It's a new (old) guitar day, this time a 1993 Hamer Special. Here's a horrible phone picture:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8215/8317707323_f14357c6ef_c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_atrocity/8317707323/in/photostream)
Back in the early nineties I passed up the opportunity of having a cherry red Hamer, instead ending up with the then brand new Gibson LP Special re-issue which, it turned out, was a bit of a stinker. It weighed a lot and sounded none-too-fabulous. The Gibson is long gone but I've hankered for another no nonsense P90 guitar for a while.
I saw the beast above in V&R in London for an OK price a week or two back, I tried it and quite liked it but decided against it. The trouble was I found myself thinking about it a lot over the last week and that's never a good sign for the bank balance. Anyway I wandered into town today thinking I'd give it another try and much to my surprise and pleasure they were having a sale, the Hamer was in it, and they'd knocked a hundred and fifty quid off the price tag making it very reasonable indeed. So after another demo I decided it had to come home with me and I'm very happy.
I actually even like the so called "babysh*t yellow" finish. It's supposed to be TV yellow but it is really quite green and I can imagine it not being everyone's cuppa. I might get a tortoise-shell pickguard for it and I suspect there may be a Nantucket P90 set needed very shortly (paging Mr Law, paging Mr Law). It's very resonant and I don't hate the stock Seymour Duncans, but they feel a little too hot to me so they'll probably have to go. Other than that though it's quality all the way; lovely build and good components so I'm very chuffed. Also nice to have one from the Chicago days (just!) and from when Jol Dantzig was still involved.
I also must thank the parish's very own Hamer Wise Old Bird, Mr Philly Q, who kindly answered a few dumb questions I had about Hamers. Thank you, chief. Right I'm off to play some no nonsense, back to basics, rock and roll.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3829/11365959705_6ff06ee403_c.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_atrocity/11365959705)
Ever since getting my Hamer, I've had in my mind a comment that David Grissom made about tuner buttons, to the effect that he once took the metal buttons off his guitar and weighed them in his hand and felt it seemed like a lot of unnecessary heft to put on the headstock of a guitar. That made sense to me.
I thought I'd replace the big metal buttons on the Hamer's Schaller M6s with something lighter. I didn't like any of the official Schaller buttons so I took a punt on some real bone buttons on eBay. They claimed to be M6 fit but unfortunately they had soft plastic bushings and really didn't work at all: the tuning stability was awful.
I do have a PRS DGT and the faux bone tuner buttons on that have metal bushings so I sought out a set of PRS buttons, having tested that they would fit on the M6 tuner. I finally tracked some down last week and they turned up yesterday. I fitted them last night and there is a noticeable difference in how the guitar balances on the strap. I like to slide the guitar strap on my shoulder depending on how I play so the balance of the guitar is important to me and is also why I don't like straps with a grippy side as some do.
In a fit of extreme sadness I weighed the old metal buttons. They were 3ozs in total which, when put at the end of a nice, long mahogany lever, actually is a reasonable amount of weight. I also like the look of the new tuners too, which doesn't hurt.
[corksniffing]Of course the biggest difference between the buttons is in the tone. The new buttons open up a whole range of frequencies to delight the ear. The metal buttons seem so lifeless and muddy in comparison*[/corksniffing]
*This is a lie. I can't hear any difference at all.