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January 04, 2008 Four on the Shop Floor Click for larger images For this year's NAMM convention, we decided to build a set of four different guitars, all appointed with an identical finish and the same hardware options. Each of the four guitars, a Standard, a Studio, a Newport and a Monaco, would be crafted from clear African Limba and bound with faux tortoise cellulose. The fingerboards and headstock faceplates would be Brazilian rosewood and inlaid with genuine mother of pearl. In an earlier post we saw Tom building the Limba necks with Brazilian rosewood faceplates. Those necks were then placed on our "curing" rack and were allowed to normalize for a couple months. Now, guitar wizard Dave is having his way with them—adding some tortoise shell binding around the headstock. The first step is to laminate up strips of alternating colors of cellulose, putting some light ivoroid behind the tortoise to brighten it and provide contrast. Then Dave makes some rough cuts and pre-curves using a heat gun to soften the material. After cutting angled miters on the scroll piece, Dave pre-sands the matching angle on the side strips and then glues them into place. Once it has dried overnight, he can go about scraping the binding flush on the top and sides. The same technique is used on the body and neck. I'll have a bit more about these guitars later, so keep watching as these and the Earthen Maple series reach completion. January 09, 2008 Bursting the Earth While I've buried myself in play-testing a big pile of pickups for the Earthen Maple series, Gary has been busy in the paint room. We weren't sure what color would work best with the completely random figure and staining, so Gary and I mapped out a few choices and sprayed out some tests. In the end, Gary came up with a nice reddish-brown mix of cognac and honey—sounds pretty good to me! The result is what we call the Earthen Burst, and from this photo you can see how happy Gary is about it. Here's a closer view of the edge. The color is actually very subtle, and because each piece of this wood is different, the results are going to vary. I actually like the idea of every guitar being different and unique; it just makes each one more special. Tomorrow I'll show you some of the pickups I tried out, and I'll have some updates on the NAMM guitars too. January 10, 2008 Pile of Pickups Now, with the Earthen Maple guitar prototype at a point where it could be assembled and tested, I pulled out my box of pickups to see what would be the perfect match. I could tell from the acoustic ring that this guitar was going to require something a little different to bring out its best qualities. Choosing a pickup can be a daunting task, but if you know what to look for it's a lot easier. The biggest mistake people tend to make is trying to make a guitar sound like something it isn't. I learned a lesson while working with Don Gehman, a legendary and brilliant producer. Don had a phenomenal collection of vintage microphones, and when a certain manufacturer wanted some input on their new line of tube mics, they sent some to us in the studio to critique. It was my job to set the new mics up next to Don's $10,000+ Neumanns and Telefunkens, run the identical chains and get the levels set. We were using a really sweet Neve sidecar and some Fairchild 670 limiters. With everything in place, Don asked the vocalist, Tommy Shaw, to first just speak into each mic while we listened with eyes closed. As Tommy went from mic to mic, speaking, shouting, then finally singing; I was having a hard time making up my mind. Don, on the other hand knew immediately what it was that he was listening for. When I told him that I couldn't choose which one I liked best, he offered some sage advice that has served me incredibly well. Don reminded me that I knew Tommy's voice well enough to identify him on the phone with a single word, and that I should listen for the mic that made Tommy sound, well... like Tommy. "The object is to bring out the character in the voice that makes it sound like who the singer is." This is the identical process I use today to determine which pickup to pair with a guitar. It's a time-consuming task to ear test pickup after pickup through a variety of amps, at a whole slew of volume and gain settings, but it can be a lot of fun too. Our cast of suspects included Lollar Imperials, Wolfetone Marshallheads, Tom Holmes 450s a number of Duncans based on Pearly Gates, 59s and Seth Lovers, two sets of Dimarzios, some stacked Phat Cats, a Harmonic Design set and even some EMGs. I guess we could have gone on forever, but I had already narrowed it down to this group based upon my experience. The amps ranged from small combos like my vintage Ampeg Jet, a Pro Jr and a tweed Harvard to a Recto half-stack and a 1972 100w Marshall; and a lot of stuff in between like my trusty red panel AC30 Twin and various Fenders. I kept Don's lesson in mind as I listened for the character of the guitar to come through. What I heard was a clear, bell-like upper mid with a tight, but slightly attenuated bottom end. For me, this guitar really seemed to come alive with the eq of Euro tubes as opposed to the 6L6 or 6V6. I could easily compare that with my "Simul-link" equipped Blue Angel, just by turning a knob. It was a tough call, and I had to keep focused on the point of the exercise. In the end, I found that in this guitar the Seths with the Alnico 5 option really opened up and shimmered without giving up that midrange "voice" coming from the chambered limba body. Earthen Maple, you've met your match! January 14, 2008 Earthen Maple Studio Model Takes Flight to NAMM 2008 Ok, we're fast-forwarding to real time now, and the Earthen Maple Studio prototype is winging its way to California for the 2008 NAMM convention in Anaheim. On Thursday it will be available for viewing at our display, but before we strapped it into its first-class seat we took a detour. A guitar this striking and unique needed to be photographed properly, so en route to the airport we dropped it off with photographer Rick Whittey. Rick grabbed the case and said "see ya in two days," and this was the result. Floating in a muddy bog, the Earthen Maple revisits its birthplace (click to enlarge) One of the things we love about these rare timbers is their