Six-String Withdrawls

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If I were to get another guitar – which I won’t – it would be this model from the now-defunct Hamer company.

To be more specific, it would be this Talladega with a jazz burst which is currently on ebay for the unaffordable sum (to me) of $2760. Oh, well. I can dream…

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You can visit Wild West Guitar’s website HERE.

On another note (because I was sharing the Hamer Talladega), here’s an interesting shot of a “board of inspiration” at Jol Dantzig’s shop. Dantzig is a co-founder of Hamer guitars, considered by most to be the first-ever boutique/custom guitar shop. Dantzig is a master luthier, and you can try to spot this image in the following video clip.

Still Rockin’ After All These Years

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While waiting around during soundcheck, I decided to shoot a pic of the bar…
Hey, I was bored.

 

 

An Irrelevant Post

The title says “irrelevant” because I’m discussing old news that really doesn’t matter to anyone any longer. But it’s new to me, and this is my blog, so I’ll ramble on as I please.

Oh, and the fact that there’s the same train on this album cover as on my blog header is a coincidence, I promise… Still, it’s pretty cool.

I just wanted to add that, while perusing the new album on YouTube, I came across old bootlegs from what is now usually considered album “Zero”, produced by Gene Simmons of Kiss prior to the band being signed by Warner Bros. I knew this stuff existed, but I’ve never had a chance to listen to it. Much of it made it on to later albums, often reworked (and you can check out the song list to see just where many familiar songs originated). Frankly, I liked some of those earlier versions better. All in all, I feel that between the newest album and the “oldest” album, I got a double dose of fun to listen to for a while. 

Strumming Along…

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These were hand-made in a suburb of Chicago, in Hamer’s cutom shop. The Standard came stock with a Rosewood fretboard and chrome hardware, so someone apparently custom ordered this with black hardware and a maple fingerboard. My buddy happened to work in a small music shop and got me a deal for about half off; I got it for $740 in 1989. It’s MSRP back then was $1540. I suspect he just sold it to me at cost. I’m going to install a large brass block on the Floyd Rose to add sustain, as well as a tremolo blocker (I don’t tend to pull up on the whammy bar, and I think blocking it will help keep it in tune, especially during string changes). 

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My amp is being serviced, so I couldn’t take a shot of it for this post. I’m just borrowing this image from the web, since it’s the same model year as mine and looks exactly the same. I got this image from: http://los-angeles-guitar-shop.com/gear/amplifiers1/page/4/

A lot of people swap out that CTN speaker for a more powerful or efficient speaker, but I really like the sound of the stock one. It breaks up around 5 or 6, and sounds really clean before that. It’s got a classic Fender sound, and at $276 for an all-hand-wired, vintage all-tube amp, that’s a steal. If/when I sell this, I’ll easily recoup my cost, and then some.

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This is an old ad I found online.

Welcome to the Ultra-Lounge!

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