Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

Hairmail

Hairmail

New member
Hey,

Could anyone that's ever used these tell me a bit more about what kind of pickups they are and how they sound?

I picked up the bridge version recently and am pretty curious since it hasn't got a home yet. I did some research and I'm finding inconsistent info on it so I'm hoping someone here can shine a light on them.
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

Slammers were the low budget line of Hamer. I don't think the PU's in them would be anything worth keeping, as far as materials or workmanship. They'd make great paperweights.
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

Yeah, the ones in my friend's Strat copy were worse than MIM Strat pickups.
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

Didn't some of them use Duncan Designeds?

If they're not those,they're good for keeping notes on teh fridge...
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

If you're talking about Hamer Slammer pickups from the 80s and not the junk Slammer line of 90s guitars, they were spec'd by Hamer and wound by Dimarzio. I'm not a Dimarzio fan but the few sets of those I had in my old Hamers of that era sounded fantastic. Middy, but not like the overbearing mids you may associate with the brand, spongy bass and detailed highs. They were great for cleans and rock. I'm not so sure about metal but they were probably good for the hard rock of the time.
 
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Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

There is a lot of confusion over the term "Slammer" when it comes to Hamer.

Hamer started out using specially wound DiMarzio DP103 pickups for their entire line until around 1983.

In 1983 Larry DiMarzio started winding a set of pickups that Jol Dantzig named "Hamer Slammers". These replaced the specially wound OEM DP103s in their entire line of guitars.

Originally the pickups were around 10k-ish with the bridge being just slightly hotter than the necks. Sometime in the late '80s, the DiMarzio developed a JB-like 16-17k Hamer Slammer humbucker for their bridges.

Now, Kaman bought Hamer in 1988 and started an import line that was unfortunately named "Hamer Slammer series". I don't know who's idea it was to call their import line "Slammer series" since it confuses the name of the DiMarzio wound pickups in their USA line. Prior to 1988, 100% Hamer guitars were made in Arlington Heights, Illinois (my hometown). In 1988, Hamer shot itself in the foot by allowing Bill K to sully their namer with what was perceived by the general guitar buying public as cheap import junk.

So, if the pickups came out of a "Slammer guitar", they are crappo. If they came out of a USA Hamer from between 1983 and 1990, they are the special "Slammer" pickups. The 17ks sound like DiMarzios take on the JB. I'm almost POSITIVE that this wind became the DiMarzio Axis bridge pickup, but I digress. The 9 or 10k Slammer pickups are pure MAGIC FWIW.

You're in luck because I am one of the world's foremost Hamer Slammer pickup experts. lolz! :9:
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

I've got a couple of pics:

20150915_225254_resized.jpg20150915_225424_resized.jpg20150915_225530_resized.jpg

I'm fairly sure they're the Dimarzio ones cause of the baseplates, the seller said the sound profile was similar to a super distortion so I'm not sure what I'll get when I finally put it in a guitar.
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

Those are 100% DiMarzio wound OEM USA Hamer pickups.

More like a Brobucker than a Super Distortion... Alnico V not ceramic
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

The Slammer story continues. In the '90s, Jol asked us to produce a three coil pickup for a guitar they were calling the Slammer. If my memory serves, the pickup was a JB that was matched with a humbucker coil mounted on a Parallel Axis Stack bottom plate. Internally, we called that single coil pickup the Hamer Slammer. it was a short-lived project.

This is just for information. Obviously, the pickups in the photos above are not part of this project.
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

Evan Skopp said:
The Slammer story continues. In the '90s, Jol asked us to produce a three coil pickup for a guitar they were calling the Slammer. If my memory serves, the pickup was a JB that was matched with a humbucker coil mounted on a Parallel Axis Stack bottom plate. Internally, we called that single coil pickup the Hamer Slammer. it was a short-lived project.

This is just for information. Obviously, the pickups in the photos above are not part of this project.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the Hamer Phantom Custom model. I believe they shipped with a JB in the bridge and HMR1's in the neck and "triple coil", made by Seymour Duncan. Not sure what the specs on the HMR1's were; I've heard conflicting reports and haven't had my hands on a Phantom Custom (yet) to investigate for myself). The plate they are mounted on had to be identical/similar to the the Parallel Axis Stack bottom plate in order to get everything to fit.

PhantomCustom.jpg

-
Austin
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

i tried a used Slammer p-bass style bass and it sure sounded legit. I think this was the Asian Slammer bass.
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

Lot's of info and questions. I'll ask the most important one though:

How do the pickups you purchased SOUND to YOU?
 
Re: Any info on Hamer Slammer pickups?

Evan Skopp said:
The Slammer story continues. In the '90s, Jol asked us to produce a three coil pickup for a guitar they were calling the Slammer. If my memory serves, the pickup was a JB that was matched with a humbucker coil mounted on a Parallel Axis Stack bottom plate. Internally, we called that single coil pickup the Hamer Slammer. it was a short-lived project.
Click to expand...

Another unfortunate and confusing use of the term "Slammer".

A triple bucker pickup was featured in the original Phantom guitars and was featured in the "Prototype" as well. The triple buckers were originally made by Mighty Mite back in the day.

So, I guess when they brought back the "prototype" design and called it the "Phantom Custom", they contacted SD to re-make the Mighty Mite triple bucker. I can't believe Jol threw around the word "Slammer" like that... not cool Jol... not cool.

As a side note, after the stock of DiMarzio made OEM "Slammer" pickups ran out (around the time they moved to New Hartford), Hamer used only Seymour Duncans in their models. I guess Hamer had been asking DiMarzio to wind their version of a JB for years and (they decided they wanted the real thing) they replaced every 16-17k Slammer pickup with JBs. How exactly the relationship with DiMarzio ended I couldn't say for sure... I'm not sure if the decision to use the "Slammer" wind for the Axis bridge precipitated the break or was something they did after Hamer didn't renew the contract.

On another side note, the original custom wound DiMarzio DP103s for Hamer came in double cream for the bridge and zebra for the neck... this color scheme went on from 1977-1983 and all of the vintage Hamers from that era had the cream/zebra bobbin color combo. The double cream DiMarzio bull hockey hits us straight in the guts because a lot of those pickups were swapped out and lost in the DP103 used market mix. Many vintage Hamer holders want to restore the original color combo (because it is the BEST) but with Duncan pickups... and we basically can't because some judge decided that Larry deserved a trademark.
 
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