We would buy old Strats for $150, Jazzmasters for $80, he adds. [2], The company was incorporated in Illinois in 1976 by John Montgomery, Jol Dantzig, James Walker and Hamer. Figured Maple veneer and it features a smooth playing mahogany set-neck and an Ebony Cheap Trick Tom Petersson 10 & 12-String Basses Rockpile Dave Edmunds Sunburst Pickups on the Import Series were Duncan Designed. I don't know the model or what year it was made but it played very well with excellent balance across the pickup positions. The original run of Hamer Sunbursts lasted until 83. Likewise contemporary Gibsons and Fenders. Finishes included 59 Burst, Honey, Kool Blue, Red Transparent and Tobacco Sunburst. Newport The unbound 22-fret rosewood fingerboard had a 243/4 scale and dot inlays. Bad Company Boz Burrell Standard In 78, Tom Petersson, bassist with Cheap Trick, challenged Hamer to build him a 12-string bass, a request that was a harbinger. I would appreciate anyones comments or info about it,Thanks All,Tele. Beginning in 85, Alembic Activator pickups were offered as a $250 option. Relocation Please Note: For product service outside the U.S. and Canada, please contact either the Dealer from whom you purchased the product, or the Authorized Gretsch Distributor in your area for information and assistance. The Phantom Custom remains in the line to this day. Gold Supporting Member . As the Korean-made Hamers made their transition to become the Import Series around 98, the logo simply read Hamer, in Hamer block type, no USA.. The earliest Sunbursts had a noticeably longer headstock. In 75, the first order came in and garage production began. However, this first version did not survive through 84. The Import Series, sometimes called the Hamer Guitar, was intended to be the companys mid-line offering. $41. The Phantom Untermyer served as a partner and international sales manager. was very similar to the Sunburst Archtop, introduced in 91. As mentioned, custom orders were accepted, so there were also a few Standards with bound ebony fingerboards and block inlays. Fender Precision . I think 265 for a Korean made Sunburst is a great price. This was a little flashlight with a flexible lens you could turn in different directions and put in your pocket.. The first Hamer guitar, a Flying V bass, was built at Northern Prairie Music, a vintage instrument shop in Wilmette, Illinois, owned by Hamer and Dantzig. The second Hamer was an Explorer copy made for Paul in 74. It was also in 98 that Hamer shifted its Korean-made guitars from Slammers to Import Series and began applying the Slammer by Hamer brand to guitars made in Indonesia. These, too, were made by DiMarzio. Hardware was gold. Artist Archtop, et al Grover tuners were replaced by Schallers in 80. 2023 Hamer Guitars | Hamer Guitars is a division of JAM USA LLC. It has a chip mark in back and the wood is light tan. Get the best deals on Hamer when you shop the largest online selection at eBay.com. The SATFW comes . This was more or less a version of the 96 Gibson Futura. The Five was essentially the same as the four-string except for having a 2-Tek bridge/tailpiece mounted through the body, and the addition of a fifth tuner on the bottom of the headstock. Electric Guitar Hamer Slammer Series Made in Korea S/N 6016108 with Soft Case. Pickups were either one or two twin-blade DiMarzio X2N humbuckers. Cruising The Import Sunburst Arch Top Flame Top was basically the equivalent of the Hamer USA Studio, which descended from the Sunburst Archtop Standard. It was held in Dantzigs Volkswagen Minibus. Beginning in 87 many Hamers had EMG pickups. Eclipse This was a spectacular guitar, substantially the same as the carved-top Artist but with some extra-fancy features. Futura was not the official name of this model. The beginnings of Hamer Guitars (pronounced Hay'-mer, not hammer) go back to those heady days of the early '70s, when Chicago was the breeding ground of soon-to-be-famous rock bands such as REO Speedwagon, Styx, and Cheap Trick. Welcome to the Ultimate Hamer USA Archive. ), a triple-coil pickup, hand-delivered to Easton just before the Cars played on an episode of Saturday Night Live. Easton took the guitar from Dantzig and went onstage with it! Until recently, virtually all four and five-string basses featured Schaller-made bridge units with the Hamer logo. At some point after 83, vibratos were available, and in 84 a few were made with Kahler flat-mount vibratos. I don't know what years they were made but it looks good and played well. It sort of reminds me of a cheaper PRS McCarty. Pickup control changed to a five-way select on the pickguard. The shop catered to musicians who were interested in high-quality instruments. Finishes