polara Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 It's a kickin' guitar.It's a work of a craftsman at the top of his game.What to do?Admittedly I've yet to even SEE my Ultimate in a photo, let alone play it and hear it. And a lot of great things - Wagner, orgies, the Yankees, rodeos, tattoos, Reverend guitars - are simply not for me. I may very well try out my Number 21 and think "It's lovely but it's not doing it for me," and sell it.Yeah, right.So do I gig it? Knowing it'll get a ding or ten, some wear, some sweat, some tarnish. Risking real damage, theft, stupidity. Or do I use it at home and for recording, keep it pretty clean and shiny, and take the beaters to gigs because no one in the audience can hear the difference anyway?I know my answer. How about you?
veatch Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 I'm in between. It will definitely be gigged and may get dinged, but I tend to baby all of my guitars. This one will be more so.
hamerhead Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 It depends on your age. With getting older comes the realization that I'm not gonna put 40 years on another guitar (the way I have with my LP). I tend to baby the real nice ones now so the kids will get the most $$ out of them when I kick. Damn meddling kids.Otherwise I'd play the sh!t out of 'em.
cmatthes Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 Play the snot out if it! A little care and maintenance goes a long way, but the occasional scratch, ding or chip are going to happen, unless you wear silk gloves and play in a bubble!These things are meant to enjoy playing and to make music. Put 'em to good use!
Jakeboy Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 I plan on SIXXY being my new Number One and she will get gigged as much as possible. I will keep her polished and well-maintained, but I am hoping this guitar becomes part of my signature look again.The tail fin is like that on a 57 Chevy and on my last Explorer it got dinged a lot in this area cause it seems like it hits EVERYTHING.....But that is OK. It will get honest wear while I try to prevent dings and chips. She's a player for sho'!
formula73 Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 The whole reason I sold the Punisher was because I was mortified of putting a mark on it.If it were anything but that particular guitar, I'd say tear it up.
soli'd Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 I always try to avoid that first bump or ding, but always relax a bit after it inevitably occurs- and I like to relax! When I bought my first (and only- criminal, I know!) Hamer, I got it in pretty clean used condition. I remember being relieved that it already had a bit of worming and a couple of impressions, so i wouldn't worry too much about it, and really bond with the instrument. It's been my number one for a few years now, and I don't think it's appreciably more dinged up than when I got it- I guess I just tend to be sort of gentle with the things I love, so I expect I'll follow the same route with this Ultimate. That said, I've never owned an explorer shaped guitar, so my movements have not adjusted to accounting for that fin, or setting it down without an offset stand, etc... if I end up beating the shit out of it I'll probably love it all the more.
DaveL Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 The only thing I'm gonna do is be careful storing it on a stand, in a case etc... as the headstock is a little slimmer than the latter versions by that other company who shall not be named.
DBraz Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 I voted "play it" but I will treat it with respect. I look after all of my guitars regardless of use and do my best to avoid dings.
devrock Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 If I were building these things and no one played what I made, I'd be bummed out. CREATE MOJO!!
gorch Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 I miss a FS radio button though. Remember, I called a general dibs on them Ultimates in another thread.
Feynman Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 Putting your own wear on a guitar that was shiny and new is an awesome thing. Don't be an idiot, but definitely play it and make your own history. In my case these days, it would just be dings on the headstock from my desk, or ramming it into a wall when I spin my chair around. That sort of wear isn't cool. For you real players, the guitar aging from your playing is how it was meant to be.
Steve Haynie Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 The whole reason I sold the Punisher was because I was mortified of putting a mark on it.If it were anything but that particular guitar, I'd say tear it up.I thought it already had a few scratches.
hanspanzer Posted March 3, 2015 Posted March 3, 2015 I did 80+ shows with my Hamer Standard Korina last year and I it`s still pristine except for the fact that I wore out the bridge and had to change a pot. I love everything about guitars but they are most of all tools.I`ll play the shit out of #12!
formula73 Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 The whole reason I sold the Punisher was because I was mortified of putting a mark on it.If it were anything but that particular guitar, I'd say tear it up.I thought it already had a few scratches.Nothing that wouldn't have buffed out. I mean a big gouge or something. That guitar was such a piece of Hamer history (at least, forum history) that I'd have hated to be the one that dinged the hell out of it.
crunchee Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 We ARE talking about full-sized Standard/Explorer-shaped guitars, right? A little extra elbow room and an additional amount of spatial awareness is obviously required for them, unless you don't MIND accidentally banging it into a wall or a doorway, or smacking it against the sharp edge of a cymbal, or...
BTMN Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 I always watch the headstock more than the body edges.
gorch Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 I believe these guitars are perfect wall hangers since they are sooooooou beautiful.
hamerhead Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 Somebody needs to invent a protective plastic covering for the pointy bits. Kind of like a pocket protector for guitar nerds.
velorush Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 Somebody needs to invent a protective plastic covering for the pointy bits. Kind of like a pocket protector for guitar nerds. The concept has been... explored (pun accepted)... Not sure what deal bluesman Lonnie Brooks had with them, but I saw him regularly in the late 80's and he always had one on! Even has one on this live album cover! He had the only Les Paul version I ever saw.
cmatthes Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 Lonnie Brooks was a Hamer Daytona player. He had one of those axe jackets on his Daytona when I saw him at a festival years ago.
tmsfo Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 How about a special Waylon Jennings type leather cover?
velorush Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 Lonnie Brooks was a Hamer Daytona player. He had one of those axe jackets on his Daytona when I saw him at a festival years ago.I didn't know that. I saw him regularly when I was in grad school ('87-'89, so a few years before the advent of the Daytona). It seemed like Murray State had some deal for him to come by any time he was within a couple-hundred miles or so - always a great show. He mostly played a Fender Strat but always did a few numbers with a white Les Paul. His son was with him the last year I was there and the son always played a natural-finish thinline Tele (and IIRC, always with fingers, never a pick). At any rate, Lonnie's guitars were always AxSak adorned with monogrammed AxSaks.
mc2 Posted March 4, 2015 Posted March 4, 2015 It depends on the axe.....some are specific live use ones and others reserved for the studio, where they won't get beat up. After the first ding, it doesn't really matter to me. Only the first one hurts.
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