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Hamer Guitars Closes Up Shop


Special J

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It's official. FMIC has closed down Hamer Guitars. They are fulfilling any open custom orders and that's it. When Fender bought Kaman Music, they stopped making production guitars, but kept accepting custom orders while the fine craftsmen at Hamer started production on the Guild acoustics in the New Hartford factory. I haven't heard whether they'll keep making the imports, not that I really care.

While it's not totally unexpected, it's still a bummer. Hamer guitars have been my #1's on and off for 18 years. I've owned a bunch of great ones, and have enjoyed a market full of under-priced used Hamer USA's. I imagine that will end and their values will finally go up like they never did while in business. I was a dealer for the brand too for a while, and worked with some customers on getting custom order guitars made. Despite the quality, it was not an easy brand to sell due to little market recognition.

There may be a silver lining to the cloud. The guys up in New Hartford are keeping their jobs and I've heard a rumor that Fender is tooling up the factory to start making Guild electrics again. We'll see. I just hope Fender doesn't screw it up.

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Shop is still there, they make Guilds and Ovations still.

Hamer had a market in the 70's and 80's, when Gibson was making guitars that were total {censored}. Now....uh, what was I saying?

Gibson marketing > Hamer marketing

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Quote Originally Posted by Special J

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There may be a silver lining to the cloud. The guys up in New Hartford are keeping their jobs and I've heard a rumor that Fender is tooling up the factory to start making Guild electrics again. We'll see. I just hope Fender doesn't screw it up.

 

FMIC made a handful of Guild electrics recently, including a few basses, made of leftover parts. My guess is we should get ready for "revitalized" Guild electrics being in production for a couple of years, then discontinued, the relaunch of the "new" Hamer for a couple of years...alternating until they've milked the novelty enough.
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Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n View Post
FMIC made a handful of Guild electrics recently, including a few basses, made of leftover parts. My guess is we should get ready for "revitalized" Guild electrics being in production for a couple of years, then discontinued, the relaunch of the "new" Hamer for a couple of years...alternating until they've milked the novelty enough.

Or, certain Guild and Hamer models get relaunched with the Dearmond logo. smile.gif
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Quote Originally Posted by Reality Check

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Or, certain Guild and Hamer models get relaunched with the Dearmond logo. smile.gif

 

FMIC already sells Asian-made Guild acoustics with the GAD series. There was an interesting Q&A about that at the Let's Meet Guild event this year.
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That struck me as "that's a shame" frown.gif

I've never had the pleasure of owning, or even playing one. I remember seeing one at a store a couple decades ago and the owner was telling me "better than Gibson". But despite my voracious GAS appetite, one never crossed my path again. I'd harbored a small ambition that maybe one day a deal on a good quality used one might cross my path, but that never happened and I never gained much knowledge of them other than their reputation. Bummer.

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I don't know why that strikes me as sad. I've never supported their operation other than by word of mouth and the folks that I've let play my old Chicago era Hamers (purchased used). I've played some pretty special guitars but I've never played better than those two Hamers (93 HB Special and 97 Mirage II). It just seemed like for those fellas (Hamer and Dantzig) it was more like a religion, but that kind of dedication and devotion probably ended a long time ago.

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RIP, Hamer.

Damn, that sucks. cry.gif I have two and they're both amazing instruments. Someone really screwed up with the marketing on those guitars; they were as good as anything coming out of Gibson or PRS and should have been just as big as either of those two brands.

My Hamers.

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I've owned 2 USA Hamers over the years, and they were both fantastic. Sad news. I remember talking to our local dealer back in the 80's-90's who had the same experience that SpecialJ refered to - they had trouble moving them, despite the obvious quality, 'cause folks didn't know the name.

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Quote Originally Posted by sammyreynolds01

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I'm surprised they haven't tried to sell the brand. FMIC has alot of debt due coming in 2014.

 

That would just create a competitor for Charvel. Better to just trim away the dead wood.
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Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n View Post
Shop is still there, they make Guilds and Ovations still.

Hamer had a market in the 70's and 80's, when Gibson was making guitars that were total {censored}. Now....uh, what was I saying?

Gibson marketing > Hamer marketing
Marketing was never their strong point. Even when they spent some money on ads, they never really had the brand recognition they needed. They just weren't in the hands of enough name players. They really relied on word of mouth and their dealer network. Not a viable strategy in this day and age. BTW, the Hamer factory is actually a separate facility from where they make the Ovations. Same building, but very different factory floors.

Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n View Post
FMIC made a handful of Guild electrics recently, including a few basses, made of leftover parts. My guess is we should get ready for "revitalized" Guild electrics being in production for a couple of years, then discontinued, the relaunch of the "new" Hamer for a couple of years...alternating until they've milked the novelty enough.
I just hope they don't make the same mistakes with the Guild brand. It seems like it would be expensive to keep re-tooling. FMIC has completely overextended themselves and aren't in any position to play with the idea of novelty brands.

Quote Originally Posted by jpnyc View Post
That would just create a competitor for Charvel. Better to just trim away the dead wood.
Not sure how high-end Gibson-esque designs would be considered competition for superstrats.
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Bummer. Fender's kill list gets longer.

Hamer. Never forget.
Tacoma. Never forget.

As part of the Hamer/Kaman deal, Fender also got Ovation...which they semi-killed by moving their entire USA line overseas.

Ovation. Fine, forget.

Haha, but still. :/ Ovation USA had some winners. And it's always sad to hear about brands disappearing, people losing jobs (and of course Fender is saying that none of them are losing their jobs. PR. Give them time.)

I'll stop rolling my eyes at people who tape over the Fender logo on their headstocks.

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