video: unserialled 1977 Hamer Sunburst

[Jazzerman]

Howdy HFC dudes,

I posted questions and pics of this guitars a few years ago but never received the difinitive answer, so I am trying again.

To make things easier and more visual for you I made a video on this guitar that I posted on my Youtube page. Go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kOmQ3pyxnU

Maybe some new insights will pop up.

Many thanks for watching and viewing. To see the details better, view this video in HD and full screen.

Regards,

Dick (Dutchbopper or DB is my Youtube nickname).

[BCR Greg]

Great playing, fella!

It may not be the first, but is certainly one of the earliest. No shim under the bridge and a short bridge pickup mounting ring, along with the early pot codes make it VERY early.

Great guitar.

Maybe Paul will tell us more?

[Jazzerman]

Great playing, fella!

It may not be the first, but is certainly one of the earliest. No shim under the bridge and a short bridge pickup mounting ring, along with the early pot codes make it VERY early.

Great guitar.

Maybe Paul will tell us more?

Thanks Greg. You mean Paul Hamer? Does he hang out here? Cool. I hope he can help me out.

Dick

[serial]

Cool video! There doesn't seem to be any evidence that the serial number was removed and while some of those did fade out a bit, I've not seen one completely gone or even that close.

The unbound fingerboard end certainly makes it extremely early. The pot code would be right on for one of the prototypes as well.

My best educated guess would be a "yes" that it's one of the NAMM prototypes. Liked the playing as well!!

Hopefully others will check it out, if only to hear some cool blues!

[veatch]

Great playing and cool guitar. Can i be the first to offer you $350?

Checked out a few other videos you had. Great playing there as well.

[Feynman]

Whereya been, Jazzerman? I've been a subscriber of yours for some time now, but then it was like you disappeared!

Great guitar - I have nothing to add about it - just wanted to say hello.

[Jazzerman]

Whereya been, Jazzerman? I've been a subscriber of yours for some time now, but then it was like you disappeared!

Great guitar - I have nothing to add about it - just wanted to say hello.

Hi Feynman,

I took a break from all the groups I was posting in afew years ago. Restricted it to one. I deleted the jazzerman account on Youtube and started afresh under another name with widescreen HD quality vids. My name is Dutchbopper now. Thanks for asking. My new channel is:

www.youtube.com/dutchbopper

Thanks for saying hi!

Dick

Whereya been, Jazzerman? I've been a subscriber of yours for some time now, but then it was like you disappeared!

Great guitar - I have nothing to add about it - just wanted to say hello.

Hi Feynman,

I took a break from all the groups I was posting in afew years ago. Restricted it to one. I deleted the jazzerman account on Youtube and started afresh under another name with widescreen HD quality vids. My name is Dutchbopper now. Thanks for asking. My new channel is:

www.youtube.com/dutchbopper

Thanks for saying hi!

Dick

[mirrorimij]

Wow. That is an incredible specimen. Thank you for sharing. Hopefully Paul H can chime in with more info. You could also try to contact Jol via Krisz here on the board.

Great playing too.

[BCR Greg]

I talked to Paul about it yesterday...he'll chime in.

[moozak]

this guy is a MONSTER player and i've been a big fan of his on YouTube for quite a while now.

good luck on your info quest jazzerman! i can't wait to find out more about your rare bird!

[flattop]

Looks like very early Sunburst to me.

Has it got the slightly thinner body??

My 1980 one measures 47mm thick.

Read the early ones were thinner bodies.

[Jazzerman]

I talked to Paul about it yesterday...he'll chime in.

Thanks Greg.Looking forward to it.

Dick

[Jazzerman]

this guy is a MONSTER player and i've been a big fan of his on YouTube for quite a while now.

good luck on your info quest jazzerman! i can't wait to find out more about your rare bird!

Thanks Moozak.

Dick

[Jazzerman]

Looks like very early Sunburst to me.

Has it got the slightly thinner body??

My 1980 one measures 47mm thick.

Read the early ones were thinner bodies.

Yes, it has a thinner body ... I'll check out the depth.

Dick

[Paul Hamer]

Howdy HFC dudes,

I posted questions and pics of this guitars a few years ago but never received the difinitive answer, so I am trying again.

To make things easier and more visual for you I made a video on this guitar that I posted on my Youtube page. Go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kOmQ3pyxnU

Maybe some new insights will pop up.

Many thanks for watching and viewing. To see the details better, view this video in HD and full screen.

Regards,

Dick (Dutchbopper or DB is my Youtube nickname).

Dick: Do you live in the Netherlands? Paul Hamer

[Jazzerman]

Dick: Do you live in the Netherlands? Paul Hamer

Hi Paul,

Yes. I live in the Netherlands. Thanks for having a look!

Regards,

Dick

[Hamer Dave]

Sweet.

[HamStd]

Didn't the first four/five prototype sunbursts all have a crown inlay at the first fret. I thought that is what distinguished them (besides the thinner body, lack of binding at the end of the fingerboard as Steve noted, pot dates-if the solder joints haven't been touched, type of dimarzio PAFs (I believe with the braided wire lead, and "larger" dimarzio script. and the different height adjustment "ears").

I am not taking away from what is a very nice looking guitar, but the fact the finish is missing from a portion of the back of the neck you might want to check first with a black light if you can detect a serial number that faded or was painted over and then second remove the tuners and see if there are any finish inconsistencies.

As noted above, very nice guitar, and very nice playing.

Peter

[Paul Hamer]

Dick: Do you live in the Netherlands? Paul Hamer

Hi Paul,

Yes. I live in the Netherlands. Thanks for having a look!

Regards,

Dick

When Greg first broached the subject of an early crown inlay guitar without the binding on the end of the fingerboard my first impulse was to say that it couldn't have happened. But after looking at the guitar and seeing that Dick was from the Netherlands, it started ringing a bell with me.

When I first started buying components from Gibson as a repair facility in 1972 I learned a lot about their operations. One thing I learned was that in those days they sourced component parts from a variety of suppliers. When they were super busy they even sourced necks and fingerboards. The impetus behind building the Sunburst was originally the same as the Standard, the big guys were just not listening, as well as being frustrated that as a small team in Monty's basement and the back room at Northern Prairie we just could not build enough guitars fast enough to supply the demand nor fast enough to make enough money to keep everyone paid. So we started ramping up for the Sunburst. When I placed a large order for crown fingerboards from Gibson someone upstairs found out and put a kabosh on the order, however, one of guys at the factory said Hey Paul why don't you just deal with our fingerboard supplier direct. And so I did. It turned out the supplier was in a small town in Illinois that I use to drive through on my way out to my great-grandfathers farm in Iowa. We had some early production problems with fingerboard radius and end length as well as growing pains from our end on assembly. So I can see on your guitar that in order to fit the pickup we may of had to trim off the end of the fingerboard binding. There will be variations on instruments as we settled in to production. We also had to shim the bridge on all of the early Sunbursts because of neck angle differences and we hadn't had time to build the bridge we really wanted to use.

I wanted the Sunburst to have an inked serial number like the '50's Les Pauls. Previously most, not all, of the serial numbers were stamped in the wood. I learned that it was quite a dance between inking time and spraying the lacquer so it is possible that a guitar left the factory with a badly faded serial number, without actually holding the guitar in my hand and looking at the neck finish it would be hard to say for sure, but it is possible.

I asked if you were from the Netherlands because an early distributor of mine was a guy named Peter Bregar. He had purchased some vintage guitars from me and when he heard about the new guitars he ordered some to distribute. He was once in Chicago on the nite that Star Wars premired here and my wife and I dragged him to the movie. Your guitar may be one of those early instruments to reach the Netherlands thru Peter.

I hope this helps. Paul Hamer

[Disturber]

WOW! Talk about getting a reply from the right source. Great reading for sure.

Thanks for taking your time for us merely deadly, the hardcore Hamer fans.

I'm in Sweden an have a 1979 Hamer 4 digit Standard. From what I have heard there were about two or three early Standards imported here in the late 70's early 80's. If you have any info. on them please post!

[HSB0531]

this guy is a MONSTER player and i've been a big fan of his on YouTube for quite a while now.

good luck on your info quest jazzerman! i can't wait to find out more about your rare bird!

+1 on moozaks comments and an incredible tone you get out of that Sunburst!

