Steve Haynie

Best of all, Gene, you do not look like a poser in that picture!

The buyer can always claim there was a problem with the item or that it was not received and file a dispute. That means PayPal will yank the money back from you until the dispute is settled. Most people are honest on both ends, so that will likely not happen.

It is convenient for FedEx to make a distinction between "used" guitars based on age. If they tell you that you agreed to all the terms and conditions of their service you should counter that with a claim that no FedEx employee was able to provide you with a binder full of legalese crap to read.

There is definitely a cool look to those amps, especially when there are a bunch of them used together. Idiots still manage to get cigarette burns on those amps.

A flanger is a must to get into some of those Thin Lizzy guitar sounds.

I ordered a Special with two tone controls. They are on a dual concentric pot so there was no need to drill a fourth hole.

My paychecks depended on FedEx for years. Only one package was misdelivered in in 17 years. At one time I could call the local FedEx office from a number listed in the phone book. No more. Trying to reach a human being on the phone at FedEx is next to impossible now. You have to do something to tie up the phone system to get someone to figure out why you are there.

In the early 90's Hamer was making about 80 guitars a weeks. Now they make about 20 guitars a week. The company had more guitars to sell back then, so they advertised more often.

Is it legal for Ted to auction it with all the money going toward the costs of maintaining this site? That would exclude many of us, but at the same time the guitar would serve the purpose for which it was donated.

Now that the HFC is a LLC, is there any change in the legalities of raffling off the purple guitar?

Tickets have not gone on sale for Charlotte and Atlanta. When the pre-sale for those dates is announced I will find out whether or not I am going. It will all depend on whether or not I like the seat I can get. So, cajunboy, how good are your tickets?

If Hamer never really wanted to do a translucent black finish, why did they choose that finish for a NAMM display guitar? Apparently consumers made a difference in that case. Was the Talladega available at the last summer NAMM show?

A friend custom ordered a translucent blue satin finish Chaparral in the mid 90's. If Hamer could do that, there is the possibility of a blue Diablo.

I think Jol said he does not want to use spalted wood for anything. That is his choice. I think spalted tops can look interesting.

Condolences to you, Mindseyes.

Did anyone ask the dealer about the missing serial number? Used gear is sometimes an odd business, but it would be best to avoid guitars with missing serial numbers. Refins are sort of an exception.

On the 1996 reunion tour Christine Sixteen was only played at the first show in Detroit. KISS has always been sloppy at playing, but when they really felt what they were doing they were on fire! Watching the Irvine bonus disc in KISSology III Paul and Ace were really playing sloppy. There is one big plus to that video: the sound separation of the guitars is so distinct that it should be easy to learn the licks of each guy a little better. One day I am going to finally learn both parts of the Detroit Rock City solo, and this video may be just what I need to do it!

When I saw Roy Clark last month he played an electric Ovation 12 string for half of the songs. It was not a Hamer, but it was a step-cousin of Hamer.

I have never even heard of that model. Tell us more about it.

At one time Ace said Deuce was his favorite of the old KISS songs. It may have been his audition song, too.

From blabbermouth.net Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley and his new band — consisting of guitarist Derrek Hawkins, bassist Anthony Esposito and drummer Scot Coogan — kicked off a four-date East Coast mini-tour Thursday night (December 27) at the Jaxx nightclub in Springfield, Virginia. The group's setlist was as follows: 01. Rip It Out 02. Hard Times 03. Parasite 04. Snowblind 05. I Want You 06. Rock Soldiers 07. Shot Full Of Rock 08. Into The Void 09. Breakout 10. Stranger In A Strange Land 11. Strange Ways 12. New York Groove 13. Shock Me 14. Rocket Ride 15. Medley 16. Love Gun 17. Cold Gin 18. Black Diamond outro 19. Deuce

Some details are missing. How did the guitar get out of the neighbor's house and into yours?

Correcting my previous post: Ace will be in Atlanta in February! December 27 Jaxx West Springfield, VA December 28 Jaxx West Springfield, VA December 29 The Norva Norfolk, VA December 31 Crocodile Rock Allentown, PA February 22 Center Stage Atlanta, GA February 23 House of Blues New Orleans, LA February 24 House of Blues Dallas, TX February 29 The Bear's Den Niagara Falls, NY March 9 Emerald Theater Mt. Clemens, MI April 11 Astoria London, England

Pull out your KISS My Ass CD and take the jewel case apart. The part that the CD snaps into has to come out. On the "inside" of the back cover there is a message that says something like "To Ace and Peter-- We couldn't have done it without you. Gene & Paul" in handwriting. You might be able to see it through the hole in the center of the snap thing. The jewel case on my copy was made of opaque plastic, but I have seen one in clear. Ace made some fans mad by not signing guitars after a certain point. At the Atlanta KISS Expo some people were told that while in line with guitars. He would sign a pickguard as long as it was not attached to a guitar. Someone told me a story about somebody at another KISS convention showing up with one of those Washburn Ace Frehley models and getting so mad that Ace would not sign it he smashed his guitar outside. At the same convention in Atlanta there was a guy set up selling guitars. He had a Les Paul with Ace's signature on it and kept trying to get a picture of Ace with or near the guitar. The price for a signed Les Paul Standard in the late 90's? Try around $3000 - 3500 when the guitar should have been around $2000 - 2500. (The same guy wanted way too much for a Gibson Ripper bass, and he sold a de-Kahlered Ibanez Iceman bolt-neck without a case to a non-guitar player for $400 when that guitar should have been $200 or less.) When Ace saw people upcharging a thousand bucks for a Les Paul because of his signature he stopped signing guitars.

The new DVD mentions that the Unplugged reunion almost didn't happen because of some 'legal issues', but never says what they were or who caused them. It's pretty clear that they're saying it was the Ace & Peter camps, but they never say more than that (and I haven't looked to see if there are any details anywhere). There was some dispute when 'Kiss My Ass' came out because they didn't use Ace's makeup, and a lot of people took it as a shot at Ace. Gene blamed it on Ace, saying he owned the rights and wouldn't let them use it. It came out later that, supposedly, a lawyer in Ace's camp tried to get a big payment for the use and they wouldn't pay, and supposedly Ace knew nothing about it. Peter was under contract to Tony Nicole Tony Records when he left to do the KISS reunion. They put out his CD and got him a decent tour bus. That may have been one obstacle. Peter never "finished" his business with the record company before he was on tour with KISS. They may have seen the Unplugged show getting in the way of promoting the album in which they had invested a chunk of money. At the KISS expo in Atlanta around the time KISS My Ass came out Ace told the audience that his makeup was not used because he would have had to be paid for the use of it. That year Ace was talking about how cheap Gene and Paul were. The Unplugged show was still a couple of years away. BTW a friend in Atlanta was the first person to show Ace the hidden message from Gene and Paul under the tray in the CD case. She said he just looked at it for a minute or two but did not say a word. I was at that Tiger Stadium show. It was a perfect show. If there were problems the band never let on. That show was the first of the tour, but the first performance in makeup was two weeks earlier at the Irvine Meadows show. That one was not a full set, and it is on the bonus disc that I still have not found anywhere.