2011 HFC Year In Review... Best Posts, Best Buys, etc.

[Hamerhack]

What are your 2011 HFC Year in Review highlights?

HFC score of the year?

Funniest post?

Best Video Posted?

[ceeb]

_{I was out that day}

[lincsman]

Best Video, has to be when Kev gave us the frist showing of the Hell video.

Thanks Kev for giving us Human remains its defo the best album of the year

[veatch]

Not sure if it's what yer asking for, but i like to look at what i sold/bought every year. This year i slowed down (which is a good thing...)

Out with the old:

Brian Moore C55 that Stike refinned the top on. *Killer* guitar, but the neck was too thin, so out it went:

Czech made Caddy - again, a killer, but the neck was too thin, so out it went:

In with the new:

Drunk eBay purchase... sorta - i put in a bid early and ended up winning - cool guitar, goes well with the other A20 knocking around here. Hey - anything is cool if you have enough of them.

This popped up from RockTuna right after i sold the Czaddy - it rawks and the neck is beefy. Had a lot of fun dropping in some new buckers...:

And one big purchase. Nik makes some seriously fine stuff. Got it used for what i think was a steal:

So, two out, and three in. Net +1. Not a bad year. I had 4 others up for sale before i gave up due to the crap economy - i might try again next year. No Hamer activity, but i did have a couple of *wicked* CO idears that Greg and i were bouncing around until my guitar moneys when into hibernation. Again, maybe next year...

Happy New Years to all!

[django49]

Bought too much, sold too little. Two things (inward) that stand out......Ultimate Artist, which I had wanted for years. The korina Duo-Tone is easily in the same class----Probably the only HAMER I will ever have that is featured in their gallery.

[polara]

My best buy was the Phantom a5 for $275.

Best musical experience were the first gigs with my wife singing.

[BTMN]

2011HFC moment of the year for me is a three way tie. The response to the "I need 90 guitar players" thread was OVER THE TOP!!!, Getting BruceM to put together a jam so I could attend on a trip to Minnesota, and the HFC gathering in Chicago and the whirlwind weekend of many flavors I had there. Life IS GOOD!

Got 2 Hamers this year, a '91 Sunburst and a '95 P90 Special, both really sweet!

2012 is already slated to start off right with my new Korina Dean Splittail completed and the payoff of it coming very soon.

[Kurt L]

My best score? Got this at the local GC for $699 plus tax. And it came off the 30 day police hold on my birthday!

Edited to add it has a Tonestyler in place of the tone pot. Great upgrade.

[Brooks]

getting generic hustle's cd picked up by abstract logix was a highlight for me.

the 1st gig of wizard sleeves (my rawk cover project w/ stike) was another highlight.

my jackson pc-1 is a lot of fun to play.

picked up a sweet fender SCXD from my bro monacosis yesterday, can't get over how good these cheap little amps sound. had a fun day of jazz jams and beers in his kickass studio; mike is a really tasty skilled guitar player and a helluva cool guy, thanx mike!

[hardheartedbill]

He also has a keen eye for the man lol

[Monacosis]

picked up a sweet fender SCXD from my bro monacosis yesterday, can't get over how good these cheap little amps sound. had a fun day of jazz jams and beers in his kickass studio; mike is a really tasty skilled guitar player and a helluva cool guy, thanx mike!

thanks... always great to hang with you Brooks. you're an awesome player and all-round good dood.. hope you have a great NYE!!

i picked up a used Koll Superior Fullerton which has replaced my M3 as my main guitar. also found a VHT Deliverance 60 that is really incredible. lots of gear purging (my M/B Mark 1 is gone after 30 years ), but the recording biz has picked up and so have the gigs..

mike

[Jakeboy]

Let's see...no new Hamers this year...gotta fix that in 2012...I have room for one more guitar! Amps? No new ones but I did get a cool orange Tolex 2x10 cab made for my brown Deluxe clone that has 2 Weber alnico Blue Pups. I also picked up a vintage EV SRO coffee can speaker for a 1x12 cab and slapped KT66s and 2 alnico Red Fangs in my Marshall Bluesbreaker.