included Black, Transparent Wine Red, Sunburst, Silver Sunburst, Two-Tone Sunburst, Red Metallic, Transparent Blue, and Purple Metallic, though not all finishes were available on all models. Also offered was the upscale Hamer 25th Anniversary Limited Edition (AN25L). Just wanted to let all know I was able to buy the Hamer guitar for 250.00,brought it home and put on some new strings,tweaked the neck and action a little and Wala it plays fantastic. Adding Bass Strings and More Reaction score. Springs attached inside the body in the back, as on Fender-style designs. Apparently, a number of people around town were beginning to make copies of Gibson designs. Not only were the highly figured maple top, soundhole, ebony fingerboard and headstock bound, the body binding included mother-of-pearl. Controls were a three-way select, with two volume and one tone control. The Import Californian was our old 27-fret friend, again pretty much the same except for having a solid maple neck and body. $100. As alluded to earlier, in terms of design the Import Series was very similar to their previous American counterparts, although materials were sometimes different. Fender instruments made after the CBS takeover in 65 had gotten a bad rap from guitarists by the end of the 60s, based in part on some quality control problems and the infamous three-bolt neck controversy (Fender engineers felt four bolts were overkill and they could save money without sacrificing stability; players didnt see it that way). In December 2012, Fender announced that Hamer would no longer produce guitars and the company would cease to operate. Single Cut LP Style $599.00 $40.00 shipping or Best Offer 30 watching New and used Bass Guitars for sale in 85346 on Facebook Marketplace. First was the Phantom A5 guitar. Replacing the former P and J-style pickups were a pair of Duncan Vintage Jazz J-style units, one pickguard-mounted, the other on the top near the Gotoh bridge/tailpiece assembly. Dark Burst finish looks even better in person. The body was Honduras mahogany with an optional unbound flamed-maple top. Slammer by Hamers available in late 98 included the Pacer PCC3 (Strat copy with pickguard, three single-coils, traditional vibrato), Centaura CT21 (superstrat with humbucker/single/single pickups and locking Floyd Rose), Special SP1 (Special shape, solid wood, twin buckers), Special 2 SP2 (single-cutaway modified Les Paul shape with body binding), XP-Standard XP1 (Explorer with pickguard), Vector VK1 (Flying V with Modern-style V-head), Chaparral Bass CP4 (one P-style pickup), and the Blitz Bass BZ4 (two J-style pickups). Recently, the CruiseBass began to offer an option 2-Tek bridge. Keep in mind that while Hamer offered specific catalog models, the company was, especially in the early days, pretty much what we would now call a custom shop. By 80 most models used this second system. Very simple to spot differences. But his real passion was for this new product he had, called the Flex Light. Some models were dropped, others renamed, and new ones added. The headstock logo was also pearl inlay. This was the same as the new 84 Phantom A5, with the addition of a Roland hex MIDI pickup in front of the vibrato, with a three-way toggle (MIDI/regular/both) and two other parameter control knobs. This model did not go into production in the 70s, but the shape, at least, found an incarnation in 82 as the Vector, right in step with the tastes of those heavy metal times. Beginning in 1977 with the Sunburst, a new system was initiated in which the first digit represents the year and the following numbers (four or more) are the running total of all guitars numbered using this method (Y XXXX). Listed: 8 months ago Views: 1498 Watchers: 38 The Standard Custom had a bound rosewood fingerboard with crown mother-of-pearl inlays. Kenny Passarelli Kenny Passarelli Mandocello While many early models were adaptations of Gibson designs like the Explorer and Flying V, Hamer readily brought more modern finishes and features to their instruments. Very soon the supply of Gibson pickups was gone. So you shouldnt have trouble identifying a Slammer import. Standard Revisited Hamer guitar players have always included pro guitarists who demand a lot from their instruments. I can take closer pictures if needed. Initially, the Blitz came with either the Sustain Block fixed bridge or Sustain Block vibrato. After a 4-year hiatus since Fender had discontinued the Hamer models in 2013, the brand was re-introduced as a subsidiary of KMC Music, which announced the return of imported Hamer Guitars at the NAMM Show that same year. The beginnings of Hamer Guitars (pronounced Hay-mer, not hammer) go back to those heady days of the early 70s, when