mirrorimij

Thank you all! 😂 it looks close to this……..https://www.bidsquare.com/online-auctions/austin/large-african-carved-figural-karyenda-drum-7154806

I found this at a local second hand shop. Heavy. Heavily carved. Animal skin drum skin. Any idea what this is? Cheap souvenir? It was listed as a “Native Drum”. Seems well made. Any idea where it was made and when?

Whenever an employee had a birthday Annette had a very special way she would announce it over the intercom system. She was a great person. It's a sad day.

That could be the cover of the catalog.

That rasp was also used to carve the necks for the dual truss rod B12 bass necks and the asymmetric carve of the 1990s 5 string cruise basses. Hamer always bought them without the handle. I am not sure why. I have used mine with and without the handle and I prefer it without. That rasp and a cabinet scraper are two of my favorite hand tools.

That is a Shinto Saw Rasp (minus the handle). They can remove material efficiently and allow a high degree of control. The spaces allow the chips to clear. You can buy them here http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/151297/9-Shinto-Saw-Rasp.aspx

Perhaps Newman could chime in on this...... The truss rod covers shown above were standard issue on the "modern vintage" P90 Special initially. Then the truss rod cover had to be changed along with the shape of the headstock tip. The scroll of the headstock was cut with a custom made shaper knife. It was rather expensive to have a new cutter made and the new shape didn't look very different. I would guess a side by side comparison would be necessary to see the difference. I think it had something to do with a settlement between Gibson and Heritage. My impression was that Hamer was voluntarily making the changes. I smoked a lot of weed back then so I could be completely f'd up on this.

Would these truss rod covers used on the early 90's Specials be considered the "bell" style normally associated with Gibson?

I think it had something to do with an agreement or settlement with Gibson. Hamer was still using the familiar bell shape TRC when I started there in the early 90's. The scroll on the headstock changed slightly at the same time as the TRC change. That last Standard that Jackass assembled on "black tuesday" used a Gibson shaped rod cover that was supplied by the customer. I would ask Mike if that is an option.

They are brothers.

The torch has been passed. Congratulations. I wish Mike great success. The introductory price is astounding and reminiscent of the 1990's "Modern Vintage" era of Hamer.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Fender-Musical-Instruments-RVW4167374.htm?utm_source=company-follow&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=company-follow-ri&utm_content=company-follow-ri-review-button

You are probably right. I do think Larry Thomas wanted to give Ovation a shot with that LT60 prototype. Now that he is out of the picture maybe things have changed and they might actively sell Ovation and Hamer. Or maybe they want to slap a different headstock on a Jackson and call it a Hamer California Custom reissue. I don't know. I don't know if they know. What I do know is that all of the builders who moved from Arlington Heights are out of jobs. I also know that there is more to building a Hamer USA than copying some dimensions off a blueprint. If they don't get the process right (for example letting the necks rest for weeks prior to putting the radius on the fingerboard) you end up with a guitar that only resembles the look of a Hamer. There is a short list of people out there that know the process. There is an even shorter list of people that know that process and have the $$$ to make it happen. That is why I mentioned Frank's name. Martin tried to market electric guitars in the past and it didn't work. Maybe they would be willing to give it another try with another established brand name. However, I don't know if the name or equipment is for sale. The name is so tarnished now I don't know if anyone is willing to buy it. If I had to guess, I would bet that someone would be willing to purchase the name, equipment and inventory if they could get it for $250,000.

I wish that Frank U could get Chris Martin to buy the rights to Hamer (not even sure FMIC is selling). I bet Frank could get enough of the old crew back together to make it work.

I believe the new owner's president is the son of former FMIC CEO Larry Thomas.

BTMN, Thanks for the offer. I will be staying in Connecticut. Bob

That Korina Standard is awesome. What is going on BIG B?I've been keeping busy with my daughter, sending out resumes, etc. I need to call you. How about tomorrow afternoon? I have some stuff going on in the morning.

Jol owned the bass. Some of the models displayed were stock instruments, salesman samples, etc. I lent them my own Korina Standard to put on display at HFC 1. There really hasn't been any stuff like that hanging around for a long time.

That is just "right" on so many levels. Well done. Congrats to the new owner. Congrats to the crew for getting one more out there.

Kim would know and will be around through May. I spoke with Kim about that Newport - it was a brand new, custom Newport and it is since gone. He said it was the last Newport model (of any type) Hamer made. I asked him to look around for any other Hamer's hiding around there and he told me he was confident that Newport was the last new Hamer left in their warehouse. Just to clarify......the leftover Hamers I was referring to were in various stages of completion. They were not completed guitars. They are in the warehouse with other misc things. I would guess there was a dozen of them with finish sprayed on them.

Actually, Ovation/Kaman have been renting that facility since before I was born. They probably could have purchased it several times over for what they paid in rent. The landlord is a helluva nice guy ( and probably pretty wealthy from Ovation). I cant see that facility ever getting rented in this economic climate. There are a few machines I would love to have. FMIC will probably sell it all to an auction house for pennies on the dollar. I bet there are 600 to 800 guitars in that warehouse that will never sell unless they are blown out for next to nothing. They even have a few unfinished Hamers that were taken off the production line when they pulled the plug a few years ago.

You are the best Mike. Sad day.

7:15 am meeting today. FMIC has decided to shut down the New Hartford, CT facility. No definite word on the fate of Guild USA, Fender Acoustic Custom Shop, Ovation USA or Hamer USA. I was sent home an hour ago. Jackass was furiously trying to finish up the Standard on his bench. No word on the fate of the rest of the crew. A lot of people had their last day today, the rest will finish up in a few weeks. The end of an era. Good luck and thank you to Jackass, Northfield, Newman, Jason and Gary (as well as the rest of the crew).