Who doesnt love a good Ed Roman story

[hikarateboy]

So, After being triple vaxed I got the dreaded covid this week and as I was crawling out of my cocoon,  I decided to do some youtube and this popped up.   

Everyone here is likely well aware of Ed, and most are aware of his dealings with "Hamers".  Back in the late 90's, Ed was an early internet adopter, he called me a couple time since the HFC was the first guitar brand specific fan website and there was a lot of activity on the message board.  He went on and on about how he had any Hamer anyone wanted and that if I sent him his way he would cut me in. I was cordial but my spidey sense (see what I did there?) was tingling and the moment I hung up the phone I knew I would never be involved with that guy.  After a few calls to the Matthi, and Kim at the factory my suspicions were confirmed. 

While I think people should be able to build an exacting replica for personal use, I have a real problem with it as a business practice.  Proud to say the HFC was early to this game and that our membership are the definitive word on whats the real deal. 

 

[Armitage]

The problem with fakes is no matter the original buyers intent, they always seem to end up being sold as authentic.

[DaveL]

Was he by any chance involved in some other business or was he really that good at selling guitars.  Lol

 

 

[kizanski]

Straighten your fucking glasses!!!

[Steve Haynie]

Ernie Ball/Music Man got Ed Roman to remove all mentions of their guitars on his web site. 

[BoogieMKIIA]

Wow. Too bad this behavior. Looks like the shop had major skills. No need to blur the truth.

[Dutchman]

I visited his Las Vegas store for about 30 minutes before I was shown the door. I was laughing the whole time. His sales people should be called tall tale people. Apparently I pissed someone off!!

[RobB]

In 2006 I spent an afternoon with Mobster in Vegas, including a trip to Ed Romans. Greg and ER were buddies, so Ed gave me the grand tour of his facility. There was a lot of NICE (actual vintage and new instruments) stuff there, but I got the impression from Ed that they didn't put the counterfeits on the sales floor, for the most part. There was a fully staffed woodshop with all manner of guitars in progress. For a bootlegger, he sure went to great expense to outfit the workshop with high-end, industrial tools. I mean like Italian and German table saws, etc. It looked like a small factory.

Ed was very cordial to me (obviously because I was a friend of Mobbie...), and explained how they, "reverse-engineer", guitars. Couldn't have been a nicer guy, quite the opposite of his shyster reputation. Maybe I caught him on a good day. Ya never know, I guess.

Still, I did get a laugh of that video at the NAMM show when some dude boots him in the ass. Great stuff!

[princeofdarkness56]

Sounds like some serious first degree fookery going on. 

[GrappaGreen]

Wow... didn't realise this sort of thing went on in the Hamer world... very dubious..

[geoff_hartwell]

Was it East Coast Music Mall he used to own, before the branding and Vegas?

Maybe in Danbury CT?

[tomteriffic]

45 minutes ago, geoff_hartwell said:

Was it East Coast Music Mall he used to own, before the branding and Vegas?

Maybe in Danbury CT?

Geoff, I think you're right.  During one of my periodic fevered Hamer crawls I nearly bit on one of the Vegas ones.

[HSB0531]

9 hours ago, geoff_hartwell said:

Was it East Coast Music Mall he used to own, before the branding and Vegas?

Maybe in Danbury CT?

He was in CT around 2004.

[beezerboy]

I bought my 2nd Hamer from Ed Roman in about 1998. he was still on the east coast then. it was a lightly used Studio, nice condition. the story was it had belonged to someone that worked at the Hamer shop. I got a decent deal but it took forever to get here

[mirrorimij]

I tried really hard to buy a guitar from him…..actually spoke to him on the phone……….hung up after about 3 minutes and felt like I needed a shower after being blasted with bullshit.

RIP you crooked bastard.

[Disturber]

8 hours ago, beezerboy said:

 I got a decent deal but it took forever to get here

Of course it did, he hade to build it first.

[kizanski]

5 minutes ago, Disturber said:

Of course it did, he hade to build it first.

I thought it, you wrote it.

[The Shark]

He bought a early Santana I (just called a Santana at the time) from me.  Paid me all the money and, curiously, wanted me to refund his money and send me the guitar back about a week after the deal.  I always wondered if he wasn't just using it to speck out and fake them.  I told him no, but a buddy of mine bought it from him about two weeks later.  Still has the guitar.  He wasn't pleasant to deal with, when I told him no.  Never noticed if he was making them as well.

