22 Vintage Guitar July 2000 www.vintageguitar.com BY MICHAEL WRIGHT WITH ANDREW LARGE, The Different Strummer STEVE MATTHES AND PETER FUNG LEFT TO RIGHT ’84 Hamer Special, mahogany body with custom factory yellow Stevens I with rare white/gold hardware option. ’85 Hamer Phantom A5, later and black graphics Courtesy of the A. Stein collection. Rare short-scale ’84 Hamer version with six-in-line headstock and bound fingerboard with crowns. Courtesy A. 4 Bass. Ca. ’85 Hamer Standard Lefty. Courtesy DiPinto Guitars. ’85 Hamer Steve Stein collection. Short-lived ’85 Hamer Scepter Vee. were the days before Rose won his patent rights). These were advertised as being, “...small, lightweight, versatile, and ag- Hamer Guitars gressive.” Finishes were either custom colors or graphics. High-End Boutique or Budget Vintage? Part II In ’86 the Prototype SS became known as the Steve Stevens model, a name it s we discussed last month, Hamer using Hamers inevitably led to the intro- bound fingerboard of either rosewood or enjoyed until its demise in ’92. Also at was started when Jol Dantzig and duction of models named for individual ebony, with dot or crown inlays. The that time the 22-fret fingerboard was ex- Paul Hamer, partners in North- artists. One of the earliest to get an artist ebony and crown version was sometimes tended to 24 frets, although some 22-fret A ern Prairie Music in the early 1970s, association was a version of the Special known as the Custom. The pickup layout models continued to be made. Begin- moved from repairing old guitars to mak- introduced in ’84, and carrying a Floyd consisted of a bridge humbucker and two ning in ’87, some came with Fender-style 1 ing new, improved versions of their Rose double-locking vibrato system. This parallel single-coil pickups, the classic 25 /2" scale. “dream” vintage guitars. Their idea was guitar was like the regular Special except superstrat layout that had been intro- To keep things interesting, from ’86 to to make inexpensive options for those for its an all-mahogany body (no flamed duced on the Dean Bel Aire and Kramer ’87 a second model was offered, called into expensive vintage guitars, though maple) and a slightly smaller headstock. Pacer in ’83. One volume and one tone the Steve Stevens II. This looked more they were greeted like high-end boutique. Pickups were Hamer Slammer humbuck- contour control continued, with pickup like the original Prototype but with The first instruments were the Flying ers. A rosewood fingerboard with dots switching done via two toggles, still be- sharper, more pointed horns. The body V bass in ’73 and the upscale flametop was standard, but an ebony fingerboard hind the bridge. Standard was now a was one-piece Honduras mahogany. Pick- Explorer copy, soon to be called the with crown inlays was offered as an op- Floyd Rose double-locking vibrato sys- ups included a backward-slanted Slammer Standard. In ’75 they got their first order, tion. Models so equipped are often called tem, with a Kahler as optional (these at the bridge (closer to the bridge on the and Hamer USA Guitars was on its way. the Gary Moore Special be- In ’78 the team was rounded out with the cause they were favored by the addition of Frank Untermeyer. Thereaf- great Irish guitarist. The Floyd ter began a series of classic early Hamers Rose/Gary Moore Specials including the Standard Bass, Sunburst, were offered only until ’85. 12-String Quadbass, 8-String Bass, Spe- cial, Prototype, Phantom, Vector, Blitz, Steve Stevens and CruiseBass. We pick up the tale in Fusing the rather disparate the early ’80s. image posturings of New Wave As the Reagan years moved into mid- and Heavy Metal was the early decade, the roles of Hamer’s principals ’80s band that backed singer began to shift ever so slightly. Paul Billy Idol. Idol’s guitarist, Steve hotos: Steve Matthes. Hamer continued to handle sales, doing Stevens, caught the attention a lot of global traveling. Dantzig and of the guitar world and in ’84 he Untermeyer ran the factory, with Dantzig hooked up with Hamer to cre- focusing on marketing issues and prod- ate the Prototype SS. The Pro- uct development, Untermeyer handling totype SS was Hamer’s first international affairs and the business as- “superstrat” (at least in terms pects. of pickup layout). It differed Hamer continued to garner support significantly from other Proto- from many top professionals. This would types in that it had two equal lead to Hamer’s first “artist” models. cutaways, a wider mahogany body, and a six-in-line head- LEFT ’84 ad for Kahler vibratos with Judas Priest’s K.K. Downing on a Hamer Vector KK and Glenn Gary Moore Special