mirrorimij

NTTAWWT, right? I'm not saying one way or the other... Junior Mint? And you wanna be my latex salesman.

I can stop anytime.... Just one more to show I can control it..... It's just too good to pass up...... Just going to add a celebrity guitar for collectibility ETC ETC ETC Might be time for an intervention- send all of your guitars to me so you can quit cold turkey.

Vintage Gibson ES 125

That looks like his signature. Its a close enough match to my Standard cover plate and the COA that came with my Vector.

Thats a beauty- very classy. Too bad they didn't read the back of the headstock prior to writing the ad.

Thanks for the answers Chris. I would be willing to bet that the import korina Standard uses a 3 to 5 piece body covered in a veneer (like the Epiphone V and Explorer). Not that there is anything wrong with that. Its just when you build it that way you don't have to sort through a truckload (literally) of korina to find clean pieces. I would also be willing to bet that none of the import necks are allowed to age for months before the radius is put on the fingerboard. Doing so adds to inventory and cost. Anybody that has ever taken the HFC tour has had this very important step demonstrated and explained to them. The stressed neck system and allowing the neck to age prior to radiusing the fingerboard are the reasons why you hardly ever see a modern Hamer with a twisted neck. Greg -that is a beautiful guitar. Make no mistake. I'm not in any way belittling the imports. They are fine guitars and I applaud Kaman/FMIC for making them better than they need to be at that price point. I am saying that there are significant differences that justify the price. It's like comparing a Mexican Fender to a Fender custom shop or Masterbuilt. Yeah, you can gig with the Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster (or any of them for that matter) but they don't put the attention to detail into it like they do on a $4 or $5K Masterbuilt. Just about every current Hamer USA employee is a very capable builder in EVERY step of the process. You won't find that in a typical guitar factory. I even hesitate to use the word factory when referring to New Hartford. Arlington Heights was a factory. New Hartford is a shop. BUY USA. I'm getting off my soapbox now.

Could someone that owns an import Sunburst Archtop or Flametop Standard help me out by answering a few things. I have always wondered if: they use the stress neck system? the crowns are real mother of pearl? the control cavity is shielded?

Nice guitars for the money. I would go with a used USA but that is my personal preference. The USA models have a certain feel that the imports don't have. Hamer USA really has very little/almost nothing to do with the imports in terms of design, wood selection, hardware selection, etc.

Could you show us a shot of the end grain on the headstock? The opposing grain of the individual pieces would be easier to see that way.

It could possibly be a re-neck. Hamer has done those from time to time and they would have retained the original serial number in the process. Serial- did they use the same font for serial numbers in 77 as were used in the early 80's?

I don't understand why crown are okay on imports but not USA models. To anyone at the show- are any of the New Hartford made Guilds on display? If so, how do they look?

Happy Birthday Greg.

Santellavision nailed the price. $1111 seems fair. Not a huge bargain with a non original case but those don't come up for sale very often. I hope the extra $111 bucks was worth it to the seller to deal with all of those "annoying" questions. Speaking of questions- I'm surprised no mention of Hameritis came up in the deluge of questions. I hope it doesn't have it but in my experience natural finishes from that time period seem more prone to it.

It looks like its creeping up to market value. I think it will end up right around $1000. Good luck to the bidders. I can't see how he is going to ship that in a new Uline shipping box for $40 and cover his costs.

Hamerica, I got your PM. Thanks. Everytime I tried to reply I got a syntax error. Didn't want you to think I was ignoring you. Bob

You guys know what this is. The price is right (for now) and it looks like it is in great condition. No affiliation. http://cgi.ebay.com/1996-Hamer-USA-Standar...A1%7C240%3A1318

I don't think any Eclipse were built with the Hipshot from the factory. I've got a Wilky bridge right here. Measurements are as follows: Bushing Outer Diameter (part that goes into the body) .443" Bushing Inner Diameter (thread major diameter where stud screws into) .277" Outer Diameter of threads on Stud .302" Diameter of post where the bridge mounts .294" Diameter of opening on bridge that fits on the post .315" all measurements could be +/- .002" with my cheap dial calipers. Let me know if you need other measurements or a better explanation of what I said above.

I believe the finish is urethane. The color coat may be nitro. It definitely isn't entirely nitrocellulose- I think they stopped doing that around 1990 or so.

Cool pics Greg. Last time I saw the 5 neck it looked to me like a 30 year old guitar. Well worn for its 12 or 13 years. Here some pics when it was factory fresh

That is perfect.

On a scale of one to ten, that top is a twenty.

Alamo amps are nice old tube amps that should be in your price range. No bells or whistles but they sound good.

Unless I'm mistaken, almost EVERY HFC model has been a simple variation of a production model (Korina Standard with special serial number, Korina Artist with additional pickup, even the SB77 was, from a production standpoint, a variation on the Special FM).

At this time I'm not doing any type of guitar work. My regular job keeps me pretty busy. For the HFC guitar I wouldn't mind seeing a Vector with Standard appointments (flame top, bound neck and body, Victory inlays, no pickguard, etc). I think they did a special run for a dealer last year. Hell if I'm just dreaming why not add an L5 style fingerboard an inlays. Anyone have a picture of the Hamer V with that treatment? Doesn't someone here own that?

Chris, I don't remember the original "Gibson" (Lukasic) having a cracked headstock or being repaired but that was a long time ago and my memory isn't what it used to be about that stuff. The Hamer Thunderbolt was sent to New Hartford for a headstock repair in 98 or 99. I remember I carved the neck on the Hamer Tbolt. It would be considered thin compared to todays Hamers. To my eye, the 12th fret dots look strange on the Hamer Tbolt in the picture Serial posted. The spacing looks wider than typical Hamer spacing. It looks more like Gibson spacing. Could just be the photo or my tired eyes. They should be the same spacing as any other Hamer dot neck from that era. I built a korina Thunderbolt body and neck in 2000. The one I built was a slightly different shape than the Hamer. It was truly a reversed mirror image of a Flying V (no that is not where my username comes from). The wing on the treble side of the Hamer and Lukasic is elongated compared to mine. Last I heard it ended up at a dealer in Illinois. bob