Hamer Cruise 5 string fretless??

[nixdad]

Here ya go, Hamers are pretty sweet.
View attachment 3842022

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

 

[nixdad]

Trying to find out more about this bass. Any Hamer or bass expert who could help me out? I'm not a bass player, only a producer who knows nothing
I think it's a 1995 Cruise but I'm not sure. Serial 54xxxx

BTW, I can't imagine that more than a few 5-string fretless models were made in gold. Each of the product specialists (of which there were 3 of us) would order what we wanted the factory to build for our own inventory.

 

[CaseyL]

BTW, I can't imagine that more than a few 5-string fretless models were made in gold. Each of the product specialists (of which there were 3 of us) would order what we wanted the factory to build for our own inventory.

That’s very interesting. Since you worked for Hamer, I feel I must tell you: I have never understood why the Cruise Bass didn’t take off and become a mainstay. The only two electric basses i have never and would never part with are my Jazz and the Hamer fretless 5. Both basses feel and play great, and both sound extraordinary. For me, my Hamer is in the same league as my J. You guys made wonderful instruments and should be very proud of that. And thanks; I love my fretless 5!

 

[nixdad]

That’s very interesting. Since you worked for Hamer, I feel I must tell you: I have never understood why the Cruise Bass didn’t take off and become a mainstay. The only two electric basses i have never and would never part with are my Jazz and the Hamer fretless 5. Both basses feel and play great, and both sound extraordinary. For me, my Hamer is in the same league as my J. You guys made wonderful instruments and should be very proud of that. And thanks; I love my fretless 5!

Thanks for your kind comments, @CaseyL. They are very much appreciated.

Technically, I worked for Kaman as the Hamer and Trace Elliot product specialist for the Western U.S. from 11/93 until 7/97, when Trace Elliot was sold back to Mark Gooday (I believe) and his crew in England and Hamer was downsized considerably and moved from Arlington Heights, IL to the facility in Connecticut where Ovation Guitars were produced. My cohorts were Mike Edmunds in the midwest, and Frank Rindone in the east. Both Mike and Frank were guitar players and I was a bassist, so we all had input into not only which amps and guitars were ordered for our territories, but also design input into the Hamer instruments which were introduced during that era (along with Frank Untermyer (President of Hamer,) Jim Allan (Head of Sales,) Paul Damiano (Head of Kaman Marketing.) Jol Danzig was not directly involved at the time and did not return to Hamer until later in '97.

Out of all of the major properties owned or controlled by Kaman at the time including Ovation, Takamine, Gibraltar Hardware, Toca Percussion, Trace Elliot and Hamer, Hamer may have had the smallest advertising and artist budget. Hamer was amazing - the American-made quality they produced at a fraction of the cost was staggering, yet most people were not aware likely due to the reasons I had previously stated. Guitar-wise, their Artist series retailed from appx $1,299 (Artist Studio) to just over $2k (Artist Custom,) and were far superior to the $5k guitars Gibson was producing at the time, and at equal quality to PRS at a fraction of the price. PRS was growing like a weed while at the time Hamer seemed to be the industry's best kept secret (which is not good for sales.)

I agree with you about the Cruise Basses. Although we sold a lot of them, we did not sell as many as we could have if we had a larger advertising and marketing budget. In all fairness, however, Hamer was a small shop which meant quality control was at a premium. Our goal in launching the (v2) Cruise Basses was to produce a Jazz Bass that was better and more innovative than what Fender was producing (this was before there were dozens of Jazz Bass knockoffs like there are today.) The first decision was to incorporate the 2-Tek bridge into the new designs, a comfortable 22-fret neck and Seymour Duncan pickups. The 5-string had to have the right string spacing, a solid-B-string, and a comfortable neck; both models would be available with a more traditional Gotoh bridge option, as well as lined and unlined fretless necks with ebony fingerboards. The fun part for me was designing the pickguard, and having a voice in the neck design for the 5-string models. In '95 when we launched the Cruise Basses, Fender also happened to launch their updated bass designs (which we knew nothing about until the NAMM show in January.) It was clear from the feedback we received from players and music store owners alike that the Cruise Bass was the clear favorite of the two. No doubt Fender sold faaaaaaaar more basses at the time than we could ever hope to sell (we had fewer dealers as well,) but we were happy with the results. We knew our efforts to provide an incredible bass that was an incredible value had been achieved when later that same year the Cruise Bass was the first bass ever to receive a perfect 5/5 score in Bass Player Magazine.

It's blurry, but here's a link to the review: Article in bass player magazine regarding Hamer Cruise bass

 

[Kitsapbass]

I’m sure I have the issue that came in.