Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame

Yeah, it's me. I bought it for $900 2 years ago. I want to get as close to $900 as possible. With the guitar market as weak as it is, I didn't feel comfortable posting it here asking for $900...why ask any of you to overpay just so I don't lose money? But if I'm wrong about the market, this way it allows the market to set the price, instead of my ignorance. I don't want to be low-balled, I don't want to be foolishly stubborn on an unrealistically high price.

So you got my email response to your pm, right?

Great post idea, btw. I've enjoyed learning where everyone's name comes from.

Okay, you asked for it: Back in 2002, during my first deployment (to Diego Garcia, hardly a hardship), I discovered blogs. I wanted to blog, too. I needed a blog name that wasn't taken to go with a yahoo.com account name that also wasn't taken. OpinioNated was already gone. So since I wanted to make people think, choice #2 was actually available. Since then, I've also decided that "brainfertilizer" can equally imply "shit for brains". So it works both ways. In any case, I was always just outside of the big time. I saw other people start after me, write pretty much the same things, but make it to become professional writers based on networking, or luck, or just an ability to connect with people more. So these days, "Brainfertilizer" or "brain fertilizer" is unique enough I can use it anywhere, but so absolutely devoid of any fame whatsoever that the entire appellation succeeds as a self-deprecating comment on my utter failure to make any long-lasting impact in the blogosphere or anywhere else (interesting point: I'm actually pretty good at my job, but nothing else). I think I may well hold the record for having blogged the longest (and most number of entries) without ever getting linked by Instapundit. Sadly (or "fortunately," depending who you talk to), this even extends to my work at the Car Lust Blog. Anyway, if you actually take the time to look in the wayback machine to see the crap I've written, you have already sought out punishment worse than anyone else can give you, and may God have mercy on your soul.

FWIW, I wasn't offended by the lyrics; they are just an obstacle to me for the same reason I prefer Jackie Chan movies to slasher flicks, or the reason I never watched "Lost" or the "Survivor" shows: taste. Some things just aren't entertaining to me, but that doesn't mean I think there's anything wrong with it. But you guys clearly have talent. The people who like that sort of thing will LOVE your stuff. You got plenty of talent. And I actually did like the video. I thought it was very professional, and there were lots of little touches that added to the effect for me. I didn't turn it off, and enjoyed watching it once. But once was enough.

Kick Ass. The lyrics are probably an obstacle for me. Otherwise, I really like the music. The vocals fit the songs, and unlike some bands, the voice actually fits the singer's appearance. But like I said, the lyrics keep me from wanting to purchase. Got any instrumental albums?

Got it. Thanks!

Sounds good. PM me or email me using brainfertilizer under the yahoo domain, if that makes sense.

That's encouraging. Thanks! Yep, Kahler Spyder. It's one of the reasons I want to keep it...I love Kahler's. The 2nd reason is it has the *sweetest* sounding neck pickup. The 3rd is that it has great action, good tone in the bridge, and is basically a set-neck Cali for about 1/5th the price or even cheaper. Plus it might well be more rare than a set-neck Cali. You don't see them often on eBay.

The Epiphone 935i is a pretty fantastic Cali-clone. It's got great tone, great neck, great trem. But check out the crack at the trem post. Is that bad news? If it is a crack in the wood, is it repairable? How? How much would it cost to repair? Also, is the fretboard pulling away from the neck? I don't see any other crack to indicate headstock damage... Just cosmetic, right? If not, how much to fix?

I like it. I'd add that to my listening rotation. Can I download it?

So with all the talk about Brian May, I did a search on eBay for reproductions of his Red Special, since I remember seeing them before. Any opinions on the Dillion version? At the going price, it seems the Guild version of May's Red Special is sure to be dang good, but the Dillion version seems to get good reviews, too. But no reproduction that I've seen has the same trem as May's guitar. Any particular reason why? Are the reproduction trems easier for the average amateur to keep in tune or something? Which makes me think of a few more questions: Are there any truly unique sounds from May's Red Special? Or is it just really cool that he can get such a wide variety of sounds from it that you'd need 2-4 normal guitars to cover the different parallel/series/combo choices his has? If the latter, then how close does the 3 mini-toggle Chapparal come to that sort of sonic flexibility? The on/off/parallel/serial switching available on my Chap gives me LOTS of choices. That doesn't make the Red Special less cool, since it was developed decades ahead of Hamer's Chaparral...but it would make it less desirable for me to get a Red Special reproduction... Thoughts?

