Schaefer Guitars Adds Two New Models
by Ed Schaefer

Most people know me as an archtop builder as that style has been my mainstay for the past eleven years. Previously, I would have baulked at the idea of building anything other than an archtop, but in trying to understand the unpredictable guitar market, I have found that I have really been hurting myself and others by not offering other types of guitars. This realization in combination with requests from several clients created the impetus to develop two new models, the "Fretmaster" and the "Hamilton Headless."

The "Fretmaster" is what I refer to as the "Ultimate Utility Guitar." It does have an arched top, but it's not a true "archtop". The "Fretmaster" features a chambered solid Honduras mahogany body with a single cutaway. The tops are the finest quilted maple and the necks feature three-piece Eastern hard rock maple. The guitar has 22 frets, a 25" scale, a 12" radius, standard nut width of 1 11/16", ebony fingerboard with split-block mother of pearl inlay, jumbo frets, a gold Nashville Tunomatic bridge, gold Gotoh stop tailpiece, and gold Waverly tuners with ebony knobs- all in a very light guitar with the finest electronic package!

Kent Armstrong and I collaborated on the pickup system for this guitar. I asked him to develop a pickup that would allow the player to attain either a Strat or a Les Paul sound on the same guitar. The result was a two-pickup coil tapped configuration that has received tremendous acclaim from players! This pickup system is only available on the Schaefer "Fretmaster." If a player wants a bright Strat tone- it's there! Or if you prefer a fat Les Paul sound- then it's there! It is the best of both worlds in a high-quality, chambered solidbody guitar! Let's not forget to mention the wonderful jazz sound you can get on the neck pickup. When I say "ultimate utility guitar," I mean it!

The "Fretmaster" comes in an embroidered gig bag made by Colorado Case Co. It has the "Schaefer" logo embroidered in red on a black Cordura bag. I also offer an absolutely beautiful simulated black alligator with black thread hardshell case that features a purple crushed plush velvet interior made by Cedar Creek Custom Case Shoppe.

The "Fretmaster" lists for $3900 plus shipping, delivered in the gig bag. For an extra $279 you can get the hardshell simulated alligator case. This guitar offers players the opportunity to acquire a fine handmade guitar at a reasonable price, a guitar that will fill the needs of almost any playing situation you may encounter.

About two years ago, I got a call from Fred Hamilton. Most people know that Fred plays my guitars. The "Freddy" is named after Fred as he was the real designer behind that model. Now the "Freddy" is an archtop, so I was truly startled when Fred asked me to build him a headless guitar! Thus, the beginning of the "Hamilton Headless"!

The "Hamilton Headless" (HH) has been a true journey. Fred gave me a crude set of drawings. And when I say "crude," I mean CRUDE! All the drawings were hand drawn.NO French curves were evident! Fred is a great musician, but I believe that his daughter is the artist in the family. As a matter of fact, I saw a beautiful painting she had done, in his studio at the University of North Texas fin Denton. From the drawings, I created something I thought that I could work with and then presented them to Fred. He liked what I had done so we were off to the races!

The original prototype HH was designed to incorporate the ABM Headless Hardware system. This system includes the headpiece, bridge and tailpiece/tuners. It is all built of black anodized aluminum, or possibly an alloy. The only color you can get is black. It worked, but barely!

There were several problematic issues in using this system. You had to use D'Addario double-ball strings. Then because the headpiece stuck up about 5/16" above the fingerboard, you could break your hand if you were not careful! We were really trying to build the finest headless and were racking our brains to come up with the perfect system...Bang! If you want something, then make it! Hence, we set out to design and develop our own headpiece. I did some soul searching and came up with a way I could incorporate the gold Steinberger gearless tuners with a gold Schaller adjustable string space bridge. It all went well with the new headpiece concept.

When we first began developing the HH I was still living in Duluth, Minnesota. I had met a fine machinist in the Twin Cities area who sells me binding..Bill James of Axiom. Inc. I gave Bill the old headpiece and told him what I liked and disliked and what I thought would make it better. I also got input from him and we came up with a great headpiece; it is gold and it works great!

Here is the kicker...Bill manufactured the first run. That took a few months. Then we had to send the headpieces out to be gold plated. As it was the first run for the gold plating company too, they had to do some programming so there were more delays. Finally, Fed Ex delivered the finished product while I was in a meeting; I told the person I was with that I had to open the package just to see them! I was blown away by what I saw. I quickly put them up and got back to my meeting. By the time the meeting was over, it was bedtime!

The next morning I got up and tried to put one of the glittering headpieces on a neck, but I had problems. I thought I was having a senior moment or something! After about an hour, I realized that there was a serious problem. The headpieces were exactly .100" too big.

It took me a while to get the courage to call Bill! We had a ton of money and time invested in this headpiece. As I was telling Bill our problem he said, "Wait! I'm in shock!" As it turned out, he went to his computer and pulled up the drawing and admitted it was .100" off. I said, "You are exactly right!" I sent the headpieces back to Bill by overnight express and in one day he had corrected the problem; he then sent them on to the electroplater to be re-plated and a week later I had them.

I had learned my lesson; if you're going to mess up on something, make it too big rather than too small! You can always take more off, but it's hard to put back even .100".

The new headpiece combined with the new tuners and bridge turned out to be the answer! I had to redesign the butt of the guitar slightly, but it still looks like the original artistic idea. The new Schaller bridge can be raised or lowered; you could not do that with the ABM system. The Steinberger tuners enable us to use any string we want.

You can see the original prototype Headless Hamilton at www.daddario.com. Once there, click on "Lessons" and then on "Fred Hamilton." There are six lessons by Fred on the site.

The features of the new revised HH are as follows:

• 30 ½" length
• Less than 5 lbs. weight
• 25.5" fret scale
• Honduras Mahogany body
• Quilted maple or flamed maple top
• Schaefer logo on the 12th fret (abalone)
• Abalone dots
• Side rail dots
• 1 21/32" nut @ 0-fret
• Rosewood fingerboard
• Gold Schaller adjustable string-space bridge
• Gold Steinberger gearless tuners
• 2 gold Kent Armstrong 12-pole hum buckers
• Rosewood/pearl-inlayed knobs
• Padded and embroidered gig bag by Colorado Case Co.

The new Hamilton Headless list price is $3900. I delivered several of the first ones at the Arlington Guitar Show a couple of months ago. Proud new owners got befuddled queries as to what they had in their gig bags. One person asked if it was a squash racket!

All kidding aside, this instrument has proven to be a fine performer as an all-round utility guitar that travels well. Fred Hamilton will be leaving for a tour of India and Korea any day now and he'll be taking his HH model along for the ride.

Best holiday wishes from Texas,
Ed Schaefer

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About the Author

To learn more about Ed Schaefer and his building activities please see his website at: www.schaeferguitars.com/

Schaefer Guitars are distributed internationally by:
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