Hmm...

The Hayman 30/30

Hayman 30/30

This project has a story.

A long time ago, there was a lad called Richard White. In his early college days Richard found himself surrounded by guitarists. They didn’t seem so bad. Richard decided that he should become one.

The journey was pretty cool. He learnt the basics and found he could sing at the same time. (A gypsy once heard a baby version of Richard crying as she was in the process of trying to sell his mum some lucky heather. She told Richard’s mum he’d be a good singer. Richard’s mum bought the heather, for fear of being cursed, as you do. But that’s another story. In fact, that was it.)

Richard did the whole busking and band thing – it was great, I’m told.

During the learning years, Richard found himself staring at a cool ass guitar case at a carboot sale in Devon. Inside was a guitar. A crap one. The pickups had been badly modified, but, worse than that, the previous owner had ripped the body to pieces and decided to scrawl permanent green marker over the entire guitar. Richard paid a fiver for the case, which included ‘the crap one’ inside and promptly went off to eat a terrible burger from an old man in a smelly old van. Just imagine.

The guitar stayed at his mum and dad’s house, promptly forgotten. You see, Richard didn’t know what to look for in a guitar back then. He was a bit dim about them. He simply left it.

*This is an interlude. Richard went and did loads of amazing things. He’ll tell you about them some day*

Here’s the thing: that guitar was rare. It was British made and went by the name of Hayman 30/30. And they were good. Built in the seventies by a chap called Jim Burns, the range was very popular. Sadly, his business skills didn’t match up to his guitar making. He went out of business and guitars like the one Richard had became quite rare.

So here I am (yes, Richard is I!), the owner of a beat up Hayman 30/30. I wouldn’t know about it at all were it not for a friend of mine spotting it sat in the corner of my room, looking like a piece of trash. He saw the Beauty though. And now I do too.

Please prepare yourself for the dramatic vow:

I WILL RESTORE THIS HAYMAN 30/30 TO ITS FORMER GLORY!

There’s a problem though: it’s going to be really difficult. Parts are rare (duh!), restoration of guitars is supposed to be taken on by people with a certain level of expertise, and worst of all, it’s in such a mess that only so much can be done.

But that isn’t your problem. As I go along I’ll post pictures. If you want to find out more about the guitar, check out the Shergold website: http://haymanguitars.co.uk/ 

Wish me luck…

P.s. If any Hayman fanatics find this page, I promise you I won’t do anything stupid. Let’s be honest, that part was done a long, long time ago. 

  1. I have a Hayman 1010 – like yours but with three pickups – that I bought in a pawnshop in Buffalo, NY for $95 around 1990. It’s a great guitar with quite a unique sound. Of interest to your project, a few years ago, I was able to buy NOS replacement pickups from a dealer in Wembley. I can’t recall exactly from whom, but it was something like Bruno Music or similar. I can try to search back email archives if you’d like. They cost about £45.

    After I replaced the pickups and refinished the paint, I took it to my luthier for a setup, and he begged me to sell it to him, offering $1000, I refused, of course.

    Good luck with your project!

    John

    Reply

  2. Hi John,

    Gee, you commented quite a while ago, so apologies for this tardy response. Funnily enough, I contacted that very same dealer a little while back and got the pickups I needed, but thanks for recommending them. (I can’t remember the name either…)

    I have been very slack and left the project alone for a while (new job, moving house etc…), but I fully intend to get it back to life and experience that unique sound!

    Cheers,

    Richard

    Reply

  3. Hi Richard,
    I have recently inherited a 3030.
    Its a 74 sunburst and in need of a lot of TLC.
    Ill be very interested in how you get on restoring yours. so your page is bookmarked.
    cheers
    Mick.

    Reply

    • Hi Mick,
      Good luck with it. Life has kind of got in the way of my restoration, but I keep up with the Shergold page on Facebook to see what others get up to and to see if I can pick up any tips or parts. So far I have sanded the green pen marks off the body, and that’s it… the moment I’ve made some progress, I’ll post it here.
      Cheers,

      Richard

      Reply

  4. I’m doing the same for a Hayman Comet. Unfortunately I did the damage too.
    Cheers,
    John

    Reply

  5. Hi, I found this sunburst Hayman 4040 bass. It’s much better than I expected, once I got it in shape again. Some parts are missing like the round plastic circle with the logo on the head, and the covers for the elements. Any idea where I could find those? Shergold no longer exists right?
    Best,
    Wim ( Belgium)

    Reply

  6. Hi Wim,

    Yeah, I’m missing the round plastic circle too. I remember seeing a post by someone on the internet (so good luck finding it) about making their own. Certainly doable. First off, I’d recommend you join the Shergold Guitars group (which also talk about Haymans) on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/shergoldguitars/?ref=bookmarks

    Loads of advice on there. I’m pretty sure someone else was looking for the covers too, so sounds like they’re rare. Also, in case you haven’t already come across it, there’s the Shergold forum, which also has loads of Hayman stuff: http://www.shergold.co.uk/forum/

    Good luck.

    Best,

    Richard

    Reply

  7. I am currently restoring my Dad’s 1974 sunburst 3030H, replacing the neck for an original 74 replacement and gutting the electronics / changing the humbuckers to a set of fender special tele ones. It’ll be better than the original version when it’s done, and completely unique, how’ve I could do with a replacement hayman bridge if anyone has one! I also have the same issue in that there is no badge on the current neck or the replacement one…

    Reply

  8. Hi I have a Hayman 3030 I restored…. (It was a skip rescue!!). I’m lacking an original bridge tho as the one on the guitar was seriously rusty and was judged (by a younger me in the 1980s to be irrecoverable) I remember it was a roller type bridge. ….. if you did find one I’d be interested to know where. Other than that mines complete and is fantastic.

    Reply

    • Hi Phil, nothing better than a skip rescue. I still haven’t finished restoring mine. I think I need to wait until my kids have left for university or something…

      I’m afraid I’ve no idea where to get that bridge, other than to scour ebay or get lucky at a car boot sale. That or keep rummaging through those skips 😉

      Good luck!

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *