❌SOLD❌ Hamer Prototype Double Cut Solidbody Red, 1981

Built from 1981 to 1985, the Hamer Prototype was unique for its time and introduced a number of concepts that are now commonplace on production guitars, and not just on custom builds.

Paul Hamer and Jol Dantzig opened Hamer Guitars in Willamette, Illinois in 1973 and began building custom designs based on Explorer and Flying V body shapes, with wild finishes and unusual hardware combinations. Many of these pieces showed up on arena stages in the hands of bands like Kiss, Cheap Trick, Def Leppard, Jethro Tull, and others. In 1980, Hamer moved to Arlington Heights, and at this point the Hamer Prototype appeared. In 1987 Paul Hamer left the company, and the next year Kaman Music purchased Hamer and moved it to New Hartford, Connecticut. On December 31 2007, Fender purchased Kaman, and in 2012 terminated the line. Hamer was re-introduced in 2017 by KMC Music with five models.

The Hamer Prototype itself was an unusual guitar. In terms of construction, it is simple – a double cutaway Mahogany slab body and set–joint Mahogany neck with Rosewood fingerboard. It hints at but is not directly derivative of models like the Les Paul Special double cut, and as a first, combined a diMarzio PAF and a diMarzio single coil in the same mounting ring. To this point, only custom and retrofitted guitars combined both single coil and humbucking pickups; the Hamer Prototype was the first production line guitar to have this as stock.

Here we’re looking at a Hamer Prototype in Cherry Red finish. Its serial number begins with a 1, followed by a space and four digits. At this point, Hamer used this first digit to indicate the year (starting in 1981 as 1) and the remaining digits are the production rank.

This guitar is in overall good original condition. It’s definitely been used as intended – played but not abused – and so there is an amount of honest finish wear. Fret wear is light to moderate and the Indian Rosewood fingerboard is in good shape. The Schaller tuners work well.  The bridge is reminiscent of a hard tail strat bridge, but was custom for Hamer, and the strings feed through the back of the guitar.

There is one unusual detail on this guitar- the black/white truss rod cover is engraved ‘Brian’.

This Hamer Prototype is a fun guitar to play, but it’s also a serious instrument. It is light and resonant, very well balanced, and the back contour is quite comfortable.

A hard shell case is included.