Hayman 2020H

Features are adequate and as expected, acoustic chamber is a nice surprize and gives it a unique sound. Guitar is a Hayman 2020, Sunburst finish, made in England in 1974 by Jim Burns and co. I did not have a case however it fit perfectly in a standard Rectangle Fender Strat type case.

I found my Hayman 2020 to be very versatile, ranging from Country to Blues and even adequate for Jazz. I play mostly Blues and some Rock & Jazz. My 3 way switch is a little noisy(i think just needs cleaning due to age) I use it thru a Fender Blues Jr. tube amp with great results. I like the guitar very much & I am a JazzBox archtop kind of player so not many semi hollows & chambered guitars work for me. This one does, Very nicely.

I bought the Guitar used and immediately took it to my luthier so it's set up the way I like it. Guiter is very well built(even my luthier friend was very impressed)

I would not use ANY guitar at a gig w/o a backup, nothing personal, just me, but guitar seems reliable and nicely finished.

Not under warranty, company doesn't even exist anymore, but it is in the shop right now because of the noisy switch, I don't anticipate a problem.

Not my fav guitar, but certainly up there, I own 14 guitars all total(basses, acoustics, etc.) I think it's a great little guitar, I have archtiops from the 50's & 60's which have their own vibes to them but I am very happy with this one.

This is a small-body semi-acoustic designed by famed UK guitar maker Jim Burns (Burns guitars) and Bob Pearson (Vox Phantom, John Lennon's perspex guitar, etc). Woodwork by Jack Golder and Norman Houlder (Shergold guitars). Great pedigree. Hayman guitars were made between 1970 and 1975 and the 2020 was the top of the range. This particular guitar was bought from a Hayman collector as a body, a neck, pickups, etc and assembled to make a complete instrument. It is not, therefore, in original condition but all the essential parts are authentic Hayman/Shergold.

The mahogany body has a beautiful rosewood veneer and the bolt-on Hayman maple neck (with 21-fret unbound maple fingerboard) has a width at the zero fret of 41mm. Body shape is Burns Vista-Sonic style double-cutaway.

The 'Vibrasonic Chamber' is a unique feature of Hayman guitars and accounts for their impressive sustain. There are comments in the User Reviews for the Hayman 3030 about the sustain and those owners may not realise that in their gutars they have a box of springs that vibrate in sympathy with the strings (a Jim Burns idea). The through-body stringing routes the strings through the spring box.

Early 2020 guitars had the single-coil SuperFlux pickups but this guitar has a pair of the later Re-An humbuckers that were also fitted to Shergold guitars. This 2020 body had been given extra holes by a previous owner for the purpose of fitting switches and the best plan seemed to be to make virtue out of necessity by utilising these holes to add extra switchable features. Thus this guitar has phase reverse between pickups, bypass (takes the volume pots out of circuit to enhance treble response) and a mute switch. Other controls are volume for each pickup, selector for each pickup (humbucking, reverse phase humbucking, single coil, dual coil) and pickup selector.

The bridge is the standard Hayman bridge with micro-adjustment for string height and length. New Schaller tuners are fitted.

These days I play in a rock instrumental band (mostly rhythm) and this is a great rhythm guitar (for lead work I use my Shergold Modulator with trem arm). The amp is a Marshall AS50R combo - very clean, which compliments the bright, clean sounds from the pickups. The various pickup switch variations (a total of 40) mean plenty of interesting sounds.

Obviously I had to set the guitar up from scratch but the neck is slim and straight and a perfect match for my Shergold so switching between them is easy. Hardly any fret wear. Very nice to play.

This guitar is fine for live playing and very comfortable to wear - not light, but well balanced. For a thirty year old body the finsh is in great shape - no wear, no scratches, just a few drilled holes, and the rosewood really glows after a polish. As mentioned above, I see this as a guitar for chord work but it would suit a single-string style that didn't need a trem arm.

Hayman as a company disappeared 30 years ago.

Been playing guitar since 1960. Have other 'Burns family' guitars including 1959 Artist and Baldwin 712T. This Hayman is unique and irreplaceable - not a valuable collectors item since it is not 'original' but a great guitar nevertheless. Pictures can be seen on the Shergold website http://www.shergold.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=706