Bass Guy Dave

Very sorry to hear this. Missed an opportunity to connect with him while I was down in Corpus Christi years back. Never could quite get it to sync. Wishing peace to his family and friends...

I am so very, very sorry to hear of your family's enormous loss. Those photos are so inspiring to see the encouragement, love and support your family provided Michael through the years in his journey. May you all grow closer together and may the best memories grow the strongest from this day onward. Peace to you and your family.

Oh, no! Very sorry to hear this. Rest in Peace, Bill...

Sad day. Kudos to the crew for making their time on the weekends and such to keep pushing through on the last of the orders. Jackass especially, for working to finish up that awesome Standard... Hope the Virt and B12A don't suffer an incomplete fate... utter tragedy. Very best wishes and best of luck to the guys and their families...

A great one from 1978...

The Special was/is a great guitar. (insane that it retailed at only $800 at first in the 90s.) The Prototype (2nd Gen Phantom) body style balanced better and better upper fret access. (Belly and arm bevels were a BIG plus.) Triplecoil is nice, but not essential at all, IMO. Much as I love the A5 body style for comfort and balance (better than both above...) I just can't see it selling these days as a guitar platform (Bass, maybe... but still not the most likely) It this comes out as a non-Hamer logo'd guitar (which is fine,) a "Jack-Newfield" makes me think: Same great neck/fretwork; set-neck, Hum/single (P-90 is cool), fixed bridge, 2-3 colors max, out the door at $1,200 would be hard to beat. (add $300-$400 for a flame veneer top ( still 2-3 colors) would be frosting on the cake.) Mind you, this is coming from a bass player, so beware accordingly, lol.

Here's some bass noodling on one of my very first instruments-- (a '89 Peavey Fury with several mods-- with some active Duncan pickups) playing through some lullabyes my Mom would sing to me as a kid..

Here you go! Great Playing !!!

Played sax in band in school, but desperately wanted to be a drummer (sucked at that...) Had some japanese 12 string electric given to me when I was about 12 or so, but didn't know how to play it, and didn't really care. (later sold it to the neighbor, i think) about age 13, I was wanting to play drums in the 'band' with my friends, and because I sucked (and had no drums,) I got told I was now the bass player (since I DID have a ukulele, that also had 4 strings.) 1st riff I ever played: "Killers" by Iron Maiden, taught quickly to me by the other guys, to see if I had any hope of being able to play.. Thinking back, I'm persuaded what helped me the most, was having low/no expectations of being a bass player (insert joke here.) During all the time I spent getting the foundations of playing and basic coordination (ear, listening to Preist records, mostly,) all I could think about was how much I'd rather be playing drums--instead of worrying about whether I was becoming a competent bass player.

Does everything a rock song should, IMO.

What Brooks said. Top notch, all the way. Killer clarity on the recording and a great range of riffs. (Geez, Lynch was even more of a monster than I remembered.) Well done, sir! Duncan scored.

Happy Birthday!!

The thing I appreciate most about the HFC is that many years ago, becuase of people sharing ther experiences--including their losses, I've been reminded to unashamedly tell those people that I care about that I love them. I've only lost a few people close to me, but I've been exceptionally fortunate to be able to tell them plainly that they mattered to me beforehand. Dad's in his late 70s, and I'm in the HFCs debt for being so much closer with him now. I can't imagine how undone I'd be, were I to lose my wife or sons.... Michael, thanks for sharing Joel with us. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Wow.... wow.... such a loss. A drummer, tinkering with a bass amp creates a Guitarist's heaven. I remember getting a t-shirt signed by him at the 2001 NAMM show. I'm sure it couldn't have been this way for very long, but at that moment in time, he was just standing there pretty much by himself at the booth watching people walk past--no line for singatures or anything. I remember thanking him for the signature and for "everything." lol. He was probably THE most down-to-Earth person of acheivement that I've yet enountered. Just a genuinely nice guy.

Another one that bought "Metal Health" as their first Heavy Metal album. I think the next two were Pyromania and Screaming for Vengeance.... Iconic video for the title track, I always thought, too....Sarzo playing his upside-down bass solo, etc. Good memories, there.

So, so sorry for your loss...

LOL! Merry Christmas, HamStd !!! Yeesh, what an amazing stash

That's an early Slammer series Sunburst Artchtop. They were usually back with white binding in the States. We sold a couple at the store I was working at at the time. Nice guitar for the money.

another big fan of Preist's "Green Manalishi" cover... I did find a video of Rob Halford and Paul Gilbert doing a pretty cool cover of "I Don't Need no Doctor" at some guitar clinic--may not reach the "way better" level...but Halford is an amazing talent to watch in such a no BS environment. (Paul Gilbert is, of course, his usual excellently sick self.) Aretha Franklin's "Respect" easily topped Otis Redding's. * I also think this cover is WAY better than the original (which isn't saying that much...)

Yikes!!! Best wishes for a quick and full recovery!!

first thing that comes to mind: Priest's "Some Heads are Gonna' Roll" Studio version of that note is one of (if not the ) ultimate tone quests for me. Here's a live one from '86. Killer performance, especially by Halford.

Early 90s overlooked metal album for me was "War of Words" from Rob Halford's solo gig, "Fight."

AWESOME Standard and story, Jurgen! And a HUGE thanks to Paul Hamer for all the effort and input over the years to the instruments !! I had to quit playing from CTS/tendinits poblems for about 2 years back in the early 90s, and I didn't think I would be able to really get back into it again until I found my 1981 Cruise on consignment from a Studio guy out in Clovis, NM. My introduction to design and balance that actually made a difference. That bass got me through a rough time and eventually back to where I don't need to be as particular about what I play--but that bass will always be the cornerstone for me. Many thanks and Welcome!

Man... that Standard plus a Metaltronix would make for much, much fun... Good to see you around again!

That's a good one. Always liked Rock and Roll ain't noise pollution as well... This is probably my favorite and a great effort from Brian Johnson covering a classic Bon Scott song.Some fave Metal hook riffs from my youth: The whole "Restless and Wild" album was great, but their big riff probably has to go Great riff and (and cool little bass solo lick,) with one of the more "what were we thinking?" Conan-esque videos of the early 80s. Another old but the video is from a few years ago. Amazing that Halford has any voice left in his late 50s."Miracle Man" was a great riff. Probably my favorite from that album is here. King's X is always good for a hook riff, IMO. example 1 example 5 (and a cool Ty Tabor solo tune, )Cool thread.