Leaderboard

That is so perfect it should be my new sig line. Lets review. A lot of people pissed and moaned that Hamer/Jol wouldn't build this or that. Jol was shown the door. Frank U took the reigns and implemented a field of dreams approach (if we build it they will come) and only a few people actually opened up their wallets. One Thunderbolt was built. ONE. A handful of shredders made it out the door (Chapps, Calis, SS models, etc) even though many people talked like a hundred orders would come in if they agreed to build them. Jol knew what he was talking about when he said at an HFC open house that he wouldn't consider reissuing a model until the used price approached the price of what a new one would cost (I'm paraphrasing). Why would they put Guild and the Fender Acoustic Custom shop on the backburner to keep Hamer alive? It will probably take another year just to complete the orders in house. All efficiencies of manufacturing are gone in their current approach to building ( a few hours a week here and there). It is doubtful that they were even profitable with Hamer in their recent state even though the prices have skyrocketed. Besides that, many unfinished guitars (not custom orders) were left to rot because no one wanted them. It seemed that people only wanted to buy used. Now its your only option and those prices have remained stable. That shows how much demand there is for a USA Hamer. RIP Hamer- the best damn guitar no one ever heard of. I agree with this! Many if not most Hamer fans, this board included, bought most of their Hamers used. Comments on this and other forums indicate people feel Hamer priced themselves out of the market, especially when prices climbed above $1500! We all know these were never $1500 dollar guitars, part of the reason we coveted them. They were just too damn good at that price point and Hamer couldn't make any money selling them at that price. Hamer was trying to be a good employer offering a reasonable wage and insurance benefits and those costs kept rising. I know for a fact that Jol was concerned about trying to keep his crew happy as well as maintaining and improving the quality of the product. You can't make a guitar in the USA that should sell for $2500 and sell it for $1500 and stay in business and FMIC is all about business. ArnieZ

What can an individual do to support the brand? One might feel like Don Quijote concerning Hamer's recent development up to the shutdown. It's the company that is in charge to run the business, not the customer. So for me, there is no reason to feel in any way guilty I might have not given my share. Even if I had only bought Hamers used or had bought an XT, I had made room for another person to order one new. I had shown my guitars to friends and this way had made advertising for the brand. This way my son accepted to buy his first Hamer Monaco, although, it is an XT. One time in the future he may be a potential buyer of a re-activated Hamer Custom.

^^^^^^^^ Then at least we know they sound good with EVERY guitar imaginable.

I agree, but nothing is like the real thing. I run two Overdrive Specials in a stereo Wet/Dry rig, and I get compliments on my tone.

I agree with mirrorimij & coolfeel. I bought only one green USA Diablo new (back in the 90's) and from that point on, it was all used Hamers. 17 altogether, 7 of which I still own. The pile of cash I'm dropping on the custom Cali came about because Hamer opened up the vaults and I had a little more disposable income. I didn't pull the trigger because I felt any pressure or even knew about the doors closing; I just was excited about being able to have a shiny, new Cali made to my specs. Color me slow on the uptake, but had I realized the gravity of Hamer's future, I would've put in orders for other customs. Not that it would've changed the outcome. Hamer is gone.

Any desire I might have ever had for a Dumble was laid to rest by Henry Kaiser

You're aiming way too low for an $85K amp. $10K would be more appropriate.

and you didn't pull out a credit card on the spot?