tobereeno

It really does have this unique sound. A snappy attack, but notes do sustain very, very well.

1) I use a VHT Valvulator 2) I have no cable that's over 15 feet, and my guitar to Valvulator cable is 10 feet

yeah, I just saw this NOW. At $600 I would have bit. Just bought that Ovation doubleneck though for a second 12 string, and the Jimmie Vaughan project is still ongoing. Any guitar I get requires an investment of work and parts. Those are the same pickups in my blonde TLE. They sound so good that I did not automatically rip them out and replace with Seymour Duncans - the first guitar I've had to keep its stock electronics.

I guess there are times when you'd want to do spot lacquer repairs, but for refinishing, stripping is far better than overspraying.

The best acoustic guitar I've played is a Rainsong. Whatever their latest formula for weave pattern and fiberglass/carbon fiber ratio is, they've nailed it. To me, every wooden acoustic guitar I've played gave up something to be better at something else.

I love how top-grade spruce looks. But tonally, since I use acoustics for fingerpicking and classical only, I prefer extremely dark, mellow tones, and that means cedar.

a couple years ago I got uber-paranoid about cancer, specifically stomach cancer. I've been getting endoscopies yearly. Getting a camera shoved down your throat and into your stomach sucks. But the peace of mind of getting that and other body plumbing checked out is golden. I guess I'm just a bit too young to be familiar with Montrose and his music. I think I'll have a listen now - artists live on in their music after all.

modelers can nail just about any tone, given enough tweaking, but what I haven't been able to get with anything other than a tube amp - and not just any tube amp either - is this kind of springy "bounce" and responsiveness that's kind of hard to describe but you know it when you are feeling it. Lower watt amps, and EL84s or 6V6s imho tend to get this springiness better, at least at lower volumes. Something as stiff as KT88s, I think you might as well be playing a transistor power amp.

I'm a Hamer loyalist. My one import is the Jazz 5 - wanted a hollowbody and it was far cheaper than a Newport or Improv and still carries the brand name, so I guess having "Hamer" on the headstock matters to me. A lot. Seven Hamers and a Seagull acoustic. So much for downsizing

dammit, all this I'm hearing about the Fractal Axe FX is not good; I don't need expensive ideas planted in my head now! Jay's fully tricked-out system what that Bradshaw-like switchboard is impressive, although I'd want to use a Mesa 20/20 to drive the thing. I like EL84s.

While I like my Marshall Haze 40, I've gone back to my Line 6 XT Live. I like adjusting patches for different guitars, and while my very best experiences with amps have been just plugging straight in and cranking it until the power tubes start singing, modelers offer so much tweakability as well as consistent sounds. Plus, the XT Live is the only thing that gets me my perfect clean tone. But I'm still running tubes; input is into a Valvulator and the Line 6 goes into the return loop of my Marshall, so that's 1 12AX7 up front and 2 EL34s driving the speaker. I had thought of trying out those Bose tower monitor things, but I don't recall them being reviewed well and they cost way too much. But I do believe that the time will come when a guitar "rig" is ultra portable and gets both the sound and FEEL of a cranked tube amp. But the recent popularity of low-watt amps might mean that it's not in the near future.

would you happen to know what font and size Hamer used for putting names under the logo?

I'm interested in getting my name put on my headstocks of my true keeper guitars. I think I remember many years ago about a source for the dry transfer letters Hamer used to letter in people's names?

how would you switch the wires to become out of phase. For example, on a SD humbucker, red and white and tied, black is signal and green is ground. Would you tie the black and green and use the red for signal? I have SD Liberator pots on three of my guitars; wiring a pickup out of phase merely requires swapping where the wires are screwed in.

Kim Jong-Un, ordering their execution for playing non revolutionary capitalist music. North Koreans do not have internet access.