True. I don't stick w/ one exclusive brand. I love my Peavey Vandenberg and won't sell it, and I really love my Jon Kammerer guitar and will probably purchase more in the future. But I only have Hamer on a saved search at eBay. I don't hang out on any other gear bbs. And I'm constantly thinking/planning for other Hamer USA guitars I want to buy. I won't turn my nose up at any other good/decent guitar I run across at a good price, but Hamer is like my go-to brand. That's still brand loyalty, right?

For me, the pendulum is swinging back to Hamer. Here's how it developed: - I got to actually play the Centaura Deluxe blueburst after getting back from my deployment. - Then I started playing all the Hamer USAs to see which ones I would sell, and to get some recent playing experience to be able to describe them better. I was bound and determined to sell at least 3, maybe 5, and 3 of my imports at the same time. There was such a marked difference between the USAs and the Hamer and non-Hamer Imports...honestly, I think it was hearing the extra sparkle/energy in the Centaura's EMGs that made it clear the Hamer USAs were so much closer to that sparkle/energy than any of the imports. - Having a chance to get a Cali Elite, and after playing it and finding out that, yes, it was worth the extra money for it. Well, these are making me recognize that only Hamer USA will do, with some exceptions (Peavey Vandenberg and a Yamaha SD120 being worth keeping, too). So who knows how I'll feel next year?

Gorgeous!

I am always amused when those that have never owned a business think that a catch phrase can sum up the whole experience. I don't have the time nor the inclination to educate you poor souls on how to run a successful biz as the retail climate changes(my track record for the last 16 years shows that I know SOMETHING about which I speak). Nathan, no disrespect intended but you have a better chance of becoming a famous basketball player than you have of becoming a successful guitar dealer. Feel free to find more cute phrases, though. They sure are fun. No offense taken. If all I did was amuse you, I'm glad I at least did that.

I'm not planning on doing anything at this time. Maybe the problem with finishing guitars is scale. Dunno. But I doubt it costs $800 to paint a guitar, which is what it is if your math is correct (To lose $600 off of a $300 price, the total cost has to be $100 for the guitar + $800 for finish). The point is, you can always find reasons to keep doing the same old thing. If things are bad, just double down on what you're doing, and maybe things will get better. The problem is, working harder doesn't mean working better. Society changes. Just watch how food trends sweep across the nation and subside. We all know the same thing happens with music styles. Why is it so hard to accept that the instrument business is also subject to trends that sweep and subside? Blockbuster went bankrupt because they didn't look forward enough. They didn't want videos by mail to cannibalize their store sales. Then it got even worse with streaming video. Netflix didn't care if streaming took customers from by-mail orders. They embraced it, and Netfllix is still doing great. And I'll bet they'll be on top of the next wave. Find the wave. Surf it. Stay solvent.

This is my experience, too. My track record of "earning $30/guitar, on average" is gone. I've made some money off of a few, but mostly have lost about $30/guitar this year. But I had to accept the losses in order to pay for some better guitars, so it was worth it.

A career working for someone else isn't the same thing as owning and running your own business. Yes, you've reinvented yourself, but it's still someone else's dime that's fortifying your paychecks. Get back to us when you've become a current entrepreneur, or better yet, an entrepreneur five years into it. You may or may not have changed your tune by then. Here's a few ideas (aside from an eBay presence): - Move the business as close as possible to the nearest college. Market to college students. Push the idea of getting a brand new guitar for yourself for graduation. - Sell "Rock Band/Guitar Hero" gear. Push and strengthen the idea that buying a real guitar is the logical next step. (I can teach someone to play "Horse with no name" in less than 60 seconds. Give them a free 30-minute less THE DAY THEY BUY THE GUITAR to ensure they have an immediate, positive experience with the guitar by teaching them 3-4 popular Rock Band/Guitar Hero licks) - Buy a mess of those "build your own guitar" kits, develop your own distinctive headstock, encourage/push pickup/string/electronics upgrades, and learn how to finish guitars so that ANY customer can have a custom guitar for less than, say, $300 (depending on options). The kits have some problems, but after you do 4-5 of them, you get where you can assemble them and overcome the problems easily. - Talk to a few hotels in your area...see if you can set up a deal where you rent guitars to traveling businessmen. There have been any number of times I would have been willing to rent a guitar for somewhere between $10 and $25/day. You can get a decent Rock Tools guitar (or First Act, or Viper, maybe...haven't played those) for about $50-80 shipped from eBay, and rent one for $10/day. Even after giving the hotel a cut, you get your money back within 8 rentals, so almost certainly within a calendar month, and its pure profit after that. In addition to the $10/day, you have them leave an $80 deposit if they walk off with the guitar or damage it, so you are risk free. You can also do this with a kit guitar you build yourself. Oh, and $5/day for a headphone amp to go with it (retail: $30...again, paid off within 8 actual rental days, so almost certainly within a calendar month). Once that is humming along, introduce upgraded guitars for upgraded rents/deposits. Think what you could do for the Hamer market just by having a few Hamer beaters to rent out at a decently low price! - If you have a military base nearby, be sure to have a military welcome special to all the new military just assigned to the base. A good percentage of them will be single with all life expenses taken care of, so will have money to spend. Are you doing any of these? Tell me why these none of these could improve your bottom line/cash flow. If they are completely off-base, I'll be happy to learn something from you. At worst, though, these are clearly better business ideas than trying to guilt trip an semi-anonymous message board. The reason I can't implement any of these myself is that I'm still in the military and move around every few years. I don't have the time to sit in a brick-and-mortar store, and "a few years" isn't enough time to build up any kind of clientele. But I'll look at the business environment after I retire and find some market niches I can occupy, I think. Maybe in something besides guitars, dunno.

