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Hamer guitars for heavy metal!


Do we want Hamer shred machines back?  

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Seems to be that if you want a "Masterbuilt" Cali, the price starts at $10k.

Anybody bold enough to give it a shot?! :lol:

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I consider my 1987 Hamer Chapparal painted by Jim O'Connor the ultimate 'Jackson' Soloist, ect.

I understood Hamer destroyed all the tooling or whatever to build their eighties guitars.

Also though well made these new Hamers do not interest me.

I also lost major respect for Jol Danzig, ect., when the whole Steve Stevens 'ethnic cleansing' of him form the annals of Hamer. Steve contributed a lot to Hamers rock appeal and development of their technology.

I actually asked Jol Danzig what happened with Steve Stevens at a guitar exhibition in Washington, D.C. a few years back, he basically told me he would have coffee any day with Steve, but as far as working with him again.... I told Steve Stevens this story. I cannot reveal what Steve has said about Hamer guitars, but to just completely excise one of the greatest artists to play a 'shred,rock' Hamer is inexcusable.

Steve went on to Washburn guitars a few years later with the great Terry Atkins from Hamer, during the Steven's era, and developed the zenith of shred rock guitars in my completely unbiased opinion, the SS80 and SS100 guitars. That liaison also came to a glaring halt..again I am aware of the situation there, not so much the Hamer situation, except for a few details.

No, Hamer will not make the classic designs of yore again. The bolt on neck Hamer SS-3 that Steve asked them to build, may be the ultimate Hamer shreddder out there and the Hamer Centura is a poor relation to that brilliant SS guitar.

Would I ever buy a new Hamer guitar...no, I have my favorite one, my Chapparal, I had a SS-2 Hamer for a while, but I wasn't really into them that much, I am more into the bolt on neck dinky Strat styles..

Any thoughts, being fairly new here, when I asked for SS pics/ Jim O'Connor painted guitars, I had some response, thanks to those who did, but fairly lack luster frankly.

Just thowing this out there, it's like SS is the Uncle Ernie of Hamer, shut up in the attic and rarely discussed.

Thoughts..any info from you clubbers??

Dave

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  • 1 month later...

The HFC certainly isn't known for slamming Steve, nor the guitars he worked with Jol and Co. to develop. There may have been some inane banter about what shade of nail polish he used or something ( :lol: ), but there are a lot of SS fans here - many who still play Hamers today because of his initial use of and affiliation with them. He seems to get a fair amount of air time here, and certainly has over the last 12 years.

I'm not sure what you mean about Hamer "completely excis(ing)" Steve - that's news to me. Several of his guitars and even his soundtrack were displayed/played prominently at the HFC Open House events, and he was mentioned as one of the innovative artists Hamer has worked with over the years. Jol has also recently posted quite a number of pics of Steve on the Hamer FB page and on his own site.

I don't pretend to know the ACTUAL story as to why Steve and Hamer parted ways - I've heard at least three versions, but doubt we'd hear the REAL reason(s) unless all the parties involved were sitting down at the same table sharing their recollections.

As far as the O'Connor Graphic stuff, that has been discussed here at great length MANY times over the years. Some HFC'ers have a lot of really cool and one-off graphics done by the man - I've had two Marbles (Blue Marble Cali Elite and SFG Marble Chap Max) and a Snakeskin Chap. All guitars I'd take back in a heartbeat today. It's a shame Jim has retired from the graphic gig, but he's probably quite happy sailing around on his boat these days!

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I don't think Hamer needs to cater to metal guys. The last time I checked out MTV's Headbangers Ball a mass majority of the bands were playing Les Pauls, SG's, V's and Explorers. Very few were using Ibanez type guitars.

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Aren't ESPs crapolla? I haven't played one, and am just going on what one local luthier mentioned to me a few years ago. They look cool.

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There's a rebirth of shred? Where?

There's still an interest in it. I teach middle and high school age guitar students and I've had a number of them who were hugely into Yngwie, Paul Gilbert, Vai, etc.

It doesn't have huge commercial appeal, but the scene is certainly still there. Not all young players today just want to play down-tuned power chords.