[ib2010]

Hands down, Newport 90 !

[tobereeno]

moving back to the States!!! Awesome (although I'm sitting in Korea now, being reminded why I grew to hate this place). Wish I could make the money I make here back home...it'll come I guess.

two Hamers sold off - my B12S (to Bobby Marshall) and my Chap 5 (from JeffR, to Tomterrific).

two Hamers acquired: '94 USA B12L, after I realized that selling the B12S was a mistake - one MUST have a 12ver in the stash. Worked out though, I got it for $850(!!!), it's dead mint, and it sounds like God. It came with plain D octaves, and after putting on a set of stainless steel SITs, it doesn't have as much "twang". So I'm going to have to get some D octave plains I think.

And, just as I scored my Virt when I moved to Korea, I scored this, while it went unsold and none of you went for it!! $2000 was well worth it, considering just how GOOD it plays and sounds:

And, the HFC Chicago jam was simply, absolutely, phenomenal. The very BEST time I've had with the HFC!!

[hectorp]

The reception with Paul Hamer at the Cliffdwellers and Scott Licina recruiting John Ivan and John Pazdan for his superior suprise performance as the avatar of OffBroadway at the 2011 Hamer Jam at the Excalibur. Meeting Toby and wife at the HFC Jam. I hope that when this question gets asked about 2012, I will be able to say that my best score was my Ferrari Red SSII Custom Order via Young Master Greg and the 2012 HFC Jam at Excalibur.

[Brentrocks]

I sold a Korina Standard bought a Artist Studio....not too exciting

[daa2202]

Sold a Standard Custom, bought a Special Korina Jr., working on a custom order with Young Master Greg. 2012 will be cool if they get it done in time...

[svl]

My highlight mimics Chris'- it was definitely getting to perform a set at the HFC jam as Off Broadway USA with one of my all time guitar heros, which was then elevated to "dreams come true" status with the two John's reforming the group and being asked to be a permanent member.

Guitar highlights were many- unbelievable scores in the Phantom doubleneck (thanks to Peter), the Schenker Vector (thanks to John), the '81 Vector which has become my #1 player, the 12 string Proto, the '80 B&C Sunburst.... wow, no wonder my wife is sick of me!

And I can never forget the highlight of having found so many great friends here, including Bobby, Jay, Chris H, Shawn, Brent, Peter and so many more. You guys really make my day damn near every day.

[kizanski]

I let a lot of stuff go. Some of it was guitars and cars. Some of it was baggage.

Reconnected with some old friends, lost a couple along the way but in both cases, I sleep well at night.

As much as I try to stop it, the Kizanski Revolving Door of Underplayed Guitars keeps spinning around, but that's ok. I got the opportunity for a "Do Over" with my long lost '78 Black Bastard Sunburst, and crossed another off of my Bucket List in the Pete5 build/modification, both thanks to Jay murcat. So, some good came out of it.

The rumors of my demise (which I had started) ran their course, and since I was of the opinion that what was desperately missing on the HFC was a healthy dose of ME, I decided on a whim (which is the way I make all decisions in my life) to return. So, to those that have asked me "Why?", the answer is "For YOU!"

And you're welcome.

I got the opportunity to freelance as a writer and was able to sell a few pieces of my nonsense, so the Bucket List has a couple of more things crossed off of it.

A recent hobby has become life-changing and will eventually become a career-changing, or at least something that will supplement my living. Hopefully sooner than later.

We'll see what 2012 brings, but I don't put much stock in New Years or N.Y. Resolutions.

My gym is loaded with people who suddenly, because of a new page on their calendar, have the motivation to make a change in their body, and through that, their life.

I call it The Meeting of the Pretenders With the Contenders (or the Wannabes and the Gonnabes). By about the first week of February, we'll see who's who, but until then I know one thing: Parking spaces will be harder to come by.

