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There Can Be Only One


scottcald

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Anyone just completely all in with only one brand of guitar?   Or, alternately, of brands you've owned, not just gawked at, which one would you be OK with being the only brand you play?  And you can have multiples of that brand? 

For me, Hamer or, alternately, PRS.  

 

 

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My guitars nowadays are mainly Tele-style Partscasters...I do have preferences regarding parts (especially when it comes to bodies and necks), but it's not so much about brand name as it is about the snugness of the neck to body join and the choice of woods.  My budget won't allow me the luxury to get too picky, but if a guitar doesn't meet my expectations on those two areas, then I start looking elsewhere...and if I can't find one I like today, I probably will eventually, if my past experience is any indicator.  I do have a 'real' Fender Tele, but it's mainly because it met my criteria and the price was right, not so much because of the name on the headstock.  But the brand name didn't hurt, either...and it won't, if I ever need or want to sell it.  ;) B)

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I went from 1986-2007 with only one guitar and it was a Hamer. Now I own multiple Hamers (mostly USA but one MIK) & a couple of partscasters based around Fender USA necks... oh and a travel guitar that is a GFS Xaviere.

Hamer guitars are an incredible value... the sort of Hamer you can get for less than $1500 used is miles above any other USA brand.

I’m pretty Loyal to Hamer.

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While a devoted fan of (some might say having an unhealthy preoccupation with) Hamers, I think if it had to be one brand as of today, it'd be HELs. Yeah, they're that good. And Shane can build just about f*cking anything I'd want to play. Stay tuned. I'll show ya. ;)

 

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I’m very partial to Hamers. I have never owned a dud Hamer. That said I’ve owned Fender Strat’s and Tele’s. Les Pauls and ES 335’s and a ES 390. Which I traded for a Beautiful Newport from a HFC member.

Acoustic guitars are all Adamas and Ovation.  I had a Santa  Cruz for a few years just couldn’t bond with it. I guess I just like the New Hartford sound!!

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If I had to go to one, it’d be Shishkov.

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9 hours ago, killerteddybear said:

Furlanetto basses.

Hadn't heard of them.  They look cool.  

 

10 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

This. There are just too many fine builders out there to limit yourself to one brand. You’d be missing out on some pretty nice rides.

No doubt.  Just a fun exercise.  

 

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I have had a ton of Hamers (still have 100 lbs or so left 😉) and do not regret them. I guess it is known that I found a certain German brand to fit my hands and ears a bit better. All that said, based upon a sample totaling exactly ONE, Shishkov is pretty damn hard to beat.

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When I started in the early 80s I bought a Hondo JR copy, then an Ibanez SG with a bolt on neck, then I had a nice strat that I ruined with a Kahler.
After that I bought my first Hamer. A pink SS1. Then traded that one for a Centaura. 10 years later, or so, I found this place and the Hamer craze started.


Only Hamer's since I bought my first pink SS1. Until three years ago when I felt like I needed to have a Les Paul, at least once in my lifetime. So I bought a great LP too. It's a keeper for now.
But still I have a bunch of Hamer's, and only one LP. And most likely that is the way It will stay.

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I’ve had more Hamers than any other guitar in my lifetime. I’ve still got my Charvel 650xl which was my first pro level guitar bought back in ‘92 and I have a partscaster that is mostly Carvin parts. I’ve had several other brands and played a ton more. Got a Shiahkov on order but I can’t comment on that with any personal experience yet. 

Gun to my head, it would be Hamer for my one and only. They made pretty much every style I could ever want. But since there’s no gun to my head, I won’t rule out other brands going forward. 

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I was a Gibson (and Heritage :ph34r:) fan for many years, until I discovered Hamer. All my Heritages and Gibsons are gone, except for my SG Supreme.

For basses, I like G&L. I only have one left, but that's all I need.

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Hamer got me into and fully hooked on this craziness, then Shishkov (exceptionally talented) and for mass production builds it would be Ernie Ball (EBMM).  

EBMM seems to have figured out how to mass produce very high quality guitars with super tight QC metrics.  Certainly no criticism to those who worked for Hamer, but EBMM seemed to have figured out how to do what I think we all wished Hamer would have done to stay in business.   You just have to like the look of some of their more polarizing models.  Just my two cents worth.

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Brands of guitars that I have bought or sold: Ibanez, Gibson, Kramer, parts Strat, Hamer

Brands of guitars that I kept: Hamer, Fender, Reverend, Yamaha, Takamine 

The majority of my current guitar collection are Hamer USA guitars and I sold off the ones that I didn't bond with or traded away. As much as I wanted my guitar collection to consist entirely of Hamer USA guitars, I've also went back to playing my Fender super Strats or a Reverend Eastsider T Tele style guitar after playing the Hamer Chapparal Elite 90 & Diablo II guitars for many years and before that a '90s Ibanez RG-570 guitar. I bought a cheap Yamaha Pacifica 303-12 earlier this year to experiment with an electric 12 string guitar to see if I liked it as I've already owned a Takamine EF 381SC 12 string acoustic/electric guitar. That being said, I wouldn't mind having a Hamer Special with the P-90 pickups in my collection. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Guitar George

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Music Man is definitely impressive, and my two are keepers. 

The Ball family is not going to let their quality go down.  Sterling Ball really understands what a company reputation means.  Sterling once told of a bad batch of cable that was used to make instrument cables that ended up failing and hurting the reputation of Ernie Ball cables for years.  Sterling and Ernie Ball were never going to let that happen again.  He keeps his guitar production lower than it needs to be just so he can be sure the quality remains high. 

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1 hour ago, Thundersteel said:

For basses, I like G&L. I only have one left, but that's all I need.

That used to be the retailer's lament about basses, bass players as a rule didn't buy a lot of them, or at least not nearly as many as what guitar players would buy of guitars.   I think bassists are more prone to value having that variety of gear nowadays, like guitarists do.

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Could I be ok with it?  Sure.  PRS, Fender, Hamer, Reverend, Nik Huber, Suhr, Tom Anderson.  I could probably go all in with most of those brands and probably others.  Gibson might be a notable exception since I tend to dig longer scale single coil guitars.

But would I bother?  Nah.  Maybe if life had taken another turn and I was given some kind of exclusive endorsement deal.  🤔

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