Gibson/Hamer Custom Shop Explorer?

[Blazer]

Congrats with that awesome looking bass Uwe.

My take is that this is a modified Hamer Standard bass possibly re-necked with a neck of a Hamer Sunburst bass which was then modified to carry a Gibson Logo.


A recent Hamer Slammer Sunburst bass, the headstock looks almost identical to the one on your bass.

As for the pickups, Hamer used Dimarzio pickups exclusively and my guess is that it originally was a Quad pickup bass. As for the sound of the pickups together, I guess they must be wired out of phase.

A Hamer Sunburst Quad bass, the pickup spacing says everything here. If your bass is a re-topped and re-necked Hamer Quad bass then that would explain the large backcavity of your bass (A volume and a tone pot don't need THAT much space do they?) and why the pickups are placed so close together.

John Entwistle's Hamer Standard 12 string Quad bass, the many pots are a good indication why the control cavity of your bass is so large.

So my take on this bass is that you have a modified Hamer Standard Quad bass, re-necked and re-topped.

[Dave W]

So my take on this bass is that you have a modified Hamer Standard Quad bass, re-necked and re-topped.

It's not a modified Hamer. It has a Gibson neck and body. See this post from earlier in the thread.

[Blazer]

It's not a modified Hamer. It has a Gibson neck and body. See this post from earlier in the thread.

I said that it was my take on this bass, just what I think it is. I could be wrong but the the two pickups being so close together as they would be on a Hamer Quad is a little too coincidental wouldn't you agree?

[Dave W]

I said that it was my take on this bass, just what I think it is. I could be wrong but the the two pickups being so close together as they would be on a Hamer Quad is a little too coincidental wouldn't you agree?

I agree about the Hamer influence, but we know enough about the bass to know it's not made from Hamer parts.

[uwe]

I think Blazer definitely has a point! More than one actually. If his post was a legal brief, I'd tell my client: "Looks like they caught us, we better settle!"  When I first saw that bass, my immediate reaction was to be reminded of Martin Turner's Explorer bass built by Hamer in the seventies (albeit with sixties TBird pups and long scale).



And Hamer started out as a Gibson customizer after all. That solitary Hamer tuner might be a telltale giveaway and not just a coincidence. (Or a tongue in cheek nod of the luthier to the true origins of this "Gibson" - I kinda like that idea, a Da Vinci Code bass!!!). And the headstock cries Hamer too (it's actually beginning to grow on me visually and also has the huge advantage that this bass fits into a Gibson Explorer GUITAR case comfortably and snugly).

The outsize cavity speaks hugely for Blazer's theory. What's more: The cavity of a Gibson Explorer body which this is supposed to be is oval not trapezoid! When I opened it yesterday (not yet having read Blazer's thread) I thought to myself:"My, what a huge cavity for just two pots!"

Closer visual (the walnut fin is not quite opaque, but almost) and aural (the bass sounds dark, phat and warm even with the Pyramid rounds I strung it with yesterday) inspection has, however, revealed that both body and neck are mahogany after all, so the only remaining questions are:

- Did Hamer do short scale maho necks with large volutes that were baseball bat fat?
- Did those necks feature the typical Gibson truss rod nut like this one does?

Whatever. But certainly the body reeks of Hamer. So there we have it. My first Hamer. It was about time!

I have no regrets. Just like women, a little mystery surrounding a bass makes it attractive. In a way it is the souped up and boutiquized replica of the "Owned by Car Salesman" (when those still existed, remember?) Explorer bass replica I own of the original few fifties Explorers (three in all) Gibson made. The bass sounds surprisingly vintage dark and warm, not at all the angry piano ring you might expect from the looks. Mild treble and mids are there, but the overall sound is more that of a low-frequencies-emphasized "soft cushion" without being muffled or without attack and contour though.

Uwe   




 

[TBird1958]

 "I have no regrets. Just like women,"

Herr Moderator, is there something you're not telling us? 

[uwe]

I meant a little mystery, Mark, ok?! 

[Dave W]

I understood from Marcus' email that it has a Gibson neck and body. Does the neck not have a Gibson serial number stamped on it? Isn't there a body date stamp? And why not contact Roger Giffin about it, anyway?

[uwe]

Duh, I haven't looked for a neck stamp, but I don't think there is one. Never heard of body date stamps with Gibson, where are those supposed to be?

And I understood Marcus' email to just refer to what info he had been provided with by the seller.

I think Blazer's analysis pretty much nailed it - he did a better job than Gibson with it! 

I contacted Roger Giffin on this bass a while ago - he never replied though I made it clear that I wasn't expecting information for this to be a legitimate Gibson and not going after "culprits".

The more I think about it the more I feel that that telltale Hamer tuner might be the revenge of a skilled luthier for at customer's request having to put a Gibson logo on that bass. 

Who said Hamers are shamers?

Uwe

[eb2]

Hamers are usually pretty nice.  Even the import things.  When they have a Gibson inlay and serial number impressed on the back they are maybe even nicer.

[Blazer]

http://uk.geocities.com/largeat/bass.html
This site gives a lot of information about Vintage Hamer Basses, they also state that the Hamer Quad basses were short scale.

However my search has also revealed that while Hamer Twelve string Standard and Blitz (also explorer shaped but without body and neck binding) are fairly common, explorer shaped Hamers with the Quad pickup set up are rarer as rocking horse droppings, the only one I found any information about was the one owned by Entwistle, he apparently sold it in the mid eighties and it hasn't been seen since.

http://www.celebrityrockstarguitars.com/rock/neilson.htm
This site shows more about the Hamer Quad bass and the explorer shaped one owned by Entwistle. It's a shame that this bass doesn't have the original neck because there is a possibility that you have an actual  Entwistle owned bass.

I just wish there was a way to make sure of it though, is there a serial number somewhere in the cavities?

[Blazer]

Hold on, I think I hit paydirt here.

http://www.12stringbass.net/EntwistlesQuad.htm

Finally some decent information and big clear pictures. If this site has it's numbers in order then it must mean that there's only two Explorer shaped Quad basses in existence and one of them was owned by Entwistle.

It doesn't say if Entwistle's Quad bass was long scale or short scale but with your basses having been re-topped and re-necked it's impossible to say what kind of scale it originally had, the only way to find out would be to take the top off and look for marks of a bridge at a different location and that would mean taking this possibly historic instrument apart.

Whether it's your bass I can't say but it's still pretty exciting. I say that you should contact Jol Dantzig about this.

[rockinrayduke]

Very cool, sir. How's the weight?

[ZezozeceGlutz]

Finally some decent information and big clear pictures. If this site has it's numbers in order then it must mean that there's only two Explorer shaped Quad basses in existence and one of them was owned by Entwistle.

It doesn't say if Entwistle's Quad bass was long scale or short scale but with your basses having been re-topped and re-necked it's impossible to say what kind of scale it originally had, the only way to find out would be to take the top off and look for marks of a bridge at a different location and that would mean taking this possibly historic instrument apart.

I'd be more inclined to say that the body was a rough leftover from Quad production than that it used to be a fully completed one.  Quads had that big cannon jack and a lot of meat cut out of the back for all of those electronics:

That would be kind of hard to hide in a refin/retop/reneck/whatever.

On the other hand, I could see a body that had only the pickup routs cut (being that there are very few reasons to place two of the same pickup right next to each other in the middle position) sitting in the corner after Quad production was shelved then getting dug up by someone years later and finished with a current production 4-string neck.

[Blazer]

I'd be more inclined to say that the body was a rough leftover from Quad production than that it used to be a fully completed one.  Quads had that big cannon jack and a lot of meat cut out of the back for all of those electronics:

That would be kind of hard to hide in a refin/retop/reneck/whatever.

Yeah that's true on the Les Paul Junior shaped Quad basses but where are all of those knobs and switches on the Explorer shaped ones?

On the other hand, I could see a body that had only the pickup routs cut (being that there are very few reasons to place two of the same pickup right next to each other in the middle position) sitting in the corner after Quad production was shelved then getting dug up by someone years later and finished with a current production 4-string neck.

According to what Jol Dantzig said on 12stringbass.net, the Quads were a bitch to make so there's not really much chance that they had surplus Explorer shaped Quad bodies lying around.

But the only one who knows for sure is Jol dantzig himself. I'll send him an email about this.