Whatever Happened to Hamer?

jeztone2

Ive always loved the Hamer Gary Moore LP Junior style Guitar & I love Steve Stevens. I almost bought a Centaur in 1990 after seeing Doug Boyle with Robert Plants band playing one.

Ive been thinking about having a guitar
built by @FelineGuitars for my 50th & I'm feeling quite Hamer inspired. But what ever happened to them? They were like the first boutique guitar company. I know Fender owned them for a while. But what a waste.

octatonic

Acquired by Kaman '88, then sold to Fender in 2008, then shelved by Fender in 2013 and then sold to KMC.
They are supposed to be coming back- who knows if anything will happen or not.
I like the pre '88 ones.

mudslide73

@Bennyboy-UK is our resident Hamer Fanboi. I love a Hamer Studio but have never owned one.

OilCityPickups

I used to have a Hamer Explorer ... really nice guitar ... 
Hamer appear to be here 

webrthomson

TheGuitarWeasel said:

I used to have a Hamer Explorer ... really nice guitar ... 
Hamer appear to be here 

Nice I've got a oil finished Diablo - it's a great guitar - Hamer were ace!

lewism

It's a shame that Fender shut Hamer down.  Afterwards, apparently they pretty much dumped everything that was left in a skip so there's really nothing left of the original company. Of the two founders, Paul Hamer left after the Kaman buyout in the 80's and Jol Dantzig went a couple of years after Fender bought them and now makes very high end electrics under his own name.  The team that built Hamers seem to have gone their own separate ways afterwards - I know that the Hamer forum pretty much view Shishkov guitars as the next best thing (or actually better) but he's not building anywhere close to the volumes Hamer were. Whatever guitars do come out bearing the Hamer brand won't really have any link to the original company other than ownership of a brand name and maybe a few body shapes.

guitars4you

octatonic said:

Acquired by Kaman '88, then sold to Fender in 2008, then shelved by Fender in 2013 and then sold to KMC.
They are supposed to be coming back- who knows if anything will happen or not.
I like the pre '88 ones.

that is about the jist of it - When Fender acquired the Kaman brand, which was effectively Takamine and Ovation regarding guitars - Hamer came along as part of the package as they had a small workshop within the premises of the USA Ovation facility - This was effectively shut down quite quickly after the buy out - Hamer was a very small concern within a big corporate business - They only made a few hundred guitars a year, so a nice as they are and I used to sell them, it was not going to continue as was within the Fender operation - I'm not sure what Jol Dantzig is doing today - I see a few articles in www.premierguitar.com - Hamer are meant to be back under new ownership with a far eastern line but I've seen no activity yet other than press releases - All a pity as they are nice guitars but alas we are down to just picking up used USA examples as and when they surface

Philly_Q

lewism said:

It's a shame that Fender shut Hamer down.  Afterwards, apparently they pretty much dumped everything that was left in a skip so there's really nothing left of the original company. Of the two founders, Paul Hamer left after the Kaman buyout in the 80's and Jol Dantzig went a couple of years after Fender bought them and now makes very high end electrics under his own name.  The team that built Hamers seem to have gone their own separate ways afterwards - I know that the Hamer forum pretty much view Shishkov guitars as the next best thing (or actually better) but he's not building anywhere close to the volumes Hamer were. Whatever guitars do come out bearing the Hamer brand won't really have any link to the original company other than ownership of a brand name and maybe a few body shapes.

Isn't Terry McInturff an ex-Hamer guy as well?  His guitars have something of the Hamer look about them.

TTony

I've currently got a couple of US Hamers.  Nice guitars.

lewism

Philly_Q said:

lewism said:

It's a shame that Fender shut Hamer down.  Afterwards, apparently they pretty much dumped everything that was left in a skip so there's really nothing left of the original company. Of the two founders, Paul Hamer left after the Kaman buyout in the 80's and Jol Dantzig went a couple of years after Fender bought them and now makes very high end electrics under his own name.  The team that built Hamers seem to have gone their own separate ways afterwards - I know that the Hamer forum pretty much view Shishkov guitars as the next best thing (or actually better) but he's not building anywhere close to the volumes Hamer were. Whatever guitars do come out bearing the Hamer brand won't really have any link to the original company other than ownership of a brand name and maybe a few body shapes.

Isn't Terry McInturff an ex-Hamer guy as well?  His guitars have something of the Hamer look about them.

