BCR Greg

Poe is ugly and he drools.

It would be in his best interest to participate in this board....but he probably won't. We ARE the "past".

I won't blow a wad. He can do what he wants. I have gotten some pretty strong emails....let me say that I like Jol as a person. I miss our phone calls(we talked more about cars than guitars), but I do not miss his constant use of the word "no". Things that I asked for and was told NEVER.... *Chambered guitars (read his copy about the chambers after he started doing it) *TonePros (my buddy Dwight owns TP and gave me a care package to bring to CT on one of my many trips.) I handed the stuff to Jol and he handed it back. "Our guitars don't need this stuff, they are good enough". *Stain finishes (Black Trans is stained, as is Root Beer, Jol has blasted me about staining as "cheating") *Inlaid logos (when a $300 Epi has an inlaid logo and a $3k Hamer has a decal.....) *Sustain Blocks "If you want them so bad....YOU make them" *Juniors ....and plenty more. Jol is free to have the company that HE wants, now. THAT was the issue....not that we consumers wanted Hamer to be different; JOL wanted Hamer to be different from what it was. Power to him. I just got ordered some amazingly cool guitars that were not possible a year ago. MY customers win.

Oh, yessssss.......

....and Jol tells me at the NAMM show one year(after Peter Wolfe tells us that the whole run of $30k PRS Dragons sold in one hour) that Hamer should be looked at like PRS. Over the next several years, the price is raised 10% TWICE A YEAR. I asked Jol why(as the customers started falling off due to the increased pricing) and he told me "If you ask a lot for a product, the public knows that it's worth it". Hamer list prices NEARLY DOUBLED in 10 years. Nope. That ain't good designin', hoss.

Buy Hamer? Take another hit of the pipe, son. I am a guitar retailer/repairman. I have no interest in creating guitars for others, with the exception of those that are produced by high quality manufacturers to the exacting specs of my customers. AND, I am already out on my own. Have been for 16 years in a ever more difficult industry. Jealousy? You are so far off the path that you might never get back on. For years, my shop designed and begged for fully custom guitars and battles were fought to get guitars improved over the already high standards. Many of the ideas that I had to fight for became Jol's ideas when they public first saw them. His TRIBE facebook shows guitars that he had NOTHING to do with the design of, and myself and the customer had to FIGHT him to get them done. Many features and models that are now stock in the line came from these sessions. Show you what I am made of? Take a look, zippy. It's clear. You are some faceless poster on an internet board....I am available in every capacity. I do not want to change the world of guitar building, I just want the assholes to get out of the way of those that truly believe in the common man customer...the one that is loyal, values their purchases for what they do and not for the bragging rights. This puts a significant distance between one Jol Dantzig and I. So....Mister Faceless Authority....anything else you need to know? Oh, and tell Jol that I said "Hi". He's still good guy.

The guy screwed UP the company that this forum pays homage to. He ridiculed this forum constantly. Get your facts straight and try again. And Rob....we do not "have the Hamer that we always wanted". That Hamer was 8-10 years ago. THAT Hamer invited us to the factory. Dr. No never came to a jam. I DO wish him well. And when we can get the Hamer company unfoogered and back on track, I hope he's got his thing going well enough that he won't come back.

"Signature guitars begin at $16,000 - $24,000 Please feel free to distribute this text."

Good God.

Did I just read this? DR. No thinks a good bit of hisseff, don't he?

It's a gorgeous part of the world, I could spend SOME time there but not live there.

BAM!!!!!!!

I am always amused when those that have never owned a business think that a catch phrase can sum up the whole experience. I don't have the time nor the inclination to educate you poor souls on how to run a successful biz as the retail climate changes(my track record for the last 16 years shows that I know SOMETHING about which I speak). Nathan, no disrespect intended but you have a better chance of becoming a famous basketball player than you have of becoming a successful guitar dealer. Feel free to find more cute phrases, though. They sure are fun.

IF you think that starting a music store is a good idea, kill yourself.

Nobody so far has stated that they prefer to buy from Mom and Pop stores like mine and Dave's. When we are gone, you guys will rail about how unfair it is that we went down.

THIS thread is what Hamer is all about , to me.

I can't make it, sadly for me and maybe not for you guys. Have fun!

Nothing more metal than this....

The guitars cannot be denied. The work of Mike Shiskov, Dave Brown and the rest of the extremely talented shop staff is what we appreciate the most. These guys take our ideas and create jewels that we can play. All else is just bullshit of varying degrees.

If that is about me, sonny, it's time to take a break. The behind the scenes bullshit would confound and amaze you. Suffice it to say, tongues have been held for years in the interest of not sullying Hamer's reputation. As time goes by, honesty will become a growing trend and people like you will understand that a lot of things were not what they seemed.

And let's count how many of those Jams that Jol came to. Uh, zero.

Jol wanted to do what Jol wanted to do. Rarely was it about what the customer wanted. He claimed credit for things that he did not do. He made Hamer his personal "custom shop" that refused to build a lot of easily produced guitars (that customers were begging to give deposits for). He coined the term "too obvious", the meaning of which nobody has ever figured out. He did some great stuff when it suited him, but only when it suited him.

Vector #72 is the best Vector ever. If the music business were in better shape, I would still own it.

Good. The ONLY reason that I didn't buy that....