Wally Gator Posted May 16, 2007 Posted May 16, 2007 Wow, seeing that guestbook triggered some great memories. Jeff Talley (somewhere around 18 from the top, I was 20) used to bring some cool and rare Hamers to the Detroit show when it was at the fairgrounds. Hamer also had a few awesome displays around the same time. Sadly the show has been reduced to flea-market status. What a drag...
cmatthes Posted May 16, 2007 Posted May 16, 2007 I believe I was on in Fall of '97 - I'll have to check out some info I printed out back then when I was looking for a B-12S. I had been talking to Mark Lamanna and Kim Keller around the time of the factory move and remember finding the HFC a few months later.I think one of the first pages had the "Hamer Girl" in the 70's satin jacket.
PastorPaul Posted May 21, 2007 Posted May 21, 2007 I recognized a lot of names in those links Jeff posted. I'm pretty sure I signed up nearly 10 years ago.Lots of things change in ten years....Ten Years After would be a great band to have play for the reunion party, eh?
phoenix Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 Speaking of open houses, I happened to be speaking to Kim Keller today. Some guy drove up from Virginia with a working trebouchet last week for the factory tour. They were hurling old Ovations 75 yards and they were still playable. Supposedly there are pics on the forum. Jeez, by comparison, we're boring.
cmatthes Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 I also spoke to Kim today. He had me laughing my @$$ off about that! Of course, from what Kim told me, "Playable" is a relative term...He may have also mentioned that there was a suggestion about collecting $$ from OFC members to go down to GC and buy a Taylor to toss.I understand that it is on YouTube at this very minute.
stonge Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 not to mention the mp3 recorder that was stashed inside the guitar when launched - kinda like a black-box flight recorder. took some vids off my camera phone; my boss was just shaking his head at work today.yeah, but imagine the look on my neighbor's faces saturday when the trailer with the trebuchet was parked out in front of Casa de Stonge for the post-tour cookout. we were wondering how far a Steinberger would fly... the first Ovation went 170 feet (one of them took two launches to shatter - how many guitars would survive the first launch?)JoeD, Laura, Evan, and Andre made it to the cookout - Evan worked his way through my guitar pile but we were falling over laughing with my old Ibanez shredders. Just couldn't play slow.The Ovation VXT shows a lot of influence from Hamer - kinda like a Duotone at about 1/2 the price with really flexible electronics. Spent some time after the tour with Darren wringing it out proper - Darren really put it through it's paces. Mag pickups/piezo switchable stereo/mono with a pan pot to blend between the two - cops credible humbucker tones as well as greasy, twangy coolness. I see one in emerald green with an ebony board in my future - very nice!Some limited-edition Koa goodness fell out of Alpep's truck; a small flock of presidential portraits is migrating to south Jersey as we speak. Twelve frets to the body, plain ebony fingerboard, and an offset oval soundhole. At last year's Ovation tour, they brought out two prototypes they were considering for the Collector's edition, and the 12-fret blew a lot of minds but they went with the more-traditional model. Al ordered a dozen of the ones the OFC seemed to prefer - he picked up three thursday night, and all three were gone by sunday. Almost enough to refuel that truck of his lol... Ovation brought out a stack of prototypes for us to check out; they have some really cool stuff in progress. I played a friend's OFC Limited Edition guitar - quite honestly it is about the best acoustic guitar I have ever played. Amazing.I mentioned to Frank U. that this was the 10th anniversary of the HFC - as I would not pretend to speak for him, the contents of the private conversation will remain private but I think he was mildly surprised...Ya shoulda been there, Chris and ElDuave. A good time was had by all.
hamerhead Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 on YouTube at this very minute. Just watched all 5. It's pretty funny.I'm no longer afraid to gig mine. Or smack somebody upside the head with it. Or toss it out a moving car.Well, maybe not the moving car....
alpep Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 fun is an understatementgreat time great people great fun!!!lauching guitars is also great fun
stonge Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 Can't comment about the Hamer tour - I blew it off for a ukulele seminar lol. Seriously...
cmatthes Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 Of course, now some mechanical genius with a lot of time on their hands has about 12 months to engineer something superior to the Trebuchet! From my past growing up in the land that originated "Pumpkin' Chunkin", there is truly no limit to the imagination... Definitely sorry I missed that one - work dumped me in Orlando and Atlanta (although I did come across a pretty cool KK Vector! )
BCR Greg Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 "Mildly surprised".Doubtful.He reads the board often.Dontcha, Frank? Don't bother to reply.
Rechts Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 He reads both boards often, Greg. With "access".Here comes October....
stonge Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 "Mildly surprised".Doubtful.He reads the board often.Dontcha, Frank? Don't bother to reply.he was probably "mildly surprised" that I had the bad taste to bring up the subject while enjoying the hospitality of the Ovation Fan Club tour. Perhaps it was inappropriate for me to broach that topic with him.For that, Mr Untermeyer, I offer my apology and thank you and your associates for their kind hospitality last week.
BCR Greg Posted May 22, 2007 Posted May 22, 2007 he was probably "mildly surprised" that I had the bad taste to bring up the subject while enjoying the hospitality of the Ovation Fan Club tour. Perhaps it was inappropriate for me to broach that topic with him.For that, Mr Untermeyer, I offer my apology and thank you and your associates for their kind hospitality last week. Bad taste.Nice.
Guest cruster Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 ...yeah, but imagine the look on my neighbor's faces saturday when the trailer with the trebuchet was parked out in front of Casa de Stonge for the post-tour cookout. we were wondering how far a Steinberger would fly... the first Ovation went 170 feet (one of them took two launches to shatter - how many guitars would survive the first launch?)... Were your neighbors able to account for all of the yippee dogs on Sunday?
stonge Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 Were your neighbors able to account for all of the yippee dogs on Sunday? Lemmee check... there's one, two, ttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (bonk!) seriously though, my neighbor wanted the trebuchet but his wife didn't agree. not even close. I predict he'll build one anyhow.
phoenix Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 I've got a line on one they had to build for Kingdom of Heaven. I hope it will show our commitment to another Hamer open house otherwise I'll find a bigger one.
cmatthes Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 I've got a line on one they had to build for Kingdom of Heaven. I hope it will show our commitment to another Hamer open house otherwise I'll find a bigger one. You mean one that can launch a guitar across State lines?
Mike_C Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 Were your neighbors able to account for all of the yippee dogs on Sunday? Lemmee check... there's one, two, ttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (bonk!) seriously though, my neighbor wanted the trebuchet but his wife didn't agree. not even close. I predict he'll build one anyhow. Man I'm bummed that I had to miss this get together. I't would have been fun to hang out and learn the uke.
phoenix Posted May 23, 2007 Posted May 23, 2007 Chris, the sad part was that although I've never met a wet bag I could play my way out of on guitar, I knew immediately what it was when Kim mentioned a trebuchet. Naturally I had to continue talking about how they went back thousands of years earlier than the French name etc. until I could hear snoring on the other end of the phone. zzzzzz
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