Leaderboard

It took me years to find one. Still happy with it.

Oh, it definitely was. I bagged many Sustain Block Specials on eBay for $350 back in the day.

sold! on its way to @Montelovesco and then @Hamer Dave, fingers crossed for the journey across the the pond.

Sorry for showing off, but they make a pretty cool triplet…

Screenshot from my Instagram, probably more somewhere on a hard drive.

Black Bart. One of my favorite guitars. Our own Murkat restored it.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was how the HFC was tricked into posting beefcake photos. 🤣

Bought it from Serial, played it, had BCR restore it, played it, sold it, bought it back, played it, had Murkat restore it, played it, sold it again. The Saga

My wife put this on while I was sitting there and I was thinking, 'What is this cheesy shit?', then find out it's a real story that really happened in Milwaukee. And the more I watched, the better it got - the depictions of small-town Wisconsin 'fame' and the people who strive to attain it were dead on, cheese and all. Plus the fact that Wolverine and Kate Hudson did their own singing - and did it really well - added a lot to it. Neil Diamond is a great talent, both as a writer and a performer. Not my go-to by any stretch, but I grew up with sisters who had his records, and 'Hot August Night' is pretty damn good. This movie was a surprise, but waking up with Niel Diamond earworms sucks. I need a rock and roll Q-tip.

I can only guess it's 'cos she comes across like she works at a Waffle House that she isn't a huge name. Just watch this. Chops? You want chops? Damn. And tasteful.

I have a Sustain Block I would sell for $350! Disclaimer: Guitar not included.

I just got it. I really dig it for a lot of reasons. It looks so bad-ass. Sounds killer. Roy loaded mine with their hotter/fatter 'Fat Daddy' pickups which make it a bit more of a rocker than a standard Strat. I also had him put in a 'Blender' pot, so I can mix in the Bridge pickup to any switching combo for all or neck/bridge tones. Nice. The reverse headstock is weird, but you get used to where the correct tuner is. It does feel a bit different in that the bass strings have a longer headstock length. I'm not a big Strat trem guy, so that's fine being backward. RS is so easy to work with, you can have the trem normal or reverse. (Not everyone realizes, SRV had a reverse Trem on his #1) Why I love RS, they just feel so good. The necks are amazing. Nice rolled fingerboard edges and a silky nitro finish. To me, if it doesn't 'feel' good, forgetaboutit. I won't play it. All in all, I love it. RS and the team makes such nice axes. That's why I keep coming back for more!

Rumor has it that he eats babies 👶

Listen here (and watch too, although we have faces for radio): You can also grab the audio on Spotify, Apple Music, wherever else you get your podcasts, and here: https://bleav.com/shows/pod-of-thunder/episodes/van-halen-dirty-movies-656/

Any argument on which pickup is superior needs to be couched in the disclaimer that it's all subjective. I have tried both, time and time again. While I've found a few JB's that were more palatable to my ear, the vast majority were not. SuperD's just never grabbed me. Full stop. It's kinda funny because I don't think of myself as being particularly discerning in my audio preferences; I'm not a tone chaser to the extent that I have seen on here and elsewhere. But I know what I like when I hear it.

Yeah dat me, maybe 8-9 years ago?

Man, in the early days I wanted to learn amp building / modifications. Guitar modifications. Doing my own fretwork. Now I'm buying every guitar I've ever wanted along with amps and pedals. Oh, and a pickup set I got just for Peter Frampton's autograph. Guess what, I just suck. I needed to practice more and think less. Now it's too late. So I'll just sit here and look at all that I've acquired.

$279.92 US. Quoting from the Lovepedal site: More here.

Or…OR! An evil corporation that sells lifetime warranties that kill you so they don’t have to pay out. 😎 Dont buy that bag Bro

Another one here 🙂, now with a Schaller 'Badass' bridge

I heard 7 from a pretty reliable inside source, but that also a couple of end-of-days custom orders may not have been counted. …and yours is the original catalog guitar. I am dumb, but also a nice guy.

There's a portrait in his attic.

That would be a great, “Outer Limits”, episode. Suicidal guitarists (who can’t quite pull the trigger) purchase poorly-made gig bags knowing they’ll have but a year to live.

It didn't seem to me like he was comparing them but explaining there are two very different design philosophies at each company. I felt like part of the point was agreeing with what you said - it's dumb to compare them because they were designed with completely different goals. I actually found it kind of interesting, but I didn't already know the differences in what got DiMarzio into pickups vs. Duncan or that Larry had at least some education in electrical engineering and Seymour was just winging it. I didn't know that DiMarzio basically hated stock pickups and wanted to build something different vs. Duncan wanted to figure out what made certain PAFs stand out and standardize it. I could see where that may be old hat to some by now, but I'd really never taken the time to look it all up. I enjoy pickups from both brands for a variety of things and really never got all that partisan over them, so I just never really got into the forum lore of it all.

Still overwhelmingly impressed with the Tech 21 Screaming Blonde this board talked me into a few months back. It was the perfect solution at the perfect time. I go straight to FOH, sounds great, responds like a real amp and requires very little power. I only wish I had bought the Marshall version at the same time. ETA: AND NO MENUS!

Who ever he is. Not affiliated but I did buy an item from this guy on Tuesday and was shipped on Tuesday after sending pictures of him packing it. USPS actually came through and I got it today (Thursday) from NV. Amazing and as described. This appears to be a '92 (?). $1695.00 https://reverb.com/item/91724939-hamer-special-steve-brown-trixter-owned

He's also still living in him mom's basement playing Nintendo.

