Spector Blackhawk mid-90s Trans Black DiMarzio Schaller

The term "rare" gets thrown around a lot on the Internet.  In this case, today's offering really is a piece of Spector lore that rarely, if ever, sports a for-sale sign.  This is a Spector Blackhawk, of which Stuart and company only made a small number.   It was the precursor to their ARC line in the later years.

The few Blackhawks made were hand built by Chris Hofshneider (RIP) in the late 80s/early 90s in the Kramer shop for such notable players as Scotti Hill  and Joe Perry, of Skid Row and Aerosmith fame, respectively.  They came to be as Kramer was imploding and according to PJ Rubal, a few more one-offs were made by the Czech factory a few years later (mid-90s).   Chris actually owned the name Blackhawk, and he made some more under his own NYS brand as well.

This particular guitar is unserialized, and to the best of my research is one of those Euro Blackhawks.  I've seen a handful of Blackhawks over the years but most were either NYS or Kramer/Spector branded.  This is the only one that I've seen that was a Czech Spector.  Pretty rare, indeed.   

It is a no-nonsense kind of double-cut, meant to rock the hell out.  The controls are simple and brutal. 

DiMarzios in the bridge and neck position.  The West-German made Schaller Floyd Rose functions amazing well for its age.  There is some surface rust as you can see in the pics but nothing that impacts the playability. 

I just had it set up by Attila Csapo, who is as skilled a luthier as they come.  He did a full set up and fret level/polish, as well installed a new Schaller nut (the old one is included and while functional, also served to shred your fretting hand!).  Plenty of life left in the frets and in full disclosure, Attila told me that you can probably get another 2-3 fret levels out of it before a refretting may be required.   At that time, the new owner should consider re-radiusing/leveling the fretboard.  But it's good to go, as is, and should be for the foreseeable future. 

Overall, the condition is very, very clean, given its age.  There are a few scrapes and dings, pickwear, and light buckle rash on the trem cover.  Beautiful quilted maple top under a trans black finish.   Will ship in a Spector gig bag, well-packed and ready to shred. 

And because you're probably curious, why am I selling?  Because I'm primarily a bass player (Spector, naturally).  And as much as I enjoy it as a piece of wall art 99% of the time, this Blackhawk deserves to be played, and I want to see this guitar in the hands of someone far more capable than me.