Rocka and Rolla

[Dave W]

A friend asked me if I had heard of this brand (I hadn't): Henman Guitars

Nice looking but the bass pricing starts at $4750. 

From the About page, these are designed by Mr. and Mrs. Henman but actually built by Rick Turner. I would certainly be confident of the quality of anything built by Rick. OTOH, it looks like yet another Jazz Bass body shape. In that price range,I would want something different.

[ilan]

Inspired by Martin, I think. And a strap button over the 15-16th frets, that guarantees neck-dive.

[dadagoboi]

Out of production for a long time.  The original was a collaboration between Graham Henman and a Scotty Bevilacqua, HB Bespoke Guitars.  Graham was/is a basically a TV commercial director.  I used to do work for his production company, HKM, in Hollywood in the 80s.  Imagine my surprise seeing him at NAMM selling basses in '06.

Great playing basses with a unique neck/separate headstock, EMG passive soapbar pickups. Scotty worked at the Ibanez CS previously. We had some discussions about finishing.  Graham and Scotty had a falling out after a year or two and then the collaboration with Turner began.  Graham's wife's contribution was as a color consultant.  The blacked out head on the website is his then teenaged son.

[BTL]

Interesting instruments with some very high profile players.

The site is pretty out of date considering they list Hammon Dark Stars for their bass pickups.

The "blacked-out-face" is actually a beret or knit cap...the subject is walking away from the camera.

I think it's the same individual on the "Dealers" page.

[dadagoboi]

I've seen the photo before it was altered on the original  Hen Bev website...and the kid in person.  I also have one of the logo'd HB caps that Graham gave me.

[BTL]

Gotcha...I was looking at the photo with the subject walking away from the camera wondering how the face could have been in the shot.

[Dave W]

I didn't notice that the site copyright date is 2010. Guess that means they didn't sell! Not a big surprise at those prices. IIRC Fred Hammon had dropped out of sight before 2010.

Rick Turner has a Henman link on his site menu but when you click it, there's nothing there but "Coming soon..." Don't hold your breath!

[dadagoboi]

My take away was it was a vanity project from the start.  HKM produced some very high end commercials, among them Lou Reed for Levi's, Whitney Houston's Coke commercial, the original 'pin drop' Verizon, etc in the 80s.  I used to work on their offices and his and his partner's houses.  One of them was a Lloyd Wright house that Diane Keaton later bought and the 50s modern house used in 'Back to the Beach', the Annette and Frankie Avalon movie.  By the mid oughts I think he was looking for a diversion.