With a twist!
I've been a fan of the 90's Hamer Cruise basses since they were released, and have been through a few over the years. My first was a fretless 2Tek 4 bought new in '95. While I really liked it, I felt that bridge contributed a certain element to the tone (a metallic one) that didn't work for me in the long run. My second was this one: a Gotoh fretted 4 bought new off the wall at my local store. I'll come back to this one. My third was a fretless 4 Gotoh model that never quite worked for me, either. I will add that the third came towards the end of my gear flipping days and there's always a chance I was simply bedazzled by something different.
Anywho, #2 was bought new off the wall back in '96. It has been my primary fretted bass up until my Suhr (Suhr Classic J), and I have conducted so many pickup experiments on it I've lost count.
I then spent some time working with both a luthier and Nordstrand on my plans for world domination, or a saucy new fretless. Either/or.
The endgame? Awesome sauce! An interesting design choice in the 90's Hamer Cruises is that the neck pickup is 1/2" closer to the bridge than a standard 60s J. I went with Alnico 3 aiming for a little bit more warm and fuzzy as the pickup positioning gives me a little more punch than depth to begin with, and it certainly achieved what I wanted.
Stew and Nordstrand were ez pz to deal with, and Stew specifically was a great resource in hammering out exactly what I should order.
I've been a fan of the 90's Hamer Cruise basses since they were released, and have been through a few over the years. My first was a fretless 2Tek 4 bought new in '95. While I really liked it, I felt that bridge contributed a certain element to the tone (a metallic one) that didn't work for me in the long run. My second was this one: a Gotoh fretted 4 bought new off the wall at my local store. I'll come back to this one. My third was a fretless 4 Gotoh model that never quite worked for me, either. I will add that the third came towards the end of my gear flipping days and there's always a chance I was simply bedazzled by something different.
Anywho, #2 was bought new off the wall back in '96. It has been my primary fretted bass up until my Suhr (Suhr Classic J), and I have conducted so many pickup experiments on it I've lost count.
I then spent some time working with both a luthier and Nordstrand on my plans for world domination, or a saucy new fretless. Either/or.
The endgame? Awesome sauce! An interesting design choice in the 90's Hamer Cruises is that the neck pickup is 1/2" closer to the bridge than a standard 60s J. I went with Alnico 3 aiming for a little bit more warm and fuzzy as the pickup positioning gives me a little more punch than depth to begin with, and it certainly achieved what I wanted.
Stew and Nordstrand were ez pz to deal with, and Stew specifically was a great resource in hammering out exactly what I should order.
