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Who doesnt love a good Ed Roman story


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8 hours ago, mrjamiam said:

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?  

I'd be really sick to my stomach if I unknowingly had one. I can only imagine what one would go through if they bought a Fender Scamocaster or Chibson LP, spent good money, only to get hit between the eyes finding out it was a fake.

Wondering if anyone out there still has an ER Hamer, knowing it's a fake to compare to the Real Deal.

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Ed’s IT guy told me he found my photo on line and then posted it in the Hamer section with how it was a one off but he could build one. Called and never talked to Ed but was referred to the IT guy. We agreed to change the text to read what it was and who put it together for me. But he still left the part about being able to build one. 👀 It is a late ‘79-80 Mighty Mite body married with a Hamer Daytona neck.59A72AC4-6547-4F41-BE72-A8B765437308.jpeg

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32 minutes ago, BTMN said:

Ed’s IT guy told me he found my photo on line and then posted it in the Hamer section with how it was a one off but he could build one. Called and never talked to Ed but was referred to the IT guy. We agreed to change the text to read what it was and who put it together for me. But he still left the part about being able to build one. 👀 It is a late ‘79-80 Mighty Mite body married with a Hamer Daytona neck.59A72AC4-6547-4F41-BE72-A8B765437308.jpeg

Love it... Hardtail?

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On 4/27/2022 at 11:25 AM, cmatthes said:

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.

Was East Coast Music Mall affiliated with East Coast Sound?

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On 4/27/2022 at 11:25 AM, cmatthes said:

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.

I had a brief conversation with him about refinishing my Standard Bass back around 2003.  He said he wanted to repaint it in acrylic enamel. When I said why not lacquer, he just said that enamel was better for the sound.  I called Hamer and they recommended BCR in Lemoyne PA. Greg at BCR said that touch ups to the paint and a moderate restoration were all that was needed.

 

 

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On 4/26/2022 at 1:53 PM, geoff_hartwell said:

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

Maybe in Danbury CT?

Yes. It was East Coast Sound for a while before becoming "Music Mall." It was originally on Main Street in Danbury, must have been 1979 or so, and I lived nearby (I was in high school). All the staff were motorcycle guys (I think Ed's former profession), and Ed was a fountain of loud opinions. I do recall the walls were lined with what looked like racks of music gear, but a peek around the back revealed most were just faceplate blanks with dummy knobs and buttons. Keyboards and sound equipment on the floor often had the serial numbers filed off.  

Joanne_1979.jpg

That said, he and his staff were relatively tolerant of high school punks like me hanging around. But it was clear that the whole organization was sketchy at best. 

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He was set up across from me at a Philly guitar show in the late 90s for a few shows.  He bragged about how he "built more BCR Rich guitars than Bernie did" and was knocking off Ibanez limited Jems....He had a couple lefty PRS guitars, and the PRS people came by and told him that they were fake and to put them away or risk a lawsuit.  He yelled that "they are built better than you clowns...better materials and better labor!"   They cam back with cops and he put them away and was not at any more Philly shows.

 

Not a great guy.

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I might be the only guy with a 'good' Ed Roman story. This was waaaaaaaaaay back when he had a shop on the East Coast. I had him re-do my '72 Les Paul Custom. (I was/still am the original owner) I had butchered it up myself when I was a teenager who thought he know how to customize guitars.

This started around '75. Of the many things I did... Stripped the paint like Mick Ronson. Then, added a 3rd Humbucker ('a la Frampton). Put a MXR Phase 90 inside the control cavity. Grovers, Repainted it about 3-4 times. It was pretty fk'd up. So, I can't remember how I found Ed, must have been an East Coast connection of some sort. But, I sent it to him and had him 'Re-top' the guitar with a Spalted Maple top. Yeah, he cut the old top completely off and put a new top on it. Re-bound it, Re-fretted it, Pretty much everything except electronics. I at least did that right.

He did an amazing job. It looks and plays great. Under 10 lbs. I had Josh Gravelin make me some custom wound, Gold screw Zebra's for it (Thanks Josh) It's actually a killer axe now and I could never sell it as it was the first quality guitar my dad (RIP) bought me new. 

So, even though 'ol Ed was quite the 'piece-of-work', he did right by me, waaaaaaaay back in the 80's.

72LPC.jpgGrav1.jpg.088ad4b7a3f09895678d0ec0f7361413.jpg1956509434_TrussCover.jpg.a5f919b7c39cbff8e1c5de7759dd9a9b.jpg

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On 5/7/2022 at 3:08 PM, santellavision said:

I might be the only guy with a 'good' Ed Roman story. This was waaaaaaaaaay back when he had a shop on the East Coast. I had him re-do my '72 Les Paul Custom. (I was/still am the original owner) I had butchered it up myself when I was a teenager who thought he know how to customize guitars.

