Brand Loyalty

Guitar Brand Loyalty

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I Used Hamer Guitars As The Whipping Boy For This Article.
I am a big Hamer fan myself !!!   I personally own 5 Hamer's  !!!
 A Californian,  Virtuoso,  Prototype,  Special  & an Impact Bass.
It is critical that you understand the point of this article !!!

Misguided Brand Loyalty Is A Huge Problem.
There are millions of blinded consumers who seek out the brand of that they are used to or have heard of.
Any evil corporation can simply go out and buy a bunch of brand names.
For Example

 

Today old high quality perception names like Gibson, Epiphone, Steinberger, Oberheim, Wurlitzer, Dobro, Slingerland, Valley Arts,  Baldwin Piano's, Kramer, Maestro and many more can simply be bought up by one corporation. The names I have just listed are in fact all owned owned by one large conglomerate.
They used to be called CMI (Consolidated Musical Inst.)  Recently they changed their name to Gibson USA
This conglomerate takes advantage of consumers who are not aware of what is really going on. They have set their sights on people aged 40 to 60 thus encompassing most of the baby boomers & the only people who are working enough hours not to have time to get hip to the real story.

Fender, Jackson, Hamer, Gretsch, SWR, Takamine, Ovation, Squire, Tacoma, Guild, Gibraltar, Applause, Celebrity & others are all owned by FMIC. This conglomerate seems to be made up of many musically oriented people and they tend to be better than almost all other corporate guitar companies.



Here's a picture of a Hamer Californian when Hamer was a small independent guitar shop


Here's The same guitar after Kaman Corporation (A Helicopter Company) bought the Brand Name

The Basic Differences
 Hamer is the example because of almost all the corporate guitars available.
 They are still one of the absolute very best.
 

The Original One was handbuilt entirely in the USA:      The new one is a Korean import.
The Original One incorporated USA Duncan's:      The new one uses imported pickups by Duncan.
The Original One used real ebony on the fingerboard:     The new one uses rosewood like most corp. guitars.
The Original One used a real German Floyd Rose Tremolo:     The new one uses a Chinese Floyd Rose.
The Original One came in any color you wanted:      The new one come is 2 colors amber and black.
The Original One came with beautiful looking woods:     The new one comes in alder.
The Original One offered awesomely beautiful paint jobs:      The new one does not offer that.
The Original One also came in a neck through body model:       The new one does not offer that.
The Original One used real abalone or mother of pearl for the inlays:   The new one uses plastic inlays.
The Original One could be special ordered with almost anything you could think of.   Not The New One.
The Original One was a real work of art and had a real potential to be collectable and increase in value
The New One will never attain any real intrinsic value. It will probably never be used by a full on professional unless of course he is paid to play it. and if that happens it will be more than likely that the guitar will be custom made.

Now Remember This Is Important
The new corporately made one Is still actually a very decent guitar,
I used the best corporate guitars I could find for this article!!!
Watch out for The new Kramer's, Epiphone's, LTD's, Steinberger's & other corporate guitars.


 

Here's The Test,  Were you paying attention
Which of these three Explorer Shaped   Wanderer Shaped Guitars is the corporate guitar
The answer at the bottom of the page.

AGAIN I MUST STRESS.  
HAMER CORPORATE GUITARS ARE among the BEST ONES I could think of !!!!
THE IMPORTED JACKSON & IBANEZ CORPORATE GUITARS ARE ALSO EXCELLENT.
In 2009 BC Rich is offering unbelievably good neck through imports for excellent prices.
They also have some pretty crappy ones too so be careful who you deal with.
JUST DON'T PAY TOO MUCH FOR ONE AND YOU'LL BE OK.
Be careful of foreign companies who try to fool you into thinking they are made in the USA
Be careful of overpriced brands like Epiphone, ESP, LTD, Schecter.


 

Hamer still builds a beautiful handmade guitar.
The only problem is this is really the only body shape you can get it in.
 Not necessarily a bad thing as long as you don't fall for the imported lookalike below


This is my own Hamer, It is probably close to 30 years old.
 It was originally owned by Mark Hitt of Ratrace Choir.
It was given to me by Tom Hughes a longtime customer and good friend.
Tom knows how much of a Mark Hitt fan I am.
We restored it to mint in my shop !!!!

 

 
Here's A Shot Of Some Older Hamer Handmade 80's Guitars
Ed Roman is always buying older Hamer's


Answer To The Test
If you can't tell the difference, then you don't deserve to know !!!!!!
 

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