tomteriffic

It's alive and well and residing in Dayton OH, after its East coast sojourn. Boy, it was waaay overdue for a string change. Tell ya what, Bil, certainly made this one his own. Preliminary pix later, probably today.

Oooh! That's quite an undertaking. But I like mine just fine as is. I put ground rounds on mine and it covers a lot of territory. Doesn't wear out these smallish hands either.

What you saw was not the actual site (different web address, drafts of everything) and was several days before the actual launch. That was the beta test site that was not for public consumption. It was not the real thing at that point and Ted, Chris, Mike and I spent a good bit of time tweaking it and altering content from there. Oh well, it's not the first time I was too quick on the trigger, probably won't be the last

Rats. I saw the initial website ad but was warned off of it and was told that it was just a "placeholder" or a tryout website. I was reaching for my wallet nonetheless. I'm a little steamed at being told it was not the real thing back then. Grrrf.

Noyce! Noyce! Well done, it probably goes without saying that I think the blueburst is the bee's pajamas. Or cat's knees, I forget which.

Give them time, Stonge, give them time.

1976 or 77. Trying to nail a part after hours at the studio where I worked. It wasn't happening and I put my original Firebird V on the stand, but, evidently, not quite right. Over it went and snapped the headstock right at the body. Pretty amazing for a neck-through Firebird. The break was such that it was like a lock-key combination and it played fine after it was glued back together. That fall wrecked the value though. P.S., I eventually got the part down, through a river of tears, with a Fender Bass VI

Fascinating and a beautiful instrument. A couple of random observations: It appears that, as might be expected, the guitar had not yet achieved it's current design of six single-string courses. The five double-strung courses are reminiscent of it's immediate ancestor, the vihuela. The recordings are all in highly reverberant spaces (I'm assuming that nobody committed the sacrilege of adding reverb). It'd be nice to hear the guitar in a drier environment so as to hear more of the guitar and less of the room. As it is, the recordings are impressive-sounding at first but the overall, static tone of the reverb gets boring. It's probably a function of having tied-on nylon/gut frets, but it doesn't seem to respond well to hammer-ons/pull-offs. Still, it seems to be a sweet-toned guitar and it's good to see it functioning after all these centuries.

Fascinating and a beautiful instrument. A couple of random observations: It appears that, as might be expected, the guitar had not yet achieved it's current design of six single-string courses. The five double-strung courses are reminiscent of it's immediate ancestor, the vihuela. The recordings are all in highly reverberant spaces (I'm assuming that nobody committed the sacrilege of adding reverb). It'd be nice to hear the guitar in a drier environment so as to hear more of the guitar and less of the room. As it is, the recordings are impressive-sounding at first but the overall, static tone of the reverb gets boring. It's probably a function of having tied-on nylon/gut frets, but it doesn't seem to respond well to hammer-ons/pull-offs. Still, it seems to be a sweet-toned guitar and it's good to see it functioning after all these centuries.

As the day has gone on, I've gotten sadder and sadder about this. A random musing passed through my noggin a while ago. That's all it is, a random musing and no offense is intended toward members, builders, etc. It is told that the Chinese accidentally invented barbecue when a farmer's barn burned down with a pig in it. It is also told that they continued to burn down a barn any time they wanted to barbecue. There were almost no barns left in the province before they wised up. I cant help but think that in a similar fashion, this is FMIC's ham-fisted attempt to get both Shishkov brothers under the same roof, not just under the same corporate umbrella? Given their corporate behavior over the past few years, it wouldn't surprise me.

Done and done!

Gene, if you happen to be heading for Cowtown or if the Special makes a south-north swing, or east-west for that matter, I'd be honored to give it a spin. Our summer calendar is filling up and I'd be tickled to show it off and bang it around some (figuratively speaking). If the timing was right I might even get it on the TeeVee. It'd be fun to double-bill it with the Beatles Special.

I have NO beepin' idea what that means but FUKKK YEAH!!!

ALL of them. I'll corroborate it. Again. And there are very few people on the planet who know more about Hamers than CMatthes. In fact his twin brother literally wrote the book on the subject.

More to the original questions. The Mirage I pictured above would likely suit your needs/expectations the best. It has a 25.5" scale, rail-style humbuckers and the extra switch is a "blower" switch that sends the output of the bridge pickup straight to the output jack, bypassing all else. I'm sure that the switching could be doctored to your needs pretty easily. The sculpted heel is NIIIZE. Your second best choice would be a Daytona. I know that some of the longtime members have scored $350 USA Hamers before, sometimes several/many. I've only managed the feat once, about 10 years ago. It was a beat-to-death P-90 Special that rocks hard as anything. But the $350 USA Hamer has pretty much turned into a running joke.

Noyce! Those were sleepers buried under too much poly finish, usually.

Martin Barre (Jethro Tull, Hamer #0004, etc.) auditioned with no amp at all, just a solidbody with the headstock pressed up against the headboard of his bed.

Other than being old enough to have owned or played the Holy Grails when they were just "used guitars", I'm completely unqualified on the subject. But I'm going to spout off anyway. I'd fall into the camp that says that quality materials and superior craftsmanship will be more likely to produce an exceptionally good instrument. That said, as some have noted, now and again you stumble on a cheapie that is just punching way above its weight. I've been through a mess of those, just because they were fun/funky/worth a try at the price. I still have a couple, even. But a lot of them were pound puppies and moved on eventually. Still, they were pretty doggone good for what they were. And that, right there, is the qualifier. Sure I've had a couple of dud Hamers, but that was more often a case of it not meeting my particular needs, rather than it being an actual "bad" piece. I usually take 5 guitars to a gig, two acoustics and three electrics. Of the seven or eight likely suspects to be dragged out on any given night, only one cost me more than $1,100 and it's an acoustic. And that's a whole 'nother kettle of worms.

This too, but it's pretty much my "noodling on the couch" as opposed to actual practice amp. Essential piece of gear. But a significant amount of my actual practice is done unplugged with either my Martin or Taylor. The dippy little folk and roll trip that I'm proud to be a part of is at least half "acoustic" so getting that stuff down is every bit as important as the plugged-in stuff.

Fender SuperChamp XD. Tube power, some good models and digital FX, a lot to like in there. Goes to small gigs, too.

Dibs.

The more I think about it, and as enamored as I am of the double-cut Special shape, I think Serial et. al. may be on to something with the Prototype/2nd Gen Phantom shape. The one I've had was very comfortable.

My thoughts turned to the headstock, as in, what name might be on it. Let's see, we have 3 Monkeys Amps, 2FIG (Two Effing Idiots in a Garage) bridges and? ???

This. ^^^ Possibly with something like a not-too pricey non-Floyd but quality whammy. Blade Runner comes to mind.