"If I had a Hamer..."

[spudmunkey]

I kinda sorta want to perhaps consider maybe starting a half-hearted attempt to find an example of my first electric guitar. But after tickling the Google a bit, I'm not really finding what I'm looking for.

It was a Hamer, their Explorer-type model. We rented it in either 1988 or 1989. I couldn't tell you if it was new or used.

I realize this was a tumultuous time in Hamer's history so a lot of things may have been fairly loosey-goosey as far as things being "official" or "accurately documented".

It was a gloss metallic blue paint job, not unlike Gibson's Pelham Blue. I dont recall the headstock shape. It was dual humbuckers (I dont recall the type) and chrome hardware. I'm pretty sure it didn't have a pickguard, but I'm not 100% on that.

The body did not have binding. I dont know about the neck, or the details of the fretboard.

I have a vague recollection that we may have taken the guitar in to get serviced because the sound was getting garbled and would cut in and out...and I *think* the resolution was a new 9V battery, so if that memory is accurate, that leads me to assume these would have been active pickups...but I'm not 100% positive on that whole scenario as I was only single-digit-years old, and this was 35 years ago.

It would not have been a high-end model. We were renting it, and the only way my parents would have agrees to rent this huge guitar for me, a 9-10-year-old, would have been if it wasn't much more than this the starter guitars this shitty little rural/suburban music store would have had on hand for students of the nearby high school.

I played "live" in front of non-family members for the first time with this guitar, playing "Little Drummer Boy" in my elementary school's Christmas Program. It was the first time the school let a student who wasn't enrolled in "Band" to play with said school band...cuz I was too cool for Band.

 

[narad]

Sounds like you're after a Blitz model. Not like the standards, which are a bit more conservative and often don't come without body binding except for a few select traditional models.

 

[spudmunkey]

Sounds like you're after a Blitz model. Not like the standards, which are a bit more conservative and often don't come without body binding except for a few select traditional models.

That definutely seems to be the most likely candidate.

Did Hamers back then ever have factoryEMGs or maybe an active preamp like Carvins from the early 90s? Or maybe they were aftermarket, if I'm actually indeed remembering the issue correctly

Do you know if it ever came with a fixed bridge? I dont *remember* ever using it, or struggling with tuning it, but maybe it was just decked if mine had one.

 

[narad]

That definutely seems to be the most likely candidate.

Did Hamers back then ever have factoryEMGs or maybe an active preamp like Carvins from the early 90s? Or maybe they were aftermarket, if I'm actually indeed remembering the issue correctly

I'm not sure but probably. I've had two from the era with really old EMGs in it, and the wiring seemed factory. Neither had an active preamp and I don't recall ever hearing about Hamer having one in those days. Tough to say. Could have been swapped. Could have been custom order. Recall, Hamer's slogan was "We don't have a custom shop. We are a custom shop". It's not surprising if you find something that doesn't fit the usual specs.

Do you know if it ever came with a fixed bridge? I dont *remember* ever using it, or struggling with tuning it, but maybe it was just decked if mine had one.

If so, it's pretty rare. Do you think it was a TOM? That would be very unusual. But they had a bunch of other bridges on there that might still be easy to tune, such as a kahler, or a sort of fendery style trem, that if not routed under, would be pretty stable.

Here's an example Blitz that sounds a little bit similar: