# Hamer Guitars in Canada?



## Toogy (Apr 16, 2009)

Anyone know of any place in Canada that deals with Hamer guitars? I've always been sort of curious about them, but I can't seem to find a lot of online sellers. Not even in the USA.

Are their import models reasonably priced? Are they decent quality? I'm GASing for an explorer right now and wondering if their import standard is a better option than an Epiphone?


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Hamer was bought out by Fender, They are a custom shop only now. I don't think you'll find much of new factory Hamers in Canada. Fender has order that retail stores clear out the productions Hamers. One of the best places in the US is Jay Wolfe in Florida. A few months ago I remember seeing Hamers going for lower than used prices. Their inventory is listed on Gbase.

http://www.gbase.com/stores/find?GS=Y&PageIndex=1&PageSize=25&SF0=5&SD0=1&SF1=4&SD1=1&Keyword=wolfe&F1=2

Looks like they only have four left. They also appear to be gone at BCR Greg's, another high profile Hamer dealer. You'll have to do a lot of searching.



Toogy said:


> Anyone know of any place in Canada that deals with Hamer guitars? I've always been sort of curious about them, but I can't seem to find a lot of online sellers. Not even in the USA.
> 
> Are their import models reasonably priced? Are they decent quality? I'm GASing for an explorer right now and wondering if their import standard is a better option than an Epiphone?


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## vds5000 (Apr 14, 2008)

I believe these guys have a few new import Hamers left:

Music City Instruments 
353 Lake St, St. Catharines, ON L2N 7G4
(905) 936-7625 ‎ 

The owner of that store is very nice and easy to talk to.


If you have any questions about the USA models, I've owned 9 different ones over the years - feel free to email me.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

Get yourself over to the Hamer Fan Club forum. There's a good buy/sell board there for used Hamer instruments at mostly better than E-Bay prices. Quite a few Craigslist/E-Bay PSA's for listings of particular interest and value, also.

Hamer imports are okay, although they're getting pricier now. Some of the best imports were the Korean-made first generation, roughly 1996-2000 manufacture. US-made Hamers go for such relative bargain prices used, I'd highly recommend you go with one of those. For example, a new Korina Standard Korina XT goes for somewhere around $750 now. While that's not terribly expensive relative to some, the build quality, body/neck woods and resale suffer in comparison to say a used Hamer USA Special (versatile workhorse in it's own right) that typically sells in the $500-$750 range. Used USA Standards tend to run $1000 and up, unfortunately, but they are great sounding guitars, btw.

Personally, I wouldn't buy an offshore Hamer for more than about $300 (or most Epiphones either, for that matter) when such good quality is available for little more elsewhere. The quality and tone just isn't quite there, although playability can be very good with the imports. Players are often tempted to pour more money into the offshore models - which is most often a poor use of funds in the longrun as it does little to help resale values.

Cheers!


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## fudb (Dec 8, 2010)

I was in toronto the other day at a place called "Scarboro Music" They had a Talladega that was new and a couple others.. First time in that store I have no opinion on their service


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

fudb said:


> I was in toronto the other day at a place called "Scarboro Music" They had a Talladega that was new and a couple others.. First time in that store I have no opinion on their service


i live a block up the street. they are real nice folks, but i have only bought strings and picks there so far. they have several hamer guitars there. 

oh, by the way, they are having a huge sale right now, up to 70% off on some items.


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## wintle (Mar 25, 2008)

That sale's been on for years and it's not much of a sale. As for the service, there are great big signs all over saying 'don't touch the guitars!'

I have not enjoyed the many times I have browsed in this store while my kids take (excellent) piano lessons here. The one guy follows you around like a pickpocket.

As well, I'm OK paying a small 10-15% premium to support the little guy, but most of their prices are many times that premium over the big guys.

They do have some nice Hamers though if you want to sit down and play them. You just might have to beg for the privilege.

Thank god for the 12th fret, and RIP to Encore.

Cheers


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

that's not true at all. like i said, i go in there all the time, i have never seen a sign like that, and in fact, have been encouraged to try out any guitar i wish. in fact i have been going in there for 4 years now and have never once seen the sign you speak of. it is possible however, that they discourage children from handling the instruments, i wouldn't know about that. 
one thing i do know is, they just put the sign up for that sale on monday. before that, the last sale sign they had up was around christmas time and that was a 50% off sale. i don't know about their prices on hamer guitars because i'm not familiar with them, or the gretch guitars they also carry. however, i encourage the o/p to disregard your negative post, because it is not accurate.


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## wintle (Mar 25, 2008)

Troogy,

Stopped into Scarboro Music today. They have three Hamers as follows:

Talladega $5895.95
Newport $4299.95
Studio $3999.95

One, I think the studio, has a soft v neck. Prices are ridiculous, but you could try them out there and buy elsewhere - not too bad a drive and three different popular models. Someone on here (Alex Dann? - not sure) has a buddy at Willcutt in the US, where you can buy these guitars for half the price Scarboro is asking. http://www.willcuttguitars.com/hamer-usa

Not sure what cheezyridr is talking about (affiliated? wrong store?) - the signs say 'DO NOT HANDLE INSTRUMENTS', yes, in caps. Nothing on sale that hasn't been 'on sale' for the last 3 or 4 years that I could see.

Some other humorous prices: Ibanez tube screamer $229.95, MXR Carbon Copy $269.95, Marshall MG30FX $379.95.

Again, I'm happy to support the local guy and OK to pay a small premium to do so, but these prices are ludicrous. Ludicrous!

Cheers


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

Wow. How much are strings at Scarboro Music?


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Those are some outrageous prices. I got my Newport for less than half that in New York


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## Alex Csank (Jul 22, 2010)

Do they actually sell anything at those prices? I mean, even Scarberians must balk at paying double!


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## Schectertastic (Jul 12, 2010)

wintle said:


> Troogy,
> 
> Stopped into Scarboro Music today. They have three Hamers as follows:
> 
> ...


Those prices are the list prices...which no one in their right minds sells items for...he's either hoping people DON'T shop around and just buy it, or he's losing the saavy customers where he might make 10-20% like everyone else does, and hopes to rip someone off and make 50% or more profit, which in theory could result in the same amount of total sales/profit if he sells only 1 instead of 3 at the "street" price.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

Those prices are ludicrous! I see lightly used Tally's, Newports and Studios come up regularly on the Hamer Fan Club buy/sell listings in the US$1,000-$1,700 range. With our favourable exchange rate, those prices are even better these days. Totally worth paying the $100 shipping and some customs brokerage/tax to get something out of the US. The HFC also has some Cdn members (there's a few of us from GC there) also, so once in a while a totally bitchin' Hamer will come up from Canada also.

Last year, a member from Montreal sold a very nice, player-quality Korina-bodied USA model Vector (Hamer's V) for $500 - still kicking myself for not buying that one! Similar quality Gibson would have sold for 5X that.


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## Presto1202 (Dec 8, 2010)

My cousin has one. It's pretty nice. I've thought of getting one of their lower end ones which I've seen for 3-400 dollars. Some of the models in the California series were nice and not too expensive but they do have their high end models too.


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