Six-String Withdrawls

.

.

.

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…

.

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.

Strumming Along…

.

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). 

.

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.

.

This is an old ad I found online.