What's Your Personal Grail Guitar?

[mathman]

There would be two.  A Hamer 12 string Bass and a Hamer Standard.

 

There could be variations of kind in those two categories.  But that are the basics.

[Ua D]

This one. 

[Ua D]

And or a blonde 50’s tele.  Probably more likely to get the tele someday.  

[Disturber]

The sound of a good 4 digit Standard through a Marshall, and a cup of freshly brewed coffee. That is my holy grail time of day.

[thoro]

I have always been tempted by the body shape of the Rick Turner Model One. Fortunately I started building my own electric guitars a few years ago and so maybe I will build a small guitar inspired by this shape someday. I think I would build it with a different bridge construction and a another head design.

In the meantime I'm more than happy with the '81 Sunburst I found two months ago.

[kizanski]

On 4/14/2018 at 3:11 PM, gtrdaddy said:

I think I’ve pretty much owned all of the guitars I’d once considered my personal “Holy Grails”, only to sell them later. While I still play the game, wire and wood come, wire and wood go, the guitars I’ve kept and had longest were never on the list.

This sums it up for me rather well.
I've been very fortunate and have had semi-realistic goals/desires when it came to wood collecting.
That said, I've let a few fly away that I shouldn't have, but you can't keep them all. Believe me. I've tried.

[dewey finn]

6 hours ago, Ua D said:

This one. 

Holy Sh*t, that's a beauty!

[cmatthes]

I think there are only two guitars that I've always wanted but never owned - a White SG Custom and an ES-345 or 355.

I've pretty much owned everything out there at one point or another, BUT those two.  That being said, there have been plenty of times that I've had the opportunity to snag the SG, but very few of them have actually knocked me out in person.  They just look so damned cool that I get sucked back in every now and then...

[Camstone]

16 hours ago, Ua D said:

This one. 

I know where it is......

[Ua D]

.

[Ua D]

12 minutes ago, Camstone said:

I know where it is......

Is that an offer to sell? 

[kizanski]

4 hours ago, cmatthes said:

I think there are only two guitars that I've always wanted but never owned - a White SG Custom and an ES-345 or 355.

Two guitars I have never been able to get along with; the ES (I've owned a couple and played many), and the SG (ditto).

It wasn't for lack of trying and I love their look.  They just don't feel right.   

[Steve Haynie]

I agree that an SG does not feel right after not playing one for so many years.  After a while it is possible to get used to an SG again.  There have only been a few that have felt really good, and there is only one that regret letting get past me. 

[Camstone]

3 hours ago, Ua D said:

Is that an offer to sell? 

No, but the next time I am in the Rose City, let's get together and I'll bring her with me. I come down fairly often. 

Where did you find that pic? That's one of the images BCR Greg took when the guitar showed up at his place before he shipped it to me. That was ten years ago!

[mudshark]

already got it ... Gibson J-45

[django49]

1 hour ago, gtrdaddy said:

345 would be the ticket for me if I found a really good one. The Vari-tone switch gives up some cool flavors for effect and variety.

I had a “CS Historic” Reissue 61 Les Paul Custom 3-pickup in white. It sounded nice, I was just underwhelmed.

Different strokes and all that.....Lost track of all of them......Guess there were at least 5 with Vari-Tones that passed through, the last at least 15 years ago. On paper, it seemed like a good thing. But one or two 345s, one 355 and either two or three Lucilles......None of them did it for me. I could see why so many people had them removed or bypassed.

Entirely possible that I was just not smart enough, or did not spend enough time with them, to extract their goodness. But even B.B. (I found out later) seemed to find one, maybe two, settings  he liked, then parked the Vari-Tone there and forgot it. NO desire to go back.

Though I did stumble on one fully tricked out 345, with a pair of Super Distortion pups, coil splits, TWO built in, battery powered, cascading gain boosts......Sort of a Mesa Boogie preamp in a semi-hollow.....The guitar was a mess, but WAS some fun to screw around with back there  in the 80s.

[Ua D]

2 hours ago, Camstone said:

No, but the next time I am in the Rose City, let's get together and I'll bring her with me. I come down fairly often. 

Where did you find that pic? That's one of the images BCR Greg took when the guitar showed up at his place before he shipped it to me. That was ten years ago!

