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O.M.F.G. Look what I found...


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The singer in my band saw a guy playing this guitar at a local church.  He said the guy has brought a different guitar every Sunday for the last 4 months.  He mentioned to the guy that I'm a Hamer nut and is trying to arrange a meetup.  My jaw was on the ground when I saw Steve's (I think) double cut/Standard headstock CO at the book signing a couple of years ago, and I have a Gibson Les Paul XPL (same thing - double cut/Explorer headstock) that took me 10+ years to find.  I absolutely LOVE that look.  If I can get my hands on this one, I'll be one happy guy!

 

1247.jpg

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Aldo Nova meets Hamer! 

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1 hour ago, bruce919 said:

That's nice.

That was requested several times as a customer in the 2000's and turned down.

 

And that decision by Hamer was completely illogical. 

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2 hours ago, bruce919 said:

That's nice.

That was requested several times as a customer in the 2000's and turned down.

 

Sigh, as did I.   I did a request for both a Sunburst Flat Top and a Monaco Elite with a Standard Headstock.   I at least got a call from Hamer and it was discussed all of about 10 minutes, followed up by return call to be turned down.

Hamerica  

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3 hours ago, Hamerica said:

Sigh, as did I.   I did a request for both a Sunburst Flat Top and a Monaco Elite with a Standard Headstock.   I at least got a call from Hamer and it was discussed all of about 10 minutes, followed up by return call to be turned down.

Hamerica  

Been there as well :(

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Mid 1990s.

 

I submitted that as a custom order at least 7-8 times from 1999, and was shot down every time.  I finally gave up.

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curious... what was the reason for the denials,  was it just no?   I remember the

first few open houses where Jol seemed to distance himself from

anything that could be considered too hot rodded. 

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I really prefer the 3x3 headstock on the Sunburst / Studio / Speciall modell. The banana headstock just looks a bit to weird with that kind of body.
Sorry, don't mean to stir up any hostile feelings. I just do. 
BUT, still a damn cool find! I hope you can lure the owner in to selling it to you.

Is that a subtle flame I see in the black finish? See through? Or is is just black, with some weird reflections?

 

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1 hour ago, DaveL said:

curious... what was the reason for the denials,  was it just no?   I remember the

first few open houses where Jol seemed to distance himself from

anything that could be considered too hot rodded. 

That's anybody's guess.  The answer I got one time has been quoted above..."Too obvious".

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13 hours ago, cmatthes said:

Mid 1990s.

 

I submitted that as a custom order at least 7-8 times from 1999, and was shot down every time.  I finally gave up.

But your brother got one, right?  The one that was at the book signing?

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4 hours ago, Disturber said:

I really prefer the 3x3 headstock on the Sunburst / Studio / Speciall modell. The banana headstock just looks a bit to weird with that kind of body.
Sorry, don't mean to stir up any hostile feelings. I just do. 
BUT, still a damn cool find! I hope you can lure the owner in to selling it to you.

Is that a subtle flame I see in the black finish? See through? Or is is just black, with some weird reflections?

 

I haven't seen it in person, but my friend who did said it's actually a super-dark green!  Looks black to me too.

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Has something to do with this.

 

 

RN Aldo Nova.jpg

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2 hours ago, tommy p said:

But your brother got one, right?  The one that was at the book signing?

Nope - He tried to order one as well and got shot down too.

The reason that I wanted that specific combination (as did Serial) is because of the long-winded story I've told before on here below.

