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Because as we all know, it's impossible to find boob pics anywhere else on the internet.

Stike has no idea...

It has not been revealed, not here at least, that they have released a statment regarding one way or the other. That is why I, as I wrote in an earlier post in this thread, think that we should send them a collective letter signed by the HFC members asking they up front what is going on. If it is signed by all the members here they have to answer us. Hard to ignore a question sent by a couple of hundred members, right? English is not my native language. (Although I worked for a major American company for over 13 years and corresponded weekly with the LA and NY office). But I'd prefer if someone who is good at writing up something formal would write it, other than me. Who would be up for it? The day Greg posted the news (and a few days after IIRC), I went looking on the Fender web site and in the business press (Hoovers, etc.) and found nothing. Since Fender never became publicly traded, they are under no real obligation to announce anything (no more so than Greenfield Hardware was required to let us know they'd stopped carrying hand made brooms). Whoa... Wait... When the fuck did Greenfield Hardware stop selling hand made brooms?!?!?!

Very sad but all good things etc... I heard this news from a guy I was trading with on eBay (he bailed on a deal but that's OK). I consider myself very fortunate to now have an 88 Cali & a 92 Cent. I could have never afforded one of these new. I fell in love with Hamer guitars around 1984 when they were displayed in a local music shop (Foulds Music in Nottingham, UK). As a kid & before I started my band 'Concrete Sox', the guys at Foulds used to let me go down to the basement & plug in a guitar or 2 if no-one was about (I couldn't even play that well). Great times, great memories. Everytime I play my Hamers now, I will try to remember where/when/how I got to know Hamer... PS: I don't care whether the prices plummet or rocket - I'll never sell mine...

I think David Grissom "sells" a lot of guitars. I think folks spending $2K (or so?) on a guitar know who David Grissom is. I considered one specifically because of David Grissom (I am shallow). I shuttled on down to GC and played one. Sounded good (though not like DG when I'm on playing it). I loved the neck. I like the look. I love gold tops. But I couldn't handle the frets - they are large. So, no sale because I didn't like the guitar and I am well aware that there is more between me and DG's tone than equipment. You see lots of DGT action on ebay and TGP - not Strat action or LP Standard action, but lots. Someone around here probably knows this, but I bet DGT is the top PRS sig model and likely outsells 1/2 of the non-sig. models. This one still makes me scratch my head, makes you wonder how many of his sig model get sold. Monster player, but really, who knows who he is?

And... here I am again! It's like a cyber crack pipe or something... I can't leave it alone!

^ scalloped with a warranty of... the only one.

Yeah, wasn't he an astronaut or something?

What amazes me is their exposure is the county market. I swear they are all on stage with PRS guitars. Except the biggest names- Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, etc. Everybody you have never heard of that is backing somebody you have heard of seems to be playing a PRS guitar.

Damn right. Me too. 6 new Hamers, 5 of them custom orders. I at least helped Jol gas up his Porsches a couple of times. 88,000 views vs. 22,000 is close? The Boobies thread (he said, patting himself on the back for starting it almost 8 years ago) is by far the most viewed and responded to thread in HFC history. ...and you're welcome.

I bought 5 new ones, including a custom order and a "might as well have been a custom order". Hyped them to anybody who asked. Did my part.

Well, that's where they they attracted me--offering simple guitars without bling or binding, but with top quality materials (e.g., 1-piece Honduras mahog bod, 3-piece neck, multi-coat hand-rubbed finish, etc.). The P-90 Special was a good deal at $1500 list, but when they offered the Anniversary/Artist Mahogany at the same price, that was a monster deal, getting a semihollow carved archtop for the same price. I played one back-to-back with a new SG at about $1K more and it was a cruel joke. I bought the Anniversary on the spot and still have it. The Anniversary didn't have the crowns and bound fretboard, but it had what mattered--1st-rate materials, build quality, and just massive tone. I know that's a niche market, but I sure liked that niche.

I've met both as well. The difference? Michael S. still BRINGS it. I've Seen Carlos play several times. Big PRS fan, and think the Santana model is cool, so no knocking that part of things from me. That being said, Carlos has exactly one note, one tone, one schtick. It's the same thing he showed us at Woodstock, pretty much. Even seeing him live, I was bored to death. I watched Buddy Guy mop up the stage with him a few years back at a PRS event. Carlos' playing was frankly lame that night, yet all of the mid-'50s-'70 year old bloozedoctors kept raving about his "woman tone", because that's what they read on the internet and so they needed to compliment that. Sorry, but it was just really damned dull. A 22 year old kid (Davy Knowles) brought fresh energy to things and was riveting that night - far beyond an old guy going through the motions. Not saying the man can't play, but he's no Hendrix, and is getting exposure these days on the back of a song that would have been a plunker if he had done it with anybody else at the time. It he an icon? Sure, so is Clapton, but really, he hasn't done anything relevant to the music listening world either since MTV pimped HIS brand in '92 with that "Unplugged" thing. I don't want to hear crap about that whole "Riding With the King", or whatever either. That totally SUCKED. I'm a huge fan of guitar/guitar music, but when it just isn't exciting or interesting, it just is not there for me.