I will take you up on that.  I’ll provide the beer or preferred beverage. .  I’m fairly new to the hfc and found that image somewhere in my travels and saved it a year or so ago.  I’m pretty good at the google image search.  A chance to see that guitar in person would blow my mind. 

[Ua D]

Oh wait I just remembered. It was this thread I found it in. 

Too bad photobuck t broke many of the links. 

[gorch]

On 14.4.2018 at 9:11 PM, gtrdaddy said:

To quote M2 @bubs_42, “I got nothing.” 

I think I’ve pretty much owned all of the guitars I’d once considered my personal “Holy Grails”, only to sell them later. While I still play the game, wire and wood come, wire and wood go, the guitars I’ve kept and had longest were never on the list. Perhaps it is true, the Knights Templar crossed the Atlantic in 1200AD, made landfall somewhere in the NE USA, and made their way to farmland in Wisconsin to bury the Grail, keeping its burial place a secret for all eternity. 

My guitar is underneath a frozen gourd patch. But then, perhaps my Grail is hiding in my fingers somewhere.

Thinking of this, I must say my holy grail guitar, other than stated before, is the Hamer Standard. Since CT’s Budokan I’m taken by the shape. I had been 13 at the time. 25 years later it had been my first electric in form of a MIK Standard. A couple of years later I managed to buy a real Standard Custom. When I picked it up from a guy an hour away, I could hardly touch it for it’s beauty and respect. Even today I pick it up from the case with a certain amount of respect and feel I don’t have with any other guitar. It must be my holy grail guitar though.

[cmatthes]

16 hours ago, kizanski said:

Two guitars I have never been able to get along with; the ES (I've owned a couple and played many), and the SG (ditto).

It wasn't for lack of trying and I love their look.  They just don't feel right.   

I think a Lefty Strat strung righty would cure you of that.  They're surprisingly comfortable!  (TM, SerialSteve)

 

[Hamer_SS_guy]

I always love to play a nice Strat. Of my guitars I like my Steve Stevens Custom and my green Cali most. If I were to have a dream guitar it would be a cherry sunburst maple body set-neck Cali. I think someone from here owned one like that. I added pic of that guitar. Another would be the Steve Stevens Custom in the pic, also owned by a member here.
But as pretty as those are, I am not really in for a new guitar anyway. I mostly play bass now, and I am happy with my Hamer Chap Max Bass (and don't you come up with the Impact being superior ;P ). I like my other basses too. Good thing is that I don't need that many basses to be happy (and I never owned a regular Fender P or J, only the active Deluxe J). I would love two basses of my own design (one fretted, one fretless), but it isn't necessary. I would like to get rid of some amplification stuff, but the market seems bad selling stuff. I'd be in for some new (lighter and compacter) bass amplification, more than a new bass.

[CuseFan559]

23 hours ago, Ua D said:

Oh wait I just remembered. It was this thread I found it in. 

Too bad photobuck t broke many of the links. 

Can someone restart a "Most Righteous Hamers" thread. A lot of the photos are gone and it looked like a really good topic.

 

[polara]

5 hours ago, CuseFan559 said:

Can someone restart a "Most Righteous Hamers" thread. A lot of the photos are gone and it looked like a really good topic.

 

I was thinking the same thing

[DBraz]

22 hours ago, Hamer_SS_guy said:

I always love to play a nice Strat. Of my guitars I like my Steve Stevens Custom and my green Cali most. If I were to have a dream guitar it would be a cherry sunburst maple body set-neck Cali. I think someone from here owned one like that. 

 

Austin literally beat me to that guitar by a minute about 3 years ago.  It was in Austin, Texas for $1815 and my Dad was working in Houston.    I had him primed to pick it up.  I sat by the phone at work and called on the dot of opening time and got an answer phone.  By the time I called back half a minute later I was too late...

 

[Bennyboy-UK]

1 minute ago, DBraz said:

Austin literally beat me to that guitar by a minute about 3 years ago.  It was in Austin, Texas for $1815 and my Dad was working in Houston.    I had him primed to pick it up.  I sat by the phone at work and called on the dot of opening time and got an answer phone.  By the time I called back half a minute later I was too late...

 

That one always gives me localised inflammation of gentleman's region...