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cmatthes

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Everything posted by cmatthes

  1. If you’re getting your information from seller ads, you’ll never get it right, unfortunately. I’ve seen hundreds of sellers pushing imports that are clearly early-mid ‘00 production, and because the stamped or stickered number starts with a particular digit (say a “7”), then they look it up on a BS site and assume that it tracks USA production numbers somehow - it doesn’t, unless a batch or two are purely lined up by coincidence. My information came directly from Hamer/KMC, where two people who would know both stated that the import serial numbers are meaningless when it comes to dating an instrument. They may be more batch codes or production run identifiers, but aren’t really valid for dating the guitars like a USA Hamer scheme, or even an Ibanez, Fender or Gibson serial scheme. The best way to date an import would be by knowing when a particular model was catalogued and its country of origin. The numbers are secondary, and unreliable, honestly.
  2. Honestly, the old VG series is kind of a hack job. Several members here contributed real information that was either changed or completely omitted, and they got some things pretty wrong along the way. Bro Steve’s book partially arose out of the frustration of that experience as well as all the pure horseshit that proliferated on the Internet about the Hamer brand. Things like the Ed Roman site and a lot of dealer-driven hogwash has been taken as gospel when it’s pure fabrication. Steve’s book remains the “Standard”, despite some info being edited out for length. As far as import Hamer serial number tracking…good luck! Those were quite random and whatever schemes they used changed many times with little to no rhyme nor reason, not to mention that there were numerous lines/trim levels that just appeared or disappeared at random.
  3. I also stopped playing DR strings over a decade ago. After 6-7 sets in a row with dead strings…and then weird breaks in unusual places for no reason? They lost my business forever.
  4. My USA Standard cases are all form-fitting. I forget when they made the change, but I personally prefer the USA versions.
  5. There are all-Mahogany Standards and flame top Blitz guitars 😉 The Blitz body shape is different from a Standard’s, and the bodies were usually thinner, and made from multiple pieces of mahogany, where most Standards had one (sometimes two) piece bodies. Pickups, control layout, routing…the Blitz Guitars were factory built and designed for more of a production/efficiency process, while the Standards were built mostly outside of the shop and finished/setup there later.
  6. Jeez, Greg! I’m just going to use you as a broker for a cool Jpns guitar someday!!
  7. In addition to owning Joe Perry’s black #0150, I also traded a reissue Strat for Brad Whitford’s old #0137 (Jan ‘79) and $300 cash!
  8. Siobhan and I just went there in. November (I’ve been several times, but her first visit). We hit all of the “Big 3” guitar stores, but I was honestly not blown away or anything. The Gibson Garage is like an overpriced Guitar Center where everything is locked up, but there are some pretty impressive guitars there. I think the sushi place next door was okay. Gotta try at least one (of the many) hot chicken joints too. We also had a good time axe throwing… Broadway (Land of the “Woo-woo girls”) is always fun to see once, and you can walk in and see a great band anywhere for free. Lots more cool clubs in East Nashville, there’s The Bluebird Cafe, and some other places south of The Gulch. We saw a great comedy show at Zanie’s, which is down the street from GRUHN’S. Just stay the hell away from Luke Bryan’s bar… 😬
  9. Gotoh bought up the Wilkinson designs years ago. The original Wilkinson stuff may be a slight touch better quality, but Gotoh stuff is usually still excellent.
  10. I’m not sure how much Matt’s weighs, but mine is actually pretty lightweight. It weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of a mid-weight Les Paul, believe it or not.
  11. Martin; It didn’t go to the end of the auction -I think somebody made a side deal and he pulled it.
  12. Korina is like all other variants of mahogany…some can be extremely lightweight and some can weigh a ton. I’ve played featherweight guitars from that run and also some that made Norlin Les Paul Customs feel positively svelte.
  13. That’s actually a Quilt BODY, not a quilt top!
  14. My son sang at that KCH (as well as a few others). He got to meet many of the performers and a few honorees. At that one, he did talk to Tom Dumont about Hamers for a few minutes and said that I had taken pictures of his touring guitars. Tom asked him if the Hamer book was ever coming out! 😂
  15. Nothing new to report, but I speak with Mike regularly.
  16. Not going to be shared here. Steve may put that in Volume 2 if he completes that, but until then, that's it.
  17. I regret selling a Ferrari Red ‘82 I had - GREAT neck on that one!
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