Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

^ Yeah-huh. Look at the shocking number of ESP/LTD endorsers and signature models, especially compared to Jackson. And yet, I agree with Zerberus. Give me a free ESP, and I'll say, "Thank you; it's a fine guitar." But I'll keep buying Jacksons. Jeff Hanneman has a signature ESP. I've played the LTD version, and it's nice. But when you catch Slayer in concert, he's like as not to be playing a Jackson. (I've heard that his ESP is meant to be a copy of his favorite Jackson, by the way.)
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

From a consumer's point of view:

1. What's in the stores? Not Hamers, usually.

2. Who's my favorite guitar persona and what's that person playing?

2b. Can I find that guitar in a store, online, etc?

3. Will that guitar be out of my price range?

Guitar Company's perspective:

1. Let's get as many people as possible to buy our stuff by cramming them into every retail venue.

2.Who do people like (read: what are the kids into these days)?

2b. Let's make sure consumers can get the guitar their favorite players use.

3. Cover all bases by making the Custom Shop Exact Replica, the standard production version, and the cheaper not-quite-the-same-but-looks-the-same version.


Hamer doesn't do this stuff because the people that buy Hamer guitars will spend the money to get what they offer. I know that Hamer has produced "import quality" lines, but generally speaking I don't see them at the big box retailers, and the online retailers don't usually carry the same amount as they do Fenders, et al. I believe when it comes to people buying/using Hamer guitars it's a matter of taste and knowledge of quality instead of public image. PRS is known for making good guitars, but they are also highly visible in the retail markets...stores carry them, artists endorse them, magazines show people holding them, kids want them. Endorsements from well publicized artists might increase sales revenue, but it also becomes an indication of suffering quality for the sake of market saturation. I'm just speculating, of course. The real reasons for Hamer's artist associations can really only be explained by those at Hamer.
 
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Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

BTMN said:
AFAIK, Hamer does not pay people to play their guitars, and they like being lowkey and top notch. Keb Mo has a Hamer on the cover of his new live cd because he wants a Hamer on the cover of his cd not because Hamer paid him to hold it. :)

I like that.

<--- shameless, unofficial unsigned unknown(to them) Hamer Endorsee. :kabong:
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You have a ridiculous array of Hamers. I must admit I'm jealous!

I can understand Jol and co wanting to be more "boutique" as opposed to an Ibanez, ESP type of company.

I must clarify when I speak about endorsers, I don't specifically mean those who are paid to play the instrument. I don't look at Jackson, ESP, Ibanez, B.C Rich etc as being anywhere near the level or principle of Hamer, Suhr, Vigier, PRS etc.

But the guys I mentioned in my OP play their guitar because they want to, not because they are being paid.

They are far from the countless metal players who switch guitars they appaerntly viewed as being the "best" as soon as more money becomes available with a different company. :)


Jessie Sammler said:
^ Yeah-huh. Look at the shocking number of ESP/LTD endorsers and signature models, especially compared to Jackson. And yet, I agree with Zerberus. Give me a free ESP, and I'll say, "Thank you; it's a fine guitar." But I'll keep buying Jacksons. Jeff Hanneman has a signature ESP. I've played the LTD version, and it's nice. But when you catch Slayer in concert, he's like as not to be playing a Jackson. (I've heard that his ESP is meant to be a copy of his favorite Jackson, by the way.)
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I've seen Slayer live 5 times over the years and he's used his ESP's more than his Jackson (mainly down to numerical advantage & song choice- his urban camo was for C# tuning the last time I saw them and they played a few tracks which use that tuning) though I agree he does seem to favour his Jackson soloist for Eb tracks.

I'd personally take his ESP sig over any production Jackson, but there doesn't seem to big a big difference in quality at the high-end.
 
