gorch Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 http://hamerworkshop.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/cant-stop-the-music/For safety reasons, Rick seems to have ordered another checkerboard Standard. It looks like he's not planning to retire in the near future though.
bubs_42 Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Wish I could see it. Work has the blog blocked.
Shark Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Indeed very very nice.Good to see that things are still moving in the HAMER factory ...
serial Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Was talking to Frank on Friday and he sent me a pic from his office. My dream guitar has a twin!
edgar_allan_poe Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Is Hamer still honoring the agreement with Rick and not doing checkerboard for anyone other than him?
Hamerhack Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Is it antique white? In some of the blog pics, it looks bright white.
DaveL Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 looks cool. is that the standard headstock or did they tweak the shape on this one?
Disturber Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 looks cool. is that the standard headstock or did they tweak the shape on this one?In the first pic it looks more like a 4-digit shaped headstock. But who ever took the shot messed up the focus pretty badly.
kizanski Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Is Hamer still honoring the agreement with Rick and not doing checkerboard for anyone other than him?I have mixed feelings about this.On the one hand, this is a work of art and it looks incredible. It's hard to believe that this wasn't done sooner.Then there's that other hand.First of all, he already had a spare - Fung sold it to him last year. But I guess if you're the great Rick Neilsen, you can never have enough spares (even if you've made it all these years without any).So, from what I understand (correct me if I'm wrong) Hamers are only being made one afternoon a week. The rest of the week they're making Guilds and Ovations.A friend just submitted a quote for a custom order and was told a year. People being told six months are actually waiting a year, so a year estimate doesn't sound realistic.I don't think anyone out there believes that Rick "waited his turn" or even waited what would be considered reasonable for something as custom made as this guitar. No, he went to the front of the line, and I'll wager got his guitar in record time.Either way, guitars like this one are the reason there is a year - year and a half waiting time on custom orders now, and I would venture to guess that most of the Hamer/Cheap Trick disciples don't have a problem with this.Well I do, even though I have no plans of ordering anything.It just bothers me out of the principle of fairness.
bubs_42 Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Man orders dozens if not hundreds of Hamers from Hamers first day to present, takes them all over the world and plays them nightly all over the world. I pretty much think he has earned his place in line.
cmatthes Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Are you sure the guitar Peter has is a checkerboard Standard? I know he has/had a converted Blitz, but haven't seen the Standard he got from Rick.Peter?
kizanski Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Man orders dozens if not hundreds of Hamers from Hamers first day to present, takes them all over the world and plays them nightly all over the world. I pretty much think he has earned his place in line.Like I said, "...and I would venture to guess that most of the Hamer/Cheap Trick disciples don't have a problem with this."Are you sure the guitar Peter has is a checkerboard Standard? I know he has/had a converted Blitz, but haven't seen the Standard he got from Rick.Peter?In October, Paul Hamer mentioned during his presentation that Rick's checkerboard Standard got damaged during that show, but that he was able to find a replacement, having bought one from Peter (who just happened to have one lying around).I spoke with Peter after the presentation to ask if I had understood that correctly and he said that I had, to which we both shared a chuckle (because I called him some swear word out of pure jealousy).If I misunderstood, it wasn't for lack of trying.
gorch Posted February 28, 2012 Author Posted February 28, 2012 Are you sure the guitar Peter has is a checkerboard Standard? I know he has/had a converted Blitz, but haven't seen the Standard he got from Rick.Peter?Actually, what differs a Standard from a Blitz in case of opac painted Standards like the Checkerboard not requiring veneer? Both are made from pure mahogany, there are Blitz' that have Standard headstocks,... Sure in the first 10 years of Hamer production the Standards were supposed to be 4-digits. But today?
lincsman Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 What a great guitar.1 afternoon aweek to make Hamer guitars there taking the Pi@@Why are Fender doing this to Hamer, guitars like Knaggs and Gadow ect.... are selling by the bucket load if they make them they will sell????
ArnieZ Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 "It just bothers me out of the principle of fairness."I agree with Kiz, but acknowledge the fact that very few things are ever fair. This is the way it has always been at Hamer and the other manufacturers. It doesn't surprise me that this hasn't changed just because Hamer is now very limited in production and time allowance for production. They recently did a guitar for Jeff Golub as well. As much as I love my Hamers, I don't see ordering one unless the used prices magically come in line with the new.ArnieZ
Disturber Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 "It just bothers me out of the principle of fairness."I agree with Kiz, but acknowledge the fact that very few things are ever fair. This is the way it has always been at Hamer and the other manufacturers. It doesn't surprise me that this hasn't changed just because Hamer is now very limited in production and time allowance for production. They recently did a guitar for Jeff Golub as well. As much as I love my Hamers, I don't see ordering one unless the used prices magically come in line with the new.ArnieZAre Hamer doing any marketing now what so ever? Or is Fender relying on word of mouth, or that old fans of the brand will buy? That is a very dangerous route to go, the brand will decline more and more if they don't do any marketing to attract new customers.Fender should try to reposition the brand. It can be done and I am pretty sure Fender has a very professional marketing deptartment that can create a great long term "how to reposition" plan.They should track down a few, exclusive number of interesting talented artists/guitarplayers to work with so that the guitars are visible on stage. They should target their interest groups and work hard to rebuild the brand within those groups.Fender did re-build Gretsch as a brand. And they re-launched Charvel with a strong filosophy for the brand - with good results results as far as I can tell. why can't they do the same with Hamer? They just seem so very un-interested in Hamer it is scary. If they don't care about the brand then sell it. I am sure Hamer would do better as a small custom shop if they were independent. If worse come to worse give the damn brand back to Jol and he can build them himself, at least he is marketing his new brand while Hamer does nothing except for the blog, (as far as I can see from here in Europe).Doe
kizanski Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 Are Hamer doing any marketing now what so ever? Or is Fender relying on word of mouth, or that old fans of the brand will buy?I was told that Fender had an enormous display at NAMM this year, but only displayed a few Korean Hamers.
lincsman Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 "It just bothers me out of the principle of fairness."I agree with Kiz, but acknowledge the fact that very few things are ever fair. This is the way it has always been at Hamer and the other manufacturers. It doesn't surprise me that this hasn't changed just because Hamer is now very limited in production and time allowance for production. They recently did a guitar for Jeff Golub as well. As much as I love my Hamers, I don't see ordering one unless the used prices magically come in line with the new.ArnieZAre Hamer doing any marketing now what so ever? Or is Fender relying on word of mouth, or that old fans of the brand will buy? That is a very dangerous route to go, the brand will decline more and more if they don't do any marketing to attract new customers.Fender should try to reposition the brand. It can be done and I am pretty sure Fender has a very professional marketing deptartment that can create a great long term "how to reposition" plan.They should track down a few, exclusive number of interesting talented artists/guitarplayers to work with so that the guitars are visible on stage. They should target their interest groups and work hard to rebuild the brand within those groups.Fender did re-build Gretsch as a brand. And they re-launched Charvel with a strong filosophy for the brand - with good results results as far as I can tell.why can't they do the same with Hamer? They just seem so very un-interested in Hamer it is scary. If they don't care about the brand then sell it. I am sure Hamer would do better as a small custom shop if they were independent. If worse come to worse give the damn brand back to Jol and he can build them himself, at least he is marketing his new brand while Hamer does nothing except for the blog, (as far as I can see from here in Europe).DoeWell said +1It makes me so mad :angry:
burningyen Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 I am sure Hamer would do better as a small custom shop if they were independent.I remember reading on this board that even in the best of times, Hamer USA was barely if at all profitable. It was the import line that really drove the profitability of the Hamer brand. My guess is that if the Hamer custom shop were spun off, it wouldn't survive a year.
Disturber Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 I am sure Hamer would do better as a small custom shop if they were independent.I remember reading on this board that even in the best of times, Hamer USA was barely if at all profitable. It was the import line that really drove the profitability of the Hamer brand. My guess is that if the Hamer custom shop were spun off, it wouldn't survive a year.If they re-position the brand and downsize they could. Gustavsson and Huber can survive, why should Hamer not be able to do that? They target the same customer group(s).I'd say if they would start over independently with a good plan they could even grow as a brand. They just need to be smart and do it properly. I am not saying it's an easy route to travel, but it's definately doable.
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