[Jazzerman]

When Greg first broached the subject of an early crown inlay guitar without the binding on the end of the fingerboard my first impulse was to say that it couldn't have happened. But after looking at the guitar and seeing that Dick was from the Netherlands, it started ringing a bell with me.

When I first started buying components from Gibson as a repair facility in 1972 I learned a lot about their operations. One thing I learned was that in those days they sourced component parts from a variety of suppliers. When they were super busy they even sourced necks and fingerboards. The impetus behind building the Sunburst was originally the same as the Standard, the big guys were just not listening, as well as being frustrated that as a small team in Monty's basement and the back room at Northern Prairie we just could not build enough guitars fast enough to supply the demand nor fast enough to make enough money to keep everyone paid. So we started ramping up for the Sunburst. When I placed a large order for crown fingerboards from Gibson someone upstairs found out and put a kabosh on the order, however, one of guys at the factory said Hey Paul why don't you just deal with our fingerboard supplier direct. And so I did. It turned out the supplier was in a small town in Illinois that I use to drive through on my way out to my great-grandfathers farm in Iowa. We had some early production problems with fingerboard radius and end length as well as growing pains from our end on assembly. So I can see on your guitar that in order to fit the pickup we may of had to trim off the end of the fingerboard binding. There will be variations on instruments as we settled in to production. We also had to shim the bridge on all of the early Sunbursts because of neck angle differences and we hadn't had time to build the bridge we really wanted to use.

I wanted the Sunburst to have an inked serial number like the '50's Les Pauls. Previously most, not all, of the serial numbers were stamped in the wood. I learned that it was quite a dance between inking time and spraying the lacquer so it is possible that a guitar left the factory with a badly faded serial number, without actually holding the guitar in my hand and looking at the neck finish it would be hard to say for sure, but it is possible.

I asked if you were from the Netherlands because an early distributor of mine was a guy named Peter Bregar. He had purchased some vintage guitars from me and when he heard about the new guitars he ordered some to distribute. He was once in Chicago on the nite that Star Wars premired here and my wife and I dragged him to the movie. Your guitar may be one of those early instruments to reach the Netherlands thru Peter.

I hope this helps. Paul Hamer

Hi Paul,

Many thanks for the kind reply. It's great to get to the source himself! Thanks Greg for helping out too.

Great story Paul. I did some Googling and actually found Peter Bregar on Facebook. Hope he is the one you mean. I sent him a mail. Also found some recent pics and vids of him playing in a blues bar. He was very active in the 1970s as a guitarist in several bands.

I also googled the Star Wars Premiere - the one you took Peter too in Chicago - and it was on 25 May 1977, so even earlier than the 1977 NAMM show in June of the same year. Does that mean that my Hamer left the USA even earlier than the first four prototypes of the Sunburst were presented at the NAMM? Or was it send to him later? May it have been on the NAMM show itself?

Either way , it's STILL a fantastic guitar and I'm happy to see it's one of the very, very early birds.

Here's some more pics of the Sunburst for the Hamer Fanclub, including the original blue case.

Thanks all for participating, especially Paul for taking the time.

Regards,

Dick

this guy is a MONSTER player and i've been a big fan of his on YouTube for quite a while now.

good luck on your info quest jazzerman! i can't wait to find out more about your rare bird!

+1 on moozaks comments and an incredible tone you get out of that Sunburst!

Thanks Moozak.

Regards,

Dick

[Paul Hamer]

Dick:

There was so much happening during that time it is hard for me to remember which guitars went to Peter and when. Wow you even found the movie date for Chicago, how cool is that? Perhaps Peter can enlighten us regarding when he got his first shipment, maybe he even has the original invoices. It is possible that the instrument was at the NAMM show that year. I don't, however, remember a blue guitar case. Thanks for asking. Paul Hamer

[Jazzerman]

Dick:

There was so much happening during that time it is hard for me to remember which guitars went to Peter and when. Wow you even found the movie date for Chicago, how cool is that? Perhaps Peter can enlighten us regarding when he got his first shipment, maybe he even has the original invoices. It is possible that the instrument was at the NAMM show that year. I don't, however, remember a blue guitar case. Thanks for asking. Paul Hamer

I understand Paul. I'll contact Peter. I'm not even sure the case IS original. I assumed it was ... Thanks so much for your effort. It's appreciated.

