Yeah it may be a little bit of a blow to our Hamer ego's - but at least we can still find them used and do it with confidence - knowing that any USA branded Hamer was built with the same quality from the first day until the last.... I would much rather have this option than to watch my favorite guitar company's custom shop get turned back into a CNC factory. Last year I purchased a 1993 SRV Strat - not the most amazing guitar out there - but it's solid and I did some hunting for it. I recently picked up a 2011 built SRV and it was just sad- it felt like a $250.00 mexi-strat. Same thing with my friends 2 LP customs.... 2008 and 2010. Compare those to one of Gibson's vintage builds or ANY Hamer and it's just insane how little care is put into these guitars. Just crappy work - period. Sorry if this pisses off any Gibson/Fender fans - I'm just stating what happens when things get "Corporatized". Same ole' Pre-CBS argument. It happened to Boogie, Budda, PRS, and the list just goes on and on. I remember being able to phone Hamer and talk with someone directly....Same with Boogie. Point being - at least we know that when we do look at the used Hamers - they're going to be good. In fact, they are going to be better than 90% of everything else we look at. My plan to stroke my brusied "Hamer-Ego" when people bring up Hamer's closing - is to look them in the eye and reply " Yeah too bad you never had the chance to own a new one like I did ".