Hbom Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 I'll probably get my walking papers for this but couldn't help myself when I read it. I was searching The Goofy Place for Hamers for sale when I stumbled on a thread about new headstock design on Heritage guitars. PLEASE REMEMBER I read it on TGP and present it here only because of the sensitive nature (and hilarity) of the subject. member DGAS said "The Heritage headstock always struck me as an experiment to see if someone could take the awful Hamer headstock and make it worse."the Hamer is boring and out of proportion. So let's make it longer and thinner and even more aesthetically offensive. Yes, just like that..."" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCChris Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 An appropriately named TGP "member" because I Don't Give A Shit about his opinion. There are better headstocks out there, but Hamer's made sense to me when someone described it as a snake's head viewed from above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kizanski Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Well, he's not wrong. As for a new Heritage headstock, the world needs that like it needs... Ok, I'll be honest with you. I was trying to think of something more useless than a Heritage-designed anything, but I stumped myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff R Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Wanna make a Heritage headstock look better? Compare it to a Seagull headstock. As much as I love those acoustics, that head is absolutely the pits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbonesullivan Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Why does no one love the snake head style? What exactly did they change about the design that makes it "better" anyway? They all still have the weak area around the nut / truss rod nut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biz Prof Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 32 minutes ago, Jeff R said: Wanna make a Heritage headstock look better? Compare it to a Seagull headstock. As much as I love those acoustics, that head is absolutely the pits. Yep. I love playing my little Seagull parlor jumbo, but the headstock is fugly and looks incomplete. Still, my eyes can more easily tolerate the narrower ugly headstocks than the gaudy, wide headstocks you see on some guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fractal Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Am I the only one that doesn't see/think of the headstock when I play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kizanski Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 5 minutes ago, fractal said: Am I the only one that doesn't see/think of the headstock when I play? No, but that has nothing to do with the headstock's impact on the aesthetics of the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Biz Prof said: Yep. I love playing my little Seagull parlor jumbo, but the headstock is fugly and looks incomplete. Still, my eyes can more easily tolerate the narrower ugly headstocks than the gaudy, wide headstocks you see on some guitars. Watching the John Denver doc on PBS I noticed Guild made him a couple of jumbo 12vers (beautiful, BTW) that had H-U-G-E headstocks, even bigger than an Artist Award. Telegraph that branding to the back rows, yup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biz Prof Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 5 minutes ago, RobB said: Watching the John Denver doc on PBS I noticed Guild made him a couple of jumbo 12vers (beautiful, BTW) that had H-U-G-E headstocks, even bigger than an Artist Award. Telegraph that branding to the back rows, yup. Not a 12'er, but made for John Denver, and sheesh....it's yuge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 That's the one. Maybe it was a 6str. I was pretty baked when I watched it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakeboy Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Fuck him. I love the Hamer headstocks and think the Heritage headstock has always been ugly. Rickenbacker headstocks are cool and Shishkov’s are the best. I was on the Heritage Forum years ago and they all waxed poetic about how more useful and utilitarian Heritage was over Hamer. They railed against the Hamer headstock (Even more so than I just did against theirs) and against the Hamer finishing process. Too pretty for them. It was hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrdaddy Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 8 hours ago, kizanski said: As for a new Heritage headstock, the world needs that like it needs... They’d be better off learning how to build a guitar properly first, rather than trying to polish the turds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthes Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 I don't care. I've played a number of Heritage guitars over the years, and not a single one was worth a damn. I joined an established band back in the '90s, and the guitarist - a very fine player and teacher - played Carvins and Heritages. I brought him a Hamer Sunburst and a Newport just so he could see what an actual guitar was. He promptly sold the shitful guitars he had been playing for a decade and bought a Gibson 335 and Hamer Special FM. I saw him at a wedding years later (he is in a "career" event band and does quite well), and we caught up. He was sporting a '70s Ibanez George Benson and a newer CS Strat for the gig. Towards the end he said "do you remember when I used to play those shitty Heritage guitars?" I reminded him he also played Carvins, and we both chuckled and shuddered in no particular order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 3 minutes ago, cmatthes said: I don't care. I've played a number of Heritage guitars over the years, and not a single one was worth a damn. I joined an established band back in the '90s, and the guitarist - a very fine player and teacher - played Carvins and Heritages. I brought him a Hamer Sunburst and a Newport just so he could see what an actual guitar was. He promptly sold the shitful guitars he had been playing for a decade and bought a Gibson 335 and Hamer Special FM. I saw him at a wedding years later (he is in a "career" event band and does quite well), and we caught up. He was sporting a '70s Ibanez George Benson and a newer CS Strat for the gig. Towards the end he said "do you remember when I used to play those shitty Heritage guitars?" I reminded him he also played Carvins, and we both chuckled and shuddered in no particular order. The special FM is an underrated guitar and quite possibly the best kept secret in the tone/playability/bang for the buck world.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 1 hour ago, cmatthes said: “shitful” This my new favorite word! Seems it can be used as a qualifier OR a descriptor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamerhead Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 Two that came to mind: The John 5 Tele and Deans. The good thing is there's enough lumber there to do a re-shape into something....less. The John 5 was designed by a canoeist and the Dean headstock needs it's own headstock to make a 3/4-size Flying V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchee Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 Actually, the "John 5 Tele" uses the same style/shape headstock as the old MIJ "Vista Series" Squier Venus XII (the Venus models were supposedly endorsed by Courtney Love!), except it has six less tuners...but plenty of room there if you did want to turn it into a 12-string. I had one of these 12vers in black several years ago, they weren't a bad 12-string, they even had Seymour Duncan "split" pickups that looked a lot like the Fender XII pickups of the 1960's...but I didn't care for the fact that the body was basswood, plus the width of the body shape required a Jazzmaster-width case: http://theonesthatgotaway.blogspot.com/2008/03/squier-venus-12-string.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamerhead Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 Yeah, that thing is ugly even as a 12-string. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kizanski Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 37 minutes ago, crunchee said: ...but plenty of room there if you did want to turn it into a 12-string. ...or a Hamer headstock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BubbaVO Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 On 10/15/2020 at 12:27 PM, tbonesullivan said: Why does no one love the snake head style? What exactly did they change about the design that makes it "better" anyway? They all still have the weak area around the nut / truss rod nut. Hmmm...I’m thinking that’s the camel toe headstock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchee Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 On 10/15/2020 at 11:27 AM, tbonesullivan said: Why does no one love the snake head style? What exactly did they change about the design that makes it "better" anyway? They all still have the weak area around the nut / truss rod nut. I'm surprised that, at some point, Henry J. didn't try to have Gibson sue Hamer for some kind of trademark infringement over the headstock...even though, like the Explorer guitar design, it was way too late to go after Hamer for something they'd already used for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbonesullivan Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 8 hours ago, crunchee said: I'm surprised that, at some point, Henry J. didn't try to have Gibson sue Hamer for some kind of trademark infringement over the headstock...even though, like the Explorer guitar design, it was way too late to go after Hamer for something they'd already used for years. I don't think they even use it anymore, and it may not be on their trademark application where they pretty much claim just about all the classic headstock designs, including many that were in use before Gibson even existed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakeboy Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 ...and then there’s the Fender droopy end 12 string headstock...I call it the “reservoir tip”.. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diablo175 Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 Just now, Jakeboy said: ...and then there’s the Fender droopy end 12 string headstock...I call it the “reservoir tip”.. . Ribbed for her pleasure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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