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Help with a SN


Maestro209

Question

Posted

Here is a copy of what I sent to Hamer directly.. I hope someone in here might have some knowledge to help me in my search? While the ultimate goal is to get the guitar back I am a realist.

Dear Hamer,

I am hoping, and I know this is a real long shot, but I am hoping that y’all can help with my predicament. It’s a sob story for sure. About a month ago I had my storage shed broken into and yes one of my beloved Hamers was stolen. Along with the guitar was all the relevant information that the insurance company and y’all would need for easy recognition. Yes, I was stupid enough to keep my inventory list in the shed with the now stolen items, and it too is missing. I am hoping to find the S/N of the guitar that was stolen.

I am a former endorser (from the early 90’s) and was fairly religious about registering my guitars. In 1996 (I think) I bought a snake skin painted Californian, ebony freeboard with boomerangs (Elite I believe), from Dave McMillian at The Valley Music Source in Livermore California. The store was sold in 2009 and the new owners do not have any of the old documentation, as I expected they would not, but I had to ask. And now for the really bad news. David McMillian pasted away in 2010, which leaves me with no real way of tracking this information down except to hope and pray that y’all might be able to help?

The story of this specific snake skin, as told to me by Dave, was this guitar hung in the Kaman offices somewhere and that Bill Kaman wanted to buy it. After it was pulled off the display it was sent to “the warehouse” where Dave found it and ordered it. Apparently Bill had found out about it days later and asked to buy it. I didn’t find out about it until after my deposit was in and Bill was gracious about the whole thing and let me becoming the new owner. I never met or spoke to Bill and all this is third hand information from Dave and…. Gosh I don’t recall his name, but basic the Hamer rep for the store. He was not a Kaman employee he was an original Hamer employee who stayed on after the buy out.. gosh was his name Bill too? I just don’t recall off the top of my head. Anyway that information might help.. Might be just a good story. I believe the guitar to have been built in either late 1991 or a 1992.

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7 answers to this question

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Posted

Definitely post that pic you showed me.

Those O'Connor Snakeskin graphics are like fingerprints - no two are alike.

Posted

OK ... updated per request. Thanks for the help Chris and everyone here.

I had forgotten the name of the artist and the fact that they were all unique and hand done. This one also has one more unique factor to it. Because it was on display it's face has slightly faded paint over its sides and back.

I simply wish that Hamer would re-issue the USA Californian's. I would buy three of them. A few years ago I pursued Hamer for a custom Californian and they were reluctant to do it, but in the end they would do it. The only problem was it would have been a $4,500 guitar. In comparison to the big two that's not a bad price for a custom guitar but I still couldn't get that much cash together.

Definitely post that pic you showed me.

Those O'Connor Snakeskin graphics are like fingerprints - no two are alike.

Posted

If that Cali shows up, chances are that somebody here will see it within minutes. That is definitely one of the coolest Californians I've seen - LOVE that finish on those.

Also wanted to add that Dave Mac was a great guy. We only hung out a few times, but he was a really warm, caring individual and had been in touch for over a decade before he told me his bad news a year ago. He sent me a lot of cool Hamer stuff over the years, and had a ton of great stories from the late eighties/early nineties Hamer and CA music scene.

He once gave Elduave and I a ride back to Anaheim from an offsite NAMM show 5-6 years back. Way out of his way, but he was happy to do it.

Posted

Yeah that was Dave. He did stuff like that all the time. We were really tight in the early 90's but once I got married I moved to Mountain View and didn't make it back to Livermore very often. I kinda lost touch until the last year of his life and even then it was touch and go. I tried to keep up, but with my failing marriage life got in the way. I really had some bad timing there.

Here is an update; I got a great personal email from Frank Untermyer, who is now senior VP of Kaman and General Manager of Hamer, saying that he personally looked over the records and couldn't find the serial number. He also had many nice things to say about Dave. I was overwhelmed to hear from Frank. The last time I spoke to him he was head of marketing or something like that. Anyway The folks at Hamer are still as cool as I remember them being in the 1990's. I truly love that group of luthiers, that have always shown the best respect for everyone around them.

If that Cali shows up, chances are that somebody here will see it within minutes. That is definitely one of the coolest Californians I've seen - LOVE that finish on those.

Also wanted to add that Dave Mac was a great guy. We only hung out a few times, but he was a really warm, caring individual and had been in touch for over a decade before he told me his bad news a year ago. He sent me a lot of cool Hamer stuff over the years, and had a ton of great stories from the late eighties/early nineties Hamer and CA music scene.

He once gave Elduave and I a ride back to Anaheim from an offsite NAMM show 5-6 years back. Way out of his way, but he was happy to do it.

Posted

The folks at Hamer are still as cool as I remember them being in the 1990's. I truly love that group of luthiers, that have always shown the best respect for everyone around them.

This!

Posted

The folks at Hamer are still as cool as I remember them being in the 1990's. I truly love that group of luthiers, that have always shown the best respect for everyone around them.

This!

Hehehe yes This and They...my bad

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