It's a new (old) guitar day, this time a 1993 Hamer Special. Here's a horrible phone picture:
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.
