Happy Birthday, 2020

 

It’s rare to know the exact date of manufacture of a specific guitar – most can be narrowed down to a month and year – but in the case of this Hayman 2020, we can say for certain that it is fifty-two years old today: its serial number dates it to 8 April, 1974.

Hayman guitars were produced from 1970 to 1975, and at their peak of production the company was turning out 200 models every month. The brand arose from a collaboration between British guitar legend Jim Burns and the Dallas/Arbiter company who owned the Hayman name (it was also applied to a short-lived range of drums). The first models appeared in 1970/71 – model 1010, an electric solidbody, and 2020, a semi-solid with echoes of Fender’s Thinline Telecaster.

In its original incarnation, the 2020 was a handsome natural mahogany finished instrument, with a maple neck and ebonised fingerboard: the headstock was similarly finished. Two single coil ‘Superflux’ pickups were controlled from a standard three-way selector switch and conventional volume/tone pots. The guitar’s most unusual feature was its mid-body ‘Vibrasonic chamber’, visible through the smoked perspex scratchplate, and intended to boost the instrument’s natural sustain.

Mahogany 2020s are rare and may not have endured far beyond the prototype. The model is most often encountered in natural, sunburst or black finishes. The natural and sunburst models sometimes have figured tops, apparently in sycamore, but I suspect that the black 2020s were made in less attractive obeche, a fine-grained, lightweight African hardwood which Hayman used for some of its other models. That said, the 2020 is still quite a hefty model, even allowing for its hollow cavities.

Model 2020 originally retailed at £195 including purchase tax. By the time I picked up my example, in 2013, they were selling for around £750, and today they can go for anything between £850 and £1250, assuming you can find one.

Mine cost me £599, from a small shop in Nottingham called The Music Inn, still trading to this day. I’d missed out on a natural model when it came up on eBay, and had been casting around online to find another. The guitar was in fine condition, despite having no case, with an amazingly low action and accurate intonation that hasn't required any adjustment in nearly thirteen years. Sound-wise, there’s nothing particularly remarkable about the 2020: the Superflux pickups are adequate enough – the bridge sounds bright but rather characterless, while the neck offers a rounder, superior tone. Combined, the effect is indifferent. The 2020 sounds best with a bit of overdrive or distortion: it’s not a guitar to be played ‘clean’, and the pickups are a disappointment compared with Jim Burns’ earlier efforts like the Tri-Sonic or Reso-Matic units of the early 60s.

The Hayman company ceased trading in 1975, by which time the 2020 had been refitted with Re-an humbucking pickups, similar to those found on the later Burns models and again, nothing to write home about. Hayman guitars were clearly aimed at the amateur/semi-pro end of the market and it’s rare to see them in the hands of pro musicians. Strangely, though, I knew of the brand from well before I began to take an interest in collecting guitars: at Easter 1973 I was given a large poster of glam rockers Slade which hung on my bedroom wall for a few years, and showed Dave Hill weilding a natural-finish 2020.

The guitar still has its original dealer sticker, showing that it was supplied by the Carlsbro Sound Centre, Mansfield,
 a large dealership, opened in 1970 but closed in the mid 90s. I also own a Baldwin Double Six supplied by the same shop. In its day, it was one of the biggest music retail chains in the north of England.

Though rare, Hayman guitars still surface from time to time on the second-hand market, with the 3030 models seemingly the most common, and the 5050 bass the rarest. The most unusual Hayman guitar was the ‘Modular’ whose electrics could be swapped for a variety of tone and volume control configurations, an idea continued on the later Shergold ‘Modulator’.

Hayman guitars are occasionally subject to amateur customisation, and I’ve seen several examples of cheap, retro-fitted humbuckers on 2020 models, which render them worthless in collecting terms. Another thing to look out for is the clear enamel ‘H’ headstock badge, which is often missing in action, leaving a round hole in its place.

Further information on Hayman guitars can be found here:

https://blackguitars.com/burns-1969-hayman.html

and a dedicated Facebook group here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/915226515175472/

Carlsbro Sound Centre Mansfield, which originally sold my 2020, was reviewed in International Musician & Recording World in 1975, article viewable here:

https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/carlsbro-sound-centre/6699

Slade's Dave Hill pictured with a Hayman 2020 circa 1972