According to my seach to find out the year of my Hamer, Blitz, Slammer, Explorer, Korean, Dirty Bass, I swear I read that Fender owns the brand. AND if this is so-- this would be the perfect place for me to try and find out what year the Dirty Bass is. Right? Okay so here's the shot in the dark #1704482 MIK.
I've seen posts etc about how the Korean numbers have nothing to do with the date of the instrument. That's odd and may be true . It would be nice to know and this place is pretty reliable and knowledgeable.

Dirty Bass is it's name. It is/was the filthiest, cruddy, gacked up, smelly, black cat scratched, rust bucket bass I've ever bought. I like it.

Anyway- thanks for the help. SV

You'd have to do a Google search for Hamer serial dating. That's how I found the info for my Hamers. Never heard of a Dirty Bass myself. Got pics?

This was a cool page to visit from their site:
http://hamerworkshop.wordpress.com/

Click the archives (orange text) on the right and there's a lot of cool stuff.

You could contact them directly from their site and ask. As far as the Fender thing, I'd be very surprised to find it to be true.

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Nevertheless, it is indeed true.

Hamer is owned by Kaman Music Corp., a huge distribution company. Late 2007 Fender bought Kaman Music, and thus now own Hamer too.

However, I notice that on this website they don't list Hamer as one of their "family" of brands:

http://www.fender.com/other_brands.php

I have a foggy memory of talk back at the time of Hamer continuing as an "arm's length" operation, in the independent spirit in which it had been run up till that time. Presumably that is what its absence from this site is about.

The beautiful irony about Fender purchasing Kaman is that back in the very dark days of 1984 when CBS wanted to close Fender down if they couldn't find a buyer for it Kaman was one of the prospective new owners Dan Smith talked to. They could have had Fender for around the $15m price at which the management team eventually bought it out. Less than 25 years later Fender instead eventually bought Kaman for $120m.

What goes around comes around!

Stroker vance: assuming nobody here happens to know the answer to the dating question at the top of the thread you could click "contact info" under "support" at Hamer's website:

http://www.hamerguitars.com/

There is also a Hamer forum:

http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/

Cheers - C

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Well done Ceri!

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

+1!

I always hoped that at some point FMIC would buy up the rights to Mosrite and we see those guitars again.

Seems like they've gobbled up nearly everybody else, why not?



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Though I'm not sure Fender own the spirit of Hamer. Very sadly, Jol Dantzig, Hamer co-founder and one of the most thoughtful, intelligent people in the electric guitar world, left the company (for the second time) last year. They have a very fine team of builders at Hamer, and yet I'm not sure where the company is going without its leading light.

BTW: for anyone interested in guitar building the workshop blog at Hamer's website is still one of the best resources on the web, even without Jol Dantzig writing it...

Cheers - C

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Wow.. Crazy. Fairly recently huh? You don't see very many Hamers around here in Vegas. I think Ed Roman is probably the only place that has some. Other than that, pawn shops here and there. Back in the 90's I used to try them out all the time at an old mom and pop store that had a good selection of them. Some of the high end ones I'd swear were the best guitars in the store. Beautiful stuff.

Both of my Hamer necks feel well crafted. One feels just like my Strat Plus neck. The other, more like my Ibanez.

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Eastwood has some interesting stuff. I wish someone local carried them. They have a couple of Mosrite models a bunch of Supro and Airline and a TV P-90 Special that looks pretty cool.
I'm just need to try a few in person. I'd love to snag a Supro Dual Tone. My 63 Supro Martinique is getting a little old to take out anymore. LOL

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+1

Yes Sir! Me Too!
I'd love to have a Mosrite.

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In GOD We STILL Trust!!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

The..um controversial, to say the least... Ed Roman is the rights holder for the Mosrite brand, at least in North America. So obviously it's a real kerfuffle.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Thanks Ceri-- I emailed Hamer. I'll post results if I get any.

I have played several of the Eastwood guitars, and I would rate them as "fair to good."
(On my scale, a Custom Shop is "excellent", the average high-end MIA Fender is "great", my MIM Tele is "very good", so "good" would be a 7.0-7.5 out of 10). Some of the problems were setup issues (easily correctable), but overall they're nice guitars, especially for the price.

The TV Special with the P90s played really well--nice neck, rich tone, balanced weight. The tone wasn't as "spanky" as an original Les Paul Special double-cutaway (or even Gibson's reissues of that guitar); the tone is a bit less open/more muffled, but not bad.

Some of the Airline and National remakes are very close in tone and performance to the original axes...sometimes even a bit better in performance and playability.

My brother-in-law has an original 1967 Mosrite Ventures model guitar, in dang near mint condition. He received it for his high school graduation in 1967. I've had opportunity to play it a couple of times, and it sounds great...I'm not enamored of the neck (a bit too narrow for my taste), but I like the frets (small) and the pickups...and of course, it has killer looks. Comparing the Eastwood version to the original, the original wins, but only by a bit. The tone and playability are similar, but the fit and finish on the '67 is better.

Bottom line? For the money, an Eastwood isn't a bad replacement, especially if you are playing gin situations where theft and/or damage could be an issue.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Shredd66--

You mentioned Ed Roman; have you had any dealings with him? I've heard some not-so-flattering reports of his attitude and business practices, but it could have just been sour grapes or that very loud 1% dissatisfied customer.

Have you done business with him, and what do you think of him and his shop?

Edit: for grammar. Me no English talk right good.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

I worked on an old middle 60's Mosrite 12 string-- It had a narrow neck- a little too narrow for me but-- it had the lowest action with no buzzing what-so-ever of any guitar I've played. Very nice.


I emailed Hamer guitars and promised whoever could date my bass-- I will buy them a car. I think I may get some results that way.

Never met the man personally. I haven't been to the newer place. His older store was pretty big. I always wondered how he was able to keep such a huge place open at the time. I never saw a crowd in there like you would see in CG or Sam Ash for example.

From what I remember, his prices weren't the greatest. Not too many deals to be had. But he did have a lot of stuff you couldn't find in the other stores. Some very cool guitars and amps in there. The people I did encounter were nice people. It was a guitar haven for sure. But for me, most guitars were too rich for my blood.

One cool thing that he did have in there was bins of used pickups new and vintage of all makes for cheap prices. I did like that, and used to go digging around and grabbing some from time to time.

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