Killer Bs - 1980 Hamer siblings...

chromium · March 16, 2014, 09:57:53 PM

A fateful Craigslist ad combined with a lifelong lust and quick sale of some gear led to a new acquisition... and companion to my '80 B12S:

This one is a B8S of the same year, with a bound flame top in cherry, X2Ns, and same aggressive Rex Bogue preamp w/3-position tone toggle. The B8 is wired with a volume control for each pickup (as opposed to the single pickup 12's v/t), and the neck on the 8 is much more petite than the beefy 12ver (1.5" vs 1.75" at the nut, and slender profile). Love 'em both, and it kinda reminds me of the differences between an early and later 60s Gibson EB neck.

Spent some time this weekend getting the setup dialed in, and it's playing great - really looking forward to taking it out. I've been using the coursed strings a lot with my band, and expect it will see some action.

Snapped some shots of it today- hope you enjoy!

Nocturnal · March 16, 2014, 10:22:56 PM

Beautiful basses Joe!! Looking forward to checking out the latest addition to the family

gweimer · March 17, 2014, 04:15:26 AM

Nice!

gearHed289 · March 17, 2014, 08:58:00 AM

VERY nice, congrats!

marcnorth · March 17, 2014, 09:07:41 PM

Nice one! I've been looking at that one for a while but with my track record for Hamer 8 string basses I've stayed away from it. I'm still waiting on him to cut loose a 4 string version myself. I've been waiting at least 10 years, He's a cool guy with a lot of cool Hamers.

chromium · March 17, 2014, 10:22:47 PM

Thanks all!

Quote from: marcnorth on March 17, 2014, 09:07:41 PM
Nice one! I've been looking at that one for a while but with my track record for Hamer 8 string basses I've stayed away from it. I'm still waiting on him to cut loose a 4 string version myself. I've been waiting at least 10 years, He's a cool guy with a lot of cool Hamers.

Compared to that odd Ebay experience with the 12ver, this deal was much more relaxed!

Once I realized who the seller was, his track record, etc.. I felt a lot more comfortable about it. Great guy to deal with. I wasn't going to go for it at first, but I ended up listing a couple things, waiting it out, and I figured if they sold... then it was meant to be. I've been glued to that 12 string, and curiosity about the 8 just got the better of me.

I'm still making incremental tweaks and playing it/getting a feel for it, but it seems to be setting up and settling in nicely so far. The necks and rods are working overtime in these no doubt, but I've still been able to get them dialed in to my liking. Hopefully they'll hang in there!

By the way, I think the 1980 date might be incorrect on the B8. This one is not in the registry, but neighboring S/Ns seem to indicate that it might be from '81.

Pekka · March 19, 2014, 03:33:14 AM

Nice pair! Especially the 8, love the white trim on the body.

hieronymous · March 19, 2014, 09:22:49 AM

Can we have a picture of the Hamer 8 with the Ric 8?

chromium · March 19, 2014, 10:04:55 AM

Quote from: Pekka on March 19, 2014, 03:33:14 AM
Nice pair! Especially the 8, love the white trim on the body.

Thanks, Pekka! Always had a thing for the look of the Blades-bass body, but favor the "split V" headstocks. This B8 is the best of both worlds for me.

That one you play (can't recall if it was a 12 or 8er) didn't help my GAS either...

Quote from: hieronymous on March 19, 2014, 09:22:49 AM
Can we have a picture of the Hamer 8 with the Ric 8?

Yeah, I'll have to take some more... This was the only permutation I managed to capture so far

Shark · March 19, 2014, 12:53:33 PM

Again ...
Killer Combo! Congrats!

Pekka · March 19, 2014, 02:30:46 PM

Quote from: chromium on March 19, 2014, 10:04:55 AM
Thanks, Pekka! Always had a thing for the look of the Blades-bass body, but favor the "split V" headstocks. This B8 is the best of both worlds for me.

That one you play (can't recall if it was a 12 or 8er) didn't help my GAS either...

It's a 12. Neck is originally from a Korean Ch-12. In hindsight I should've had the body made slightly bigger and there's this ongoing pickup research too...

chromium · March 19, 2014, 03:17:56 PM

Quote from: Pekka on March 19, 2014, 02:30:46 PM
It's a 12. Neck is originally from a Korean Ch-12. In hindsight I should've had the body made slightly bigger and there's this ongoing pickup research too...

That's awesome!

Ok so now you have me curious- what are the pickups you are using in this?

Pekka · March 19, 2014, 03:42:10 PM

Quote from: chromium on March 19, 2014, 03:17:56 PM
That's awesome!

Ok so now you have me curious- what are the pickups you are using in this?

The closest to the neck is made from two Jazz pickups, has blades and neodymium magnets. Almost too powerful and it has a 3-way switch for series, parallel and single coil variations. The black one in the middle is a Charlie Christian type but a humbucker (my Waterstone has a similar but a single coil). The bridge pickup is a P-pickup style and currently isn't connected.

Two outputs and a stereo/mono switch. In mono the same signal goes to both outputs and in stereo the signal is split between the neck and the middle pickups.

mc2NY · March 22, 2014, 04:01:54 PM

Cool pair of Hamers. Glad Peter found a good home for the 8-string.

Pekka....gonna have to start calling you Tom Pekkasson, with the three-pickup 12ver ...hahaha

Hamer refused to build me a long-scale neck on its double-cut B8S body like that....claimed it wasn't possible. Probably just didn't want to do it because of balance issues, I guess?

Pekka · March 23, 2014, 02:24:07 AM

Quote from: mc2NY on March 22, 2014, 04:01:54 PM

Hamer refused to build me a long-scale neck on its double-cut B8S body like that....claimed it wasn't possible. Probably just didn't want to do it because of balance issues, I guess?

The balance isn't an issue. There's no balance at all!

Actually it's no much better as I moved the strap button behind the neck ala Thunderbird.