As an impressionable 19-year-old college freshman, I was eager to seek out all the guitar stores in my new college town in NC.  I usually called first to see what they had in stock, and when the owner of one store countered with "tell me first what stuff you like", I mentioned Hamer, not dreaming that anybody would actually carry the brand.  He told me that he thought I should stop by the store very soon and see some cool stuff.  I walked into Sam Moss Guitars at 825 Burke St. in downtown Winston-Salem, and was honestly a little intimidated going through the door.  It was a small shop, and they had all of these cheap-o Danelectros and bizarre '60s monstrosities hanging everywhere.  There was nobody at the counter, but clearly somebody wrestling with something in the back.  Among all the old stuff hanging, I really didn't care about at the time, I picked out a couple beat 50s LP Jrs, some 60s Fender Offsets with some vague interest, but was thinking I should leave before a store dood came out and asked me what I wanted.  About that time, I noticed that there was a stand behind the counter that held a mythical beast - a Vintage Yellow PRS flametop.  I had read about them in GP, but never saw one in the flesh, so was suddenly intrigued.  I believe the white 3X5 card slid between the strings read "Paul Reed Smith Guitar - $1,650", which was almost triple what my brand new Les Paul Custom had recently cost me.  The owner came out shortly after and I was racking my brain trying to think of an intelligent-sounding question to ask about this PRS.  I managed to ask if that was a PRS or something stupid, and he basically told me that's what the sign said.  Before the awkward lull kicked in, he said that that was one of the nicest new guitars he'd seen in a while and that Paul was doing some cool stuff up in Maryland.  "But...check THIS out!".  He ducked in the back and pulled out a Hamer case and popped it open on the counter.  Inside was a Hamer Sunburst...but it had a carved top, bound 6-in-line Standard headstock with pearloid tuner buttons, big logo and a C/B/C three coil pickup, Sustainblock bridge and a gorgeous 3 tone Sunburst finish.  I think it was the most beautiful guitar I'd seen in person - at least right up there with a greenburst Hamer Standard.  He showed me where he had ordered his shop initials and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle name ("they'll let you put whatever you want on the headstock when you order one!").  He took the PRS off of its throne and hung it up with less memorable guitars, and then put the brand new Hamer on display.  I was floored...smitten.  I also knew that it was going to be well outside of my affordability, and likely half of my semester's tuition.  After that, I looked for any excuse to get off campus and get downtown to ogle that guitar and whatever other cool stuff Sam got in the door.  I finally ended up getting a Ferrari Red Special with a Floyd Rose from him later that year, but as much as I loved that one, it wasn't the flametopped beauty.

Fast forward to several years later, and I was in DC at a big guitar show.  I had just bought a drop-dead gorgeous Mary Kaye reissue '62 Strat right before, and was rebuilding my guitar fund.  It was right at the end of the day, and I saw a familiar guitar in the back of a booth from a West Virginia dealer.  It was the exact same Hamer "Electraglide SMG" guitar.  I think they were asking @$800 or so for it, and I only had $350 with me and he wouldn't take a check, but said nobody was hot for it, so if I came back in the morning, he'd case it up for me.  I couldn't believe that I had run into that same guitar, and the guy let me take a few pictures of it against a back wall.  The next morning (cash in hand) I got there as the show opened, and found out that a Japanese dealer had snagged it the night before.  apparently, two assistants wheeled a flatbed cart around the show floor after the public had left, and he pointed to things in booths and his assistants broke out checkbooks and stacked the cart full of cases.  Crushing blow at the time, but one that got away - I've had plenty of those.

A little further into the future, in the fairly early days of the HFC, I heard from Tombo here that the guitar was actually for sale in Japan, but the store didn't want to ship it.  I tried to get him to procure the guitar for me, but was too slow, and another HFC'er managed to snag it and bring it back to the US, where it resides today.  Here's a pic of it, but it has a different pickup arrangement now - it had was C/B/C new from Hamer and before it went overseas:  MYElectraglide.bmp

Serial had reached out to the late Sam Moss in the early years of putting THE BOOK together, and Sam mentioned that he had ordered a few custom guitars back then, including a similar one with a P-90 at the neck.  I forget whether he ended up buying that one from Sam or from David B. (who bought it from Sam's shop), but that's the one he had at the book signing.  He recently sold that one for way more than I'd have been able to drop on it at the time, but it's also a KILLER guitar.

So, anyway, I feel better now after typing that out for the 100th time, but now you know.  The Standard headstock on a double cut Hamer may be "too obvious", but that will always be the Grail Guitar for me.

Hamer Electraglide SMG.jpg

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48 minutes ago, Hamerica said:

Has something to do with this.

 

 

RN Aldo Nova.jpg

Actually, Rick didn't buy that one until late 1994 when he got it from George Gruhn.  I remember seeing that in George's catalog in a full color shot that year.

In another coincidence, although I didn't take that picture (but know who did), I was standing right next to the photographer in the front row at that exact show (Lew Brutus).

This pic is mine:

470_zpsadf6d2c0.jpg

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