Why Hamer Originally?

[Ting Ho Dung]

Why did you guys originally buy a Hamer? Was it the music influence you listened to back in the day? Price point? Recommendation? I thought I'd make this a poll but there were too many options. But there is one thing I see common in threads and I wanted to see if it was the dope.

[Steve Haynie]

In the 70's Hamers showed up in the rock and roll magazines. By the early 80's my friends and I knew that Hamer was one of those brands to seek, and one friend got a Special when they came out. They were used on stage. I ended up with a Dean ML instead of a Hamer.

By the 90's you could not pick up a Hamer without instantaneously noticing the quality. I bought a few.

[Camstone]

Got my first Sunburst in 1978 cause of Martin Barre and my first Standard in 1980 cause of Rick Nielsen.

This pic is from 1978 with my first Hamer

[murkat]

Back in 78' I could not afford a (any) Gibson in Billings, MT. except for a "the Paul".

Back then, there is no such thing as MAP pricing, full retail.

A new guitar shop just opened up, new Hamers, With the rep, Paul at the store on opening.

Brand new, just out of the case, handed to me by Paul, and I was financed with a down payment.

I was impressed on all accounts.

[veatch]

i thought the boomers were cool.

[Bobby Marshall]

Hamer started local to me. Always admired but I had a Fender and a Gibson and didn't feel it necessary to have more guitars. Finally said "why have I waited so long" and jumped in.

[kizanski]

When I was about 14, an older friend (everyone can think back to The Guy in the neighborhood who played guitar better than anyone you knew) bought a brand new 1980 Special in cherry burst.

Right out of the box he had a Kahler and EMGs put in it, because it was the '80's and that was the law. That in itself displayed what I thought at the time was a tremendous amount of balls, but now I look back and know in my heart that he ruined the guitar.

Years later, I discovered the HFC (recalling that guitar) and bought my own Special. ...and a dozen more.

Knowing that he saved everything, I inquired if he still had the pickups and the bridge from that Special, some 25 years later.

Of course he did and of course I bought them.

I put the pickups in a black Les Paul that I bought from our own jisham (which coincidentally had EMGs in it), and I used the bridge for my '78 B&C Sunburst (which had been raped with a wood chisel and had had a lefty Fender-style trem installed.

Of course I sold both guitars, so it was all a shuffling of parts, effort and money.

But yeah, that's how I got interested in Hamers.

[BTMN]

Immediately went nuts for that "Explorer" with a Flametop AKA a Standard. Everyone wanted a Les Paul, I had to be different. When the Sunburst and Specials added to the fire I was hooked by the BadAss woods being used for the tops. Rick Nielsen and Dave Hlubek further fueled that fire even more.

[crunchee]

By the 90's you could not pick up a Hamer without instantaneously noticing the quality. I bought a few.

^^^This.^^^ And used prices were smokin' too, twenty years ago you could indeed find a decent if well used Hamer USA model for Tree Fitty without too much effort!

[Travis]

The inside cover of Gary Hoey's Animal Instinct album. He was sitting on by some RR tracks with a sunburst arch top. I thought it was the most beautiful guitar I had ever seen and I had to have one.

I've had many hamers over the years but never did get an arch top sunburst...

[cmatthes]

A lot of the bands I dug as an early teen played them, so seeing them on album covers/liners, Circus Magazine articles, TV Rock shows, really cool ads in GP, bitchin' catalogs and promo stuff...I just really thought the company stood out.

Cheap Trick

Def Leppard

The Pretenders

Rockpile

Molly Hatchet

Lots of others...

[GASguy]

I was randomly browsing Willcutt's stock online for entertainment, not really looking to buy or for anything in particular, but I looked at their PRS stock and the used stock on hand and then I just stumbled upon this...

The specs just blew me out of the water, a semihollow / hollow body made from solid Korina with a vintage carve neck and, my favorite pups for a semihollow, Seth Lovers? That was it, I bought it right off the website.

Once I got my handsThe Korina Newport Pro I knew it was a definite keeper!

Within a year, I bought my spruce / hog Newport Pro from Wolfes Guitars and the Hamers just keep on coming.

[hamerhead]

I got an '81 Special as a backup for my Les Paul (and because it was near the same shape as a previous-lost '58 Junior) from a buddy who worked in a music store. $200 in 1987. It soon became my #1 and the LP was the backup. Then about 1997 I stumbled across a gorgeous Studio Custom that was waaaaay under-priced at the nearby ripoff music store. Around the same time I found the internet, started gathering info on Hamers, ran into this group of miscreants, and it's basically been down hill ever since.

Still have the Special.

[ARM OF HAMER]

THIS!

[zorrow]

Pure chance, really. Tried some budget shredders and preferred the Slammer Series. I actually discovered some players I liked played Hamer after I already was into the brand.

[FrettyMcgee]

This told me to get serious, I wanted to get serious.

But it was too serious for a teenager on a budget.

Thank god I eventually found one in a pawnshop, and the quality was indeed serious.

Then I found this place full of knuckleheads, which lead to 3 more Hamers, seriously reviving my love of guitars and b.s.'ing with guitar players.