He was - apparently he was involved with the design of the Hamer Mirage which bears a resemblance to some of his designs under his own name.

FelineGuitars

Hamer were one of the yardsticks that I was always inspired by.

I had a lot of respect and admiration for what Paul Hamer and Jol Danzig achieved and the high standards that they always aimed for. Meeting Jol and Frank from Hamer and going out for dinner with them in Frankfurt back in 1989 was a high point for me (the company I was working for - Shadow - supplied pickups to their parent company - Kaman/Ovation)

There is a recent book on Hamer called "The Ultimate" based on the tagline from their adverts.

Sadly the new company seems to be Hamer in name only.
One of the guitars in my stock is actually a complete rebuild of a Hamer Custom Studio arch top (all that remains of the original is the body wood which was too nice to waste.)

OilCityPickups

FelineGuitars said:

Hamer were one of the yardsticks that I was always inspired by.

I had a lot of respect and admiration for what Paul Hamer and Jol Danzig achieved and the high standards that they always aimed for. Meeting Jol and Frank from Hamer and going out for dinner with them in Frankfurt back in 1989 was a high point for me (the company I was working for - Shadow - supplied pickups to their parent company - Kaman/Ovation)

There is a recent book on Hamer called "The Ultimate" based on the tagline from their adverts.

Sadly the new company seems to be Hamer in name only.
One of the guitars in my stock is actually a complete rebuild of a Hamer Custom Studio arch top (all that remains of the original is the body wood which was too nice to waste.)

Bloody gorgeous

Jez6345789

It always seems a shame when some of the iconic brands of our youth get lost in the corporate business of acquisition.
A few have made a come back under Fender and then been sold off again but the number of brands Fender & Gibson own is pretty big. 

My big gripe is Gibson sits on Valley Arts and do nothing with what must still be a valuable brand if they set-up a small operation. For a while, they made fancy wood guitars for country musicians but these days think it is completely benched.  These days with successful boutique build shops bringing back brands like Hamer or Valley arts and others makes sense. 

jeztone2

FelineGuitars said:

Hamer were one of the yardsticks that I was always inspired by.

I had a lot of respect and admiration for what Paul Hamer and Jol Danzig achieved and the high standards that they always aimed for. Meeting Jol and Frank from Hamer and going out for dinner with them in Frankfurt back in 1989 was a high point for me (the company I was working for - Shadow - supplied pickups to their parent company - Kaman/Ovation)

There is a recent book on Hamer called "The Ultimate" based on the tagline from their adverts.

Sadly the new company seems to be Hamer in name only.
One of the guitars in my stock is actually a complete rebuild of a Hamer Custom Studio arch top (all that remains of the original is the body wood which was too nice to waste.)

I'm thinking that shape with a Floyd funnily enough. 

FelineGuitars

jeztone2 said:

FelineGuitars said:

One of the guitars in my stock is actually a complete rebuild of a Hamer Custom Studio arch top (all that remains of the original is the body wood which was too nice to waste.)

I'm thinking that shape with a Floyd funnily enough.

Well you know where we are.....

jeztone2

FelineGuitars said:

jeztone2 said:

FelineGuitars said:

One of the guitars in my stock is actually a complete rebuild of a Hamer Custom Studio arch top (all that remains of the original is the body wood which was too nice to waste.)

I'm thinking that shape with a Floyd funnily enough.

Well you know where we are.....

So does my wife

prowla

I've always liked Hamers.

A few weeks back I went to the Guitar Center in Southsea and someone came in whilst I was there and part-exchanged a far-Eastern gold-top model; I thought shall I/shan't I? but decided against it and came away with something else instead.

However, a couple of weeks ago one of the Slammer series came up on gumtree nearby and I went and got that. I wasn't expecting too much from it, but it turns out it is a really nice guitar!



It's the "Special" version with the flamed top, s/n 2001040171 (which I'm guessing is 2001?), Indonesian made and just has a junior-style fixed bridge.

It's obviously not a vintage Amnerican one, but I rather like it!

antonyiv

Their legacy continues in the hands of the master builder Mike Shishkov: http://shishkovguitars.com

I wonder if he is a relative of Yury Shishkov from Fender Custom Shop and do they have family gatherings at all.

Bennyboy-UK

Yep, his brother

professorben

Bennyboy-UK said:

Yep, his brother

Hmmm this sounds familiar.....

xtrouble

I've got an Hamer sustainiac Chaparral and it's the best guitar I've ever played. Well worth picking up if you can find one.