Manyaxes]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

I had a black one with maple board. It had the lowest action out of any of my guitars without even a hint of buzzing! I offed it in a multi guitar deal and wish I never did. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] I had no choice though it was for another Jackson! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I had no problem with the Kahler Spyder but it was missing a few parts so I started hoarding them and needless to say, if anyone ever needs any Spyder parts or complete trem I've got yer back... [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[442w30]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

I had a light blue 88 model. That super three was cool! Budman made a trem arm for the spyder that was spot on. I replaced most of the missing bridge parts with floyd parts from stew mac. Worked great. Maple fretboard, great playing guitar. Maybe the actual saddles don't interchange with a real floyd, but everything else seemed to.
If it wasn't for that color, I'd probably still have it.

[etaeniura]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

Greg, I guess I'm lucky to have gotten the end of the run. When I went to buy it, I asked them to order me a black one. The guy called their warehouse and told me that they were discontinued and all he had was the blue one. They gave me a good deal on it, and I still play to this day! It is 11 years old or so, and has lower action than either of my Charvels or my barand new Epi LP. If I knew how to shred, This would be the guitar to do it.

[pagemalicious]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

How do the pickups sound? I had a chance of buying the same one you have but in white. It played well but the sound was really really weak [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

[Jim Shine]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

It took Fender a long time to sell those remaining HM's. The rep was bringing some leftovers around as late as early 1995 cutting some stupid cheap deals on them. I remember the last sales pitch was that we were basically buying a Floyd Rose tremolo and getting the guitar free.

[Greg Crowe]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

I found my blue one at Music Go Round a couple years ago and didn't have a clue what it was when I saw it. It was so mint, I thought it was a brand new guitar. I had to go back home and do some internet research and figure out what the hell it was. That's how I first got into these HM Strats.

[straycat]

Re: Any Fender HM Strat owners here?

I've had a few 92-93s and they are great guitars.I had an 86 contemporary 22 strat(jap) 1 hum, series 1 fender double locking trem,1 hum DiMarzio no markings as to what the pickup was but it screamed.Black body neck and headstock.Very dark thick rosewood board.Nice quality guitar.