Hamer Guitar

Hamer Guitars started in 1974 in a vintage guitar shop in Wilmette, IL where a group of musicians acquired, restored and sold vintage instruments such as '59 Les Pauls, and 50s and 60s Stratocasters. Frustrated with the sound and workmanship of instruments currently manufactured by Gibson and Fender, they decided to take things into their own hands, making what would become the first Hamer guitar - a Flying V bass.

When Jol Dantzig, one of the founders of Hamer, took the unique bass on the road for a string of gigs, people began asking about it and where they could get one. Although none of them had considered building guitars for other people, when fellow Illinois native, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick asked for one, they just couldn't turn him down. After Rick's request, orders began to pour in from Mick Ralphs of Bad Company, Martin Barre of Jethro Tull and Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash. "The reaction was incredible," explained Danzig. "We had ten orders before we even had a name for the company".

The progression from guitar repair to guitar building was pretty natural and the fledging Hamer Guitar company was on it's way.