hamerhead

That's gotta look great on stage. Congrats!

DON'T DO IT. When the zipper breaks just after a year - and it will - they'll tell you 'Sorry, not covered under warranty'. What good is a great case if it can't be closed after a year of light use?? Sorry, mathman. Gator reeeeeeally pissed me off. Fuckers.

Just go straight for a new car. She'll be so pissed about a car payment that she'll never notice a guitar.

Awe damn. He is responsible for some of the better gear around here and was my go-to for any audio questions that came up. He taught me a lot. Always willing to compare and share and point you to the best bang-for-the-buck. And he always found great deals. He has been missed for some time now. Wherever you are JB, I hope you have their system tweaked and turned up to 11. R.I.P., JohnnyB.

Agreed - the Grosh looks great!

I found this: ...which is the insides of a PhatCat/Bigsby-equipped Newport. Not sure if that helps you - the tailpiece section would probably to be different.

FIFY.

Made me laugh out loud. I assume Fender didn't initially pursue it because nobody was making copies on a large scale way back then. But now that there's a million companies making a living off Fender's design, I get it. What I don't get is the waiting 50+ years to do it.

This LP was an odd one, and I didn't get the story - the split vee headstock, the Strat-type switch and the biggest neck of any guitar I'd ever touched.

Your checkbook would need to live in a much different neighborhood than mine - one of guitars I was handed was over $600,000 USD. They are all just a part of Dave's personal stash, all just out there (upstairs from the sales floor) for anyone to wander through, no ropes or glass cases. There is also every old Fender amp you could think of (not too many Marshalls), all in amazing condition. Dave was there but we didn't get to talk to him this time. The '81 Checkerboard Special used to be one of Rick's. He and Dave apparently go way back. It looked brand new. The top row of guitars is up there fairly high off the floor. Tim the Photographer reaches way up and one-hands the oldest Tele on the wall and hands it to me. The look on my face must have been a good one because he says, "What??", like it was nothing. Just another day at the office for him, I guess. Scared me to death.

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid

Miscellaneous other stuff:

The Switchmasters are in the top row, far end (before the door). 3 pickups, volume and tone for each (6 knobs!), 4-way switch (neck/middle/bridge/all). And the Hamers. Apparently a guy walks into a guitar show in Chicago with the Keef Standard without much info just how he got it...That 3rd Sunburst has the perfect color burst. Stunning in person.

The real early ones are behind me in this picture..... ...and on the far end in this one. I think they went back to 1950 (not '52 like I said earlier). There were a couple 'NoCasters' in there.

From my first trip: I got to fondle those two. They are both featherweights, have the necks you dream of, and are the same color. Yep. The left one is faded, the right one is not. The top row starts at '54 and goes to '60. The sunburst '58 was near-LP heavy, the rest (that I handled) were feathers. The white '58 had a neck shape that was very '50s LP-ish.

After doing a little searching, Tim the Photographer may have been mistaken. PRS and Fender did anniversary runs, but I'm not finding any Hamers. Big liar.

As we're walking out I say to Diane, "We didn't get any pictures!" I was so jaw-dropped at what just happened that it never even crossed my mind. In my defense though, I took about a thousand the first time I was there. An interesting bit of Hamer history that I never knew: Dave had 25 Sustain Block Artists (in '59 burst) made to commemorate his first 25 years in business. I don't recall ever seeing or hearing of such an animal. This is according to Tim the Photographer, who apparently has a long history with Dave and the shop. Anybody here familiar with those?

We're at an AirBnb about 30 miles south of La Crosse (home of Dave's first guitar emporium), so a visit is mandatory. My wife is with me this time, but she is aware of why we're there - to swap the Rainsong for something better suited to my hands. Although it's not a done deal, they have a suitable replacement (more on that later). We browsed the main floor but nothing says 'buy me', so we head upstairs to Dave's own stash. It's my 3rd time but her first, and for a non-guitarist she was surprisingly into it. We made a long slow lap around and were starting lap #2 when Tim (yep!) the website photographer strikes up a conversation. Little did we know that that conversation would lead to about a 2 hour guided HANDS-ON tour of Dave's personal gear. That's right - one after another guitars were being pulled down and put in my hands. At first I resisted but my wife chimes in, "When will you ever get another chance?" and with that Les Pauls from '54 thru '60, Strats from '54 thru '64, and Teles from '52 thru I forget were plucked from their perches and placed in my now-sweaty mitts, each with their own tale. Not sure if I was more in awe of holding them or more fascinated with their history. What a trip! The Explorer/Vee/Moderne backstory, the wall of Gretschs, the Gibson Switchmaster, more stuff hidden in the back - and the five Hamers in the corner, including a checkerboard '81 Special and Keef's Belushi Standard (which had an even better story of how it came to Dave). The '54 Tele found caseless in a farmhouse attic and tossed into a dumpster by a clueless renovator, only to be saved by said renovator's brother, had to be my favorite. That guitar was as weathered as you'd expect, and flat out gorgeous. My wife was right - it was an experience I'll never get again, and won't forget for as long as I live. This here doesn't begin to scratch the surface. Holy hell what a day.

I hope he gets it.

Shut it, Dave! .....wait. Mocking you? Which time?

Well dammit. It's here. Cool guitar. In amazing shape. Sounds killer. ....with a shredder neck. As soon as I picked it up out of the case I knew it was not for me. It reminds me of an Ibanez Wizard neck - wide, flat and thin, more so than any guitar I've ever owned. Dammit. Fortunately we have a Dave's trip coming up, so it will be trade bait. I remain hopeful...

I can do the Tommy Boy 'Fat Guy in a Little Coat' bit in the XXXL windbreaker I have and I'm not that big. My medium-size wife wears it over a hoody no problem. They run waaaay small.