Hamer Guitars

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Company logo and electric guitars from Hamer on a company's exhibition stand

Hamer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars , whose beginnings go back to 1973. The later company founders Jol Dantzig and Paul Hamer jointly ran a shop for the restoration and sale of vintage guitars in the US state of Illinois in the early 1970s . In the shop's workshop, electric guitars were also produced in small series on customer request. The team's early instruments were based on the designs of the Gibson Explorer and Gibson Flying V electric guitar models . Hamer Guitars is generally regarded as the first producer of "boutique" E Guitars ( English Custom Shop ), who built specifically for professional musicians. The company now offers a wide range of electric guitars and basses and has focused on the production of high quality instruments with vintage aesthetics and creative innovations since it was founded .

Company history

Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick with Hamer instruments on stage in 1977; Nielsen (left) with the Standard electric guitar , Petersson with a 10-string electric bass

The first Hamer guitar was an electric bass guitar in the design of the Gibson Flying V . Paul Hamer and Jol Dantzig were running Northern Prairie Music, a prestigious vintage musical instrument store in Wilmette, Illinois at the time. This business took care of musicians interested in high quality instruments. The first instrument served as the basis for a new company that was christened Hamer Guitars (which sounded better than "Dantzig Guitars" after an interview with Dantzig ).

Hamer began promoting the instruments in 1974 with small-format black and white advertisements in specialist magazines and was officially founded in 1976. Founding members were Hamer, Dantzig and two of the guitar restorers in their shop. In 1977 the company had up to seven employees. Most of the instruments that have been made up to this point, were customized ( "Custom" -) versions of the original standard - and Flying V guitars. Customers at that time were almost exclusively known music groups such as Bad Company , Wishbone Ash and Jethro Tull . To address a broader market, the Sunburst model was introduced in 1977 ; an electric guitar whose design with two cutaways is based on that of Gibson's Les Paul Junior and developed it further. The electromagnetic pickups of the Hamer electric guitars were developed by Larry DiMarzio, who later founded the US company DiMarzio , which specializes in pickups . Production was reportedly around ten guitars a week. During this time the company became known through Rick Nielsen, guitarist of the rock band Cheap Trick , and through the use of 8- and 12-string Hamer basses in their music. Another prominent Hamer guitar user was Andy Summers , guitarist for British pop band The Police , in the late 1970s . Also Paul Stanley , guitarist and singer of the rock band Kiss often played the Hamer-model standard .

The Special electric guitar model, introduced in 1980, has a design typical of Hamer guitars

In 1978 Frank Untermyer joined the company as a partner and investor. His investments and contacts paved the way for international business outside the US. Untermyer's participation in the company enabled Hamer Guitars to move to larger premises in Arlington Heights , a suburb of Chicago, in 1980 . The staff had grown to twelve employees and Hamer introduced new guitar models - such as the Prototype (the company's first fundamentally own design), Special, Cruisebass, Blitz and Phantom . Paul Hamer, who worked primarily as a sales manager , left the company in 1987 to pursue his career in other areas. The Kaman Music Corporation then took care of sales, while the remaining owners continued to concentrate on the production of instruments. Kaman Music bought Hamer in late 1988. After working with Kaman for five years, Dantzig also left the company in 1993 for California to pursue a design and consulting business.

In the late 1980s, Hamer was also known for a number of so-called “ power strats ” . These instruments, based on the design of the Fender Stratocaster , were particularly popular with hard rock and metal musicians at the time and usually had a combination of certain details ( e.g. Floyd Rose vibrato, humbucker - single-coil configuration, necks with jumbo frets that can be played on quickly and easily , effect lacquering) (including the models Californian, Diablo, Chaparral, Centaur and Steve Stevens ). In the 1990s there was also a Hamer model line made in Korea, which was expanded to include the word “slammer” on the headstock of the instruments.

Because the market for guitars in the middle price segment was saturated, Hamer looked for new ways to improve sales and returned to the old product philosophy of offering classic guitar models. In 1997 the company moved to a small store in New Hartford, Connecticut . For this purpose, Dantzig was won back as technical director. Hamer began to focus on a core of high quality designs aimed at the collector and high-end market.

On December 31, 2007, Hamer Guitars was taken over by the US musical instrument manufacturer Fender Musical Instruments . Jol Dantzig left Hamer Guitars in 2010 to manufacture his own line of high quality instruments.

Hamer also has a cheaper line of its instruments manufactured in Asia, which is sold under the name “XT-Series” . There was also an instrument series called “ Slammer by Hamer ”, which was also manufactured in Asia and discontinued in 2009, mainly for the US market .

literature

  • Tony Bacon, Dave Hunter: Totally Guitar - the Definitive Guide (Guitar Encyclopedia, English). Backbeat Books, London 2004. ISBN 1-871547-81-4
  • Neville Marten: Guitar Heaven. Legendary guitarists - fascinating instruments . Therein: Kapitel Hamer, pp. 130-133. Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2008. ISBN 978-3-86852-002-6

Web links

Commons : Hamer Guitars  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Neville Marten: Guitar Heaven. Legendary guitarists - fascinating instruments, p. 130 ff.
  2. ↑ a b c Guitar Voodoo Guide - The Lexicon for the Guitarist, p. 99 f. Press Projekt Verlag, Bergkirchen 2006. ISSN  1430-9769
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Tony Bacon, Dave Hunter: Totally Guitar - the definitive Guide, p. 470 ff.