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How did you get to the HFC?


hamerhead

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I was at my Mother-in-law's house for a visit during the winter of '96-'97 and was playing around on this "internet"  (Netscape) thing.  One of the early evening searches was for Hamer stuff, since I had been running ads in VG and some local classifieds for the last 7 years or so, looking for original Hamer Standards and 12 string basses.  I had corresponded with Peter by snail mail and exchanged 35mm prints of our Hamers years before, but stumbled upon the primitive HFC page and locked in.  It was more of a membership list back then...not much in the way of content, but a number of people who are still on here were there.  I think I posted something stupid like "Looking for ANY B-12 basses...hit me up!" or something like that.  I think I ended up pulling an all-nighter that first evening...partially because I was printing things out because I was positive I'd never find them again! :D

The next October, I went up to the New Hartford shop to attend the first HFC Open House.  Many of the people I met on that trip have become lifelong friends here in the "real" world.  Great stuff, and Ted's original vision of a cool clubhouse to hang with other like-minded miscreants has remained true to his vision after 20+ years!

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I decided I wanted a Standard (though I didn't know they were called that at the time), Googled looking for some Hamer resources and found this place - the best information on Hamer and people I've run into online.  I lurked for months before I finally joined up.  I had joined other online guitar forums before and then never used them but this place seemed different in a good way - and it is.

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I was getting back into playing after fleeing the music biz. It was 2001 and I wanted a good guitar. I knew of Hamer but had never actually seen one up close and there was a Centaura on eBay I w was eyeing. Found this group, y’all advised me to get it, and it was mine for $225. Yes. It was post market crash. 

17 years later... don’t have the Centaura but still have the Studio i got in 2004 thanks to this place’s peer pressure! 

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13 hours ago, cmatthes said:

I was at my Mother-in-law's house for a visit during the winter of '96-'97 and was playing around on this "internet"  (Netscape) thing.  One of the early evening searches was for Hamer stuff, since I had been running ads in VG and some local classifieds for the last 7 years or so, looking for original Hamer Standards and 12 string basses.  I had corresponded with Peter by snail mail and exchanged 35mm prints of our Hamers years before, but stumbled upon the primitive HFC page and locked in.  It was more of a membership list back then...not much in the way of content, but a number of people who are still on here were there.  I think I posted something stupid like "Looking for ANY B-12 basses...hit me up!" or something like that.  I think I ended up pulling an all-nighter that first evening...partially because I was printing things out because I was positive I'd never find them again! :D

The next October, I went up to the New Hartford shop to attend the first HFC Open House.  Many of the people I met on that trip have become lifelong friends here in the "real" world.  Great stuff, and Ted's original vision of a cool clubhouse to hang with other like-minded miscreants has remained true to his vision after 20+ years!

Chris,

Oh, the grinding days of dial up.   You probably pulled the all-nighter because you were waiting ten minutes at a pop for "Netscrape" to refresh pages!  :) 

Very cool story.  

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Ha!  That's exactly what it was too - I distinctly recall waiting for pics of a Greenburst Standard to download from Bizarre Guitar's early website.  I think it took 5-10 minutes to print the pic too!  :D

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'96-'97 and was playing around on this "internet" ... It was more of a membership list back then...not much in the way of content, but a number of people who are still on here were there.

That's my story too,.  I remember too, it wasn't an interactive message board but more of an introduction ledger with either people requesting BOLOs for guitars they sought or guys just singing the praises of the brand.

Flashback to March 2000, courtesy of archives.org ...

wf0kOBQ.jpg

 

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Don't even remember - Always was intrigued by Hamers thanks mainly to Cheap Trick, stumbled upon the HFC in 96 or 97 back when the internet was new to me, bought a new Cruisebass, and here I am 20+ years later.  I think my first HFC Open House was 1999. 

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Back in 2006, I bought on ebay a black monaco elite that was a NAMM show guitar from a California dealer.  In 2009 I was looking at guitars on the 'net and saw BCRGreg's post pop up re: a korina standard in Jazzburst that was for sale.  I knew I wanted it and called him and we made a deal.  I had no idea who he was. He came up with my name.  Never heard of the HFC before that. Thank you, Greg!   

DGKorinaTires.jpg

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2 hours ago, dgstandard said:

Back in 2006, I bought on ebay a black monaco elite that was a NAMM show guitar from a California dealer.  In 2009 I was looking at guitars on the 'net and saw BCRGreg's post pop up re: a korina standard in Jazzburst that was for sale.  I knew I wanted it and called him and we made a deal.  I had no idea who he was. He came up with my name.  Never heard of the HFC before that. Thank you, Greg!   

DGKorinaTires.jpg

Dude, that guitar ROCKS.

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A buddy at work, when I said I was looking for a non-vibrato, good-quality, humbucking guitars suggested Hamers.  A couple weeks later I put an offer on the Redwood in my avatar,  and while searching the internet to see if I'd gotten a good deal, found this place, with some of you wondering who scored the awesome Redwood at a great price.  Some 17 or more Hamers later, I've been here ever since, and offer my thanks to the mods who keep this a great place. 

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I was sucked in by the Modern Vintage ads of the early nineties but child support payments kept me from buying even a P90 Special.  All I could afford was a Guitar Player subscription and 1-2 very cool and cheap Fender USA Bullets (where the aluminum pickguard was bent up to anchor the strings).  I then found the HFC board.  Was there an original board that some hacker took down?  Is that why some of us have joined dates of December 31, 1969?  Must be mid-90s? I learned a lot and when the child support ended - - even though I was starting on a second set of children - - I was able to join the one in / one out club.   Besides my wife's wedding gift Strat, a Reverend from JohnnyThunders and a Pete Townshend SG, they have been all Hamers.  Except for the Mirage coming in from BubbaVO, I have trended towards Talladegas.  Reminds me that I need to send the mods some more money to keep this going. Thanks to all.

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Word of mouth from the dealer I bought my first (and third and fourth) Hamers from, a search engine and  fast internet connection (sometimes) at work got me here. 1998 maybe?  Whereupon I promptly forgot my password and couldn't find anybody to contact to get me back on the tracks.  So I watched, laughed, drooled, all of that stuff for a couple of years and eventually tried again and got through. 

Seen some shit.jpg

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Although I bought my '89 Cali new, it was (for me) pre-internet days. Since then, I got married, had a family, and pretty much stopped playing. The Cali got tossed around from room to room and pretty much was leaning in a corner collecting dust. Long story short, a buddy got me back into playing around 2012 or so, so I decided to research on the web what I owned and, after finding Hamer's website and this forum,  realized I had a pretty awesome guitar on my hands. What's more, after spending a little time on other forums, I realized this is the best group of guys on the web. This is the ONLY place I would trust buying from or selling to someone without going through a third-party site. That's how awesome everyone is here.

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15 minutes ago, belgian said:

My profile says I joined December 31th 1969.  

I don’t remember anything from that day...

 

Me neither.  I had recently been sprung after being locked away for two years in a military school.  I'm sure I was busy making up for lost time.

 

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I had purchased a new Hamer bass around 1990 without knowing much about it, other than it was the best bass I'd ever played. Didn't know the model. A few years ago, I became curious and did some web searches and stumbled on the HFC. I was pleased to learn that my bass was an Impact model. I also toured in bands and once owned a drop dead gorgeous Hamer 12 string bass and found myself becoming nostalgic and wanting to learn more. Wish I still had that one but at least I kept the Impact. 

 

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