I think I've been pretty lucky in my Hamer collecting - never owned more than ten, but I've owned some pretty special pieces. I still need to own a Newport. And a setneck Californian.

well, guess reworking the nuts on my doubleneck and Virt will be child's play for you! I fly back home to Nashville tomorrow, and as soon as I get over some jetlag, I think Jenny and I will head over for some quality hang time/work on my geetars/watch you work your magic on everyone else's. is this a good time to say that all of you who have sent guitars to Jay, I've inappropriately fondled each and every one before they ship out, muhahaha! I'm kidding....or am I? Ok, overwork and sleep deprivation (this was supposed to be a damned vacation!!!!) has gotten me loony. What's my point? Jay's a master, can fix anything - I've seen it in person, and I'm going to get my guitars to the point where I had originally envisioned them to be when I got the things ten years ago, courtesy of his work!

I love this board. After a hiatus of a few years, I come back and many of the old regulars are still here. I used to be into the TGP but this board pretty much suffices. No interest in guitars non-Hamer. The Chicago Jam proved that y'all are just as awesome in person as you are online (BTMN coming up from Florida was totally killer!!), and just as before, even though 12 years have passed since I first started shooting my mouth off on there, it's a phenomenal resource as I start ramping up to revise my guitar setups again (and I'm sure you can appreciate what it's like having Murkat being a 15 minute drive away!!!) and prepare to start gigging again for the first time in four years. There's a trust here that simply does not exist on most other boards, and the HFC has played a very big role in me being a Hamer-only player. The only non-Hamer fretted instruments I've bought since joining here in 1999 were two Epiphone Mandobirds (4 and 8 string), and those weren't for me, but for my Better Half.

jeebus. I can't even begin to fathom your loss. I'm shocked and terribly sad for you Jon, and I hope you pull through fine. I just don't really know what to say....

I'm glad to hear that the basses I let go are in good homes and are being loved! as long as we're getting general...scored a Dyna-comp from Steve Haynie that's mint and, while not necessarily my favorite compressor tone, is apparently essential for the Nashville Sound. And I'm all about Nashville. Needed some amplification, so went cheap - Marshall Haze 40 combo, and the Better Half called to ask what the hell this 80lb box is that just dropped off - Marshall 2x10 bass combo. There are better bass amps, but I'm going to stack them and run my Chap 12 string bass through both. And the bass combo was also sub-$1K. One big non-musical acquisition - my first automatic transmission car. The only gripe I can think of is that the seats were made for people a lot wider than my skinny Asian ass. Otherwise, it's a gear and furniture hauler, comfy cruiser for road trips, commuter, even a camper (the rear seats fold down, and the Better Half and I fitted a thin mattress and literally car camped. Oh, and it corners in ways a 2 ton car shouldn't be able to, and it's pushing 530-550bhp depending on air temp. That would be quite fast!

moving back to the States!!! Awesome (although I'm sitting in Korea now, being reminded why I grew to hate this place). Wish I could make the money I make here back home...it'll come I guess. two Hamers sold off - my B12S (to Bobby Marshall) and my Chap 5 (from JeffR, to Tomterrific). two Hamers acquired: '94 USA B12L, after I realized that selling the B12S was a mistake - one MUST have a 12ver in the stash. Worked out though, I got it for $850(!!!), it's dead mint, and it sounds like God. It came with plain D octaves, and after putting on a set of stainless steel SITs, it doesn't have as much "twang". So I'm going to have to get some D octave plains I think. And, just as I scored my Virt when I moved to Korea, I scored this, while it went unsold and none of you went for it!! $2000 was well worth it, considering just how GOOD it plays and sounds: And, the HFC Chicago jam was simply, absolutely, phenomenal. The very BEST time I've had with the HFC!!

jeebus Pete, where you find these things, I have no idea. Being a big ebony fan, that scalloped ebony fretboard has given me a woody!!

holy shit! I've had that bass for YEARS and never knew the finish could pop like that. And I find out....AFTER I've sold it! damn. damn. damn. All I got left are solid color finishes, except for the Virtuoso. A good buffing will look nice, but won't have that night/day effect like on this iridescent finish. btw I'm now convinced that magic buffing wheel when applied to fretboards has something to do with getting harmonics to pop out of your shredders Jay.

yep, the Chap 12 has been completely addicting. No stringed instrument I've ever played has had such absolute thunderous power; if you've ever used a guitar pick on the string of a grand piano, you get the idea. There's more intricate stuff that can be done on the B12S; it's almost guitar-like. The B12L is what a god of thunder would play....