ArnieZ

I'm jealous, not of you but your son :angry: . There is no greater joy than seeing your children have great experiences! I'm glad you're having this opportunity and hope you have many more! armies

I think you'll need to send that to me for pennance :angry: beautiful!! ArnieZ

Previous conversations I had with Jol led me to believe that he did sometimes read this board. He didn't say it directly but left the impression he did.

This thread is very interesting and confusing to me, so many contradictions and much speculation. So here is some more Jol and Paul share a vision and start what becomes Hamer guitars. The guitars are well received and generate a fan base. (Us in many cases) Jol and Paul cease to share the same vision and split. 3 sides to every story and I don't really care! Frank U has entered the picture as a partner along the way. Hamer continues to grow and by the mid 90's is making the most guitars ever in it's existance. Somewhere in there Kaman buys Hamer and Jol leaves from 93-97, perhaps because his vision isn't shared by Kaman Jol is asked to come back and head Hamer and it's new vision, a smaller company with fewer products and and a higher standard of luthiery. It's generally recognized that the New Hartford Hamers are the best guitars they have ever produced and Jol takes credit for the designs of the guitars. During this period Hamer is able to sell every guitar it can produce and custom orders can take up to 6 mos to complete. Hamer continues with it's poor marketing and fails to capture it's market. The cost of the high quality of the guitars makes it nearly impossible to make a low cost guitar profitable. Hamer discontinues some of it's lower end offerings because they are not profitable and prices continue to rise both at Hamer and across the industry. FMIC buys Kaman, they really don't care about Hamer, it's just part of Kaman. We all know change is coming and are fearful of what will happen to Hamer. The economy tanks and Hamer sales decline. It was generally rumored that Hamer in New Hartford never made a profit. I don't know Hamer "announces" that will will be a custom shop only, no stock guitars. Jol leaves the company, not by his choice. (from what I gather) Some of the HFC rejoices in his departure because he ruined the company and now it will morph into something better. So here are the contradictions and questions. Were all the decisions Jol's alone? What about Kaman and FMIC? Does Frank U, who I like very much, get a pass because he was not the face of the company? Does the founder/head of the company not have the right to change his vision? Chvey doesn't make Bel Airs any longer and Ferrari doesn't make Testarosas any longer. We're upset because we loved the HFC gatherings so much and they discontinued them. Shouldn't we be grateful that they had them at all. Was it Jol's decision alone to discontinue them? Was it his decision to start them? We're happy that now that Jol is gone Hamer is more open custom orders that were refused in the past. Are we certain that the refusals were all Jol and they were purely whimsical? Is it possible that there were other reasons at the time the decision was made? If Hamer is not going to accept the custom orders they are receiving what will they do? They are a custom order shop ONLY now. We're angry that Hamer wouldn't build some of the guitars we wanted but why did we want Hamer to build them? Because Hamer was making damn fine guitars and we knew they would do a great job. If we are going to place all the blame on Jol for Hamer's failures should we not then credit him for all it's successes. When the team wins the coach gets a lot of the credit and when it loses takes a lot of the blame. I won't be buying a Dantzig design guitar, can't afford it and my playing certainly doesn't warrant an instrument of that cost. I wish Jol the best in following his vision and hope he is successful. We've yet to see what his instruments will be like. I won't criticize his targeted market or his design aesthetic, there is plenty of gear out there that is costly and doesn't appeal to me but does to others. Just my 2 cents worth that nobody asked for on a coffee filled morning, hope I didn't make you gag ! ArnieZ Deleted the first post cause I wasn't done rambling and didn't know the partial was posted!

I was wondering if those prices were retail or street I have no axe to grind with Jol, always treated me well. I hope he sells all the guitars he wants to, but way out of my league! ArnieZ

Pretty serious fracture, looks like the orthropod did a great job fixing it! Definitely wishing a speedy and complete recovery! arniez

Thankfully not worse! Wishing you a full and speedy recovery! arniez

Wow! One fell swoop.nice scores! ArnieZ

Happy Belated Birthdays!! Hope you had a great day ArnieZ

Nice!! After numerous HFC tours I was under the impression that they hand seated the frets and they were generally untouched after that. Is this fret leveling procedure something new? ArnieZ

Sadly, that is the only weekend in October I can't make it! You all have a great time! ArnieZ

Mine arrived as well, excellent service These have picks totally cured my GAS for a Dumble ArnieZ

Beautiful, I love the way they put the top together! Generally not a "green" guy but this one can't be denied. Enjoy! ArnieZ

Extra heavy tortex would be my preference! ArnieZ

Raisng the stoptail or topwrapping the strings will also make the strings feel slinkier. ArnieZ

Happy Bithday Conrad and Gtiman, Hope you have a great day!! ArnieZ

Congrats!! ArnieZ

Nightwolf was a good man. Had many great conversations and I hope he is at peace! ArnieZ

A Hard Days Night immediately comes to mind ArnieZ

Have a great day! ArnieZ

Welcome Paul! Nice to hear from the name that adorns many of my headstocks ArnieZ

And the guys who build both Ovation and Hamer would work where? I'm not buying it. The workshop would be relocated? I love Hamer but if I was in investor, I don't think I'd roll those dice! ArnieZ

Kudos Greg, That is a fantastic bit of work!! ArnieZ

Anyone own/have significant experience with this model? Specifically how the redwood top impacts the tone. How is it different than a Studio? Does it push more toward an Artist, a solid mahogany guitar or is it just totally it's own animal? I have a chance to trade for one but it is not locally accessible and am curious to what the deal is with these. ArnieZ

Have a great day!! ArnieZ