Why Hamer Originally?

[polara]

Hey Maggieo, that's really cool. Nice photo, too.

Thank you!

I finally got a shot of my Special that shows the flame:

Hamer Special, August 15, 2015 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

Those DiMarzio pickups are sure wonderful.

Are we related? Cats, vintage Toastmaster, Fiat 500, guitars and photography. But I sold my '81 Special

[tommy p]

For me, several factors led me to my first Hamer. My first Hamer led me to the next 5!

Before I even started playing, I noticed some of my heroes played Hamer: particularly Rick Nielsen, Def Leppard, and Molly Hatchet. I also liked the Pretenders and the Police so I noticed them using Hamer too.

After I started playing, I remember going to Veneman's Music in Rockville, MD on one of their giant yearly sale Sundays and seeing 2 plain Jane Hamer doublecuts for $299 each (Sunbursts?). One was TV yellow and the other was cherry. I bought a camo and blood splatter graphic Charvel. Hey, those were the times - don't judge! But the Hamers always stayed on my mind.

About 12-13 years ago I played in a band with a guy who had a pretty good collection, including some Hamers. He'd hand one to me and tell me how great it was but I just couldn't get into them even though I thought they looked and sounded good. He was really going through them, too! It seemed like every month or so he'd have a new one he picked up for nothing on eBay. He was (and is) a much better player than me so I kept in the back of my mind that if he liked them so much, I should really give them serious consideration someday. He had Sunbursts, Phantoms, Steve Stevens, a Prototype, and maybe a Daytona among other things in about a 2-3 year span of time.

I finally decided I really wanted an Explorer-style guitar. For some reason, I always liked Hamer's version and the Ibanez Destroyer better than the actual Gibson. I started researching, found this forum, and lurked for a long while before joining in 2007. I learned a LOT from you guys (and continue to every day). There seemed to be something special about Hamer owners/players and still does. It's a kinder, gentler, gearhead vibe here than other guitar forums.

Eventually someone posted a link to a music store that had a NOS Standard in the traditional '59 Burst that I jumped on. After that came the Sunburst "project" I bought and refinned checkerboard. Then a Zandard, two Daytonas (sold one), and a Studio. So now I have five and I'm good with that, but if the right thing came along you never know...

I'm glad I made the leap and happy to be here.

[specialk]

About 12-13 years ago I played in a band with a guy who had a pretty good collection, including some Hamers. He'd hand one to me and tell me how great it was but I just couldn't get into them even though I thought they looked and sounded good. He was really going through them, too! It seemed like every month or so he'd have a new one he picked up for nothing on eBay.

You were in a band with Feynman? How cool is that!

[mudshark]

played one at a flea market in Amarillo....could not believe how great it sounded...bought it on the spot

[Greg G]

This is the first one I ever had, the one that introduced me to Hamer. The only one I bought new. 1992. Wish I kept it, you don't see many white ones.

[Montelovesco]

Maybe I missed it - but what about Paul Stanley...? I had a poster in the early/mid eighties showing him with a black Hamer, must have been a Scarab/Paul Stanley version. Never forget the logo on the headstock.

Some 30 years later I stumbled into a P90 Special (somewhat nineties) on ebay and bought it spontaneously. NEVER ever had a guitar resonating like that one. Next was HFC and some serious debates with my wife... :-). Sold off all the other guitar since then (beside the Washburns, of course), and keep hunting...

[boundandcrowned]

It was in late 1978: I read this review in a German musician's magazine called "Fachblatt", saw these b/w pics and was absolutely stunned!!! I fell in love right away. There is some bullshit written in this article what I know now but who cares? They also liked the guitar and awarded it the top grade.

I was 15 years old then, and it was clear to me that I will never own such a precious instrument. Ever.

