Nuclear Wessel

I grabbed a couple of PRS McCarty's when GC put them on clearance early this year. Their original price was over $3k, but I didn't pay that. One was a little over $2400, the other, purchased a couple of months after the first, just under $1900 (it pays to wait a little longer sometimes). That's still the most I've spent on a guitar. I should add, though I said "spent" in the past tense, I've been paying for these on the GC card all year, and will continue payments all through 2015. And it's hurtin' me every month. Love those guitars though!

Do you mean a Fender "The Strat", made in the late 70's/early 80's? The Strat is a pretty cool, Fender USA made guitar, worth grabbing if the price on it is fair.

What is the rule about instruments that arrived in 2012 but I finished paying for in 2014? Or instruments purchased in 2014 that wil not be fully paid for until 2015?

Has this discussion really been going on for 5 years? A maple neck thru guitar with poplar or alder body wings is a completely different animal than a bolt on mahogany body guitar. The neck thru recipe gives you lots of sustain, harmonics, and upper mids that cut through, especially when combined with an ebony fretboard. I think Hamer struck a great balance with the Californian. As a Californian owner, I can attest to the fact that the harmonics are there, courtesy I expect of the maple neck and ebony board. But the lower midrange chunk is there courtesy of the mahogany body, making single notes sound fatter, and taking the chunk up a few notches when playing chords.

I think I've managed to score most of my dream Hamers. I know there's at least one other of these out there: Vintage S in salmon blush: The ebony board on this one adds a little extra edge that sounds so nice. And the finish is really cool.

Purchased NOS in '94 or '95. I had been playing Treker, BC Rich NJ series, and Washburn guitars, and decided it was time to get a serious guitar. I'd had GAS for a Hamer ever since the late 70's. The store I bought this at had a few more that I should have grabbed. Stragglers that didn't sell because they didn't have boomerangs, black hardware or fancy finishes. A candy apple red Blitz with chrome hardware, a candy green Chapparal with rosewood board and TOM fixed bridge, and a candy apple red Cruise bass. At some point I'm sure they blew them out really cheap. I think I visited the store again and the Cruise bass was the only one still there. It had been marked way down. I thought about it for a few days, decided to go back for it, but it had been sold. I still have this Chapp.

Nice price for this one. I love the figuring in the korina top. I paid almost this much for my Artist Korina with '59's and no figuring in the top. I love the guitar. Sunburst looks awesome on korina. Way better than natural IMO.

Damn. It was indeed a great run. A lot of great years, a lot of great music. Memories, all the way back to the days when I was a beginner on the guitar and I saw pics of Rick Nielson and Martin Barre in guitar magazines. At the time I could only dream of one day playing the same kind of the guitars they played.

I took a swing at it. Tried to keep it in the family. Someday I'd love to find one of these, in perfect condition. specialk, it's a Chapparal bass, but with the ebony fretboard, fancy inlays and flame/quilt body option, it was known as the Chapparal Max. I saw one of these once, hanging in a guitar shop in my area, sometime in the early 90's. Quite stunning in person.

"Brave" by Marillion. Most Steve Roach albums.

It's pearl pink, not Pepto. It was one of the remaining Hamers that a local dealer had. They stopped carrying Hamer sometime in the early 90's. I got this one in '94. It wasn't my first color choice, but all they had left was this, a blue Chapp that didn't sound as good, a Blitz that did sound really good but I wasn't after an Explorer, a Sustainiac Chapp that they wanted more money for and I wasn't interested in a sustainer equipped guitar, and another Chapp with a tune o matic bridge/tailpiece, which I probably should have also picked up because I've never seen another one like it and it woulda been a blast to play, in this kinda ugly metallic lime green.

My little stash of 'em:

Someone told me that's what did B C Rich in in the 80's. Pretty boys in hair bands started endorsing them and the serious rockers didn't buy them anymore. You mean the USA lineup? Don't they still have some MIK shredders in the lineup?Vai's Chapp is pretty cool.

Happy friggin' birthday man! All the best to ya.

David, I'm praying and hopng for the best. It's gotta be scary and depressing, but try to keep a positive attitude. And of course I'm hoping this is one of those times where it's either not serious or caught early enough, and you'll be able to get on with life soon!