And those that can't do or have never done often make statements such as these. Businesses must provide value with their products and/or services. It makes no difference how valuable the business thinks their product or service is, it only matters what the customer thinks. "Guilt" doesn't really add much value to the goods/services. But it is up to the business to find a new business model. It is NOT the responsibility of the customer to alter their demands to keep businesses afloat. "Buy American" sloganeering doesn't keep very many Americans buying American cars (See: GM). Making better American cars does (see: Ford). Sure, I've never had to adapt a business to survive. But I'm speaking as a customer who won't send money chasing after sentiment. ...and as a potential future entrepeneur who is developing one business model to open a successful music store by targeting a lucrative market, and still considering other business models to try to target the Rock Band/Guitar Hero markets. The latter needs more thought. The former is looking really good based on some recent real-life local evidence, but I just don't have the freedom to pursue that market niche yet.

I'm glad to hear such a positive prognosis, even if the pain isn't enjoyable. Here's wishing you get back to playing ASAP.

Yeah, I get that. My Cent is marble finish like that cheapo GTX. The reason for this thread was that I saw that GTX & thought 'WTF?' Thanks for taking the time to explain... Oh, yeah. Huh. I couldn't see the pictures at work, so I didn't realize you had posted just such an example of the paint scheme similarity!

In most of the eBay listings, the lister realized that Kaman purchased Hamer, and is trying to draw a connection between the Kaman guitars and Hamers. As has been said, there is no connection. Adding to the confusion is several of the GTX guitars have a paint scheme remarkably similar to the speckle finish on some Hamer Centauras. But from my own research, it seems like the GTXs are plywood guitars. Plywood guitars actually sound better than you might think, but will never be worth it to a professional player. And the GTXs are upper entry-level. They put enough bells and whistles to *look* mid-range or even low-end professional, but the trems don't stay in tune, mediocre fret dressing, etc.

This post just won't die, will it? I have to admit, my own tastes/needs/loyalty have changed a little bit since I started this thread. I have too many guitars. One of the reason I have too many guitars is that a bunch of semi-cool guitars were available on eBay for prices I couldn't resist. What I've come to realize (and maybe this is a little unfair, but...[shrug]) is, with Hamer I can have minor variations on a 22-fret H/H TOM-bridge guitar, or I can have minor variations on a 24-fret H/S/S FR Trem-bridge guitar. Sure, there are appearance variations, and tonewood variations...but in the end, I think the difference between 2 Hamers of the same type (H/H or Shredder) is going to be much smaller than between a Hamer and another brand of guitars. How much difference am I going to have between 4 Centauras? I think I would end up just playing 2, and having 2 sit there unplayed. Whereas a Peavey Vandenberg might have SD pickups, and the Ebony fretboard and short-scale 24 fret neck I can get on any Hamer Deluxe/Custom shredder...but for half the price...and the Kahler 2700-series trem is different enough that I have a reason to pick it up and play when I wouldn't for Centauras #3 and #4. And Hamer has nothing like the Schecter PT Aviation Series collectible. Or nothing like the stupid little Cort Electric Guitar that has 2 single coils and 2 volume controls, but no switch. And the looks, feel, ergonomics, sound, and playability of my Jon Kammerer is enough different, I don't think I could get a Hamer to replace what it provides me. All of which is trying to say: I love my Hamers. There are 4-5 I can never bear to let go. But once I get beyond those 4 or 5 or 6, I end up with redundant guitars which would take the place of other cool guitars that are different than anything Hamer does. So count me as someone who is semi-loyal to Hamer.

My picks are awesome, btw. I seem to be playing with more clarity and precision, too. And my wife came back, my mom got out of jail, and I got promoted at work! I cannot recommend these picks enough.