What does this have to do with reflections of the past year?

About as much as hanging a new calendar on your wall suddenly changes your life. Very little. But it's a pretty good excuse for a party and I could use one of those.

Be safe, you knuckleheads.

[cmatthes]

Glad you're back, Mike!

[tomteriffic]

Almost too much cool stuff to recount, and if I was awake, I'd probably remember some monumentally silly threads that went by. A highlight on the board was Ana's (BlueRedWhile) first gig with a Hamer thread. And Kiz inexplicably returned.

Three acquisitions were particularly good. Toby's Chap 5, a Rivera R-55 from Brent, and BCR Greg/StevieDamn Clay made me an offer I couldn't refuse on an Elipse 12. The last two will see action tonight and the Chap 5 got its first real workout on a recording project a couple of days ago.

I'll probably think of something else mid-song tonight and make a mess of the tune.

[JohnnyB]

Early in the year, I thought I was done and had no intention of acquiring more gear. But then in June I poked my head into the bass room at my local GC and saw this:

It was a special GC run of 32" scale fully hollow basses with genuine USA-made TV Jones Thunder'tron pickups. Every time I play this I get compliments from the audience for its tone and sense of "bounce." I traded in a 5-string I never bonded with + $120 to take this $799 unit home.

Then 3 months later I stopped in the same GC to see if my trade-in was still hanging on the wall (it was), but the sales guy showed me this:

One of the very last USA Guild Pilot basses made--1994. This is a Pilot Pro with both active pickups and on-board preamp plus gold hardware that's held up remarkably well for 17 years. Quartersawn neck. I had no intention of adding another bass. But they tagged this at $99.99 and it played and sounded like a dream.

When I posted about that Guild Jimbilly responded that he had a friend who had a fretless Pilot to spare. It took about 2 months for the guy to find his bass under a pile of stuff in the closet and another week or so to remember to bring it to Jimbilly. Then a virus struck me and it took another couple weeks to get up the strength to make the drive (90 mi. round trip) to pick up this 27-year-old beauty for $200 w/case:

And to my surprise, this turned out to be THE ONE. It has fantastic neck stability (quartersawn), great contours plus the best balancing bass I've ever played (along with the fretted Pilot), and a sweet musical singing tone. I could be happy with this plus the Gretsch (and add in the fretted Pilot for backup) and never miss my other 3 basses.

Oh yeah. And we brought this little girl home from a shelter for $50 on Dec. 2. Meet Biscuit if you haven't already:

[bubs_42]

Everytime I was blessed to hang with a Fellow HFC'er were my highlights for 2011. I'll be going North, East and hopefully South this year for HFC get togethers.

[BubbaVO]

Best Buy - Fender SuperChamp xd. Crazy good amp for a crazy cheap price. I'm tempted to sell my Mesa Maverick 2 x 12 as a result.

Best Posts - The return of Kiz as an active poster has been a good thing; maybe Pirate Flynn won't be too far behind? But my favorite posts are the ones that show support when one of us HFCrs hits a speed bump (illness, job loss, etc.) - a really good group of folks here.

[Bobby Marshall]

This year I finally found Hamer (even though I have lived within 40 miles of the Hamer facilities until they moved to CT).

It was actually Serial posting a FS on "another forum" that peaked my curiousity. Unfortunately, I was too late for that one, but I have found some other outstanding guitars here along with meeting some great people - serial, svl, david b, Kilroy, tobereeno, belgian, murkat, zenmindbeginner, ib2010, django49, gtone, hamerjammer and cmatthes. I am very thankful to have found the HFC (especially before work gets nuts).

"My" score of the year happened when me and another HFCer realized we were both going to bid on the same guitar. I decided to back out and he won at a price significantly less that it would have otherwise sold if we had a bidding war. The guitar was in great condition with awesome feel and tone. Score!!!!