PSA: 1998 Hamer Artist Custom At DGS

[crunchee]

No affiliation:

https://www.davesguitar.com/collections/all-products-latest/products/artist-98

[Tortious]

Artist Custom, actually (I think?)

Nice.

[BubbaVO]

Very nice. 

[crunchee]

Just checked, the DGS website says it is now SOLD OUT.  Did anybody here on the HFC snag it?

[cmatthes]

That was a lotta guitar for $1,995!

[BadgerDave]

I admit it -it was me.

I was randomly checking the DGS Just-In page and spotted it Thursday night.  It must have been within a couple of hours of when they posted the photos and description.

I made the 7 hour round trip to LaCrosse yesterday to pick it up.  It's probably the most highly figured top I've seen on a Hamer (which is saying a lot) but the website photos might have been just a wee bit enhanced, Or the lighting was particularly heavy with contrast dust that day.

It is unquestionably a beautiful guitar, in near mint condition at a great price.  I'm happy.

I'll need to do a few mods to address the abundance of gold hardware though.

[HamerCustomEr]

11 minutes ago, BadgerDave said:

It's probably the most highly figured top I've seen on a Hamer (which is saying a lot) but the website photos might have been just a wee bit enhanced, Or the lighting was particularly heavy with contrast dust that day.

 

Pictures, please!

[cmatthes]

22 minutes ago, HamerCustomEr said:

Pictures, please!

 

[mirrorimij]

Good Lord that must have been a custom order for someone.

Sweet.  Congratulations.

Edited to add…. My money says we built it for Ed Roman.  Curious…..if you move it around in the light does the top “flip”? I’m betting it doesn’t.  We built a few for Ed around that time with ridiculous tops and gold hardware.  The tops were also stained to make the figure pop which Hamer typically didn’t do.  

[BadgerDave]

18 hours ago, HamerCustomEr said:

Pictures, please!

The conversion has begun.

I do not hate gold hardware, however, I do have a tolerance level for it that this guitar has exceeded.

Pictures are forthcoming, but likely not for a day or two.

[BadgerDave]

I finally got around to changing out some of the gold hardware on the Artist Custom.  I replaced the tuning buttons with rosewood and the stock Duncan pickups with a traditional Hamer combo of double cream at the bridge and zebra at the neck.  The pickups are Wolfe Tone Marshallheads.  I also replaced the cracked control knobs with a fresh set and added a TonePros bridge and tailpiece.

It's still more bling than I usually go for, but no longer has that Mr. T in a tux vibe.

I had some time to turn it up through my Marshall Studio Vintage 20 and Vox AC15.  It was glorious.

 

[mirrorimij]

It does not look like a stained top in the most recent pics…..wow.  Hamer had a pretty decent stash of figured wood (thank you Frank U) and that billet was in the 99th perecentile.

Does the top visually “flip” when you move it around under a light?

[cmatthes]

Dibs! 
 

😉

[BadgerDave]

12 hours ago, mirrorimij said:

Does the top visually “flip” when you move it around under a light?

There's a lot of movement in the flame/quilt as the body is rotated.  I have a pretty good iPhone video,, but it exceeds the bandwidth limit for posting.

[BadgerDave]

Let's see if this works.  My first YouTube video:

Artist Custom You Tube video

[burningyen]

Man, that’s a beaut.

[JGale]

[polara]

Dang but that is a knockout, and enhanced by your de-blinging. Well done!

[Tortious]

That is a very nice improvement on an already killer guitar. I was quite tempted on that one, glad someone here got it. Well done.

[BadgerDave]

Just thought I'd post another photo.  💪 😁

[cmatthes]

Well done!!!