cmatthes

Also - make sure somebody is there to take great pics/video of ya. Very important!

What kid wouldn't LOVE a bad-assed black guitar? Let me know if you're taking contributions as well.

Tony D. Rocks.

I think you're talking about the Tacoma debacle, right? I also couldn't agree more about the Jpns Gretsch stuff. REALLY nice stuff, and better than any of the '50s/'60s vintage Gretsch guitars I've owned and played. Consistently good, too. As far as sources, I'm not so sure that anything less than something direct from the horse's mouth is anything to be taken as gospel. I've heard some pretty nutty stuff from people who claim to know the deal, but most of them just heard it from a friend who...heard it from a friend who...

My understanding is the best way to find out these things is to contact your preferred dealer to request the Hamer you'd like and see what happens. At this point, it may be that no one at Hamer KNOWS what is going on any more than anyone here. FMIC is calling the shots, no? +1,000 what Jaye says above. It's always been that way, probably always will be.

Please clarify- shut down WHICH production line? Hamer or Guild? I think he was talking about the Guild shop in Westerly, RI (not CT). I also thought that the Guild Electrics were the only thing that Fender's Custom Shop was actually handling. I could look into that for sure. As we all know, Hamer has not been shut down, and Guild Acoustics are being made as well or better than ever in New Hartford.

One of the most embarassing, but they took it in the nose pretty good for that absolutely IDIOTIC "Hendrix" thing last year (as they should have). Add to that the sheer stupidity in executing things like the "Dusk Tiger" (Oooooh!!) and "Dark Fire" (Oooooooooh!), you've got the Tifecta of outoftouchedness right there.

Some of my favorite guitars of all time are Gibsons. That is not one of them.

Wait a minute, you have one Already?? That sounds like sparkling news to me. Peter

I'd buy another one!

Why not? http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29582

I have definitely played my share of heavier Daytonas and T-51s, but I think that's an over-generalization. I've owned two lightweight ones and one that was on the lighter side of medium. All were/are under 8 lbs though, and the one I have now is a complete feather. If you'll recall, the whole "lightweight craze" thing really didn't start until the late '90 with reissue LPs. Overnight, heavy guitars became a bad thing, and everybody equated lighter weight guitars with better quality. Weight was probably a factor to some degree, but probably not all that important in the early/mid-'90s, especially on a lower-priced line. It wasn't limited to those bolt-ons either - I've played a couple of the '95 Korina Standard run that were total cinder blocks.

Agreed. I see a TON of live music every year, and they were a highlight. The band is one of the tightest, most talented bunch of guys/girls, and Ann and Nancy rock as hard, if not harder than they did several decades ago. There were a couple of times when I was willing to bet Ann would go low instead of hitting the high note, and she nailed it every time. Good thing I didn't put any $$ on the line...

I agree it's expensive, but it's been that price for years. And we ALL know we're talking list price here, and end customer price is generally substantially less, right? Edited to add, I'm curious what the "norm" is for bound f-holes as a build option out there. That's exactly what I paid 4-5 years ago for my M3's bound F-holes. Yes, it is an expensive option, but I wanted it for that guitar for a number of reasons (most of them sentimental). If you've ever watched Mike Shishkov bind an F-hole, it isn't a simple pop-in job. Many manufacturers use pre-formed bindings and just snap them in with a little glue. These are done by hand, precisely mitered and formed. You have to break out a better lens to see the joints where the binding comes together on mine. The work is spectacular. Is it too expensive? Purely a matter of opinion, and depends on how much you're willing to spend or what something like that means to you. I had two guitars built when my Dad passed away, and pulled out the stops on both, as those will be passed down to my sons. Simply put, you may pay a lot for a Custom Hamer, but seriously - stack those prices/options up against Gibson or Fender Custom Shop or PRS' stuff, and you'll see that the prices really aren't that far off the mark. In many cases, the Hamer stuff is thousands cheaper. I just got a Sweetwater catalog in the mail this afternoon - that totally backs up this point for me. I don't care for the high Hamer prices either, but that's the way it is for now, and you get what you pay for with them. If you are buying a guitar for resale, very few make that cut. If that's what you want, buy one of those and don't complain! Also, I can definitely see a lower-priced Hamer model, but it'll be something stripped-down and won't be a $1,000 guitar. Even a run-of-the-mill Strat costs that much. If you do get a more wallet-friendly new Hamer, it's going to have to run no less than $1,500 STREET. They simply can't build a quality guitar for $1k, and neither can anybody else in the US. (and yes, that monkey in Gale's sig is freaky as hell!)

We're gonna need a bigger boat!

Is it "Limed Mahogany"?

Interesting to see that thread has been closed. (yeah, right!)

Almost missed that Ice Pearl Snakeskin Chap in the middle there!

I think Jeffro has a copy of this one...

I don't know that I'd accept $70 AND that guitar. It looks like closet filler to me. I've just never been of the mind that because something is cheap, it's a good deal. I'd rather put $70 towards something I'd actually play... ...or drink.

I guess that besides the Zero feedback, I'm not seeing the problems with this one. Pricing is on the high side of reasonable, but still under $2k and for the flamed body option, which is BY FAR the most desirable across the board configuration for this model. Is this the infamous Craigslist one or something?

The yellow ink they used to stamp the serial numbers on black guitars from that period often just fades away...like invisible ink. It's there, but the blacklight trick doesn't always work. Pretty safe bet that it'll be an '81 though, in any case.

Bingo! -Austin 100% Right there with ya.

My thought is that if the opening bid is $1,750, there will be few bidders and it may not even get a nibble. If the opening bid was a non-reserve low price, it would probably go well over the current opener. I actually think $1,400 is low for one of these. I know they aren't selling for $2,500 like they were a year or two ago, but as always, the market will set the price - at least the price this month.

Good luck finding a flame Cali for $1,400 anywhere...