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Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

Thank you for the comment. I only have 24.5 Hamers. I'm sure I'm low on the list of big time collecters. I have liked Hamer since playing the first one back in '77 or '78. Bought my first in '82 and still own it, a '79 Standard.
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

rivera213 said:
...
I must clarify when I speak about endorsers, I don't specifically mean those who are paid to play the instrument. I don't look at Jackson, ESP, Ibanez, B.C Rich etc as being anywhere near the level or principle of Hamer, Suhr, Vigier, PRS etc.

But the guys I mentioned in my OP play their guitar because they want to, not because they are being paid.
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For the record, Jackson is Pay to Play, not even those with Sig models get them free for the most part. This is one of the main reasons so many of the newer bands that IMO haven`t really paid their dues yet are jumping to ESP even though they were playing Jacksons for a while. ;)

I've seen Slayer live 5 times over the years and he's used his ESP's more than his Jackson (mainly down to numerical advantage & song choice- his urban camo was for C# tuning the last time I saw them and they played a few tracks which use that tuning) though I agree he does seem to favour his Jackson soloist for Eb tracks.

I'd personally take his ESP sig over any production Jackson, but there doesn't seem to big a big difference in quality at the high-end.
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Trivia note: Jeff has openly admitted to preferring his Jackson to his ESPs multiple times in the past, and still has all major work on that guitar done in the Jackson CS. Why he´s not on board I do not know, but something tells me it has more to do with management and money than with personal preference. His Jackson gets babied, while his ESPs occasionally get destroyed ;)

And comparing an ESP sig made in the CS to a production Jackson is a standard trick that holds no water, one of the reasons being the price difference (this is the part where I get an ESP street price and a Jackson MSRP quoted in the next post as a rebuttal :laugh2: ).

Interesting that Jackson players rarely compare CS guitars to standards..... must be all the confusion over ESP /LTD, what´s made where and all frying brain cells ...:rolleyes: :laugh2::beerchug:
 
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Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

The ansewrs, but it is so simepl!

Gibson, Fender, PRS, Ibanez, ESP, Jackson, et al all make more guitars in a day than Hamer makes in a month.

The above myriad "better-known" or "more-endorsed" companies all use a significant portion of their comparatively-huge net earnings to run fully-staffed marketing departments.

Hamer doesn't.
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

^^ man, why do you always have to ruin everyone´s conspiracy theories :laugh2::beerchug:
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

Martin Barre was a BIG Hamer user, appearing in their ads and stuff when Tull were pretty much at the height of their power in the late 70s. But as he says on his site:

"In the next few years I stuck with Gibsons until Paul Hamer convinced me his guitars were better! He was right and I must have amassed a dozen of his instruments and played them on Bursting Out, Heavy Horses, Songs from the Wood, Stormwatch.

When Paul quit his company I switched to various guitars."

So that's the one and only Hamer user I listen to (oh other than Rick Savage who's with Jackson now!) and he apparently thought Hamer's were at their best when Paul Hamer was in charge.
I don't know, maybe Hamer have such a good name because of their history?
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

Gary Moore prominently displayed Hamer Sunbursts around 1982, even on album covers.

Of course much of the album is quite audibly recorded on his Strat types, old Strats and a Charvel IIRC.
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

I think it's the finish - it feels to thick.

I felt my Hamer Monoco Super Pros were both as well made and played just as well as any great Gibson I've ever owned - but after a while the finish just felt to thick and separated me to much from the wood underneath it.

The old Sunbursts and Standards have a finish like a 50's or 60's Gibson nitro finish - but the newer Hamers use what feels like a catalyzed finish of somekind (catalyzed varnish?) and I'd like to see them use something that feels thinner and breathes a little more or something.

That finish just seals up the guitar to much for my tastes.

Lew
 
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Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

Lewguitar said:
I think it's the finish - it feels to thick.

I felt my Hamer Monoco Super Pros were both as well made and played just as well as any great Gibson I've ever owned - but after a while the finish just felt to thick and separated me to much from the wood underneath it.

The old Sunbursts and Standards have a finish like a 50's or 60's Gibson nitro finish - but the newer Hamers use what feels like a catalyzed finish of somekind (catalyzed varnish?) and I'd like to see them use something that feels thinner and breathes a little more or something.