stock. The neck continued to Tipton on a Phantom GT. RIGHT July ’84 cover of Guitar World with K.K. Downing of Judas Priest The plethora of big-name guitarists be glued in, with a 22-fret un- slinging a ’84 Hamer Vector KK, sans usual pickguard and with atypical maple fingerboard. ’84 Hamer 4 Bass, 85 Hamer Steve Stevens I, and ’85 Hamer Scepter Vee p subscribe @ 1-800-844-1197 Vintage Guitar July 2000 23 Different Strummer bass side) and a backward-slanted single- six-in-line headstock. Most new Blitzes coil pickup at the neck. Still with one had locking Floyd Rose vibratos. In ’86 volume and one tone, this now came with they featured two-octave fingerboards. It a three-way select. Again with a 22-fret lasted until ’90. Fender scale, this came with rosewood Clearly, Hamer was on a roll in the and dots or ebony and crowns. As usual, mid ’80s. But the times they were a- these were available in a variety of fin- changin’ again. Arguably, the ’70s, were ishes, including graphics and airbrush dominated by a Gibson taste, reflected in painting. Finishes in ’84 included Ice the Standard, Sunburst, and Special. As Pearl, Metal Gray, Red and Black Zulu (a discussed, the rage for heavy metal hit in kind of animal-fur shield pattern), Day- ’83 and Hamer responded with guitars Walnut finished ’84 Hamer Standard. Glo Zulu, Lazer Pearl, Candy Red, and like the Scarab and the Vector. By ’85, Day-Glo Pink. tastes were shifting again, this time under the overwhelming influence of guitarists Judas Priest like Edward Van Halen, whose pyrotech- Another celebrity model also appeared nic technique was dominated by two- in ’84, the Vector KK, designed for guitar- handed tapping and dive-bomb vibrato. ist K.K. Downing of the English heavy By the mid ’80s a double-locking vibrato metal band Judas Priest. Downing was was de rigeur, and the “superstrat” (a strongly associated with the Flying V, so Strat-style guitar with – depending on the Vector was perfect. The Vector KK whose definition you accept – a hum- was essentially a Vector with a single bucker/single/single pickup arrange- Slammer at the bridge, mounted on a ment), a form pioneered by the Dean Bel Ca. ’84 Hamer Scarab II in red and black Zulu finish. small pickguard that sat under the strings Aire and Kramer Pacer in ’83. and descended just a little along the Some of Hamer’s Gibson-style trap- lower edge of the Vee. The top was pings began to fall away, although these flamed maple, the head a slightly nar- were replaced by others. The first version rower, more pointed version of the trian- of the Sunburst ended in ’83. The un- gular Gibson design. The Vector KK was bound Special lasted until ’84, the “Gary equipped with a Kahler Flat-Mount Moore” one year more. The venerable double-locking vibrato. This model was Standard “Explorer” bit the dust in ’85, offered in translucent and custom colors the year Hamer released a flurry of new until ’87. models. Egyptian Scarab Chaparral ’84 Hamer Blitz Bass, custom made for the Gary Moore Band with a flame top 1984 also saw the introduction of By ’85 the Strat-style guitar had begun and Kahler bass vibrato. another original design, the Scarab. It to dominate. Hamer’s crosstown com- continued the Explorer theme, but in a petitor, Dean, had begun to switch from sleeker, more modern rendition. Take its own upscale Gibson variations to the the Standard, slim down the cutaway “superstrat” form, and Kramer was phas- horn, and make it more pointed, trim the ing out its ’70s aluminum necks and was waste to make it narrower, then cut a well on its way to dominating the Ameri- wave-shaped notch out of the lower bout, can guitar market with its Strat-shaped and you have the Scarab. The neck was models. Hamer entered the Strat-style glued-in, with a six-in-line Hamer head- sweeps in ’85 with the introduction of the stock. While all Hamer guitars could be Chaparral and Chaparral Custom. The had in a variety of custom-ordered op- Chaparrals had contoured offset double- tions, the Scarab offered a rather broad cutaway mahogany bodies, very Strat-like, 3 range. 22-fret, 24 /4" scale fingerboards but with a slightly larger upper horn. Rock 22-fret ’85 Hamer Scepter in red-and-black finish hotos: Andrew Large. were either rosewood or ebony. Inlays maple necks were glued in and featured litz p could be pearl dots, crowns, or LED Hamer’s droopy six-in-line headstock. Fin- 3 lights! Kahler Top Mount, Floyd Rose, gerboard scale was 24 /4". Both featured or other vibrato systems were available. the soon-to-be-ubiquitous humbucker/ Finishes could be custom pearl, candy, single/single pickup layout, with one vol- day-glo or phosphorescent.