Chicago was the breeding ground of soon-to-be-famous rock bands such as REO Speedwagon, Styx, and Cheap Trick. Numbers were stamped on the guitars, either in ink or black paint, or in yellow on dark instruments. It was acquired by Kaman Music Corporation in 1988, which was purchased in turn by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in 2008. Cheap Trick Rick Nielsen Standards (7), Sunburst Hamer Guitars 'da BOMB ! * custom double cut studio $2,853.31 $86.73 shipping It had a British Honduras mahogany body with a glued-in mahogany neck, the droopy banana or scimitar six-in-line headstock, an unbound fingerboard with dot inlays (243/4 scale), fine-tune bridge, and stop tailpiece. Paul Hamer, the company's president, and chief salesperson, left in 1987 to pursue a career in retail. Other out there models included various doublenecks, a Standard-shaped mandocello (mandocello scale with double strings tuned in fifths), a mandar (Standard-shaped with four pairs of strings tuned as a mandolin, but in a guitar scale), and at least one 20-string harp guitar (six-string neck with seven tunable sympathetic strings on either side). The Phantom Custom was basically a Prototype Custom with a triple-coil pickup at the bridge and slanted single-coil neck pickup, plus an unbound flamed maple top. It was a pretty nice guitar. Recent stoptail models are generally fitted with Schaller tune-o-matic bridges and tailpiece, including the Archtop, Special and Standard reissue. The ones I watched on Reverb tended to sell anywhere from $275 to $450, with no rhyme or reason as far as I could see. Hamers Korean Imports carry the Hamer logo (no USA, see the sidebar on logos). The Gear Page is the leading online community and marketplace for guitars, amps, pedals, effects and associated gear. By 79, the 12-String Bass was offered with four quadraphonic outputs (plus one mono output five in all) as the 12-String Quadbass. From this era stems the appearance of Hamer models for heavy metal pioneers Judas Priest. Kahler flat-mounts were used on the Phantom, Scarab, and early Blitz models. Ca. It was available in two versions the Custom (Model GTSC) and Standard (Model GTSS). Featured in the piece, wearing Hamer T-shirts or carrying Standards, were Nielsen, Ken Simmonds of Savoy Brown, Tommy Bolin, a very young Lita Ford, and Mick Ralphs. The Who Pete Townshend Sunburst Cheap Trick Robin Zander Custom 12-String Guitar 15,688. In 95/96 Hamer produced a limited number of Korina Standards, versions of the original Gibson Explorer of 58. The Hamer Import Series remains available to this day. standard with a Wilkinson Tremolo and classic Hamer controls and switch orientation. Hamer Cruisebass - Electric 4-String RH Bass Guitar - 1982 - Made In USA $1,183.27 $90.13 shipping or Best Offer 19 watching 1981 HAMER PROTOTYPE - made in USA $1,429.89 $105.87 shipping 1981 HAMER PROTOTYPE - made in USA $1,294.37 $108.69 shipping Hamer USA Special - Yellow TV *exc. While the Flying V-shaped bass didnt go into production, there were a few guitar versions produced between 77 and 81. Beginning in around 88 Hamer basses increasingly used EMG pickups, which began replacing Hamer Slammers. Questioned why the truss rod cover said "Sunburst", they didn't know so I bargained on the price and got it for $175 with a free PRS gig bag. They felt they could make and sell a cheaper modern vintage guitar to these same people, and they wouldnt be afraid to take them on the road. . Part of the early Hamer philosophy was making guitars the way Gibson did when Ted McCarty was running the company. The 25th Anniversary Edition and 25th Anniversary Limited Edition were both finished in transparent cherry and were offered in 99 only. We didnt quite get it, explains company cofounder Jol Dantzig, discussing the birth of Hamer Guitars. Also part of the 95 CruiseBass line was the 2-Tek CruiseBass (Model BCRT). The neck pickup changed, finally landing on a Hfner staple pickup. After five years with Kaman, Dantzig left the company in 1993, moving to California to begin a design and consulting business. I'd had an interest in a P90 Sunburst for a while now, but never saw any out in the wild. The first Hamer guitar made (in 73) was a short-scale Flying V bass built for Dantzig. Hamer Guitars was founded in 1973 by Jol Dantzig and Paul Hamer in Wilmette, Illinois. Instead, they decided to create their dream guitars, new guitars worthy of the respect they gave to the vintage ones. It was also in '98 that Hamer shifted its Korean-made guitars from Slammers to Import Series and began applying the Slammer by Hamer brand to guitars made in Indonesia. The primary difference between the new Phantom and the old Prototype was pickup