individual character. The polar opposite of the pin-striped, uptight business suit look—every guitar has a personality and a "face" recognizable to its owner. Even the headstock faceplate is a one-of-a-kind work of nature's art. We love the random glory of nature—if you're looking for uniformity, you've come to the wrong place because these guitars look and sound as individual as the music they were meant to create. Asymmetrical and natural figure adorns the peghead (click to enlarge and enjoy!) Only twenty-five of the Studio models will be made, each numbered individually. If you're going to be at NAMM, come on by and say hello. (click to enlarge) January 16, 2008 NAMM Limba Monaco Madness and More We're here in Anaheim with the Earthen Studio, and the four custom guitars that I've been talking about since mid-November. These guitars were specifically designed and built for the 2008 NAMM convention, but I didn't want to give too much away until now. A subtle blend of warm woods and colors (click photos to enlarge) This Monaco variant is one of four instruments all finished in transparent white and featuring the same appointments. Each of the four guitars: a Standard, Studio, Newport and this Monaco were crafted from clear African limba and bound with faux tortoise cellulose. If you've been following their progress here on this blog, you'll also know that the fingerboards and headstock faceplates are Brazilian rosewood inlaid with genuine mother of pearl. I decided to use Waverly tuners on all of them because I love the way that they work—zero backlash and perfectly smooth gears. Of course, those of you who have really nice acoustics already know about Waverlys, and I've always wondered why nobody used them on electrics. Maybe they aren't "Rock and Roll" enough for some, but I think they're down and dirty just the same. To continue the quirky-simple-yet-classic motif, we fitted them all with our sustain block bridge. Many of you have heard about the way this unit couples to the guitar's body, but you should hear what it sounds like on chambered instruments like these! Speaking of chambers, this show marks the official debut of the fully chambered Standard model. This will be the "stock" configuration for that model from now on, although for you purists out there, a solid "old-school" version can be ordered as well. More on this later. Subtle details set these guitars apart—how many can you find? Here, Mike is about to cut a truss rod cover from cellulose that he has laminated. To showcase Hamer's close ties to the leading pickup gurus, Jason Lollar, Seymour Duncan, Tom Holmes and Wolfe Macleod were all invited to provide a set of humbuckings tailored for one specific guitar. The Monaco received the Lollar set, and it sounds magnificent. I had sent a Monaco to Jason so he could assess the situation before building his contribution, and the legwork paid off. For old times sake, I had Tom Holmes send me the set he thought would work in the Studio; in a reprise of our original double-cut association from the 1970s. Tom came through with a set so masterfully built that I stopped the entire shop to gather 'round and put eyeballs on the flawless metalwork. In the Studio guitar, these pickups are precise and clear. God forbid that your hand technique is sloppy, for these pups reward talent and punish the poser mercilessly. I have a set of Wolfetone Marshallheads in a guitar at home, but for the Standard model, Wolfe wound up an alnico 2 based version of his PAF style humbuckers, and they rock with the best of them. I was surprised how the first-generation style magnets smoothed the edges of the sound, especially when more gain was employed. Seymour play-tests his work in a limba Newport My old bud Seymour recieved a limba Newport from us for reference, and set about winding a ton of pickups before he was satisfied. True to form, he kept winding and winding—trying to best himself. I didn't think we were going to make it to the show, but at the eleventh hour the package arrived. I was nervous, but I needn't have been. Seymour has the magic, and the pickups were excellent. They add girth to the guitar without stealing the "air" that is inherent in this design. After all, the original Phat Cats were born from the same hands. Just for laughs I got my old friend Steve at Angela Instruments in on the act too. I got a bunch of his Jensen-built oil-filled audiophile caps, then spent hours matching them up to the guitars by ear. I've got a little rig that allows me to switch between any number of caps and pot values in any guitar I want. This can be exhausting, but fun. Well, I'm starting to ramble, so I'll call it quits for now. If you're in town for the convention, stop by and introduce yourself as a reader of this blog. I'll be glad to let you take one of these toys for a spin. January 30, 2008 Back From NAMM Talladega Teaser We're back from the NAMM show in California and it was a smashing success. The Earthen Maple Studios sold out in less than ten minutes, and the rest of the display (including the Transparent White set) was sold before the first morning was over. Some good news for our Australian friends, as Steve Jackson came by and commissioned duplicates of everything on the stand for his shop down under. Jason Lollar stopped in as did Wolfe Macleod and Evan Skopp. Our good friends at Fender and Bill Collings dropped by to chat, along with Lyle Workman, Nikki Sixx, Keb Mo, Tom Dumont and a ton of others. We did some interviews and television spots highlighting the custom work we displayed. Our booth was surrounded by drums and percussion, so at one point I was shouting over the roar which probably created my "Howard Dean" moment—so I'm sure that stuff will be showing up to embarrass us sometime soon on You Tube. Evan, Jason and Jol Dave exudes attitude So now, it's back to work. Luckily, it's work we love. Mike and Dave have been busy getting some new developments based upon the Talladega chassis going, and I think you're going to like what we're brewing. I know that I promised to finish my story about the development of the Talladega—and I plan to deliver soon. In the meantime, here's a little tease in the form of a jazzer's spin on the 'Dega. Can you spot the details? Mike ponders the project Previous month Next month

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