But back to the subject. I am perfectly fine with the guitars Hamer is making today. Monaco's rock!! Would I be fine with them introducing a couple of shred models? Sure!

Offset double cutaway guitars with Floyds aren't necessarily JUST for neo-classical metal or glam rockers. Fusion players like Frank Gambale, Allan Holdsworth, Vernon Reid, and Scott Henderson play or have played Floyd equipped guitars. Some of David Torn's coolest solos were on his late 80's/early 90's CD's when he was playing Steinbergers with TransTrems.

I think the mindset that Floyd equipped guitars are just for one kind of music has to be broken. I don't foresee it happening, but I think it'd be cool to see an offset double cutaway model with a more classic look - something like some of Schecter's guitars, with flame maple and binding - from Hamer.

I agree that there is a growing crop of new guitar players that wants to shred and could be seen as a potential thriving market. Moreover, there's been a resurgence of shred and more technically proficient playing. Just check what the guitar rags are featuring. If you can find one that doesn't feature either some old school or newer metaller or shredder, Petrucci, Vai, Satriani, Gilbert, Rhoads, et al. I'd be surprised. Yes, they all have their signature axes, none of which endorse or use Hamer but there is market. Additionally, the mindset that only metallers use Floyd-equipped, shreddy guitars is inaccurate. I'd love to see some floyded Vectors or even the reintroduction of the Blitz with Floyds!

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To get into the metal market would require giving away tons of guitars to the musicians. That's how ESP became so saturated in that genre. I don't see Hamer doing that. The real Japanese custom ESPs are very nice guitars...the custom I wanted was over 4K in 2006...bought a Hamer instead which was cheap compared to the ESP.

I play metal on all my Hamers. I don't know any pretty songs.

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In any case, if there is room for newcomers such as Ran Guitars (with Jeff Waters, an ex-Hamer customer endorsing them, mind you!) there should be some room for a well-established builder like Hamer. As one of us said before, if they choose not covering my needs I'll end by looking to somewhere else, and that's a shame -- thinking about Jackson, Schecter and ESP/LTD now. :lol:

Jerry Cantrell Signature Rampage by G&L --- new model by an old company, quality, USA, etc. :lol:

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  • 1 year later...

Time is to get a bunch of new models more oriented to the metal market. Why isn't Hamer seeing the rebirth of metal and shred as a business opportunity? This is a mystery to me, really. Take for example Schecter, ESP/LTD and Jackson, and the way they mass-produce quality models for metal players. Or take the new import Kramer models; or even how Ran guitars in Poland signed Jeff Waters (an ex-Hamer customer). Has the marketing dept in Hamer just decided that metal players won't use Hamer anymore? :D How about Frank Aresti, Glenn Tipton or (again) Jeff Waters? This looks pretty weird to me, really. :)

YES I KNOW,,,I'M WITH YOU,,,WHERES THE MEDAL......I'M LOOKING FOR A USA HAMER CHAPARRAL...1990..OR SO,,,,

IF YOU KNOW OF ANY...CONTACT ME AT [email protected] THANKS. B):D;)

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Wow! This thread is back from the dead, five years later! :)

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  • 1 month later...

"I'd love to see some floyded Vectors or even the reintroduction of the Blitz with Floyds!"

Call BCR Music, I think Hamer will do it. Right now the craftspeople at Hamer are producing Guilds most of the week, lets get them creating some custom instruments.

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Call BCR Music, I think Hamer will do it. Right now the craftspeople at Hamer are producing Guilds most of the week, lets get them creating some custom instruments.

I have to admit, I've acquired a number of shreddy, metal-esque Hamers over the years- Blitzes, Vectors, Scarabs, Diablos, & Cali's. I find I forgo my amazing sounding/playing Cali's to play the pointy, graphic shredders from Jackson, BC Rich etc. because they look as impressive as they sound. So, rather than wait for Hamer to start producing similar guitars, I just hot rod mod older Cali's. IMO, the best of all worlds. :D

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  • 1 month later...
Hey !

look at this :

That's the reason, I selected NO as the answer to the voting. :lol:

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