Ugghh! I just found this thread, don't know how I missed it!
My most sincere condolences to Herc's family.
I met him at a guitar show back in '97-'98, maybe and he had a Black and white glow in the dark swirl on display. Super nice guy. We talked about Jems and he told me about Jemsite at the time. Dunno if Glen has the original sign up info, but that was days after I met Herc. We stayed in touch off and on and I always wished him well when he mentioned health issues keeping him from making more art. I never dug in too deeply about it, but I guess it all makes sense.

Your kind spirit and art will be missed, R.I.P. Herc.

Sincere condolences to Herc's wife!
I am still waiting for Herc's wife to return the body I sent to get painted. Am I the only one?

I've been experiencing the same issue.

I started communicating with Herc in March 2014 when I saw him offer his swirling services on EBay. We discussed many things, including family and dedication to our craft - he was a true artist and gentleman.

I hit the EBay offer and shipped a JS body to him. He was swamped with orders, but he updated me every few weeks. And then he suddenly passed away. His wife Jessica sent an email announcing the terrible news.

After about six months had passed, I sent a very gentle and respectful email to Jessica inquiring about my JS body. This was in November 2014. I didn't ask for a refund; I just wanted the body back and offered to pay for the shipping.

I received a form reply email saying that the family was still going through a difficult time and to please be patient. I waited a couple of months, then sent another couple of gentle emails. I received the same form reply email.

Not to be insensitive and with all due respect for Herc and his family, I'm at a loss about what to do here. Any advice would be appreciated.

If you want to send me the email I'll offer to go over and sort thru what's there for them. I'm sure part of the problem is knowing what is what, although the neck pockets should be marked, they may not have figured that out.

That's really nice of you, I bet Jess will really appreciate it.

That would be hugely appreciated if it's not too much trouble for you. It's a little difficult for me to do this myself as I live in Hawaii. I'd be happy to reimburse you for any expenses incurred.

I've cut-and-pasted the email thread along with two pics that I sent Jessica of what the JS body looked like before and what it would have looked like after the swirling.

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This is Herc's wife. I will respond to emails as quickly as I can, but please be a little patient with me.

If Herc was working with you, I am now beginning to send his artwork home. I saw first hand what care and respect Herc put into each and every step of the process so I want to be sure that I do the same so that everything gets home safely.

Please feel free to send me any pictures, etc. that might help me expedite the process.

I truly appreciate your patience!

Sincerely,
Jessica
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Dear Jessica,

That is highly impressive that you've taken over Herc's work.

The JS body I sent Herc was mahogany with a clear coat. I don't believe he had a chance to work on it, although he said he was about to start just about a week before his passing.

Thank you and I await your response.

Kind regards,
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Hi Jessica,

I'm sorry to pester you, but just checking to see if you've had any luck finding my guitar body. It looks very similar to the picture (natural wood finish guitar body) I've attached. I don't think Herc worked on it before his passing but if he did, it would look something like the second picture (liquid metal).

The guitar body was sent from Hawaii. My full details are as follows:

[ ]

Thanks so much for your help.

Kind regards,

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What I need is her email address, I don't have it.

Sorry about that. It's multicolorguru at excite.com.

This is the form reply email I've been getting over the past two months.

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Please forgive the lack in email responses these past weeks. There has been no time for me to take care of emails or shipping anything out. To say that this is all completely overwhelming physically and emotionally would be an understatement.

I am currently working on getting help from family/friends so that I will have the time and resources to get back to emailing and shipping. Hopefully this will happen soon.

Thank you for your patience while I sort all of this out.

Sincerely,
Jessica Fede

Rich, you are a true class act, you show this time and time again.

Here's the one Herc swirl i owned for a while:





I believe Herc also did the inlays which have "flames" around the pyramids.

RIP to a true artist

Sincere condolences to here's family. I have 2 swirls of his a seven string and a Jem clone. Beautiful work, and I'll treasure them. He was a great guy and friendly with his correspondence during the 7 string swirl.

Here's a couple pics....

The seven string.



And a link to the purple one...

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f15/he...irl-88290.html

Hi,
I just heard about the sad news. My condolences to his family. In my opinion, Herc was the best swirl painter.

Have a look on my JEM. As far as I remember she was once the flagship on his old web page.

RIP Herc

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I think you posted up the wrong link; that guitar is a Japanese swirled MKR Universe, not a Herc Fede swirled Jem.

Hi Jim777,
Thank you for your comment.
As far as I remember this guitar was the link to Herc's work in 2002. Unfortunately I didn't save his webpage.
The guitar is originally a black Universe and she could be one of the first he swirled. If you have more/different information we should discuss it privatly.
Thanks,
Lars

This may be where the confusion lies Lars. I have seen a lot of Herc's work (as you can imagine), and a lot of the early Universes. The colors used on the instrument shown above are exactly the Japanese MKR colors - why on earth would anyone want to match them when these swirls earned the nickname 'Mustard, Ketchup, Relish' for their dullness?

Removing the neck will prove the point, as Herc signed and dated his work in the neck pocket. Take a look at these pics for an example of what you would see on a Herc swirled body with the neck removed.







Notice how in all three pictures there seems to be an arc in the swirl pattern over the bridge route when viewed at this angle, how there is almost an indent in the swirl near the input jack as well (see the thumb placement in the GMC shot); these are often (but not always) Herc giveaways as well.

Of course, if it is not your guitar in your picture it's not worth arguing about really, but if it is your guitar, you should likely remove that neck as soon as it's convenient.

FWIW, my 540P (see earlier in this thread) does not have that "classic" Herc pattern.

I might believe that the UV is a Herc but I agree that I think it's just an MKR. If it were originally a black UV, not only would it have to be an aftermarket rear route body, but the neck would have to have plugged dots at the 24th fret, which it clearly does not.

The pickguard does look like it might be aftermarket as it appears to have straight rather than beveled edges. Also, the trem looks black but that might be the lighting.