diablo175

Haven't ... yet. (knock on wood...)

UH OH. Dude, that sucks! Looks like they tried to repair it with a small chainsaw...

+1 I've got a custom Jackson been waiting on for 2 + years due in June and my Vector should be wrapped up by Stike around the same time. and yet...

Drive thru that county every time I go to Myrtle Beach SC and/or Z-Hills FL. The next time I drive thru there on the way to either of those places, I'll stop by to see coolfeel- I owe him a couple of rounds of some good bourbon.

+1 on both accounts.

I share your sentiment, Disturber. However, it's been pointed out that FMIC isn't wholly to blame. Sure, it's easy to pin this mess entirely on them because they had to make the calls and issue the pink slips but IIRC, Hamer was a wounded and/or dying enterprise before FMIC took over. It's just beyond unfortunate that such mismanagement or questionable decision making results in the termination of the skilled luthiers and craftsmen working there. Who loses for this? Certainly the guys at New Hartford whose livelihoods and lives have been thrown into a giant chipper and the rest of us who will no longer be able to acquire their artistry under the Hamer name.

Serial makes a good point- the name on the head stock is irrelevant. It is/was the craftsmanship and magic you guys infused those guitars with. Wishing you guys all the best and hope to see your work again soon!

LOL. Shredmeister said it.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

Ah HA! The plot thickens...

Wouldn't that take away from the sonic properties of the FM? I'm no cork sniffer but my experience with FM's vs.Hog is that there is a discernible difference in the tones.

Oh hell, then mod away! FM Cali's are more common and your idea sounds f-ing cool! Will want to see that when it gets done!!!

Cynic, normally I tell you to ignore Nathan but in this case, I agree - that O'Conner finish is unique. Not too many of them, either I'm guessing,

I can definitely imagine how the PATB's would sound brighter than OBL's especially for pop,country and rock stuff. I'm reasonably sure that the gain-drenched settings I was using the OBL's with gave them a little more punch than usual. Still, the OBL's kinda fell flat for solo's. When I sold the IriCali LE, I went to my Godzilla Cali with EMG 81/SA-1's for the heavier stuff. The EMG's were perfect for the heavy crunch but had some serious punch for solos as well.

I'm of the reverse opinion-The OBL's in my old Iridescent LE were monsters for heavier tunings- e.g. D# standard with 10- 52 strings. Used it for a lot of cover tunes that either were played on 7 string or used drop D tuning. Nice low-end crunch with plenty of clarity and definition. Sounded awesome. The PATB's and I never got along- they sounded too bright and trebl-y. I know now that a lot of that was attributable to the amp/ amp settings I was using at the time. I am surprised to hear they sound good in the bright-ish maple bodied, ebony boarded Cali. I'd have thought that would've been a treble-fest. I'd like to try another set of PATB's using my current set up.

I'm now due for a change in undergarments and it doesn't even have a reverse headstock... sheeesh. Dibs?

I like lick boxes.

That's it. I'm throwing in the towel. White flag of surrender. Fuckin' A.

Someone remind me why these Hamer guys are a. not National heroes b. not going to continue to produce these fucking works of art!!! Goddammit! And I have a fat ol' tax refund this year.

+1 It all boils down to the money. FMIC wasn't making any off Hamer. Moot point. Hope the rumors I've heard in recent times prove to be of substance.

Two thoughts- 1) Wow. Very cool of FeynmanIII to go to the length he did, to commemorate those who succeeded where I failed. 2) Looking at my stable of additions, I'm perfectly happy I failed.

Ha, ha. I thought this was dead funny. "Limits". Well not if you are in the zone where is sounds sweet and great. Who thinks Dimebag had good tone? It's a damn chainsaw. Use all the pedals you want for that. Cheez, want more gain than a JCM800 can deliver and you'r in Korn country, or pantera for that matter. Who wants to go there? It's just as bad as wearing shorts on stage. Oh, wait he did. Lolz. Just kidding.... Modern metal music sucks! edit: what I mean is that a great sounding amp that has the power tubes distorting usually sounds way sweet. More gain and it, to my ears, becomes kinda over the top, and most of the time has to rely on pre amp gain (which I usually don't like) or a pedal of some kind. But you can use a tube screamer to goose the preamp section in to distorting the power tubes. That can be really sweet. Or a treble booster type of pedal. For singlecoil guitars a tube screamer, or vintage RAT, can be great to boost things up. Just not to much of the hot sauce. A strat has the tendency to sound a little thin through a Marshall anyways, so a pedal often makes sense. But what the hell do I know. Use all the pedals you want. Personally I use my old Fulldrive when I play my Newport or T62. And the great Fulltone Catalyst pedal for gnarly fuzz tones. Mighty close to cork sniffery, there, Disturber. That, and a "Get off my lawn" kind of elderly perspective But you underscore a valid point- that it's all in the ear of the beholder, i.e. very subjective.

This/\ I initially sought a way to get that huge gain sound in a low volume setting where cranking one's half stack or whatever was not an option. For that matter, neither was having a half stack-

HBD, you two! Hope it's a good one!

I dunno, Thorn. One looks like it's got a lot of mileage and the other is modeled after something to look like it's got a lot of mileage. In a certain county in Navada, $400 can get you something a bit younger that that...