It has not been revealed, not here at least, that they have released a statment regarding one way or the other. That is why I, as I wrote in an earlier post in this thread, think that we should send them a collective letter signed by the HFC members asking they up front what is going on. If it is signed by all the members here they have to answer us. Hard to ignore a question sent by a couple of hundred members, right? English is not my native language. (Although I worked for a major American company for over 13 years and corresponded weekly with the LA and NY office). But I'd prefer if someone who is good at writing up something formal would write it, other than me. Who would be up for it? The day Greg posted the news (and a few days after IIRC), I went looking on the Fender web site and in the business press (Hoovers, etc.) and found nothing. Since Fender never became publicly traded, they are under no real obligation to announce anything (no more so than Greenfield Hardware was required to let us know they'd stopped carrying hand made brooms). Whoa... Wait... When the fuck did Greenfield Hardware stop selling hand made brooms?!?!?! Now I am pissed!

What did Santana do in the '80s apart from that album in '81-'82 with "Winning" on it? He's ridden that Woodstock and early '70s thing for 40 years. If it hadn't been for Rob Thomas pulling him out of mothballs (or maybe that Macy's ad with Donald Trump), who over the age of 45 would even be able to name anything he's ever done?

Yeah, bad resale scares off a lot of people. And the people who take advanage of the cheap prices seldom pay top buck on a brand new one.

Grunge peaked -'nuff said. Grunge wanted the guitars Hamer was building at the time - Cobain didn't "shred", he wailed on a cheap, used Jaguar before anyone really wanted them. Foo Fighters didn't 'shred' - Hamer missed an opportunity to put a Standard in Dave Grohl's hands....he was already playing the crap-Gibson reissues...Green Day wanted guitars - Gibson stepped in...Ozzfest and the Warped Tour WERE ALL GUITAR BANDS......I could go on....that ain't "it"....nu-metal was taking off - Hamer knew what those players wanted, they just refused to connect with those players and build them what they wanted on-stage.....the market was THERE.....

I was a top dealer as well. I grew up in Evanston and went to Northern Prarie Music as a kid. I was there when the first Standard/s arrived. I remember Paul A/B-ing them with a late '50's Goldtop with buckers through a Marshall stack. Oh what fun! A kids dream. It's what really got me into the music biz. I am grateful to have been a part of it all. I am grateful to Paul, Jol, Frank & Jim. Let's never forget John Montgomery, the man who built the first Standards. This is now the new America. I think the general buying public is to blame. "We want it for cheap". No one is willing to pay what something is worth and weren't willing to support the dealers either. This is what killed the dealer network and consiquently the company. (in my opinion). Unfortunately we will all suffer as a result. Thanks to BCR Greg, Wilcutt's and anyone else who financially supported the Hamer guitar company. I play my USA Elite daily and it is as great as a guitar could ever be. My USA Hamer Standard hangs over my fireplace. I gaze at it daily. Long live the legacy. Pete Flynn, Flynn Guitars, Evanston, IL. USA.

Clearly you haven't priced out any of the guitars Jol's making now! - Austin

Hindsight is 20-20 and worth what you pay for it. And nobody pays for hindsight. A little respect for those that actually had skin in the game is warranted here. That would be Greg and Elduave. The fact that they don't find the post-mortems all that entertaining doesn't escape most of us.

Thanks for noticing, Rich And as I've said before within these hallowed columns - I'm only on that list because I asked Frank H if he'd put me on there - which he did. I did it because I love these guitars and I'm proud to be seen wearing one - which I bought and paid for with my own hard-earned. But I agree with everyone who says this has been a matter of 'when' - not 'if'. To me, it also ties in quite significantly with the 'guitar mogul' thread as follows...... I hold myself personally responsible for generating sales of at least 20 Standards - bought exclusively by young fans who have contacted me, and asked me about the cool black guitar they've seen me play. They've saved their money and bought one off ebay or wherever, and at least half of them have sent me pictures of their guitars, fitted out with the same chrome pickup rings as mine etc. etc. etc. And you know what - they've all bought XT's. They bought them because their budget is $300, not $5000. Some of these kids have had their woodworking Dads rout for a licensed Floyd - and at least two of them have also taken a belt sander to the underside of the oversized XT headstock to make it look more like a 'proper' Standard. One kid spent three whole days with masking tape and paint, putting fake binding all the way up the fretboard edges and around the headstock......... And this kinda stuff tells me that if 20 kids are prepared to do this because of me (a relative nobody) - then the Jacksons, ESP's and Deans of this world, blowing outrageous sums of money giving away free guitars to anyone even remotely famous - have got it totally right. It's money well spent, because these low-cost import versions of Guitar X are aspirational products at a totally affordable price. I did it myself. My first 'proper' guitar was a doublecut cherry red Les Paul Special. I bought it because Pat Travers played one and I wanted to be like him. Before that, I had a maple-necked Strat copy because I wanted to be like Robin Trower. I also had a black Flying V because I wanted to be like Michael Schenker. The same holds true in any other industry you can care to mention. Anyone here remember the Honda FS-1E? It was a 50cc moped - but it sold in its zillions because it was the world's first moped which looked like a proper motorcycle. The sad fact is that the damage was done years ago - the lack of foresight and unwillingness to capitalise on the brand's relative success in the '80's has well and truly come home to roost. I just read this back and I realise that I've wandered off on a pointless rant. I guess that's what folks do when they're upset about a situation - but they know there's nothing they can do to change it....

...and a Korina Standard?