... mine's red

Nine out, two and a half in over the past six weeks or so. Not a bad ratio, but hard to keep up because it was all low-hanging fruit. Sold 5 great condition non-Hamers, and donated 4 not-worth-muches in good condition to a local charitable make-those-kids-play-guitar effort. All the Hamers still here, plus a new-to-me 12ver Eclipse. On the lookout for a Duotone, but I guess I have competition on that front 'round these here parts. A nice Les Paul Standard 50's is the other part of the two. The half is a Fender baritone conversion neck to attach to a nice lightweight Tele-type body I had lying around, so now they are joined together and I am in the very slow process of trying to set it up. The slimming down and refocusing also entails a Boss WAZA reactive amp expander that will not only let me attenuate my tube amps (and therefore let me get the most out of them that I can, considering the neighbors) but will also be a way to hear whatever modeler I end up with, without resorting to headphones. The drought was lengthy, but now things are greening up.

Seeing their preference for the Tung-Sol tubes reminds me of something I saw in the manual for my ToneBone pedal (it may have been on their web site). Someone asked, "What brand of tube do you recommend to make the pedal sound better?" They replied, "If we thought a different tube made it sound better, don't you think we'd have used it?"

My fave of my vintage Hamers. Simple graphic, not VanHalen-ey:

PFFFT! Hold my Ack (Ack ACK)!

I couldn't finish watching it. I have a problem when they just fill the video with random pics about the subject and they don't match up with what the narrator is saying... talking about a particular player and shows someone else etc. No offense to anyone, glad you enjoyed it.

I have a problem. But after seeing that photo of the specials et al, I now understand that my problem is not big enough. Gotta work on that. I feel so much better.

Working on it…

This inflation is worse than I thought!

Used to be mine once upon a time... Owned MANY Graphics, the first being a blue w/ VH style red stripes purchased new from Music Lab in Lansing, IL way back in late 79 or 80. John (Hamer) had no recollection of painting it, and both he and Paul didn't remember any color Graphics going out the door, but I owned it (and lost it in Toronto on tour). And there's the above pic of the red Graphic which proves color models did exist.

I found this: ...which is the insides of a PhatCat/Bigsby-equipped Newport. Not sure if that helps you - the tailpiece section would probably to be different.

"Rock N Roll will Save Your Soul!", and an adorned "SLB" or "SWB" sig. Very cool guitar. Trixster is still around.

Okay, so I purchased the Spark Reactor amplifier and the wireless foot controller. I buy stuff from Sweetwater, so it's on back order. It's less than $600, so the cash outlay isn't massive. What I think is "massive" is a product that uses AI to craft the sound I'm looking for. Now, never misunderstand. The Galien Krueger 250-ML was the greatest solid state amp with effects that would power two 4x12 cabinets, and it was ground breaking. I remember going to see Michael Bolton at Tom's Point After in Orlando after band practice on a Sunday night. The venue could hold about three hundred fifty (according to a girl I dated for a few months that worked there). There were seven at our table and about ten other people in the venue, when the show was to start. A guy came out and said that the band was all set up to play and they would play a one hour set, if we wanted them to. If not, they would refund our money and head to Fort Lauderdale early for their gig the next night. I had both of Michael's first two albums and they were great. His song Fool's Game was a hit on MTV and Everybody's Crazy was the latest MTV video at the time. We opted for "the show". The guitarist, some guy named Bruce Kulick, came out and did the sound check. It was one of the most phenomenal guitar sounds I'd ever heard. He was playing this little box on top of two Marshal 4x12 cabs. The drummer was Chuck Burgi. He was from Rainbow. The show was epic. Michael Bolton was one of the best singers I've ever seen. I know. I know. It was Michael Bolton. If you've never listened to his first two albums, you don't understand. And he played for about twenty people that night, if you count the staff. They played a version of Turn the Page that was extremely memorable. Kulick did the sax parts on guitar. I think some pretender band called Metallica covered it too, but it was nothing like this. Michael, if I'm honest, is one of the top five singers I've ever seen. Freddie, Paul (the one from Bad Co), Lou, and Steve (from the mid-west) were the others. But the guitar sound was the star that night. I bought one and played it in stereo for about two years. It gave way to great rig I had that was three 2x12 Boogie slant cabs with a Simul-Class Mark III in the middle and the 250-ML in stereo on either side of the stage. In closing, I'm going to query the AI App on the reactor to capture the lead guitar sound on Gary Moore's Still Got the Blues, Carlos' Santana on Europa (live from Moonflower), Robben Ford's tone on the "Talk to Your Daughter" album and Eric Johnson's tone on A Via Musicom. If it isn't close, I'm sending it back to Matt Masek at Sweetwater for a refund. My point is that all the technological advancements that have occurred during my tenure with the same band for 48 years have been amazing. There's also that thing called a cell phone. Some day, your phone and your amplifier will replace everything that's come before. I'm a Kemper guy, but I think the only redeeming quality of AI in my life will come from having a rig that creates every sound in my head. I might not live long enough. But the technological advancements in my life have been epic. If this amp, at $379, is the new GK amp, I'm going to have fun.

I was going to buy one of these, but "hamerhead" warned me about the zipper, and I don't want to make him mad at me 🫪

Speaking of Sparkling and the Sarasota Guitar show, this Allen Eden Explorer clone came home with me. 😎👍❤️🏁

Good thing you didn't whip out some celery.