kriszguitar

It's the same guitar all right. No two were done the same way, all by hand with masking tape. Nowadays it would be a vinyl mask cut by CNC.

There have been a number of Hamers stocked with Fralins in the last few years, including the ones in Jon Herington's Talladega Pro. I've put up a video of Jon showing off his Fralin equipped guitar here for those of you who haven't seen it.

Cool photo! Actually, Mike isn't at Hamer any more either. From the Guild site:

The exceptions would be the aforementioned "Production" lines, like the Special, Blitz, original Vector, etc. Those started in 1980 as more of a budget-oriented Hamer, as opposed to the 4-digits (Standards, other custom guitars and basses) and Sunbursts. Those were out nearly a decade before Kaman took over. Well, not really a decade, more like seven years. But I think you may have a point. Comparitively, were those Vectors and Blitz models cheap compared to Gibsons?

Yes, the original idea (as related repeatedly in interviews, articles and even catalogs) was to be an alternative to VINTAGE guitars for professional players, not to compete with the big factories. They don't even refer to themselves as a factory, they call it a "workshop." At the time, vintage Gibsons were several times more expensive than a new Gibson. And to a large degree they still are, the difference is that there are a lot of amateurs who collect expensive guitars now and a lot more builders who compete in the market niche that Hamer created. Hamer slots in right between mass produced "custom" guitars and true vintage guitars. I think the idea of being a "working man's" bang for the buck instrument was a distribution model that Kaman envisioned for the brand.

The answer is: 6470.89 in today's dollars. An aside: When Hamer started, they were extremely expensive guitars that were made for rock stars only. Jol and Paul took them backstage and hawked them right alongside the vintage strats and LPs that they were selling at Northern Prairie Music. A Standard with the came appointments as today's Standard custom (fully bound, 27 inlays etc.) would set Mick Ralphs or Ted Turner about $1200-$1500. Today's money= $4567.68 By comparison, a Gibson Les Paul Custom would have been $650.00 Kris

How about ?Hamer has never been about what the average guy wanted and I don't think they should. Isn't music supposed to be about expressing different things? By the way, Hamer started out as an elite brand... way more expensive than new Gibsons or Fenders. The "change" was to try to go downmarket in the first place. Kris

Hi, my name is Kris Z. and I'm an administrator of the Hamer blog and Facebook fan page. I don't work for Hamer, but I do work with Jol Dantzig on various projects. He's entrusted me with the digitizing of his archives which many of you have seen on the Facebook page. I'm going to be posting relevant links and suggestions here based upon my database, knowlege and access to Hamer and Jol Dantzig. I hope you guys find this helpful. Kris Z.