Hamer Guitars
Hamer Guitars logo and guitars
(Salon de la Musique et du Son 2008) |
|
| Private | |
| Industry | Musical instruments |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Defunct | 2013 |
| Headquarters | Arlington Heights, Illinois |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Paul Hamer, Jol Dantzig and John Montgomery |
| Products | Electric guitars |
| Subsidiaries | Hamer XT Slammer |
| Website | hamerguitars.com |
Hamer Guitars was an American manufacturer of electric guitars founded in 1973, in Wilmette, Illinois, by vintage guitar shop owners Paul Hamer, Jol Dantzig James Walker and John Montgomery. The company's early instruments featured guitar designs based on the Gibson Explorer (The Standard) and Gibson Flying V (Vector), before adding more traditional Gibson-inspired designs such as the Sunburst. Hamer Guitars is generally considered the first "boutique" electric guitar brand that specifically catered to professional musicians, and was one of the first guitar manufacturers to produce a 12 string bass guitar.
The company was incorporated in Illinois in 1976 by Montgomery, Dantzig, James Walker and Hamer. It was acquired by Kaman Music Corporation in 1988, which was purchased in turn by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in 2008. Hamer offered a wide array of electric guitars and electric basses, and, since its foundation placed an emphasis on producing high-quality instruments with vintage aesthetics as well as creative innovations.
Kaman marketed a lower-priced line of Asian-built instruments called the Hamer XT Series and Slammer by Hamer,, which was discontinued in 2009.
In February 2013 Fender announced that the Hamer brand was being discontinued after 40 years of production.
The first Hamer guitar, a Flying V bass, was built at Northern Prairie Music, a vintage instrument shop in Wilmette, Illinois, owned by Hamer and Dantzig. The shop catered to musicians who were interested in high-quality instruments. This first instrument served as the basis for a new company called Hamer Guitars.
Hamer began publicizing its instruments in 1974, with small black-and-white ads in guitar magazines. Hamer Guitars Inc. was incorporated in Illinois in 1976 by Montgomery, Dantzig, Hamer and Walker. By 1977 the company employed up to seven workers. Most of the work up to that point had been one-off custom variations on the original "Standard" and "Flying V" guitars. During this period Hamer's customers were limited to big-name touring groups such as Kiss, Bad Company, Wishbone Ash, Jethro Tull and Savoy Brown. In the late 1970s to the mid-1980s Def Leppard used Hamer guitars and basses.
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Wikipedia