Anyone ever own a Lemar?

[Bill McCloskey]

Has anyone ever had a Lemar? What did you think about them, their sound and their keyless system?

[Ross Shafer]

Lamar Colvin built (builds?) very nice great sounding guitars. I ordered a keyless one from him with his linear changer. The only actual linear changer I know of. I likes his keyless system so much I pretty much copied it (with Lamar’s permission). I broke lots of third strings while installing, but never while playing. His tuner can be made much more third string friendly with a simple mod I came up with. Never broke a string after that. Overall a big thumbs up!

[Bill McCloskey]

Thanks Ross. Is he still building?

You answered my biggest fear of keyless systems. I had a Sierra keyless (built before your time) and I had the same problem with the 3rd string and drove me crazy and I swore off keyless for good.

I was hoping his changer would be different. yeah....I'm not going down that road again.
I think you just saved me $2,500 and hours of frustration.

[Ross Shafer]

I haven't had any contact with Lamar for years, so I can't say if he's still building or not. I have seen my old Lamar for sale a couple times, if per chance that's the one you were looking at the tuner for the 3rd string is already dialed. It's a super easy mod,and makes that tuner totally reliable (in my experience).

The pre-me Sierra keyless systems were hampered by their lack of travel which made loading that pesky 3rd string a b_tch! A lot of Sierras were built to a 25" scale which raised the tension on all strings but made that 3rd string pretty delicate. I spent many months of design and testing to come up with a changer that is gentle on the 3rd string....even with a 25" scale. Changer testing video here:
https://youtu.be/abq7DsbebJI?si=ZbTBkn17IOvn0ykD

The changer finger in this test is not the final iteration. all testing was done with a 25" scale. The first iteration broke the third string in its first pull, the final design was tested to 1,028,000(yes that's one million!) cycles without breaking the string. I called it good and started production at that point.

[Bill McCloskey]

This is the one for sale. Does it look familar?

https://reverb.com/item/93179884-lamar- ... l-red-1990

Holy Cow! I just watched that video. You are a genius my friend.

[Ross Shafer]

Nope, not my old one. I'm guessing this one is older than mine, same linear changer and tuner set up though. I see it has a stick on fret board, mine had real inlay for the markers and frets and was clear lacquer over quilted maple.

[Mike DiAlesandro]

I believe this may have been Ross's if my memory serves me right...

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[Ross Shafer]

yup, that was mine, great guitar and Lamar was wonderful to deal with! If you look real close at the third string tuner you can see the mod I mention above. Just pressed in to offer a second contact point for the string before it goes to the roller.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Ross, I'm curious about the 3rd string mod with that pin. So, what does that do? Put more tension on the string so that it tunes up quicker, shortens the tuner travel vs. the unmodded path?

[BTW, if you right click on that photo and select image in a new tab, then click on the + you can enlarge that photo to get a really good look at that tuner and mod.]

FWIW, I used to own the very first guitar that Lamar built for sale. It was a D10 with 5 knees.
I loved that keyless tuner and I don't really recall any problems with the 3rd string coming to pitch with a new string unlike the Sierra Crown keyless where I had to install a longer screw in that lever for more travel. I used 12 ga. on both guitars also.

I don't believe Lamar builds guitars for a while now. He had some respiratory issues after he moved from NJ to Havana Fla. several years ago. He was still posting here not long ago.

I met him in St. Louis and played that guitar on display at the ISGC off and on all weekend and eventually bought it. He was very patient and friendly and sent me several upgrade parts for the guitar as time went on.

He is a terrific innovator coming up with upgrades on his guitars as his builds grew. I always thought that lateral changer was genius. He built a gorgeous conventional keyed D10 with real rosewood and natural curly maple that was just stunning that I drooled over a lot.

I eventually sold my guitar as I did several others out of economic distress, but I always enjoyed playing it and dealing with Lamar was always a treat.

I'd be proud to play any of his builds.

[Tom Campbell]

This is a 12 string Lamar I had built a number of years ago.
Wish I still had it but wanted to go back to a S-10 string.

[Bill Ford]

Ross, What size pin also, Is the part with the pin hard to get out, or did you drill it in place?

The picture Tom posted is same as mine except mine has the other style changer.

[Ross Shafer]

Bill, I can't remember if it was 3/32" or 1/8" looks like I used the same size as the roller axle in the pic. The tuner finger comes out easily...I'd have to see the underside to be sure, but I think you just remove the string and loosen the tuner finger until it drops out. For it to press in and stay there it needs to be drilled undersize then reamed with reamer that is .001-.002 undersize. This is something very few people have unless they are a machinist. You're invited to send the part to me. I'd be happy to put the pin in for you. Contact me via email or pm if you'd like to do that.

Happy Hot Dang Holidays Y'all!

[Nico Hillary]

I had one once. Feisty little critter. The second I let him out of the cage, he went straight up the drapes and started swinging around on the chandelier. It was another 2 days before we could coax him down with some drugged bananas.

...sorry, you did say LEMUR, right?

[Bill Ford]

Ross, Thank you for the info, looks like 1/8", I have some SS rod I can use if I decide to do the mod.
I'm currently not playing now, if/when I decide to start back I will do the mod, I have yet to break a string on my Lamar S12
except when changing strings...dreaded third string. Looks like removing the clamping allen head, it will come out the bottom.

Thanks...Bill

[K Maul]

Not related to Lamar guitars but I’ve had GFI, Williams and Excel keyless guitars with minimal 3rd string issues. No more than Sho~Buds I’ve had.