A Sad Day -- Fender closes New Hartford

gearHed289 · June 24, 2014, 08:53:49 AM

Quote from: Dave W on June 23, 2014, 02:13:54 PMUwe should contact him about having his dream doubleneck made.

There ya go!

I joined the Hamer fan page over on facebook not too long ago just for the hell of it, since I own a B12S. There are a lot of very rabid fans of those guitars! Seems Mike will be busy for a while at least.

chromium · June 24, 2014, 09:54:13 AM

Has anyone here spec'd out a bass with him? Looks like that is an option....

http://www.shishkovguitars.com/custom-guitar-estimate

gearHed289 · June 25, 2014, 08:42:12 AM

I filled out the form. Got the reply that it was received, and a request to be patient.

I have a feeling they'll be out of my price range, but we'll see. From the pics I've seen on the facebook Hamer page, the guy does beautiful work and knows his sh*t.

chromium · June 25, 2014, 08:58:54 AM

Quote from: gearHed289 on June 25, 2014, 08:42:12 AM
I filled out the form. Got the reply that it was received, and a request to be patient. I have a feeling they'll be out of my price range, but we'll see. From the pics I've seen on the facebook Hamer page, the guy does beautiful work and knows his sh*t.

Good luck!

What did you spec out? (if willing to share...)

gearHed289 · June 25, 2014, 11:27:22 AM

A "standard" (Hamer-speak for Explorer) 4 string. Mahogany body, maple neck, ebony board, 34'' scale. I told him I could provide pickups (TB+) if that's an option.

Highlander · June 25, 2014, 04:43:15 PM

Do you think the F3nd3r CS would rise to the challenge of Uwe's double neck, Dave, and shame Gibson into action...?

Dave W · June 25, 2014, 06:22:50 PM

Quote from: Highlander on June 25, 2014, 04:43:15 PM
Do you think the F3nd3r CS would rise to the challenge of Uwe's double neck, Dave, and shame Gibson into action...?

No. Like Gibson, they do what they do, and a Gibson-style doubleneck wouldn't be anything they would want to do. Also, they probably couldn't care less about shaming Gibson. After all, Henry J. does a pretty good job of shaming Gibson all by himself.

Hamer started by making Gibson style guitars, and many of their US models (like the Standard) stayed true to that. Mr. Shishkov would probably be a good candidate to take on a job like that. There are probably others, like Roger Giffin in Oregon or Gil Yaron in Jerusalem. OTOH Uwe might not want anything other than Gibson on the headstock.

mc2NY · June 28, 2014, 04:58:12 PM

Quote from: Dave W on June 23, 2014, 02:13:54 PM
I hope he makes it. More power to him. Not an easy road but he won't have the overhead and payroll that the New Hartford plant had.

Uwe should contact him about having his dream doubleneck made.

I'm surprised that Gibson didn't buy Hamer and farm out all it's CustomShop work to them. They did better work than Gibson and were the closest to Gibson style builds.

Hamer started out as repair guys handling Gibson repairs. Maybe that relationship is why they were the one brand that Gibson never sued when they put out Explorers, Thunderbirds and other Gibson shapes.

I doubt ex-Hamer guys will get the same courtesy from Gibson though, if they wander to close into Gibson trademark territory.

I also submitted a custom build quote to Mike Shiskov. So far just an acknowledgement and email,saying they are swamped with the startup but will get back to me as soon as they can.

Dave W · June 29, 2014, 10:01:30 PM

Quote from: mc2NY on June 28, 2014, 04:58:12 PM
I'm surprised that Gibson didn't buy Hamer and farm out all it's CustomShop work to them. They did better work than Gibson and were the closest to Gibson style builds.

Hamer started out as repair guys handling Gibson repairs. Maybe that relationship is why they were the one brand that Gibson never sued when they put out Explorers, Thunderbirds and other Gibson shapes.

I doubt ex-Hamer guys will get the same courtesy from Gibson though, if they wander to close into Gibson trademark territory.

I also submitted a custom build quote to Mike Shiskov. So far just an acknowledgement and email,saying they are swamped with the startup but will get back to me as soon as they can.

That would have made sense. But I've heard that Henry J. felt he was taken by the Kamans over the Trace Elliot sale. It certainly didn't work out for Gibson. So there may have been some hard feelings.

marcnorth · July 08, 2014, 10:28:15 PM

Quote from: chromium on June 24, 2014, 09:54:13 AM
Has anyone here spec'd out a bass with him? Looks like that is an option....

http://www.shishkovguitars.com/custom-guitar-estimate

I did, I tried to get him to do one of the first 12 as a short scale bass about an hour or so after his site was up. He told me he couldn't do it on the first run. I also put in a quote for a double cut short scale and got the same message back from him that mc2NY did. I figure it will be awhile. I'll just have to wait.

mc2NY · July 09, 2014, 01:34:22 PM

Yeah, the first run of 12 is based on the original 70s Hamer Standard (Explorer) 6-strings.

I posted on the Hamer Fanclub Forum that the builder should tell all the HFC guitarists to "f*** off" if he truly was to revive the Hamer spirit.....and build me a. 70s Hamer Standard BASS with TBird PUPs, just like Martin Turner's...since THAT was SN#001 and how Hamer began!!

The guitarists didn't appreciate the humor

Dave W · July 10, 2014, 12:40:45 PM

They were probably afraid he'd take you up on it.

Highlander · July 10, 2014, 03:39:42 PM

Quote from: mc2NY on July 09, 2014, 01:34:22 PM
The guitarists didn't appreciate the humor

Now that's a quote...

Hmm... could this be Jon's lounge, and add a few collectible Hamer basses, and then some...?

mc2NY · July 23, 2014, 01:22:24 PM

Well, I DO have the leather couch in my man loft....but my coffee table is a LOT cooler!

Highlander · July 25, 2014, 02:11:08 PM

Jon... that is utterly shameless...