Hamer Guitars

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Hamer Guitars is a guitar manufacturing company founded by Paul Hamer and Jol Dantzig. Originating in the Chicago area, Hamer was acquired by Kaman Music Corporation in 1988. Hamer offers a wide array of electric guitars and electric basses, and, since its foundation placed an emphasis on producing high-end instruments with vintage aesthetics as well as creative innovations.

As with most high-end guitar companies, Hamer markets a semi-pro line of instruments called the "XT Series" and the entry-level brand Slammer by Hamer.

[edit] History

Hamer guitars began in the early 1970s in the back room of vintage instrument shop in Wilmette, Illinois called Northern Prairie Music. This shop, owned by Paul Hamer and Jol Dantzig, catered to musicians who were interested in high-quality instruments.
In 1973 Northern Prairie repairman John Montgomery built a "flying V" type bass guitar for Dantzig using vintage Gibson parts. This instrument is arguably the first Hamer instrument and was shown to potential clients who shopped at Northern Prairie Music. Several Pre-Hamer instruments were built at Northern Prairie utilizing necks and bodies built by Luthier James Beech of Wooden Music (a Chicago music store.)
This led to a succession of custom guitars built by Northern Prairie (Montgomery/Hamer/Dantzig) The first guitar model was called the "Standard" which was based upon a mix of discontinued vintage Gibson designs (Explorer and Les Paul Standard). These instruments were sold directly to professional musicians.
As vintage instrument prices soared, Hamer, Dantzig and Montgomery (along with aprentice James Walker) formed the Hamer guitar company to provide their professional clients with an alternative to rare vintage instruments. Hamer began publicizing their instruments with small black and white ads in guitar magazines in 1974. Hamer Inc. was incorporated in 1976, with Paul Hamer acting as President and Jol Dantzig as Vice-president and Secretary. In 1977 Dantzig and Hamer bought out their partners and moved to Palatine, Illinois to begin production of instruments as a full time endeavor. The company employed up to seven workers. Most of the work up to this point had been one-off custom variations on the original "Standard" and "Flying V" guitars. In order to appeal to a broader market, the first "production" Hamer called the "Sunburst" debuted in 1977. Production was set at around 10 guitars per week.

Around this time Frank Untermyer (a friend of Paul Hamer) wrote his MBA thesis on the company. Untermyer became a shareholder in 1978 and helped to rapidly expand Hamer Guitars sales in the European and Japanese markets.

1980 brought a move to larger quarters in Arlington Heights (a suburb of Chicago.) The staff had grown to 12 and Hamer Guitars continued to launch new models such as the Special, Cruisebass, Prototype, Blitz and Phantom.

By 1987 disagreement between the partners on the company's direction led to the departure of Paul Hamer.

Untermyer and Dantzig sought a distribution deal with Kaman Music, the country's largest distribution agent. Seizing the opportunity to expand into the high-end electric market, Kaman offered to purchase Hamer in 1988. During the 1990s a process of diversification at Hamer expanded the product offering into lower and lower price points (exactly what Dantzig and Untermyer originally wanted to avoid) which allowed other companies such as Paul Reed Smith Guitars to reap the benefits of Hamer's exit from the high-end of the market. This reportedly precipitated Dantzig's departure from the companyin 1992.

As the mid-priced American made guitar market became saturated, Hamer sought to return to its roots and regain the brand identity it had lost. In 1997 the company relocated to a small shop in New Hartford, Connecticut. The top ten builders were relocated to New Hartford along with Dantzig who was brought in as Technical Director.
Hamer then began a slow rise to its former glory, concentrating on a core of high-quality designs targeted at the burgeoning upper-end and collector market. Production is currently set at 3 guitars per day by 10 builders, and prices run from $3000 to $15,500. Many of the older models have become collectible, and current limited editon runs are well subscribed to.
About 2000, Hamer started producing a new lineup of guitars named Slammer by Hamer with quite a low cost, and designed for playing modern, heavy styles.