[cmatthes]

He was the proprietor of the former East Coast Music Mall in Danbury, CT, yes indeed.  He started doing fakes there - I've come across a few faked Hamers that were actually really well done, but something was just a bit off.  I showed an early '90s listing to Jol and Kim back in the early 2000s that I had my suspicions about, and they both had the same reaction - "that's not one of ours".  There was some really subtle headstock shape/thickness fuckery going on that they both picked up in seconds.

I spent maybe 15 of the most unpleasant minutes of my life on a call with the troll once.   I had a Limited Edition PS-10 Anniversary from 1993 that I was considering moving along to fund a custom order.  Here's how that went down:  Ed called me on my cell and then asked me to call him right back (in the days when cell minute charges were more of a thing).  Odd, but sure, why not?  For the next 10 minutes he proceeded to tell me how crappy the guitar was, and how he could make a better one (for more than double what the going rate of an original was at the time), how he went waaaaaay back with Paul, Gene and Ace and built all of their touring guitars, how Gibson sucks, etc.  Okay...so do you still want to buy this guitar or not?  He then offered me less than half of my already fair price and said that he'd really have a hard time selling it because nobody wants these guitars, and he's just trying to do me a favor...I told him that perhaps he wasn't the person who really wanted to buy my guitar, so I'd go elsewhere.  He then unleashed a torrent of 4-letter abuse and accused ME of wasting his time.  I hung up while he was in mid-rant and he called my number back furiously for the next hour (I ignored him), never leaving a voice mail.  I got calls from him for the next week or so, so I guess he really didn't want the guitar after all or just needed to finish his spew.  In any event, he never got the chance, and now the stupid, crooked fuck is long dead and is dust and rotting in Hell or wherever by now, so all is good.

[Biz Prof]

3 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

In any event, he never got the chance, and now the stupid, crooked fuck is long dead and is dust and rotting in Hell or wherever by now, so all is good.

I think this^^^ should be engraved verbatim into whatever marker sits at his grave site. 

[joshoowah]

To answer the question posed in the thread title, I think 1) There's no such thing as a GOOD Ed Roman story, and 2) Plenty of HFCers have stories they don't love about him and their dealings with him.

[Steve Haynie]

A friend bought a B.C. Rich Punisher bass from Ed Roman.  It was never totally clear, but my friend was led to believe that the bass was in parts when Ed Roman bought the unfinished stock at the B.C. Rich factory.  My friend was asked what kind of pickups he wanted when he ordered the bass.  That bass went to the KISS Convention Tour stop in Atlanta back in 1995.  Gene Simmons signed it, but he and Andre were looking at it carefully.  Within a week my friend got a phone call from Ed Roman asking if he wanted to sell back the Punisher.  My friend told Ed that he just got it signed, and did not want to sell.  Ed Roman said, "So you're the one."  Gene must have called Ed Roman after seeing that bass.  Gene likely knew how many legitimate Punishers left the factory, and probably saw something wrong or out of spec with the one my friend brought with him. 

[mrjamiam]

39 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

now the stupid, crooked fuck is long dead and is dust and rotting in Hell or wherever by now, so all is good.

Except the fakes are still out there.  I can't be the only one wondering how to spot one.  Is there any specific guidance out there?  Or should we be doing a pre-purchase serial number check with Serial Steve to learn that that double-neck Cali has a serial number assigned to a Diablo?

Based on what I've heard so far, I'm hoping that his Hamer fakes tend to the flashy ones, and my relatively ho-hum stash isn't really at risk.  Basic economics implies that a big shop with US labor rates wouldn't be cost effective on run of the mill models, but I don't know.

[beezerboy]

5 hours ago, Disturber said:

Of course it did, he hade to build it first.

 

good fake then.... built to spec, including the Hameritis it developed later. it was a good guitar, I played it 10 years or so & it dropped out of the rotation with the Mirage and Newport so I sold it

[mirrorimij]

I will say this about Ed……he did convince Jol to do a small run of stained tops.  Jol was against it because the stain killed the “flip” effect of the bookmatched top when rotated around in the light.  Jol eventually granted the request.