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Well, it was fun....... but it's over.


BCR Greg

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Ain't it fun when you know your going to die young - Deadboys.

Well I haven't been around in quite awhile due to continuing medical issues but this was sad news.

Wasn't a surprise though after the events at Hamer over the past few years. Everything being made is consolidating due to economies of scale and the disposable nature of most consumer goods.

Read a great article on car companies that said in this decade only car comapnies making at leat 10 million cars a year will survive into the next decade. That will leave about 3-4 companies and the rest?

Well great times over the years buying and selling Hamers but everything ends. I still have my two white specials and that's all I need anymore.

Feel sorry for all the people who will never enjoy the pleasure of playing such a quality instrument. Sad.

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Wasn't a surprise though after the events at Hamer over the past few years. Everything being made is consolidating due to economies of scale and the disposable nature of most consumer goods.

Read a great article on car companies that said in this decade only car comapnies making at leat 10 million cars a year will survive into the next decade. That will leave about 3-4 companies and the rest?

I ain't buying this - Ferrari will make far-fewer than 10,000 cars a year, and they will continue to thrive. There will always be boutique and niche markets - for everything. The trick is staying reasonably independent and relevant to the consumer, and the market will be there.

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I am proud to own a USA made Hamer and Westerly made Guild. Hopefully Heritage and G&L can continue operations and don't join the rare bird end of my collection. Every time I take the Hamer out, I appreciate the quality and thought that went into it's construction. This forum really supports those who appreciate fine guitars.

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I have a Westerly made Guild. A fine, beautiful guitar that I will never part with, but I am not kidding when I say that the New Hartford equivalents kick the crap out of it - I've compared mine to 5-6 NH Guilds, in hand. Guild guitars' quality are better than ever under FMIC. Would love to see them bring Hamer back at some point...

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I guess I'd ask Al, Dave, Greg, and any of the other (formerly I guess now) Hamer dealers here who've done their best to get Hamers into the hands of their customers if they think there'd be any use in petitioning FMIC to extend the window of opportunity for custom order Hamers? I am sure Dave is 100% spot on about Fender not wanting to put any more resources into Hamer, but damned if they didn't shut things down like a thief in the night (not much advance notice to dealers and at a time when potential customers where probably focused on Christmas gifts, Fiscal cliff talks, and Bush-era tax breaks expiring instead of custom ordered guitars).

Seems like they should have given dealers a cut-off date that's at least a couple months into 2013 so dealers have a chance to drum up a few more orders before the brand is put on 'hiatus'. Hell Fender should do it as a final thank you to the craftsmen at Hamer who probably have enjoyed building some truly cool Hamers over the years (and might like a break from making Guilds), the dealer network who have promoted and sold Hamers over the years, and the fans of the brand who've promoted and bought Hamers over the years.

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I guess I'd ask Al, Dave, Greg, and any of the other (formerly I guess now) Hamer dealers here who've done their best to get Hamers into the hands of their customers if they think there'd be any use in petitioning FMIC to extend the window of opportunity for custom order Hamers? I am sure Dave is 100% spot on about Fender not wanting to put any more resources into Hamer, but damned if they didn't shut things down like a thief in the night (not much advance notice to dealers and at a time when potential customers where probably focused on Christmas gifts, Fiscal cliff talks, and Bush-era tax breaks expiring instead of custom ordered guitars).

Seems like they should have given dealers a cut-off date that's at least a couple months into 2013 so dealers have a chance to drum up a few more orders before the brand is put on 'hiatus'. Hell Fender should do it as a final thank you to the craftsmen at Hamer who probably have enjoyed building some truly cool Hamers over the years (and might like a break from making Guilds), the dealer network who have promoted and sold Hamers over the years, and the fans of the brand who've promoted and bought Hamers over the years.

If they did this, I'd put in at least another order or two... not that I can currently afford it but with a 1+ year build time, I'm sure I could manage to acquire the funds before delivery.

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Just read the email. Sad news. I'm glad I had the chance to tour the factory and jam with the HFC. Also glad for my 3 Hamers, particularly my Artist Custom.

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Seems like they should have given dealers a cut-off date that's at least a couple months into 2013 so dealers have a chance to drum up a few more orders before the brand is put on 'hiatus'.

I seem to remember a thread that said: get you're order in now, kiddies..." (ok, paraphrasing.

That was greeted with: "Nope, sorry - i've been burnt before...

I think it would be really classy if FMIC let the boys in the shop build a "last run". Let *them* spec it and build 10 or 15 of them. Make them like the 25th, 30th, earthen maple type runs.

A guy can dream, right?

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...damned if they didn't shut things down like a thief in the night (not much advance notice to dealers and at a time when potential customers where probably focused on Christmas gifts, Fiscal cliff talks, and Bush-era tax breaks expiring instead of custom ordered guitars).

Seems like they should have given dealers a cut-off date that's at least a couple months into 2013 so dealers have a chance to drum up a few more orders before the brand is put on 'hiatus'.

What??? We had plenty of advanced notice from the day they stopped making production models and were only making guitars on a "custome order only" basis.

We even had cmatthes tell us to get our orders in "while we can" not too long ago. If that isn't a neon "Going Out of Business" sign, I don't know what is.

Look, I'm not looking to go get in a beef with anyone here, but a bunch of signatures from a few hundred broke-ass motherfuckers who were never going to order a new Hamer in the first place is not going to sway the decisions of a huge corporation like FMIC.

Wake up, Mutley. You're dreaming again.

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Look, I'm not looking to go get in a beef with anyone here...

