So, time to write Hamer's obituary?
- Thread starter zorrow
- Start date
Uncle Thor's Hamer
New member
Did I miss an announcement?
cmatthes
Administrator
Not knowing much about the biz, I'll still ask, can a company stay solvent, or even flourish, as a custom order only operation?
I guess it would help us understand what to expect or Hamers Vision for the future. It would eleminate speculation. Like, Can you can custom order anything? Or can you custom order the Base Models just like we have been doing for years? I love hamers but I have to say as many as i've owned I have never contributed to their bottom line. If they go away I will always wish I did. I love their guitars from all the era's they are just great instruments.
DavidE
New member
It seems strange that Jol would have the big internet push for the custom shop aspect over the last year, and continuing, if Hamer were going to cease operations. Why keep pushing something that's "dead in the water?" If anything, Jol and Hamer's custom guitars have been more visible lately.
I thought I heard that some of the Ovation space was being dedicated to building Guild brand guitars. Perhaps Guild electrics will be built on the Hamer side if there's capacity.
geoff_hartwell
New member
well... Hamer is owned by... Kaman music? And they got bought out by FMI, which in the past has done a great job of buying up and then ruining brands. Jackson was bought up and pretty much everything but the custom shop and the high end USA models was shipped overseas. Guild was virtually gutted and turned into an acoustic-only company, probably to avoid competition with Gretsch, which was allowed to stay pretty much like it wanted, and even expanded.
It would be very sad to see Hamer go the way of Guild, stripped down to avoid cross competition, but unfortunately that's the way it goes. Bushmills whiskey was under produced and put to the wayside because it was owned by the same company that made Jameson, which they wanted to sell more of. Bushmills also made an Irish cream. However, then another company bought Bushmills, with the intention of returning it to its former glory. However, because said company also owns Baileys, Bushmills Irish cream was cut.
Anyway, I have two hamer guitars from 1993, and they rock, and it would be sad to see Hamer get gutted, now that it finally is back to how it used to be "in the old days"
It would be very sad to see Hamer go the way of Guild, stripped down to avoid cross competition, but unfortunately that's the way it goes. Bushmills whiskey was under produced and put to the wayside because it was owned by the same company that made Jameson, which they wanted to sell more of. Bushmills also made an Irish cream. However, then another company bought Bushmills, with the intention of returning it to its former glory. However, because said company also owns Baileys, Bushmills Irish cream was cut.
Anyway, I have two hamer guitars from 1993, and they rock, and it would be sad to see Hamer get gutted, now that it finally is back to how it used to be "in the old days"
Pieman
New member
When did Jol become the controlling shareholder? Isn't he just a paid exec, at this point. Mind you, not an unenviable position - - he draws a check and does his thing. While probablyworrying about the staff and all the mouths they feed. In any other economy, he would probably be looking for the dough to buy out the business - - if he believes in it. Or the equipment if he wants to become his own master again. Just sayin'.
cmatthes
Administrator
They ARE out now. I own a '91 (Westerly) Guild that I'll never part with, but the new ones I've played have blown me away. Really good stuff.
As far as Guild doing electrics, not at the present time, although that may change someday too. I could see some of their more popular models, like the Bluesbird, coming back.
This is not a fair characterization of FMIC. They did not "gut" Guild. They have shown a consistent effort to restore the brand to premium status. They have tried many things to do this, including contracting with the NYC archtop luthier Benedetto to produce premium but affordable archtops and moving flattop production to Tacoma, WA to use Tacoma Guitar facilities. When the quality of Guilds coming out of Tacoma didn't meet their satisfaction they moved Guild back to the Ovation/Hamer facility. If Hamer USA has been put on a low-output back burner it's been to save and restore Guild.
As far as what they've done with Jackson, that's what Hamer under Kaman did to/for themselves in the '90s. It's a survival trend that has been followed by many boutique brands, including PRS, Brian Moore, MTD (Michael Tobias Designs) basses, Lakland basses (the Skyline line is made in Indonesia), and even very upscale German bass-maker Warwick, who now makes various lines in Korea and China.
Gibson has shown an inept, hamfisted handling of many of its acquisitions (e.g., Tobias, Steinberger, Slingerland), but I can't say the same about FMIC. They have tried very hard to bring out the best in the brands they've bought, trying to find the best facility to produce them, refining the product lines to enable the brands to become profitable again. Gretsch is a success story because it has iconic status in pop music. George Harrison played a lot of Gretsch, as did Chet Atkins and the Monkees. Brian Setzer and others still play and endorse them. Guild hasn't had a noted electric user/endorser since Jack Casady (who since moved on to Epiphone) and Muddy Waters (who isn't endorsing anything these days).
Let's not forget that when a music company goes on the block, it's probably because their business model isn't working. Fender buys these companies up hoping to turn them around, but sometimes maybe that can't be done. There are a lot of guitar companies that thrived during the shred/metal boom of the '80s that have shrunk significantly since, including Jackson, Charvel, Kramer, Hamer, BC Rich.
It's not just metal either. A lot of guitar-based pop/rock has been replaced by sampled and synthed hip-hop. Tough times for guitar companies, and there will be casualties.
