Guest Luthier Series: Jol Dantzig

[Hoss]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

What is your personal #1 guitar...the favorite in your collection and why?

If you could build a custom guitar for any artist...living or dead...who would it be and why?

What other guitar designs/designers are you a fan of?

As a company...when people say "Hamer" or think "Hamer"...what's the first thing you want to come to their minds?

What's the best part of having a business relationship with Seymour Duncan the company?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[Jol Dantzig]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

P-Jack, yeah, The Angels! Spent a lot of time with Doc and the boys back in the day when the came to town.

The 12 string was Tom Peterson's idea. He just needed someone to figure out how to do it, so I did. Same with the 5-neck. Rick wanted three necks to be bolder than the guys in Rush who were using doublenecks. So I said, "how about four necks" and Rick said "sure, how about five?" We would have settled on six, but we ran out of beer.

[Jol Dantzig]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

Yeah, the neck pickup in the Monaco is hot, but it's made to be cranked down away from the strings to balance out the volumes. This tightens up the sound too, losing the bass a bit. The guitar wasn't meant to be a full-on metal guitar... although I've seen it used that way. It's more of a roots/jazz guitar that rocks hard too.

[cmatthes]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

Hey there, Jol! Glad to see you over here.

This is a bit of a subjective question, but I'll ask it anyway. Over the years there have been several "flagship" guitars in the range that demonstrated the peak of your craft as well as resonated particularly well with players at that point in time. The Standard has probably been the most consistent, but there have also been front-runners like the Californian in the late '80s/early '90s, and I'd say that in the last decade, the Improv (top end Jazz Box) is near the pinnacle of Hamer's design.

What would you consider to be the current Hamer guitar that best represents your ideal from both a designer/luthier's standpoint and that of a player in 2009/2010?

Also, any hints as to what the "next big thing" is in Hamer's direction over the next 5-10 years?

[Pontiac Jack]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

G'day Jol,I first saw Hamer guitars in photos of Cheap Trick way back when...
Being a fan of guitars with a more radical shape like V's and Explorers,I was mighty impressed. Then local Aussie band "The Angels" (Angel City in the States) started using Hamers (Prototypes),in the early 80's, and I finally got a chance to see and play them first hand. Awesome!

So,finally,my question:
Were the Cheap Trick guitars,such as the 12 string bass and the 5 neck designed for/with Tom and Rick,or were they concepts you had and just needed the right "vehicle" to promote them?

Thanks for taking the time to do this!!

Cheers,PJ

[Jol Dantzig]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

The Monaco series was a way to morph the tonalities of the longer scale into our lineup without being untrue to our set-neck heritage. In every design, I try to answer a question, solve a problem or create a new character for the guitarist. Sometimes I just do something because it seems funny to do or just to see if it can be done, and if it adds something to the musician's palette, we'll go with it. In the case of the Monaco, I wanted a humbucking guitar that spoke with the clarity of a longer scale, and the chambered body and spruce top gives it a nice warm top instead of a sharp edge. The pickups were a weird combination, but they worked. I always try out lots of pickups whe we design a new model.

[parvulesco]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

Hi Jol,

Thanks for taking the time to do this! What can you tell us about the DiMarzio pickups that Hamer used in the late 1970s/early 1980s? If I remember correctly, you guys had them custom-made (they weren't a standard, off-the-shelf DiMarzio offering).

Thanks

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

Hi Jol! I'm a big Hamer fan. The Hamer Standard and the Hamer Artist and the Hamer Monoco Super Pro are my three favorite Hamers and I have a question about the pickup choice in the Hamer Monoco Super Pro. I've owned two of them and although I like the 14.4K Custom Custom as a bridge pickup I always wondered why you chose a Duncan Custom as the neck pickup. At 14.4K the Custom is such a hot pickup that I found the tone to be a bit to full and a little muddy when played at higher volumes. The Custom used a neck pickup almost overpowers the Custom Custom bridge pickup. So in my Monoco Super Pro, I removed the Duncan Custom and installed a Duncan Seth Lover neck model instead. Now we have two alnico 2 pickups and the tone seems a lot more balanced. Just curious. Thanks for all the great guitars!

[newking70]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

Newking: Glen Danzig is my Dad...

lol,

[Jol Dantzig]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

Newking: Glenn Danzig is my Dad...

[Jol Dantzig]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

Mr Wolf. There are a few builders I admire, and am proud to call friends. I don't consider them rivals as much as kindered spirits. The ones that come to mind first are Tom Anderson, Rick Turner, Ken Parker, Ned Steinberger, Dean Zelinsky, John Suhr and Bill Collings. The list goes on...

[Jol Dantzig]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

Razix I learned from an older repairman named John Montgomery, and then from everyone I've ever come into contact with. In the early days, maybe 1974, I went up to Michigan to visit Ted McCarty to see if I could learn a thing or two. We took one of the first Hamer guitars with us. The first words out of his mouth were "guitars like that were failures". He was speaking of the explorer of course, which was a total sales flop in the 1950s and had been discontinued after less than 100 guitars!

We got to spend time at the Gibson plant in Kalamazoo when we became the warranty service center for Gibson. We had access to all the tools techniques and materials we needed.

[newking70]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

are you really glenn danzigs brother?

[Jol Dantzig]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

Beandip, when we parted ways with Paul Hamer in 1987 we needed a new salesman. Kaman was a very successful distribution company and Bill Kaman was a fan of our guitars. It seemed like a good solution, one that let us concentrate more on making guitars as opposed to selling them.

Most underrated tool? The clock.
Most overrated tool? Fret files.

I got into this business by putting one foot in front of the other. I never thought I'd be here now. I just did what I loved, and the rest just happened.

[jeremy]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Series Feature's Hamer's Jol Dantzig

great to have you here jol!

i love your monaco and monaco superpro guitars. the longer scale with the single cut semihollow body is perfect. can you give me the story of their creation? what lead you to choose those pickups? the custom in the neck seems an odd choice for such a graceful guitar.

i played with matt smith shortly after he got his and was blown away by how great an instrument it was, even with such stout pups which usually arent my thing.

i havent been able to get my hands on a talladega. can you give a little comparison between the two guitars? again the long scale single cut design piques my interest.