Greetings from the Netherlands,

Dick

[Paul Hamer]

WOW! Talk about getting a reply from the right source. Great reading for sure.

Thanks for taking your time for us merely deadly, the hardcore Hamer fans.

I'm in Sweden an have a 1979 Hamer 4 digit Standard. From what I have heard there were about two or three early Standards imported here in the late 70's early 80's. If you have any info. on them please post!

I will have to think about who was the early importer for Sweden, it doesn't come easily to mind. I do, however, like the ad that you show at the bottom of your posts and can tell you a story about Johnny.

The photo was taken by an unsung and legendary Chicago photographer named Rich Kwasniewski. I first met him at an early Jethro Tull show in Chicago. He was a great photographer. I had him make large 24 x 36 photos of all the guitarists he had photographed and put them around the upper walls in Northern Prairie Music. I introduced him to Cheap Trick and their manager used him for all the early shots of the band. Rich once got into an accident on his way home from Rockford late one night and Rick Nielsen nicknamed him Krashniewski. Rich was such a good photographer that he did all the photo work for the first Hamer catalog and all of our early ads.

My wife was a hair stylist in Chicago and among her clients was a girl who had a boyfriend who lived in New York. Every time she came in to Sis's shop she would talk about her boyfriend while never mentioning what he did for a living and my wife never mentioned what I did for a living. One time she came in all excited that her boyfriend was coming in for a weekend visit and during the course of talking she asked Sis what she was doing and Sis said she was going to see one of her husband's endorser's that weekend from a band called the Ramones. The girl jumped up and said "Your Sis Hamer? My boyfriend is Johnny Ramone!"

The first time I went backstage before a Ramones concert I couldn't believe what I witnessed, the entire band was in a small dressing room playing the entire set on their stage instruments, unplugged. And Johnny was playing with the same intensity and with all downstrokes, that he played on stage. I witnessed the same thing on many occasions. They were dedicated to the music.

Anyway, that photo is one of my favorite Kwasniewski photographs and I think one of the great photos of the time period.

If I can think of the distributor I will let you know. Paul Hamer

[Disturber]

WOW! Talk about getting a reply from the right source. Great reading for sure.

Thanks for taking your time for us merely deadly, the hardcore Hamer fans.

I'm in Sweden an have a 1979 Hamer 4 digit Standard. From what I have heard there were about two or three early Standards imported here in the late 70's early 80's. If you have any info. on them please post!

I will have to think about who was the early importer for Sweden, it doesn't come easily to mind. I do, however, like the ad that you show at the bottom of your posts and can tell you a story about Johnny.

The photo was taken by an unsung and legendary Chicago photographer named Rich Kwasniewski. I first met him at an early Jethro Tull show in Chicago. He was a great photographer. I had him make large 24 x 36 photos of all the guitarists he had photographed and put them around the upper walls in Northern Prairie Music. I introduced him to Cheap Trick and their manager used him for all the early shots of the band. Rich once got into an accident on his way home from Rockford late one night and Rick Nielsen nicknamed him Krashniewski. Rich was such a good photographer that he did all the photo work for the first Hamer catalog and all of our early ads.

My wife was a hair stylist in Chicago and among her clients was a girl who had a boyfriend who lived in New York. Every time she came in to Sis's shop she would talk about her boyfriend while never mentioning what he did for a living and my wife never mentioned what I did for a living. One time she came in all excited that her boyfriend was coming in for a weekend visit and during the course of talking she asked Sis what she was doing and Sis said she was going to see one of her husband's endorser's that weekend from a band called the Ramones. The girl jumped up and said "Your Sis Hamer? My boyfriend is Johnny Ramone!"

The first time I went backstage before a Ramones concert I couldn't believe what I witnessed, the entire band was in a small dressing room playing the entire set on their stage instruments, unplugged. And Johnny was playing with the same intensity and with all downstrokes, that he played on stage. I witnessed the same thing on many occasions. They were dedicated to the music.

Anyway, that photo is one of my favorite Kwasniewski photographs and I think one of the great photos of the time period.

If I can think of the distributor I will let you know. Paul Hamer

Thanks for the reply. I'd love a big print of the Johnny Ramone photograph framed on my wall. That would be cool.

I think the company that imported the guitars over here was called Musikbörsen, but I'm not 100% sure.