Then you, sir, are just no fucking fun. ;)

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a bunch of signatures from a few hundred broke-ass motherfuckers who were never going to order a new Hamer in the first place is not going to sway the decisions of a huge corporation like FMIC

The only way those signatures might move the needle would be if they were in the lower right hand corner of deposit checks in the amount of several thousand dollars each. Which isn't gonna happen, so the point is moot.

http://hark.com/clips/mtcqmtqjyl-money-talks-and-bullshit-walks

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Look, I'm not looking to go get in a beef with anyone here...

Then you, sir, are just no fucking fun. ;)

That's so funny :D

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a bunch of signatures from a few hundred broke-ass motherfuckers who were never going to order a new Hamer in the first place is not going to sway the decisions of a huge corporation like FMIC

The only way those signatures might move the needle would be if they were in the lower right hand corner of deposit checks in the amount of several thousand dollars each. Which isn't gonna happen, so the point is moot.

http://hark.com/clips/mtcqmtqjyl-money-talks-and-bullshit-walks

Is that the incomparable Bobbi Flekman?

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Look, I'm not looking to go get in a beef with anyone here...

Then you, sir, are just no fucking fun. ;)

C'mon man get the paraphrase right...I'm not the one looking to get in a beef, Kiz is :D All reasonable points stated so no beef taken with any of it, but there is a difference in the perceived urgency between a HFC member posting to "get your orders in while we can" vs. had Hamer said directly to dealers back in say September, October or even Novermber "there will be no more Hamer custom orders as of December 6". I guess my beef with FMIC is while I understand the timing might have made sense for them (factory closing down for the holiday and all) it would have been nice if they had given dealers and customers a little more lead time before pulling the Hamer life support plug to maybe work out a few final orders for early 2013 (a few sales for Hamer, a little extra revenue for its dealers, and hopefully a dream guitar for their customers).

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T'wasn't me, t'was the damn forum auto quoting shite.

My comment stands to all- don't be pussies, get in a cyber brawl! :)

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Look, I'm not looking to go get in a beef with anyone here, but a bunch of signatures from a few hundred broke-ass motherfuckers who were never going to order a new Hamer in the first place is not going to sway the decisions of a huge corporation like FMIC.

That is so perfect it should be my new sig line.

Lets review. A lot of people pissed and moaned that Hamer/Jol wouldn't build this or that. Jol was shown the door. Frank U took the reigns and implemented a field of dreams approach (if we build it they will come) and only a few people actually opened up their wallets. One Thunderbolt was built. ONE. A handful of shredders made it out the door (Chapps, Calis, SS models, etc) even though many people talked like a hundred orders would come in if they agreed to build them. Jol knew what he was talking about when he said at an HFC open house that he wouldn't consider reissuing a model until the used price approached the price of what a new one would cost (I'm paraphrasing).

Why would they put Guild and the Fender Acoustic Custom shop on the backburner to keep Hamer alive? It will probably take another year just to complete the orders in house. All efficiencies of manufacturing are gone in their current approach to building ( a few hours a week here and there). It is doubtful that they were even profitable with Hamer in their recent state even though the prices have skyrocketed. Besides that, many unfinished guitars (not custom orders) were left to rot because no one wanted them.

It seemed that people only wanted to buy used. Now its your only option and those prices have remained stable. That shows how much demand there is for a USA Hamer.

RIP Hamer- the best damn guitar no one ever heard of.

I agree with this! Many if not most Hamer fans, this board included, bought most of their Hamers used. Comments on this and other forums indicate people feel Hamer priced themselves out of the market, especially when prices climbed above $1500! We all know these were never $1500 dollar guitars, part of the reason we coveted them. They were just too damn good at that price point and Hamer couldn't make any money selling them at that price. Hamer was trying to be a good employer offering a reasonable wage and insurance benefits and those costs kept rising. I know for a fact that Jol was concerned about trying to keep his crew happy as well as maintaining and improving the quality of the product. You can't make a guitar in the USA that should sell for $2500 and sell it for $1500 and stay in business and FMIC is all about business.

ArnieZ

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Look, I'm not looking to go get in a beef with anyone here, but a bunch of signatures from a few hundred broke-ass motherfuckers who were never going to order a new Hamer in the first place is not going to sway the decisions of a huge corporation like FMIC.

That is so perfect it should be my new sig line.

Lets review. A lot of people pissed and moaned that Hamer/Jol wouldn't build this or that. Jol was shown the door. Frank U took the reigns and implemented a field of dreams approach (if we build it they will come) and only a few people actually opened up their wallets. One Thunderbolt was built. ONE. A handful of shredders made it out the door (Chapps, Calis, SS models, etc) even though many people talked like a hundred orders would come in if they agreed to build them. Jol knew what he was talking about when he said at an HFC open house that he wouldn't consider reissuing a model until the used price approached the price of what a new one would cost (I'm paraphrasing).

Why would they put Guild and the Fender Acoustic Custom shop on the backburner to keep Hamer alive? It will probably take another year just to complete the orders in house. All efficiencies of manufacturing are gone in their current approach to building ( a few hours a week here and there). It is doubtful that they were even profitable with Hamer in their recent state even though the prices have skyrocketed. Besides that, many unfinished guitars (not custom orders) were left to rot because no one wanted them.

It seemed that people only wanted to buy used. Now its your only option and those prices have remained stable. That shows how much demand there is for a USA Hamer.

RIP Hamer- the best damn guitar no one ever heard of.

I appreciate this perspective... When I first placed the order for my Chap, I really thought there would be more orders coming in for Hamer - especially considering they were willing to do anything. At the same time, I would read posts from others unhappy with how much people were asking for used Hamers when Gibsons and some Fenders were selling for twice/three times as much and were NO where near the quality of a USA Hamer. I suppose the old adage may apply - Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it... (and then some)

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