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Hamer USA: bass design input request

hasbeen

hasbeen

Commercial User
Sep 23, 2004
4,806
2,668
Disclosures
Executive Vice President, The Adam Hall Group
#1
Hello Fello TB'ers;
I've been asked to help design a new Hamer bass. ...and I'd like any/all input.

Keep in mind that Hamer is a pretty "guitar-centric" brand. They have however, made some really cool basses over the years.

With the Hamer "brand image" in mind, what form factor would you think the bass should take? Semi-hollow, f-hole, dovetail neck type thing? Bolt-on neck, 35" "modern" type thing?

I have my thoughts but, I'm too close to it and I may miss the overall market perception and who the target player/customer is.

For instance, I have a hard time getting the Hamer Monaco bass type of element out of my head when I think Hamer. I have one with flatwounds on it for blues type gigs.

Thanks to all in advance for your thoughts.
 
#3
Awesome news!

I love my old Hamer Cruisebass 5 fretless. If I could ask anything of Hamer, it would be the same bass but consistently weighing in around 9 lbs (or less), with ultralight tuners, and a bridge that allows adjustable spacing.

The Monacos look cool, but I think enough people are avoiding that sort of short upper horn situation to where that's a part of why the Monaco is dead in the water as far as sales. Of course the price is another issue.

Basically if they are looking for something that isn't just an updated J-bass/Cruisebass, then my emphatic vote goes toward something more ergonomic as opposed to something that just "looks cool".
 
#4
bongomania said:
Awesome news!


Basically if they are looking for something that isn't just an updated J-bass/Cruisebass, then my emphatic vote goes toward something more ergonomic as opposed to something that just "looks cool".
Click to expand...

that's actually VERY insightful. Yes....it can't just be a J/P platform.....Sadowsky, Lakland, Aleva, Lull.....all of them, have that covered. But yes.......it can't just be a "cool, vibe'y, retro, f-hole" thing that doesn't balance well or sound good.

Thanks for taking the time.
 
#5
I am a devoted Cruise Bass player--I have a 2Tek and a Gotoh. And GAS for one of the older set-neck Cuise models with the EMG soap/P combo. I would LOVE to see a great new offering from Hamer.

When Hamer asked you to help design a bass, did they give you any indication about what market they are targeting? If they're just saying "design a bass that's going to sell" that's a bit vague. Just an observation from a career marketing guy who does pretty well :).

They need to decide what part of the market they are going after. Beginners whose moms are paying for the bass? Players that want "vintage" but can't afford a '65 Fender J? Dudes with gray hair looking to (kind of) relive a certain era?

Seriously, Hamer needs to tell you SOMETHING before you can say, here's your new bass design. At least if they want more than a blind guess about what's going to work in the market.

I love talking about this stuff. You are welcome to PM me.
 
#6
I'd like to see a reissue of the Jack Baldes bass....

do something other than the high end fender thing- while I love my Sadowskys and Fenders it seems like there are too many basses along those lines- I'd love to see something that borrowed from JayDee, Alembic, Smith etc- but was more of a rock guys bass with a skinny fast neck- I love traditional basses- but I'd be hard pressed to like something better than my old fenders for that type of thing....
 
#8
gotta have a long upper horn for good balance. I like a single coil neck pickup (right up by the neck) and a humbucker bridge pickup. fat, skinny neck with a high radius fingerboard. And maybe mix these "vintage" features" with more modern ones like a high mass bridge, adjustable string spacing, 35" scale, etc.

great to see hamer looking to produce another bass!
 
#9
5 STRING EXPLORER STYLE IN RICK NIELSEN CHECKERBOARD!!!!

rick_guitarpic6.gif
 
#14
Cruise Bass in a 5 string P-bass platform with a bridge humbucker. But ONLY if you want it to sell a bajillion units.

If you could do a Hamer version of the Fender Precision Deluxe that would cost less and be made better, it would take the world by storm :)
 
#15
1. The Phantom was a cool guitar. Nice body shape and between the triple coil humbucker and single coil neck pickup, lots o' sounds to be had. A lot of players dig versatility. Something like that in a bass?
2. A true vintage jazz bass- Hamer style. Hamer used to make vintage style strats that were awesome (I forget the model). Hamer could probably do an awesome traditional jazz-style bass
 
#18
Since J and P are not on the table (and I totally understand the reasoning there), I would sit back and ask what Hamer's strength is. My perception is that their image is strongest with rockers who like to look stylish onstage. This was true for all their best products back in the hair-metal glory days, and at least with guitars it's true today.

So my next question is, who are "the rockers that like to look stylish" of today's market? Some of them will be older guys like me who think the Explorer bodies with custom-shop polka-dotted paintjobs are awesome and iconic; but we will perhaps be in the minority, and I don't know that the younger crowd would go for that. So who do we have on top of the rock image scene... crabcore (and other -core) bands; electropop; techno/math-metal; R&B/hip-hop crossovers; what else, I don't know, I'm out of touch. But anyway I would look at the currently-popular image-rock artists and analyze what message they are trying to send with the gear and clothes etc. they use already, and I would use those elements to try to capture that energy in a new design.
 
#19
Do you ever post on the Hamer Fan Club board? You'd get some great feedback from the guys over there, guaranteed.

In general, Hamer seems to be going for, more or less, traditional styling with a twist based on guitars like the Talladega and the Monaco bass. For something that they'd put into production I can't imagine that they'd even consider revisiting something like, for example, the Blitz bass or a bolt-on CruiseBass (sadly). A set-neck Tele Bass with the Duncan Fat Cat single coils (sort of a bass version of the Talladega) would be cool as hell and might fly. I presume Jol would have to sign off on the ultimate design selection.

Good luck with this project, I would like to see something new, cool and affordable from Hamer. I am a 2-TEK CruiseBass player.
 
#20
As an aging old fart with a couple collapsed discs in my neck, I'd love something engineered to be airy, resonant, and much lighter.

How about an all-korina set neck or thru-neck bass with graphite neck reinforcements? Although the Jack Blades bass looks cool, something with a balancing, ergonomic upper horn would help. And maybe an evenly spaced Bootsie-style array of five J-bass type pickups and controls to switch them on in nearly every combination, or at least the 7 tastiest-sounding ones.

I also absolutely love the 2TEK bolt neck Cruise of the mid-'90s. Seems like they killed that product as soon as they produced it. Largely ignored as a J-Bass wannabe with a swooshy pickguard, the magic was in the playing. I played 3 of 'em 10 years ago and still can't get it out of my head.

And yeah, join Invalid Link Removed. There are a lot of bass-savvy Hamer enthusiasts over there. One of them has Kip Winger's Impact bass, and at least 3 own those extremely rare (6 made?) 5-string neck-thru Impacts.
 

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