This started around '75. Of the many thing things I did... Stripped the paint like Mick Ronson. Then, added a 3rd Humbucker ('a la Frampton). Put a MXR Phase 90 inside the control cavity. Grovers, Repainted it about 3-4 times. It was pretty fk'd up. So, I can't remember how I found Ed, must have been an East Coast connection of some sort. But, I sent it to him and had him 'Re-top' the guitar with a Spalted Maple top. Yeah, he cut the old top completely off and put a new top on it. Re-bound it, Re-fretted it, Pretty much everything except electronics. I at least did that right.

He did an amazing job. It looks and plays great. Under 10 lbs. I had Josh Gravelin make me some custom wound, Gold screw Zebra's for it (Thanks Josh) It's actually a killer axe now and I could never sell it as it was the first quality guitar my dad (RIP) bought me new. 

So, even though 'ol Ed was quite the 'piece-of-work', he did right by me, waaaaaaaay back in the 80's.

See, this is what I don't understand. He did great honest work like this for people who wanted it, but then decided he wanted to I guess make MORE money. I guess it's more cost effective to just replace the entire body than retop it?

Some of those stories though, like replacing HALF the body of a vintage flying V? Really? There wasn't a real way to make an invisible repair, or he just didn't want to take any chances? Such a strange guy, and so hard to figure out what is true, and what is not.

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50 minutes ago, mrjamiam said:

It seems to me that his ability to do (or have someone do, to his order) good work is what makes the fake issue so vexing.  From what is said, his counterfeit work is hard to spot.

Yeah. Make me wonder what the usual "guitar tech" guy they have on the videos is up to these days, if he was the one doing the actual work, and not just someone they stuck in the videos.

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Didn't his business allegedly market bogus "Surfrite" guitars (big wood ovals made with Mosrite parts)?  The legit Surfrites weren't Mosrites, BTW

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  • 4 months later...

Hey guys,

I put together a serial number page with around 30 manufacturers, aiming to be a one stop serial resource. I think it's better organized than the Ed Roman site. Take a look. I wrote the Hamer section specifically after getting instruction from guys on this forum. Please use as you see fit, bookmark it, etc. thanks

https://www.stillkickinmusic.com/blogs/still-kickin-blog/the-serial-bowl

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22 minutes ago, StillKickinMusic said:

Hey guys,

I put together a serial number page with around 30 manufacturers, aiming to be a one stop serial resource. I think it's better organized than the Ed Roman site. Take a look. I wrote the Hamer section specifically after getting instruction from guys on this forum. Please use as you see fit, bookmark it, etc. thanks

https://www.stillkickinmusic.com/blogs/still-kickin-blog/the-serial-bowl

This is great!.. Thanks for doing this 

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1 hour ago, StillKickinMusic said:

Hey guys,

I put together a serial number page with around 30 manufacturers, aiming to be a one stop serial resource. I think it's better organized than the Ed Roman site. Take a look. I wrote the Hamer section specifically after getting instruction from guys on this forum. Please use as you see fit, bookmark it, etc. thanks

https://www.stillkickinmusic.com/blogs/still-kickin-blog/the-serial-bowl

Looks good - the only thing I'd note is that in addition to the Johnny Ramone Special, there may be a couple other artist guitars that have odd characters or something else in lieu of the standard/regular serials.  I can think of a couple others, like Nielsen's "Beatles" Special, which has the date "5-21-80" instead of a sequential serial number, and his "Coffee Table" Standard, as well as the first few Sunburst prototypes from 1977.

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Thanks for building out the serial number tool!  I started playing guitar in the late 70s and early 80s and live about 45 minutes from the old East Coast Music Mall.  
 

we would drive down there every couple of months and just stare at all the awesome guitars.  I was just a dumb kid back then but we all knew Ed Roman wasn’t a reputable guy…..

The serial number tool made me realize I have one of the last 50 Hamers ever made.   It’s a very cool Talledega with tourtes (sp).  Best playing and sounding guitar I have.  

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Mike Lull, a fairly famous guitar and bass builder from seattle area who I was friends with since about 1979 and I had a conversation about Ed. Mike had much to say about Ed and how Ed thought it was funny how he could make parts guitars for a couple hundred bucks and sell them for 1k or more and rip people off. Mike did NOT like Ed. 

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