Whatever Happened to Hamer?

FelineGuitars

xtrouble said:

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.

Very tasty!

Bennyboy-UK

professorben said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Yep, his brother

Hmmm this sounds familiar.....

Yeah, me too - wasn't it unwarranted spelling outrage plus venom on my part?

FelineGuitars

Bennyboy-UK said:

professorben said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Yep, his brother

Hmmm this sounds familiar.....

Yeah, me too - wasn't it unwarranted spelling outrage plus venom on my part?

ok guys - clue us all in on what's so familiar

Lozboy

Interesting thread.I played a few of the old USA Hamers very nice guitars.

bassbora

I have few of them and think they are just brilliant. Anything I want in a guitar. 

Does anyone have any experience with the basses? 

Bennyboy-UK

FelineGuitars said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

professorben said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Yep, his brother

Hmmm this sounds familiar.....

Yeah, me too - wasn't it unwarranted spelling outrage plus venom on my part?

ok guys - clue us all in on what's so familiar

Ah, probably this thread I started a while back...

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/109829/ ;

revsorg

I got my Hamer in 1981, responded to a classified ad in Sounds.  Serial number 0253 - I asked Kaman about it in 2003 and they said it was completed on November 21, 1979.  I swapped the bridge pickup to a Pearly Gates in the 80's after I unsatisfactorily wax potted the Di Marzio PAF.  Still got the original bridge but I prefer the sound of the TP6.  It's the guitar I really connect with, feels like electricity is passing between it and my fingers when I'm at my best.  It took me literally 20 years to come to terms with the ding just above the bridge.

lewism

Wow, the 4 digit Standards are seriously rare, especially in the UK! I think they were actually made separately to the normal production models on a pretty much custom order basis by (I think) Tom Holmes so no two are really identical and they stopped doing them in the mid 1980s - the Standards that they reintroduced in the 90's were more of a regular production guitar.  That's a beautiful example of what Hamer did best in showing the bigger companies what could be done if they really tried to make a great guitar!

lewism

And because threads like this can't have enough pictures, even if they don't do the guitar justice, here's my 2007 Newport:
https://i.imgur.com/QWdsSMh.jpg

Bennyboy-UK

I can never remember the score with 4 digits.. Here is a useful link: 

https://www.hamerfanclub.com/about.html ;

Philly_Q

revsorg said:

I got my Hamer in 1981, responded to a classified ad in Sounds.  Serial number 0253 - I asked Kaman about it in 2003 and they said it was completed on November 21, 1979.  

I can't compete with that, but I got my 1980(?) Special in January 1982, also from a small ad in the back of Sounds. 

I'm afraid it's not in lovely playable condition like your Standard, but it is exactly the same colour.  Whoever they got to spray those sunbursts was remarkably consistent.

ChuckManual

I have always lusted after a Talledega...



Unfortunately, I've never even seen one in the flesh - let alone played one... 

professorben

Bennyboy-UK said:

FelineGuitars said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

professorben said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Yep, his brother

Hmmm this sounds familiar.....

Yeah, me too - wasn't it unwarranted spelling outrage plus venom on my part?

ok guys - clue us all in on what's so familiar

Ah, probably this thread I started a while back...

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/109829/ ;

Back on topic, I had no idea the guy from The Misfits was involved in Hamer?!?!

guitars4you

ChuckManual said:

I have always lusted after a Talledega...


Unfortunately, I've never even seen one in the flesh - let alone played one... 

I sold 2 and I believe at the time they were the only 2 to arrive in the UK - I somehow recall at the time that 4 were on the USA inventory and I ordered 2 of them - very few existed

Philly_Q

professorben said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

FelineGuitars said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

professorben said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Yep, his brother

Hmmm this sounds familiar.....

Yeah, me too - wasn't it unwarranted spelling outrage plus venom on my part?

ok guys - clue us all in on what's so familiar

Ah, probably this thread I started a while back...

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/109829/ ;

Back on topic, I had no idea the guy from The Misfits was involved in Hamer?!?!

It's his brother.

lewism

I think he's joking about Jol Dantzig who is, as far as I'm aware, not related to Glenn Danzig.

CasperCaster

I think it's was a Talladega that I spent a very pleasant hour or two playing in Marks shop. However, from memory the pickups were unique - sort of a Tele meets P90 hybrid in a PAF sized case. Not at all like the pickups in the picture above. As with everything in Marks shop it was a lovely guitar, but I think something else ultimately caught my eye. It's a shame that Hamer no longer really exists, as with the right support and promotion they could have been a real force. 

lewism

Some Talladegas had pickups specifically designed for them by Seymour Duncan. The SD Phat Cat was also originally designed for the Hamer Newport. Can't think of many other guitar companies that had that sort of relationship.

professorben

lewism said:

I think he's joking about Jol Dantzig who is, as far as I'm aware, not related to Glenn Danzig.

Yeah it was a nod to the spelling hilarity from the other thread......

Basher

lewism said:

And because threads like this can't have enough pictures, even if they don't do the guitar justice, here's my 2007 Newport:
https://i.imgur.com/QWdsSMh.jpg

That's the one I always wanted! Came close to taking a chance on importing one from the USA but decided not to risk it as I'd never seen one in the flesh, let alone played one.

I believe they're pretty much hollow, the body being routed out just leaving some kind of "sustain block" under the bridge?

I've always liked the idea of a guitar that's slightly more hollow than an ES335 but not quite the full ES330, if that makes any sense. I suppose the "routed solid body" construction makes it it's own thing anyway. I'm guessing the phat cat P90s in that sound great too.

As a long term Jethro Tull fan, I always liked Martin Barre's Hamers and, by association, they seem to have that "thinking man's Gibson" association for me. Have only tried a couple (the doublecut customs) and liked them a lot. Wish there were more around.