I love speculation.
If it would have been a Hamer I would have bought it no questions asked. That's my personal favorite when it comes to basses. The short scales are good but the medium scales are their best.(IMO)
I had the oppurtunity to buy the bass before it went on eBay. The bass was made with a leftover Gibson body from the Custom Shop and a Gibson neck that was bought on ebay from Kalamazoo, Mi. I was bidding on the neck myself and backed off to let it go to the person who had the bass built. The pickups came off of eBay also, I was bidding on those as well. They came from the UK, seems the guy had a bunch of them. I wound up with 3 of them also.
The bass was made to look like a Hamer. The previous owner has been a Hamer player for many years and I know for a fact that he had the first B4S (short scale 4 string) made when Hamer started offering them up again in "01" or "02" which ever it was. I ordered the first B4M around the same time. I just got a short scale 8 string Hamer a month or so that was his at one time.
The headstock is cut Like a Hamer and the pickup routes are cut like a 4 digit bass from the 70's to early 80's. There were about 750 custom instruments that were made from the start of the company in the 70's up through the early 80's that carry a stamped 4 digit serial number. Martin Turners Hamer is serial #0001 and everything on his bass is from a Gibson Thunderbird.
The regular production guitars had an inked serial number, I think this started in 1979 and only the customs were stamped. All models are stamped with the number and USA on the headstock now. I believe this started in the early 90's.
I have 4 custom ordered Hamers since 2002 myself. Three of the B4M's and the 8 string VBass. I also have the 8 string double cut.. I have also owned at least 20 other different Hamers over the years too.
If you want to see the date stamp on the Explorer you'll have to take the neck off of it because the date is stamped on the bottom of the dovetail and in the neck pocket. It's a cool bass, I would love to have it. Even if no one will admit they built it I honestly believe a certain person did and they did a fine job on it.
I also believe the story I was told regarding the bass. I know the person and know he's not telling me a bunch of BS.
Speculation is still cool though.
