Incomming Hamer Blitz with Kahler !

[godofthunder]

No need to break out the saw..........................I can get to the upper register on this one 

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Congratulations Scott! More pics, por favor.

[mc2NY]

Cool! One of my Dutch heroes Freddie Cavalli played a Hamer Explorer. Here's a pic and a vid:





Can't wait to see yours!

I actually OWN that bass....bought it from Freddie a few years ago about a month before he passed away. Really great guy and a good bassist! He actually made a video clip of him playing it and talking to me to personally pass it onto me. Very cool of him.

[Chris P.]

Wow, that's cool! Can you post some pics?

I'll try to post a pic of Freddie and me later, but Freddie is one of my heroes and I met him several times and I interviewed him once. The last time when Herman Brood died. I know his bass was for sale in Holland for a while cos he needed money for dental surgery. It was quite expensive. When he died I couldn't find anything about it, so great to hear from this!

I wrote an obituary for him for the Dutch bass magazine I work for. Wow, great, don't know what to say! Tell us more!

[mc2NY]

Wow, that's cool! Can you post some pics?

Tell us more!

Here are a few pics of it. The shot of Freddie is from the mpeg clip he sent me, passing the bass onto me after he owned it for 30 years!! Very cool of him. I think the deal took almost TWO YEARS because he kept changing his mind about selling it. If you see the date on the still it is from 11-2007...by the time the bass shipped and cleared NY customs (a full month at JFK Airport!) it was January 2008. I got an email not even a month later in Feb saying Freddie had died of cancer. Sad. This might even be the last video footage of Freddie playing.

A shot of the bass, on left (it is Hamer SN#054 !!) with another early one like it and a custom korina 5-string I use (has a 2TEK bridge too!) I think that is the only Standard 5 Hamer ever made.

BTW....Any idea who shot that B&W photo of Freddie and the bass flying away that you posted? It looks strange enough to maybe be some art photo Hermann Brood shot?

[Chris P.]

Hi there! Thanks, very interesting! Great! Nice pics!! And I'm glad someone nice has got the bass!

Was the mini-humbucker standard?

I don't believe Brood took any pictures. Just painting and action painting. This pic is only around on the net for some years. It appeared in a book of a famous Dutch photographer, which came out last year or the year before. I have to think which one. Could be Kees Tabak. I'll find it out.

[Chris P.]

Yep, it was Kees Tabak.

Coincidentally a friend of mine had a workshop of him some days ago. She's studying photography.

http://www.keestabak.nl/classics/

[mc2NY]

Hi there! Thanks, very interesting! Great! Nice pics!! And I'm glad someone nice has got the bass!

Was the mini-humbucker standard?

I don't believe Brood took any pictures. Just painting and action painting. This pic is only around on the net for some years. It appeared in a book of a famous Dutch photographer, which came out last year or the year before. I have to think which one. Could be Kees Tabak. I'll find it out.

That EB3 bridge mini humbucker WAS standard, as were the double Jazz PUPs. That was the normal pickup config one the earliest Hamer Standard (Explorer) Basses (after the first one SN#001 for done for Martin Turner that had an actual pair of Gibson TBird PUPs used.) I love the original BIG Hamer headstock on the earliset ones. Paul Hamer told me that they had the '60s Gibson TBirds in mind when they designed that.  Great bass.

Thanks for the photo info!

[OldManC]

I really like the early headstock as well. It's nice to finally have some real Hamer representation here. Nice looking basses!

[Freuds_Cat]

Cools story and a ghreat looking bass.

[godofthunder]

Wow what a great story about a fantastic bass ! I really love seeing Hamers. I remember when they came out I wanted one so bad but there was no way I could afford such a bass. I have had a soft spot for Explorer shaped basses ever since I bought my Ibanez Destroyer in '76, as close to Entwitles Alembics as I could get at the time lol. This bass is Killer ! So well made and odly enough even with the Dimarzio PJ set up it has a surprisingly Tbird like tone. The neck is quite beefy and at the nut it feels more like a 50's P more than anything, I like it it feels very comfortable but I would like it a little narrower at the nut but that is nit picking. There are some amaturish touch ups in the finish but overall the bass is in excellent condition. Again best 499.00 I ever spent. I put Gibson knobs on her I find the black Hamer ones boring. I really like the color, not to garish and thankfully the bass has chrome hardware. I have not gigged the bass yet but I hope to soon, maybe we need to add some 80's tunes into the set.

[Highlander]

Very nice...

(you should post one of these pics with a reference to that pricey Hamer's head - Gibbie like and nothing like this...!)

[gearHed289]

Wow man, nice! What a score! I had an early Cruisebass in that same finish. Nice color.

[Basvarken]

Interesting pickup combination on the Cavalli bass!
And a great story too.

[Chris P.]

If you ever sell the Cavalli-bass....

A friend of mine posted a vid on facebook of Cavalli playing it live on British television. New to me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk9c92ylGNo&feature=player_embedded#at=313