That finish just seals up the guitar to much for my tastes.

Lew
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New company owner.

That's all I'm gonna say.

Mine is a 1980.
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

:bsflag:

^^ The finishes got "thicker" and "more glossy" DECADES before FMIC purchased Kaman... AND before Paul left in ´87.

So this "new owner" you attribute this to must have somehow weaseled himself into the company without anybody noticing in the mid 80s, and done it so well that Jol and Paul thought they still owned the company. And managed to survive both the Kaman takeover and the FMIC takeover, without ever having been seen by another owner or employee or listed in any records...

I`d say it´s more likely that laws and regulations made it impractical / illegal /unnecessarily expensive to continue spraying straight nitro.

But you can find proof for anything you want to believe on the internet.... :rolleyes:
 
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Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

Zerberus said:
^^ The finishes got "thicker" and "more glossy" DECADES before FMIC purchased Kaman...
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Do you agree though that they're to thick Zerb? Really, I think that's the problem. Otherwise, Hamers are awesome guitars.
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

^^ my impression is essentially the same as yours. Something in the way they finish was changed, and that led to a much more "appliance" like feel that I don´t like.

Maybe they´re spraying thin poly or some nitro variant, but either way I have a very similar issue with PRS guitars post ca 1990.....

They may be doing the finishes in the same rooms, with the same equip and even spraying the same finish, but something feels like it´s changed...
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

Random Musings:

I like Hamers, always have. Come close to buying a few over the years, but never have. I'd have no qualms at all about recommending a Hamer guitar to my friends.
================

I have 15 G&L guitars that I bought. No endorsement deal, no free guitars.

I have 11 Gibsons (ten LPs and a 335). No endorsement deal, no free guitars.

I have 6 Ibanez guitars. No endorsement deal, no free guitars. I also have several Martin guitars, and I have five Mesa amps, too. Same deal.

These are the guitars I play out with.

Who's gives the better endorsement--me, or the guy who got a couple from the factory for free?
=================

My name is not listed on the G&L website's list of endorsers.

I have a friend in a local band. He works in a music store that carries G&L. They gave him a bass. His name is on the list.

Last three times I've seen him gig, he's always used his old Fender Precision Bass.

Some endorsement....

No sour grapes, but use a little common sense. When I say that I use G&L, Gibson, Ibanez, Martin, or Mesa amps; and I recommend a product to you--that's a heartfelt recomendation that was EARNED. Those recommendations were earned on the stages I've played on over the years.

So when I read a post here on the Forum from a guy who has a bajillion Hamers--that certainly piques my interest more than any advertisment would.

Bill
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

maybe quality speaks for itself.

maybe Hamer doesn't want the sudden inrush of orders based on some famous endorsee

maybe they figure that the big companies are doing that so they take the other road....wait for people to get tired of products from the big guys and start looking elsewhere.

we have a forum member who is the guy who could help answer this....send him a PM.....he may not be here a lot, but i have seen him check in a couple of times when the guest luthiers have been here.

for me, i once saw an ad in a guitar magazine, a simple but beautiful pic, a Studio Custom leaning against an old amp in subdued lighting.....i used to look at that pic and think just how well-made and appealing that guitar looked. If they were available here at that time, i probably would have bought one. As it was, years went by, i got the internet and online banking...and....i bought one from the USA. I didn't need to see it in the hands of some other player, even someone i might respect. That pic, and almost everything written about them online, was all i needed. I actually like the fact that they don't seem to have 'the latest and greatest' spouting Hamer love, it feels more like they make great instruments for the everyman, when the everyman has become jaded with the fluctuating quality of the big-name manufacturers.

long live Hamer, just the way they have been.
 
Re: Why don't more "known" players use Hamer guitars?

But a double cut Hamer Sunburst isn't even remotely like a PRS, not even the McCarty :confused:
 
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