​Well, the times they are a-changing…

[Hamer_SS_guy]

Funny. I also had read the name Hamer at first in that magazine. That was issue 9/1982 with Simon Phillips on the cover. In that issue they had a giveaway which was a Hamer Cruise Bass. In later issues the had plenty of Hamers in their reviews. I was still into Fender and Gibson at that time. But I learned fast that Gibson and Hamer used the same woods, that Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan (and later OBL and EMG) became quite popular and that Hamer used them, that they used Schaller tuners, the same company that made the hardware for Fender and Gibson (and almost everybody else at that time. Just one year later the tremolo craze went on. Almost everybody put Kahler tremolos on their guitars. I used one and realized that the Kahler wasn't my thing. At the same time, the Floyd Rose came up. I used one on a Kramer (which I also liked) and since it was based on the old Fender tremolo (and the fact that it was made in Germany by Schaller). I saw a Hamer ad in a "Fachblatt" issue that featured a Hamer Steve Stevens and I somehow fell in love with that guitar. When I bought my second guitar in 1985(I was 16 then, didn't have much money), a Kramer Focus 3000, I saw two guitars hanging on the wall (Musik Produktiv in Ibbenbueren, Germany) that instantly caught my attention. One was a white Hamer Steve Stevens with ebony board, block inlays and black hardware, the other was also a cream white Hamer with black Floyd Rose, ebony board and boomerang inlays, that had the same cool body shape like one of my favorite Gibson's, the Firebird. I didn't see myself owning one of those. In 1988 I just got enough money to buy my first Hamer which was a 1988 Hamer Steve Stevens. I still have it and I still think it is a great guitar. Some years later I also got a maple Cali (my all-time favorite) and a Hamer FB II, as well as my mostly played instrument, a maple body Chap Max Bass.

[maggieo]

I just love my '81 Special. Took a photo of it next to my Paisley PRRI today:

My 1981 Hamer Special And Paisley Princeton Reverb, September 17, 2015 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

[bluesguy]

I wanted a Les Paul double cut. Between this website and (ironically, looking back) Ed Roman's rants about Gibson, I decided to give a Studio a shot.

I lurk here off and on (almost never post), but I credit Ed Roman's praise of Hamer for making me curious enough to buy a used Special FM for just under $500 (this was around 2002)

[Armitage]

So what you're saying is Ed told the truth once?

Mind boggling... my mind is boggled... yup boggled...

[oneeyedog]

I was looking for a P90 guitar as I only had Tele and Strat previously. I saw one on Gumtree (same as CL) never heard of the make so I ended up on here asking questions and on the Gibson site as I was thinking of a LP Special DC... both sites advised the Hamer.. so I bought it! I'm really liking it so far

[JimiH]

^{one reason, Vernon reid played one. My Diablo is my only guitar}

[md9255]

Bought my first one around a year ago. I was in the market for a double cut LP-type with P-90s. Tried few old MIJs as well as Gibsons and nothing clicked. A buddy of mine who had worked as a luthier in a handful of Chicago guitar shops and was very familiar with Hamer told me to check them out and that there was nothing else quite like them, especially for the money. I grabbed a P90 Special and I'll never go back.

[Russ]

I like resurrecting dead threads, so...

I had a couple of Carvins (a DC135 in Koa, and a C66 in Antique Yellow) and a PRS Custom 24 that I was gigging with, decided the PRS needed to stay home a bit more, and the Carvins were sounding a little "thin" to my ears, so started my quest for affordable yet kick ass gigging guitars, went through a Valley Arts, a Fender, and a Parker Fly, then stumbled on a mid 90s wraptail studio. Thought it was one of those "planets aligned, gods smiled down, everyone in the factory was in a great mood that day" type of one off "miracle" guitars. Came across a second, then a third, made its way up to 10 where I'm currently at...Can't say that I've ever played a guitar that felt better in my hands (and I still have the Annapolis era PRS Custom 24) than Hamer USAs. I think I'm at 4 Studios (2 wrap tail and 2 tune-o-matic), 1 FM Special, 1 Special P90, 1 Artist Korina P90, 1 Mirage II, 1 Vector, and 1 Standard Custom.

[LucSulla]

I wanted a Hammer, but could only afford a single "M."

[sixesandsevens]

For me it was a few things:

• I wanted something good-but-cheap to leave out after our son was born
• I think the music store I grew up haunting (Gordon Miller Music, in Towson, MD) had a Special as one of their use-this-to-try-amps guitars.  I asked about buying that guitar once and they said no.  

I played an import and thought "man, if the imports are this good, I wonder what the USA models are like?"  Since then I've bought four and sold one.