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If Hamer makes a Thunderbolt that streets out between $15-2000, I'd buy at least one-no question. I think they could sell a lot more of those, have an exciting design, a unique guitar that would generate a buzz, and one that could very well put Hamer on the front burner. Seriously. Make them in mahogany, upcharge for korina. They are very cool guitars-I played Nielsen's Hamer Tbolt and his Fernandes. They are not Gibson copies-Hamer made them first (1995). Gibson made two in 1999 that were copies of the Hamer.

I saw Heart a year or two back. They were one of the best live acts I've seen in my life and Nancy is still hot and Ann hasn't lost much in the pipes department. Great show.

Absolutely the case. My '81 Special also had no trace of a serial number left, but I got it from the original owner and she assured me that other than guitar polish, nothing had been done to the finish. At least half of the graphic (black back) Specials I've seen and a few midnight pearl guitars that were stamped in that yellow ink had little trace of a serial number or none at all. I wouldn't say it has any effect on value whatsoever for these. That's a cool graphic-some are really neat but a couple look like the artist was getting bored.

...and to think I had and sold TWO blue trans flamebody Calis-one with reverse HS and bound fingerboard (AND a Cali Custom set neck)... I haven't seen another blue one since!

Welcome!!! That Sunburst is beautiful!!

Dude-great timing!!! Good luck with that one-great price too.

Welcome aboard and congrats on a killer first Hamer score! I love the M3s. Also-mucho kudos on posting a pic in your first thread (without bitching that it's impossible to post a pic on this board!!!!).

Thanks!! Oh yeah, and happy birthday to my older bro!

Yes, that's what I remember as well. I sold my last flametop four digit in the middle #0100s three years ago before the economy tanked and it was a good one but I didn't get that much for it. That's ok, it's in a good loving home now! Then again, economy or not, I wouldn't part with either of the ones I have left (both sub-#0100) for a couple times that price!

I wouldn't say that. I've sold a dozen four digit Standards, most which were older than that one and many that were far better just by looking and I never got that much for one! Close on one, but that was at the height of the good economy.

As long as the refret is done well, it shouldn't affect price that much if at all. I've seen some butcher jobs (not by our Butcheral, he probably does great work based on some of his builds that I've played). My '76 Standard was refretted in 1978 by one of the "name" luthiers in the US-he scratched the date and his name on the inside of the control plate. Mind you, in 1978 the frets of that guitar could not have been close to wearing unless they were made of pudding or something (the guitar is stupid clean), but the original owner wanted larger frets on the guitar. That will not affect the sales price one bit if I ever decide to sell that one.

Can anyone say with any certainty what guitars will be built in the former Hamer/Ovation facilities other than Hamer, Ovation and Guild? Are any of the Hamer guys working on Guilds? I thought this was common knowledge at this point.

Better to replicate the original yellow finish-far rarer and cooler-looking. Most set neck Calis were white...

The problem with long set breaks is that people will leave if a band is not playing. This is not something that makes bar owners happy. They're paying you to play-not hang out.

Oh, I still love the whole thing. When it stops being fun, Ill stop, but I'm still having a blast. One more thing-don't take set breaks more than 15-20 mins. Club owners don't like it and people leave. The owner of one ofthe joints we play was railing about the band in the weekend before-three ten song sets and a $150 bar tab. Not cool-they won't be back-he gave their other date to us.

Dave-you're right-I'm probably being a bit flip, but I rarely get out to see other bands and have seen two in the past month-both big draws in the biggest local clubs and neither even approached musical proficiency on guitars or (ugh!) keyboards and one did more sampling/sequencing than playing. One has a hot and very capable female frontperson and the other has the choreographed stage jumps and moves that look slick and they act cooler than they are which sells I guess. But they played the raprock and current stuff that is on the radio now. Both bands looked good too-not a Knack or Romantics-style package, but they dressed for the gig. And Gary is right-drums are important too.

Don't care what anyone says-chops are overrated. While we as musicians or even pseudo-musicians like me ;P, Would like to think it matters, it doesn't. The only people who notice most of that stuff are other musicians and 99% of them will be saying to themselves "I can play that better" or "i can't believe he played THAT note in the solo-WTF?!". Since a very small part of your crowd will be musicians, I am convinced that song selection goes much further than chops. Play stuff halfway decent that people go "oh yeah!!" and people will remember you and come to see you more and tell their friends about you than if you play stuff flawlessly and even inspired if people either don't know or don't relate to the song. We've completely butchered some tunes and for weeks afterwards, I get emails from people raving about the song we trainwrecked. Again-we should get over ourselves and realize that with cover bands, people really don't give a shit. Unless your vocalist sucks-then you're complete toast-even if the music is perfect.

Holy Shit Dude!!! Awesome!

I don't think that the touring Rockband thing is out of the realm of possibility. Around here, Karaoke nights are bigger than ever and after a gig last weekend, the bar owner told us we're one of the few bands he'll book anymore and he's cut back to one band night a week (Fridays) because he does so well with Karaoke on Thursdays and Saturdays. An AI-style "So You Wanna be a Karaoke Star" would not surprise me-and neither would a Guitar Hero/Rockband Tour with all of the $$ those franchises take in.

Paul started Northern Prairie (which also did stuff like kayak trips and outfitting initially) with another partner before bringing Jol in at some point in 1973. Jol was more into the guitars than Paul's first partner and the whole repair thing was an offshoot of the guitar shop. Making guitars was an offshoot of the repair thing and not meant to be a business originally. Hamer didn't actually start as a company until later in 75-early 76. People here who were there (like Hectorp!) can probably add details too-mine come from many discussions with Paul and others involved at the time. The first Hamer (#0000) will have its 35th anniversary next week. December 7, 1974.

I had heard rumblings about this over the past month or two. Nothing "official", but from sources that would seem to make sense. Still, I don't accept anything 100% without an actual "official statement" from the company, although this would not be a surprise, particularly judging from the realignment of duties there of late.

Welcome and that looks like you could well rip some heads off with that rig!

Welcome!!! I love tripping through that archival stuff. I've put several years into interviewing many of the past and present endorsers, people who were at Hamer in the early days and beyond, guys who were there for the Northern Prairie days, and even a few people who knew Paul and Jol when they were younger before any of that stuff. It's always cool to see some of the pics of some of the instruments and buildings, and particularly some of the...urm, well, fashions of those days! Keep bringing that stuff out of mothballs-it's awesome! Any pearls of wisdom or flashes of events that Jol or Paul (or anyone else I've talked to) is always entertaining and fun for me. Yes, I am a Hamer dork. Proud of it.

I will loan guitars to maybe two people-my brother and BCR Greg simply because the guitars will likely come back in better shape than when they went out. I did let McChris use my 8 String bass once and he rocked it, so he's on the short list too.... May be another one or two trusted HFCers, but not many others!