O'Hagan Nightwatch

1979 Nightwatch, 22 frets, single cutaway. I used to work with Jerry, and he verified that mine is one of the first 50 he made. It has the "flintstones" headstock which usually appears on the shark, and the "OH/Clover" logo. All maple, neck through construction. Natural laquer finish, heavy checking. It came with a hardtail, string-thru strat bridge, which I changed to schallers, and someone had messed with the electronics. I tossed the original Mighty Might pickups, and put Gibsons in it instead.

This guitar screams!! an absolute monster! It has more bite than my Les Paul (same pickups) and more sustain than anyone will ever need! I love everything about it. this is the most distinct guitar in my collection.

The lacquer on this was too thick, and has a lot of checking. Shortly after mine was made, they used a different supplier for better consistency.

If this had been my first guitar, I may have never bought any other. It is simply fantastic

Jerry is very friendly, and loves to hear from owners of his instruments, although the company went under in '83. check out www.ohagnaguitars.com

i have been playing for 14 years, and could never replace this instrument. priceless.

This guitar is very similar to a Les Paul Jr. in shape - it's got a flat top and a double cutaway setup, however the cutaway pieces are very small like an SG, not large and wing-like like on the LP Jr. It also has a beveled edge around the perimeter of the top of the body. The guitar was made in St. Louis Park, Minnesota in '82 or '83. 22 frets, neck-thru construction. The whole guitar is made of maple, save for the rosewood fretboard. It's a log, very heavy. The neck is actually three pieces of quartersawn maple put together in a way that prevents warpage. 24 3/4" scale, jumbo frets, two humbuckers. Volume for each pickup, master tone, 3-way pickup toggle. Front-mounted jack. The pickups are Shallers. Passive electronics. The finish is a thick black paint, it looks very metal. Non-locking Grover tuners.

The original bridge was a Kahler original trem. Well, I bought this guitar on Ebay a little over a year ago, and couldn't get the guitar to stay in tune for very long, so I got frustrated with it and set it in the corner of the room for a while. Just a few months ago I took it to a guy to replace the bridge. He ended up filling in the void where the Kahler was with a piece of maple, and put a tune-o-matic and stop tailpiece on it. Now it stays in tune very well.

This guitar sounds awesome. I play rock/hard rock/metal/blues etc., and it's great for all that. The pickups are pretty loud, and the all-maple neck-thru design gives the guitar a very thick sustaining sound that really cuts. It's not noisy at all, the electronics work great. It's got a good lead and rhythm sound on the bridge pickup, and it's got a good blues tone on the neck pickup.

The action is pretty low, but not so low you can't get a grip on the strings. In other words, it's perfect. The pickups are well matched for volume. There are a few blemishes and such, but that's to be expected for a 20 year old guitar. Also, the fret glue is looking quite green, but that's not too noticeable.

Never gigged with this guitar yet. It'll outlast a nuclear war, though. This guitar is solid. The finish is really thick, and everything else is solid. The guitar's so heavy you could use it as a weapon and keep on playing, it's built like a tank. The strap buttons have little leather pieces attached on them that were added after-market. You stick your strap between the two leather pieces, and there's another button to lock it together. That's a nice feature.

I actually know Jerry O'Hagan who started Jemar Corp. and designed the guitars and helped build them. He actually lives about a half mile from me, his daughter is a good friend of mine. I've known the family for many years, and talked to Jerry extensively about his guitars. The company went out of business sometime in 1983 or early 1984. He doesn't do repairs, thankfully I found a guy who's an excellent guitar repairman and he fixed my bridge problem. If anyone wants info on O'Hagan guitars, go to www.ohaganguitars.com .

I've been playing over seven years now. I also own a 1989 Fender American Deluxe Strat Plus and an Epiphone Les Paul Special double cutaway. I have three other guitars (1 electric and 2 acoustic) that are pretty much junk. My amp is a Marshall JCM602 - all tube, 60 watts into two 30w Celestions. If it were stolen I'd continue to look for more O'Hagans - I'm always looking to buy more of them if I can find them. They are high quality instruments that you can get for a real steal. They're definitely on par with high-end Fenders or Gibsons, quality-wise. It's similar to a Les Paul for the most part, but being all maple gives it a very different sound. If you get a chance to buy one, don't deny yourself.