Leaderboard

This was a long time in the making. Numerous health problems set me back something awful (my recent health has been a heck of a lot better FWIW). Crazy good guitar... the neck and hand blended heel are really something special. The carving, inlays and finish alone are works of art... and the pickups?!? Josh is a genius. Gravelin pickups are every bit as good as anything that comes out of the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop. The man has a deep knowledge of nearly every make and model of pickup that has been released since Seth Lover's patent. Mike's finish has so much depth to it, that one can almost get lost in it's virtually bottomless expanse. No covers, all the music is original... that said, I did include a sort of interpretation of the jazz standard "Misty" but the guitar arrangement is all my own.

I noticed most of you are into a more conservatively shaped, highly figured guitars... but I think I'll share this anyways 😆 1st I must say a very appreciative thank you to Steve Ward for making this transaction possible, he was an absolute joy to work with & I highly recommend him as a seller... not sure if I would have braved the cold element & crowds of Chicago during the Christmas holiday to ship a guitar out 😆 But I was extremely excited when I opened the case & this shining silver light popped out as if I was witnessing the unveiling of the Excalibur... The only thing missing was the actual hand of the Lady of the Lake presenting it to me... In the process of retuning the strings back to tension, I was met with major string buzz across the fretboard on all strings... not panicking I whipped out the trustee screwdriver, pulled off the cover and gave the truss rod a 1/4 turn & in doing so, also noticed how hard the truss rod cover screw came out as I don't believe the truss cover and truss rod has ever seen a wrench before~ as soon as I turned the truss rod wrench a 1/4 turn, all the strings rang out loud and clear without buzz 😅 Upon further inspection of the guitar, paint and it's Hardware, it appears to be as close to New as I could get... I've always been a huge fan of flying V's and pointy guitars "not to mention Judas Priest!" & this one does not disappoint... Hamer quality craftsmanship never ceases to amaze me... the attention to detail absolutely blows me away!.. with its beveled body, with beveled headstock and meticulous attention to detail such as the light scalloping of the ebony fretboard & direct mounted pickups... Heck the paint alone on this thing is worth the price of admission~ I've been missing my mom especially through the holidays and her birthday is on the 23rd... coincidence? But the best cool surprise is that the neck is NOT twisted... plays and sounds fantastic! Last but not least, it coincidentally matches my latest Air Force license plate theme~ Thank you for participating in my lame ass slideshow, needless to say, I'm a very happy camper!.. I wish everyone a awesome new year... RAWK ON!!!

Say Gorch, I have made wooden toy soldiers marching with band instruments and given them away as gifts for 45 years. A few years back, I got a little crazy and made these little guys!

But I can't keep 'em!! 😥 They belong to Tobereeno. He came over this weekend and brought some toys! Last month he came over and we met face to face for the first time in around 20 years or something of knowing each other strictly online. That visit he brought over the first hamer I ever bought, a Centaura, that I had sold to him years ago starting our friendship. We had other gear dealings and conversations along the way but never met in person. He lived on the other coast and also in Korea so that was the main issue. Turns out we have even more in common than we originally thought and non-stop talking ensued. We played acoustically a little and visited with his extremely cute son. But, next time we're cranking amps!

Missus Polara got me this. How the Gretsch Stole Christmas?

Happy birthday to me I Bought back my first Hamer.

PRS DGT with a Private Stock one-piece maple top in Faded Blue Jean with SMOKED CHROME! Brazilian board, and the birds are MOP with Paua outlines! SEVEN POUNDS! 7.0 lbs! The figuring is crazy. When playing it, it looks like the quilt is melting and dripping down the top turning into flame! Insane top. I'm STOKED! I've been kicking myself in the ass for five years now, for selling my first DGT which was very unusual because it had not just a one-piece top, but it was a DGT with a wrap-around bridge! That one is gone, probably never to be seen again. So I went and did this! I love DGTs. They are the only PRS I get along with so far.

I leaked this in the "What did you get yourself for Christmas" thread. But truth is, it probably should be in the "Knee jerk reaction to the Dr. visit" thread. I went for my annual last week and she said I was good to go for another year. But when we talked about my fret hand arthritis getting worse and that there are days when it just cramps up into a claw. She said "Enjoy it while you can." The next morning crunchee posted some thread links to Dave's Guitar. Three nice Hamers. 1 was my holy grail Hamer! I didn't wait. I've seen how fast they can go when they show up at Dave's. I've wanted one of these ever since I saw one on eBay Germany a few years ago. Beautiful but out of my reach. This one was closer. So while I can still play it. I bought it! I posted a picture in the "Longest night of the year" thread to show I really do have it. If you like bad pictures of nice guitars you can see it here.https://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/topic/84027-the-longest-night-of-the-year/ Dave's pictures:

Geoff, you're so talented and could probably make a cast iron skillet sound good but this is just over-the-top excellent all the way around. Your playing offers a very realistic and wide scope of field in terms of natural tone, shows off how dynamic and touch-sensitive the instrument is, shows all the shiny perfect goodness that is every Shishkov guitar, and your playing is killer too... Pro job. Best instrument company demo I've seen. Thank you! Josh Gravelin/Team Shishkov

Geoff, I can't thank you enough for all of the work you did on this and I’m blown away by how it turned out! It was fantastic working with you on this project and I love the overall composition and how the parts fit together. It’s generally me taking what you guys say and running with it during a build, so it was really fun to be on the opposite side this time. While Geoff was working on the demo, he would send me short videos and sound clips but I didn’t see the whole thing put together until it was posted here - guess I got a taste of my own medicine so to speak, 😂 Rock On! Mike

Required viewing for anybody considering a Shishkov, or just anybody who wants to see a killer guitar put through its paces by a killer player: ENJOY!

