zorrow

I've already whined a lot about this and don't wanna start complaining again. In any case, they should know what they are doing in scaling down their production and in offering even less options. But I do think that at a given moment there will Hamers just for collectors and/or rich players. Chug-chug-chug SAD BUT TRUEAAHHH!

...and I don't think we want a Jackson, a PRS or a copy of whatever... We're talking about boomers (to my knowledge an exclusive Hamer signature), as well as crown inlays (a pretty common type of inlays) and headstock shapes they have already done in the past --like it or not, their own design ideas, indeed. To be frank, as a customer I don't really get the point. Maybe they're already swimming in a pool of millions and that's why they're just turning off some potential customers. Jol can say whatever he wants. At our side we have no choice but accepting his (or their) decisions, but that's anyway quite hard to understand, I think.

I was about to say the same. At least I do like dot inlays (yeah, I'm a pussy!) and they still build V-shaped bodies --though non-pointy headstocks in Vees are banned... But hell, the meaning of the "custom" word is getting into a very weird dimension at Hamer's!

Definitively! I read somewhere a Joe Lynn Turner interview where he rated Dave at the top of his preferred singers list. My first reaction was "WTF!?", but then I started paying more attention to Dave's lines and rhythmic sense, and realized why Joe Lynn Turner rates him so high. The guy is really amazing!

Well, once I suddenly got my guitar out of tune AND my reference started to wobble at the same time, like if it was going through a flanger or something. In addition, it was my turn to solo and stage lights started to flash. I stupidly decided to go on --both blindly and deafly. So, after a couple of unsuccessful tries to embark on the groove, I ended playing a couple of stock licks which sounded off key too --and thus that night became one of those embarrassing stage moments you remember forever!

Screw the headstock shapes! Quality is what matters! Hamer needs to keep doing the same and I don't care anymore about Vectors this and Vectors that. Hamer is one of the few American "glorious" brands which has kept the bar high there. Anything else is just superfluous at this point. Let Fender then mess with the import lines --no problem-- but please don't f#$%^& touch the US-made stuff! I swear I'll also purchase pointy-headstock-ed Vectors from now on!

+1

As mentioned, every guitar is different. However, I think you can get very close to the so-called "Les Paul sound " with any good guitar having a thick mahogany body, a set neck (mahogany too), the slight looseness of the 24.75" scale, a rosewood fretboard and a couple of good top-quality PAF (or even hotter) humbuckings. A maple top can also add some high end to the natural tone of the guitar -- which by the way, does exist. So said, Hamer does build guitars with the specs above. Personally, I own two Vectors which would proudly stand on their own faced to any Les Paul -- Roli's 81 flamey and Peter's 84 blueburst. Monacos also sound really great -- I've played Nick's. And even if I've never played other top Hamers, I bet there are many more which would sound like a Les Paul, and even better! By the way, in this thread I recently praised the tonal qualities of one of my guitars (a Hamer, yes), respect to a Les Paul: http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22114

Oh! Another software engineer on board?

Awesome, man! Lovely! I'll go to your place soon -- just please let me know when it would be the good time. Cheers!

The question, of course, is WHAT SORT of Spanish? The answer is: just misspelled Spanish! Just found that Oficiando (only one "f") simply is the gerund of the Spanish verb oficiar, which is "to officiate" in English -- see it here: http://www.spanishdict.com/AS.cfm?e=oficiar

I wonder what "officiando" means after all... It looks to me like some sort of... Spanish?

Neither! Guitar Techniques from the UK, that's the mag!

Deep Purple's "Burn"

In my Brazilian DVD it is Rudy Sarzo, yes: Ozzy Osbourne- Speak Of The Devil is an entire concert filmed back in 1982. Performing songs from his first two solo albums, Blizzard Of Ozz, and Diary Of A Madman plus 3 Black Sabbath songs. This concert was filmed just months after the horrible, tragic death of guitarist Randy Rhoads during the Diary Of A Madman tour. The very talented lead guitarist Brad Gillis from Night Ranger joined Ozzy to finish the tour and record Speak Of The Devil. Songs performed on the DVD include Over The Mountain, Mr. Crowley, Crazy Train, Revelation (Mother Earth), Steal Away The Night, Believer, I Don't Know, Goodbye To Romance, Flying High Again, Suicide Solution, and Black Sabbath songs Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, and Paranoid (the encore). The musicians in Ozzy's band at this time are some of the best in the business. Along with the aforementioned Brad Gillis are Rudy Sarzo on bass, Don Airey on keyboards, and Tommy Aldridge on drums.

Reb Beach plays Suhr guitars (Reb Beach's Suhr guitars) and yes, he IS an amazing player. Brad Gillis is one of my preferred guitar heroes. His instructional video helped me to unlock my lead guitar skills. I've never been into Night Ranger, but I think I would go see them just to get a closer look to Gillis' playing. I do love his "Gillrock Ranch" solo album as well as both his live album and his DVD with Ozzy.

As far as I feel today, my blueburst 84 Vector will always be with me!

I do use my pinky, even for vibrato, slides and bends. I think I have some exercises at home to give your pinky a good workout. Let me see if I find them this afternoon.

Sorry - I never got those guys. I recognize talent in what they do, but it's all too pretentious for me. Not slamming 'em, just my opinion. Stuff like that and Dream Theater bore me. They would be better with no goofy lyrics - all that Dungeons and "deep" metaphysical crap that sounds like it was lifted off the doodles out of a 9th grader's notebook totally cracks me up. At least with bands like Dio, I enjoy the whole comedy aspect of it all and "get " the song! I also like it simple and stupid these days. Queensryche became more and more rigid and forced album after album. At a given moment it was just too much brain, no soul and no sex at all. I think the main problem with Queensryche is that they took themselves so f@#$% seriously that all the charm got lost in their way to glory. A true shame!

Blind Guardian's "A Nigth At The Opera". They wanted to pair Queen!? C'mon! Blind Guardian is cool, but this album is overproduced and overthought. And if in addition it was titled "A Nigth At The Opera", how could I stand it? "Operation Mindcrime" is actually my preferred album from Queensryche. It is pretentious, yes, but to me it is a masterpiece anyways. However, it's a shame it was the last album I liked from Queensryche. With "Empire" they went so mature they just got rotten. From then on it was all downhill. BTW, if you want something as pretentious as "Operation Mindcrime" but really crappy, go with "Operation Mindcrime II".

Try this: http://hereinliestherub.com/nas/ -- but that's really criminal not buying the album. <-- edited to add this.

New American Shame -- the actual shame is that you just got "almost drunk"!

Greg, are you supposed to be PM'ed to know what's the deal?