Matt and Chris Haramis are the owners/operators of Haramis Musical Hardware (HMH). Based in Wayne, NJ the company specializes in building custom hardware and bodies for guitars and basses. Their biggest project to date is when the Yamaha Guitar Development team asked Haramis to build a bass body for legendary bassist Billy Sheehan.
Co-founding the company with his brother Chris, Matt has been operating HMH for the better part of the last decade. To create his custom bodies, Matt relies on SO-Strong® color tints and Smooth-Cast® urethane resins. “Once I discovered Smooth-On, everything changed,” says Matt. In January 2016, the Yamaha Guitar Development team asked HMH to construct a translucent, wine-red color bass body for Billy Sheehan. It was their biggest and most challenging project to date.
Immediately, HMH reached out to Reynolds Advanced Materials in Allentown, PA (a Smooth-On distributor) to discuss material options for this project. Together, they decided that the mold would be made from Smooth-Sil® 945 high performance platinum silicone rubber, and the bass body would be cast from TASK® 9 color-match urethane plastic. Per Matt, “I chose TASK® 9 urethane resin for the supreme strength and ability to remain transparent.”
Once the mold was made, Matt ran into some trouble getting a successful casting. He knew that one quick call to Smooth-On’s world class technical support would be all he needed. “A Smooth-On technician made a few recommendations that resolved my issue,” he remarks. Yamaha will be releasing a full promotional press release detailing this project. They have released a teaser of their project on Facebook here.
Matt has graciously shared pictures of the Smooth-Sil® 945 mold and spectacular guitar body cast from TASK® 9 and tinted with SO-Strong®, which you can view below.
“I can honestly say without the wonderful product support and amazing products from Smooth-On, I wouldn’t be where I am at, doing something that I love and creating items that others find joy in as well.” – Matt Haramis.
To learn more about HMH click here. You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
