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PSA: 2004 Hamer Improv at TME


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                                                   Congrats! I would love to have that guitar! Any improv for that matter, but the Blonde/Natural that would be the bomb for me. Way to late in the game  to have a thought about that guitar at  almost age 70 except to congratulate someone else as the new owner. I DID get to play one for several hours long ago That IS one of the best guitars at any price on the planet. What a beauty!

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21 hours ago, HamerCustomEr said:

Yes, it sold... to me!  I was waiting to post here until I got formal acknowledgement that the Improv had shipped to Canada.  I will be posting pictures the day after I receive this beauty.

Congratulations! I'm guessing you won the money argument with your wife. Was it a strategic or a tactical victory?

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4 hours ago, Menehune said:

Congratulations! I'm guessing you won the money argument with your wife. Was it a strategic or a tactical victory?

I would say a tactical victory:  I agreed to repay the cost of the Improv by selling off other gear that I already have.  Don't worry, because embarrassingly, I have enough pedals that I think that I should be able to do it without having to unload any of my coveted Hamers.  I play mostly jazz these days anyway, and so I am going to unload my collection of ten vintage Way Huge pedals this summer, including the very rare Tone Leper, Foot Pig, and original Blue Hippo.

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                                          Just pure curiosity on my part as I have no plans to buy one at this point........................what did the Hamer "Improv" sell for when it was first produced, and do you know how many were built?

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1 hour ago, ARM OF HAMER said:

                                          Just pure curiosity on my part as I have to plans to buy one at this point........................what did the Hamer "Improv" sell for when it was first produced, and do you know how many were built?

$7k list price, so you should have been able to get these for $4.9k new (30% off list). I think maybe 24 were built?

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20 minutes ago, burningyen said:

$7k list price, so you should have been able to get these for $4.9k new (30% off list). I think maybe 24 were built?

The Improv: The guitar a company creates when it no longer knows what it wants to be. 

Who was this guitar for? I'm sure I don't know, and neither did they.  

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2 hours ago, ARM OF HAMER said:

                                          Just pure curiosity on my part as I have to plans to buy one at this point........................what did the Hamer "Improv" sell for when it was first produced, and do you know how many were built?

The last list price had it at $10k.

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Everyone should try one if they can. Emphasis on  TRY because it does not quite meet the original stated objective of being a travel friendly version of an archtop for jazz guitarists (IIRC the ads). I really did like the build and attention to detail. In practice, I never found myself playing it much. Based upon the build it SHOULD have been more feedback resistant. But I let it go in favor of an Ibanez GB-10.

That said, I MIGHT buy another IF it was at the same price I paid for mine way back when.....😉

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12 hours ago, kizanski said:

The Improv: The guitar a company creates when it no longer knows what it wants to be. 

Who was this guitar for? I'm sure I don't know, and neither did they.  

Nobody was more rock 'n roll than Leo Fender, and Fender Japan came up with the beautiful Fender D'Aquisto.

fender-daquisto-elite-archtop-natural-19

Everybody knows that Gibson (and Epiphone) made plenty of jazzboxes.  Maybe the Improv was Hamer's attempt to show the world that they were not just a rock guitar company (not that that would have been a bad thing).   Maybe they were trying to show that they could be just as versatile as Fender and Gibson.  I think that the Improv is an extraordinary design in that it is clearly a Hamer, but it has so much in common with a jazz guitar.  The first time I saw it in a catalog, I was so excited!  Gotta love the tailpiece!  I am sure that the Improv was never meant be a big seller:  I think that it was intended to be a crown jewel in the Hamer collection, and indeed, it will the crown jewel in MY Hamer collection.

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8 hours ago, django49 said:

Everyone should try one if they can. Emphasis on  TRY because it does not quite meet the original stated objective of being a travel friendly version of an archtop for jazz guitarists (IIRC the ads). I really did like the build and attention to detail. In practice, I never found myself playing it much. Based upon the build it SHOULD have been more feedback resistant. But I let it go in favor of an Ibanez GB-10.

That said, I MIGHT buy another IF it was at the same price I paid for mine way back when.....😉

My first jazz guitar was an Ibanez GB10 made in 1988 in the Terada factory. 

b8q0fqvbj4w4mi2azwfl.jpg

I loved it, at the time, but after I moved to a 1-3/4" nut with my Sadowsky SS-15, I unloaded it, along with my Fender D'Aquisto, since they both had 1-11/16" nut widths.

sadowskyss-15archtopvintage-1__large.jpg

 

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On 2/9/2022 at 10:11 PM, HamerCustomEr said:

Nobody was more rock 'n roll than Leo Fender, and Fender Japan came up with the beautiful Fender D'Aquisto.

fender-daquisto-elite-archtop-natural-19

Everybody knows that Gibson (and Epiphone) made plenty of jazzboxes.  Maybe the Improv was Hamer's attempt to show the world that they were not just a rock guitar company (not that that would have been a bad thing).   Maybe they were trying to show that they could be just as versatile as Fender and Gibson.  I think that the Improv is an extraordinary design in that it is clearly a Hamer, but it has so much in common with a jazz guitar.  The first time I saw it in a catalog, I was so excited!  Gotta love the tailpiece!  I am sure that the Improv was never meant be a big seller:  I think that it was intended to be a crown jewel in the Hamer collection, and indeed, it will the crown jewel in MY Hamer collection.

                           I actually owned that very guitar and played it in gigs for about 3 years great guitar, and I also owned a Fender Flame Elite. I know of a black one sitting in a glass case in a music store not far from where I live Those guitars were really well made

and played and sounded really nice. Other guitar players would come up to me and see FENDER on the headstock a say..................Really?

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8 hours ago, HamerCustomEr said:

Nobody was more rock 'n roll than Leo Fender, and Fender Japan came up with the beautiful Fender D'Aquisto.

fender-daquisto-elite-archtop-natural-19

 

And what was the list price on one of those? 

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