I'm Missing Floyd...
- Thread starter veatch
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Paul Hamer
New member
All:
I was traveling in Seattle visiting retailers many years ago when a salesman at one of the stores told me about a kid in town who was making a locking tremolo retro fit device. He gave me his phone number and said I should call him.
I met Floyd Rose at what I remember to be his parents house in the Seattle area. It was situated on a hill so that the first floor of the house was level with the street but the back of the house was fully exposed to the basement. I also remember it being somewhat run down. The basement had a garage door that was big enough to get a Bridgeport milling machine through and that was what Floyd was using to make his prototypes. Having a Bridgeport in the basement of your house in those days was the equivilant of having an IBM Mainframe computer. It just didn't happen everyday.
I bought a couple of units from him, they were of course designed for Strats so John Montgomery did the reverse engineering to make them fit on our guitars. One of the first guitars I recall doing with a Floyd was Rick Nielsen's "Gonna Raise Hell" guitar.
This early meeting with Floyd and the fact that so many of the first Floyd Hamers went to prominent musicians held me in good stead. Floyd later locked up an exclusive deal with Kramer yet still provided units to Hamer.
Several years later I was in Seattle and Floyd invited me to his new house. It was situated on a hill over looking Seattle Sound with an amazing view. He was working on installing a recording studio in his house and had a new Ferrari in the driveway. I always use Floyd's success story when talking with people about the possibility of anyone making a new contribution to the constantly evolving electric guitar.
It could happen.
Paul Hamer
I was traveling in Seattle visiting retailers many years ago when a salesman at one of the stores told me about a kid in town who was making a locking tremolo retro fit device. He gave me his phone number and said I should call him.
I met Floyd Rose at what I remember to be his parents house in the Seattle area. It was situated on a hill so that the first floor of the house was level with the street but the back of the house was fully exposed to the basement. I also remember it being somewhat run down. The basement had a garage door that was big enough to get a Bridgeport milling machine through and that was what Floyd was using to make his prototypes. Having a Bridgeport in the basement of your house in those days was the equivilant of having an IBM Mainframe computer. It just didn't happen everyday.
I bought a couple of units from him, they were of course designed for Strats so John Montgomery did the reverse engineering to make them fit on our guitars. One of the first guitars I recall doing with a Floyd was Rick Nielsen's "Gonna Raise Hell" guitar.
This early meeting with Floyd and the fact that so many of the first Floyd Hamers went to prominent musicians held me in good stead. Floyd later locked up an exclusive deal with Kramer yet still provided units to Hamer.
Several years later I was in Seattle and Floyd invited me to his new house. It was situated on a hill over looking Seattle Sound with an amazing view. He was working on installing a recording studio in his house and had a new Ferrari in the driveway. I always use Floyd's success story when talking with people about the possibility of anyone making a new contribution to the constantly evolving electric guitar.
It could happen.
Paul Hamer
P
pirateflynn
Guest
Great story!
