serial

Buckcherry had the ability to fit into that category nicely, but I think that they imploded, didn't they?

Thanks for the great news! So glad that he turned up ok. We take so much for granted and it is unfortunate that it takes some hellish event like this to wake us up sometimes. I know I'm a little more "awake"-this is sobering shit.

I think that this is more of an issue of former Gibson Art & Historic/Custom Shop/Whatever we're callling it today dealers looking for instruments to fill spaces on their wall that the high-end Gibsons occupied. If they can push Hamers out to the LP/Gibson guys, that'd be good for Hamer. By and large the Hamer instruments are better!

I haven't heard anyone have a negative guitar purchase issue from Joe. I played the 12 string neck on that Fath double a while before the present owner got it and in fact within five minutes of Michael Fath dropping it off at the shop (I passed him in the parking lot). At the time I played it, the 12 string neck needed a LOT of adjustment. The 6 string neck was fine other than having old strings. Fath apparently used it for a photo shoot and cased it for many years thereafter. I never said nor intimated anywhere that the neck was warped, simply that at the time I picked it up, it was virtually unplayable (as often happens with these 12ver necks if they aren't set up I suspect from talking to other owners). The korina Virt is a very early one (the earliest one I know of date wise, but I don't have the first few logged in) and has had the end frets shaved off at the body. The early ones were made from korina picked up from the old Gibson factory in Kalamazoo. The celestial finish was one of the handful of custom finishes offered on Hamers in the late 80s and is VERY cool IMHO.

Rock bands didn't live like movie stars? They might not have actually KEPT any of the money that they made, but many of them sure lived like they were movie stars (for a brief period only in most cases!). How many jets with band logos were there in the 70s? They were at all of the parties, drank all of the pink champagne they could, banged Britt Ekland, etc....

I'm always tryin' to break new ground! Brian Johnson's got it right, even though he's no Bon Scott, I could never trash a band with Malcolm AND Angus in it! And Kiss holds a special place in my heart (pre-Peter leaving the band the first time). I guess I just like original lineups.

LOL!!! Thanks for coolin' me down on that DVZ thing. Man, I need to watch my BP...

Donnie Van Zant is the main reason I would never go to see Skynyrd even if you paid me to show up. I dig Rick Medlocke, but DVZ is the worst performer I've ever seen in my life. I saw .38 Spcl in '84 or so and it ranks as the worst show I've ever seen in 25+ years of concerts and shows. Two drummers were bad enough, but to have a little dwarfy goofball running around changing silly hats like Rick Nielsen changes guitars (and not even singing on any of the good material), it was clear that he was only in the band because of his name. He sucked BAD. I was actually getting to the point of getting pissed off/annoyed by that little f'er. Men at Work was better and they sucked. Arrrghheeeee (insert Howard Dean sound here)!!! I'm getting pissed just thinking about that show.

Yup, I knew there was another brand in there. Thilvertone! How could I forget Dave Van Halen? Geez-not enough caffeine I suppose!

Um, OK then Kiss wins hands down! Paul Stanley has had guitars made as "Paul Thanley" models from Ibanez, Washburn, either Framus or Hofner (it's hard to keep tabs on that) and probably Danelectro and Fender too by now. Ace has the Ace Frehley Model LP from both Gibson and Epiphone too and that was well before Rossington. Kiss is a bunch of six foot, hot look "All American M(e)n", baby. They've sold more board games, bubble gum cards, coffin coolers and mylar posters than Skynyrd has sold LPs.

Aerosmith far surpassed Skynyrd in terms of sales in the 80s. That being said, I'm not nuts about anything they've done since 1979, though they're still one of my favorite bands. Skynyrd gets real old real fast for me and I can't listen or watch the retreaded lineups, Boston too-probably too much airplay. GnR is good, but I always thought that Slash was the band, not Axl-who was probably the most overrated vocalist ever. STP was a great band, but I don't think that they are on the same icon level as Aerosmith or Skynyrd. Cheap Trick has always been one of my favorites, but they aren't usually mentioned in the same breath as the others unless they're touring with 'em. In addition to the korina Vector, Brad was also touring with a korina Standard (that I got to fondle) and a korina Junior.

You guys are killin' me with these things. I decided that I was only going to pick up two more guitars-a good Strat and a good LP. The MIII is just so tempting...

Thinner body, pickups, Brazilian board, etc, etc.

That would be cool-great idea. Maybe we could just loiter in the parking lot, look pathetic, take oaths of secrecy and get 'em to let us in too! The jam would be fun.

As I understand it, korina is korina, there isn't really such a beast as "black korina", that's just korina (African limba) with heavier mineral staining and a clever marketing scheme to make unsaleable wood stock desirable. It is all from the same trees. As for the difference in the 97 run and subsequent (current) offerings, I've seen new ones with spectacular grain and some originals with little grain and vice versa. The finish tint is different on the first run of 72 than on mine (an 02). Many people seem to prefer the older finish, but I dig 'em both.

...and in the toggle switch.

Must've been some good beer then! (PBR or Natty Boh? ) Kiz-you greatly overestimate me! If I had anywhere close to that number, I'd have an office at the UPS depot. Part of the fun is the horse-trading, so some stuff gets rotated pretty quickly. This Vector ain't going anywhere though! Happy Birthday to Ally!

Nah, I'm not that old yet. That's like Methusela old. That Vector has unbelievable playability and the one thing that gets me is that no matter what amp or setting I'm playing through, harmonics jump off everywhere with little or no effort (when I want them) in places I didn't know they existed. I don't think that the pickups are stock (I think that Poe knows what these are) as they don't have the gold polepiece screws that this would have issued with, but I'm not changing a thing on this one. The pickups are apparently the standard Hamer issue '59s. The guitar feels great too, extremely light and it just hangs in the right place for me playing wise. I've seen much nicer grain on korinas before (this is really subtle), but I could care less about that too. All around a big winner.

My Hamer Vector is probably the finest guitar I've ever owned out of the almost one hundred that have passed through my hands in the past 25 years. HUGE thanks to JeffR on this one.

'79 Neck profiles are pretty decent-that's an earlier one, so it'll likely be a bit chunkier like the '78s. The neck pickup should be zebra. I'd have to check the solder joints, but it has likely been replaced at some point. Of course anything is possible.

Good price for a very cool guitar. Lefties?

I wasn't ever a big fan of Sonic Temple-"Electric" just is about as perfect an album to me as you can get.

Van Halen 1-Duh Highway to Hell-AC/DC Electric-The Cult Girlfriend-Matthew Sweet Gotta give some props to Cheap Trick's 1st lp too.

I liked Harrison, really dig Petty, but never liked the Travelling Wilburys for all of their "star power".

Here are the kids with Ron. They had a blast.