[sonny o'hoolighan]

When I started playing guitar again about 4 years ago, I picked up an XT Sunburst, but it didn't really do it for me, so it sat for a while.

Months later my guitar instructor began talking about Hamers. I advised that I had an import at home, so he asked me to bring it in. We decided to swap out the pickups, and when we did the guitar came alive. This got me intrigued by the US models, and then I started lurking around this place...

...and thus began the origin of a number of what can only be described as obsessive/compulsive purchases.

[django49]

I was a fan of Gibsons "growing up". Not being able to AFFORD one meant I scuffled along for a while with cheap imitations----As in imports. When I could afford it, I went thru a long list of Gibsons (now down to three). And actually (yeah, I know!) had several Heritage models too. Their semihollows seemed like (sometimes) a fair substitute for the 335s and similar Gibsons. And I actually had a handful of their archtops for a while too (FWIW, now down to one archtop and one harder to find dreadnought).

PRS was the "hot new thing" by the late 80s but by and large I did not bond much with them. (Okay, the later ones are a different animal!). Somewhere in between, I read a review of the then new Hamer Artist model. Took me a LONG time to find one (around Los Angeles). Found one. Fell hard. Most of the PRSi went away. Discovered the Internet's riches and fell over and over again.......Got worse when I found the HFC, jumped on an Artist Ultimate, then decided to sample the newer models. Well, THAT got expensive quickly. I do not have as many as I used to, but still more than I probably should. But no regrets!

[mrjamiam]

Found a Slammer Series Centaura for $50. Looked for info on it and landed here. Everyone seemed to agree that some of the imports, especially Korean ones, were OK but not in the same league as USA ones for only about twice as much. I bit, with an '82 Special and a '90 Centaura. Now I'm hooked.

[elduave]

I was gonna say Rick Rick Rick but Def Leppard did have more than a bit to do with it. So, exposed in 78 via CT, reinforced in 80/81 with DL, and finally afforded in 85 (when I was 20). A used black hockey head blitz with Floyd from Victor Litz I think $500 tag probably involved a ridiculous trade scenario. Somewhere there's pics of me playing it at an acoustic duo gig with a perm and Hawaiian type shirt.

Props also to the guitar mag ads.

Edited to add +1 on Priest. Should even say Sting(!)(?).

[Hamerica]

Two Words - Cheap Trick.

I didn't even play guitars (and some would argue I still don't and possibly rightfully so...)

I remember staring at a picture of Rick Nielsen with what looked like a riding crop in his mouth and a room shot of guitars from the Live At Budokan booklet in the album. Now I knew who Fender and Gibson guitars were but what the hell is that "hard angled" headstock Explorer guitar thing? There was something about that photo.

The second thing was I can't nail two 2 x 4 together. Woodworking is not something I aspire too. Can't play guitar, can't work with wood. If you can't do - teach or in this case, purchase. I know quality when I see it and I can appreciate what those craftsman at Hamer could do. I was hooked on crack...cracking cases that is.

So basically, I blame Rick Nielsen for my GAS disease.

Thanx Rick!

Hamerica

[Armitage]

A lot of Gibsons I was checking out had issues, the Norlin era, some were fine but there were a lot of worrisome things I could actually see on brand new guitars in the shops. I started looking for alternatives, B.C. Rich, Hamer, Dean, Alembic, S. D. Curlee, Lado... I was a big Explorer fan so their all dressed up Standard appealed to me right off the bat, so I started hunting them out. Also some of the bands I liked that weren't really mainstream were playing them so that added to the appeal. I ended up going to Dean and B.C. Rich USA guitars at the time as I could find them, and I still love my Deans and BCR and still have many more Deans then Hamers.

[it's me HHB]

I moved to Neenah WI twice as a kid ( dad worked with KC ) second time I was playing guitar ( SG then Les Paul ). Several local bands were using them then I went to UW Madison and even more of them appeared on stage at Headliners and a local store had em. Off Broadway had Sunburts in Green and red they just looked so cool to me.

[ArnieZ]

In1995 I Was looking for a Tele, went into a store that wasn't a Fender hoping to find a used one. The only Tele's in the store were an ESP Ron Wood and a T51. Played them both and preferred the Hamer. Shortly after Hamer moved to CT. I took a trip up the New Hartford to have a Fishman bridge installed on my T51. I met Kim Keller and Jol came bouncing out to discuss the mods to my T51. I was treated by both Kim and Jol like I was rock royalty. I had already acquired a Daytona and an Artist Custom. I was happily reminded of my trips to Kalamazoo in the mid 60's when the folks on Parson street were very welcoming. That sealed it for me, great quality and customer service are always appealing to me.

ArnieZ

[Biz Prof]

Easy. As a kid, I thought Explorers were boss. When I finally noticed pics of guys like Rick Nielsen, Dave Hlubeck, and Rickey Medlocke holding 100% pure badass flametop "Explorers", the likes of which I had never seen, I took note of the Hamer logo. It was a few years before I learned that those were "Standards".