selection. And like the Sunburst Archtop, the Artist Archtop played more name games as it evolved. In 84, the Phantom A5 changed to a second version basically the same as the earlier one, except it featured a six-in-line headstock and Kahler Flat-Mount vibrato system was standard. In 76, a meeting was called with everyone who worked at Northern Prairie Music Dantzig, Hamer and two repair guys. Posted July 12, 2013 On 7/12/2013 at 12:52 PM, serial said: Post pics and we can help a lot more. High-end or budget, theres no doubt Hamer Guitars have been successful and earned the allegiance of players and collectors alike. The Standard had no binding on the fingerboard, and dot inlays. When we created Hamer, we created the high-end boutique guitar category, but we didnt intend it that way. Electric Guitars Solid Body Hamer Gear I Don't Need Anymore Elgin, IL, United States Hamer archtop - Korean made Used - Very Good $395 + $75 Shipping This piece of gear has sold View similar gear from other sellers on Reverb View similar gear Watch Watch this gear and we'll notify you if it becomes available again. This was similar to the Prototype II except for a more dramatically extended upper-cutaway horn and a contoured body with offset waists. Paul Hamers bound flametop Explorer was given the name Standard and became the first of a long line that would be offered from 74 until 85 during its first run. Teenage Radiation Steve Dahl Sunburst reserved. A mini-toggle bypassed the volume control for instant lead mode. This article originally appeared in VGs Sep. 00 issue. $250. New Partner, New Digs 1986-89 OBL (German) Listed: a year ago Views: 724 The fingerboard remained unbound rosewood with pearl dots. The first few Standards were fitted with original Gibson PAF humbuckers, many of them non-functioning units obtained from the repair shop at the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo and rewound by Larry DiMarzio. By around 80, the Hamer Standard was also offered without the flamed maple top and in a variety of opaque colored finishes. In 97, Kaman/Ovation found itself with excess capacity in its New Hartford, Connecticut, factory and operating a second (Hamer) factory in suburban Chicago. At the end of 96, the Hamer line consisted of the Standard, Special, Special FM, Vintage S, T-51, Californian Elite, Californian Custom, Diablo, Diablo II, Daytona, DuoTone, Eclipse, Mirage, Mirage Maple Top, Archtop Artist, Studio Archtop Artist, Short-Scale 8-String Bass, Short-Scale 12-String Bass, Long-Scale Acoustic 12-String Bass, 12-String Chaparral Bass, and CruiseBass. Around the time of the move Hamer introduced another variation on its semi-hollow Artist guitar, a top-of-the-line Hamer Artist Ultimate (ARTULT). With limited orders coming in, existence was tough. The founders may not have quite gotten it, but Hamer guitars sure didnt turn out to be a mistake. I found the neck to be a bit soft for me as I'm heavy handed. Great Condition USA MADE! Ive always been a gearhead.. The Sex Pistols Steve Jones Sunburst These, too, would come in handy before long. Finish options included Cherry Transparent and natural. The Standard Bass was offered until 84. Indio, CA. Colors were Amberburst and Vintage Orange. This was essentially the same as the 12-String Bass except it had only one course of octave strings above the principal string and, of course, four fewer tuners. There were never import Prototypes. fingerboard that is capped off with classy victory inlays. Essentially, this was the Artist equivalent of the Archtop GT, featuring two Duncan P-90s with black covers. The Standard Custom remains in the line to this day. Its essentially a hollowbody version of the Artist, but with a wider body and a pair of f-holes. Roy Buchanan Roy Buchanan Standards (2) This page is to help you identify the year of any Hamer. Mesa, AZ. For more tonal flexibility, in the middle position, the pickups were out-of-phase. This did not really make good business sense. As part of our commitment to improve design and quality of our instruments, Hamer Guitars reserves Thats where Dantzigs huge vintage collection came in handy. Numbering System # 1 1976 to 1981 #0001 to #0680 A Total of 680 guitars All Custom Shop guitars or custom made for someone special etc etc. It otherwise shared the features and options available on the 12-String Bass. Jun 16, 2012. The guitar has quailities of Sunburst and Standard. Basses The original version also had a Wilkinson Wrap Around bridge, although by 97 this had changed to a finetune bridge and stop tailpiece. Relatively few were used, mainly on 83 Phantom A5 and Blitz guitars, after which the fashion for locking vibrato systems supplanted the Sustain-block vibrato.