Ran out of patience at 22 hours. Look for a NGD post soon. Until then

And a thin hint of 'burst starts to highlight how the chevron morphs into a "quilt". Ever seen a hunk of redwood like that before? Coming soon, I think, a better look at the great wood figure of the BACK.

That's a really good video, from the choice of black clothes to the lighting to the fact you didn't do all high-gain, and really did a lot of different things that highlight the sound of the guitar.

I bought the Greco Firebird I had been trying out.

Have a blessed and peaceful Christmas all ye good folk at HFC !!! Ho, ho, ho and love from Germany Gino

SFG Update: .

My list of shows attended during 2018 has 66 different bands. Four of those bands were seen twice. The list was trimmed down and alphabetized, and here it is: Alec Benjamin Alice Cooper American Dropouts Angel Vivaldi Arielle Aubrey Logan Beastö Blancö Bending Fate Beyond The Fade BONES Bowling for Soup Budderside Charlie Daniels Band Cheap Trick Cloven Hoof Dead Posey Deep Purple Dixie Duncan Eric Johnson Ghost Great White Jacky Vincent Jay & The Americans John 5 and the Creatures Judas Priest Kansas Kickin' Valentina Kosha Dillz Kyle Nicolaides L.A. Guns Lifecurse Lindsey Stirling Mark Mackay Marshall Tucker Band Michael King & Freddie Vanderford Nita Strauss Not UR Girlfrenz Osmium 76 Palaye Royale Poison Pop Evil Public Image Ltd Skinn Jakkitt Station Still Warning Stryper Ted Nugent Temptation's Wings The Brandon Gibbs Band The Buddz The Classics IV The Dixie Dregs The Eric Scott Band The Glenn Miller Orchestra The Haunt: Anastasia Max The Hawthornes The Joel Kosche Band The Ryan Roxie Band The Tams The Temperance Movement The Whiskey Gentry Three Dog Night Trans-Siberian Orchestra Travis Tritt Wishbone Ash Zebra Now for the standouts... I saw one of the first shows of the Dixie Dregs reunion tour and the final show of that tour. There were some bands that played stadiums with songs we all know while giant light rigs moving through the air to make memorable experiences. It felt great to see some of those shows, but the Dregs just played music on an undecorated stage with basic lighting. I could not have felt better after seeing each of those Dregs shows. Ghost was at a peak when their tour started early this year. It felt like it was the tour to see at the time. Not UR Girlfrenz may or may not go anywhere, but seeing those kids going for it when they opened for Bowling For Soup was what rock and roll should be. The drummer has a future in music if this band ever breaks up. There are some bands you remember but forget how good they were. Getting reintroduced to Stryper was like discovering a new heavy metal band. "Oh, yeah..." Going through their old songs and the equally good new material was a wake up call to go through some old metal. Stryper was better than I remembered. As I type this I am still caught up in having seen Lindsey Stirling. The best discovery of the year was Aubrey Logan. She is loaded with talent, and she is noticed by people in the jazz world. Post Modern Jukebox has not been my thing which is why I did not know Aubrey Logan had performed with them. She toured as part of Dave Koz' band this summer, but I would not pay for one of those high dollar Kenny G tickets just to see her play with Koz. Aubrey did a solo show in Spindale, NC that I just had to see. It was because of an odd looking photo promoting the show that I looked up her videos... over and over.

Another amazing Hamer.

...or sell them all and buy a Shishkov with hand friendly specs.

If these are the only two you can play comfortably, there's no point in keeping any of the others.

I bought a couple of things for myself... 1st a Oztent for my camping/overlanding adventures & 2nd the KK mini V

An ESP Japan-branded aircraft carrier that doubles as a proper double-stitched form-fit hardshell for my old skool mid-1980s Random Star.

Hey guys. That was my guitar. I sold it to a forum member, Val in Brooklyn. I hope the new owner enjoys it. Every time I played it people were complimenting me on how cool the guitar looked. It also sounded great You might be wondering why I sold that guitar. Here’s why - I never really wanted to gig with that guitar. I just prefer the body shape of a Les Paul and to a lesser degree a 335. (Bloozguy this is ultimately why I sold that awesome Korina standard you sold to me). So my choice was to keep it around for sentimental reasons and for the occasional “wow” factor, or to sell it to someone tha was going to play it and enjoy it. Hopefully the new owner does just that - the price wasn’t really that high (I had no idea how to price it) so it shouldn’t be a collector item I haven’t been on this forum for a while as I gravitated to Les Pauls but I remember the vibe here as very cool and I hope everyone is doing OK. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays best - Mo

Hello everyone, I've been lurking here for a while and finally joined recently. I've been looking for a time to start contributing, and this thread seems like a good time to chime in. I've been into woodworking for around 10 years and started to get interested in guitar building a couple of years back. I made these 2 LP styled guitars in 2017. I'm pretty well pleased with the result for my first attempts. The cherry sunburst pretty much follows '59 specs, although it has a 2 piece mahogany body. The blue one was made in the same manner, but has a poplar body and (obviously) a Floyd.