A Lazarus story (sorry, non PRS content, but Santana shaped!)

[goat-n-gitter]

I got my first good electric guitar at 18 years old, while I was attending Texas Tech university in Lubbock, Texas, in 1983. The store was called Billy's Band Aid, and they got in a new Hamer Special. They made the poor decision to place it on a stand on top of the counter, and it got knocked off and broke the neck in two places. The repair did two things - it made the neck nearly mandolin skinny, and it made the guitar cheap enough that my poor college student self could afford it. I played my first gigs with the guitar, which hooked me on playing live.
In 1985 I moved to Georgia, and blew the money I had saved to get established on a Kahler Tremolo, a silverface Twin Reverb, and a refret and trem install for the Hamer (it was 1985 after all, everybody put whammy bars on their guitars). The Hamer was a rock monster, and was my number one gigging axe into the mid '90s when I got married, bought a house, and didn't gig as often.
I came home from work one day around Thanksgiving of 1997 to find the back window into my studio broken out, The Hamer and a couple of other instruments, along with my wife's camera gear stolen. The moronic thieves took the Hamer but left my much more valuable LP standard sitting there. That was the last time I saw my old Hamer.



Fast forward to last Friday night. I picked up my tablet during a commercial and for some reason on Reverb.com, I searched "hamer special" and on page 2 of the results - THERE IT WAS!!!! Plus, it was at a little hole in the wall used music gear store only about 30 minutes from me! The mods and some of the dings and damage left me with no doubt it was my old guitar!
I attempted to go by the book, but when I tried to get the old records, I found out the little town I had lived in had dissolved their police dept. 9 years ago, and had not forwarded the old reports to the county dept. that took over. So I just had to go try to buy it back. Fortunately, I was able to point out old damage the storekeeper hadn't taken into account and got the price down to semi-reasonable.
So now, after 22 years away, my old rock machine has returned! The poor guitar looks like it spent the last 22 years riding a cheese grater on the back, but it still plays and sounds great after a clean up and restring. A new bar for the Kahler is on the way.

It's not as sexy or versatile as my PRSi, but I think it's pretty cool, and it's back home again.
Plus, in my defense, there were no PRS outside Maryland or rock stars in 1983!

Thanks for reading my long story.

 

[walrus]

Great story! And so very unlikely that it happened - you should play the lottery while your luck is hot!

 

[bodia]

Some things are just meant to be!

 

[markd21]

Great story and sweet guitar!!! Congrats

 

[merciful-evans]

Glad to hear you beat the odds and got it back. I cant imagine how that feels.

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

Thieves should lose limbs in the town-center (after due process, of course). Sucks that you couldn’t prove it was stolen. Buying back your own gear is a hard pill to swallow.

 

[mark cassidy]

I got my first good electric guitar at 18 years old, while I was attending Texas Tech university in Lubbock, Texas, in 1983. The store was called Billy's Band Aid, and they got in a new Hamer Special. They made the poor decision to place it on a stand on top of the counter, and it got knocked off and broke the neck in two places. The repair did two things - it made the neck nearly mandolin skinny, and it made the guitar cheap enough that my poor college student self could afford it. I played my first gigs with the guitar, which hooked me on playing live.
In 1985 I moved to Georgia, and blew the money I had saved to get established on a Kahler Tremolo, a silverface Twin Reverb, and a refret and trem install for the Hamer (it was 1985 after all, everybody put whammy bars on their guitars). The Hamer was a rock monster, and was my number one gigging axe into the mid '90s when I got married, bought a house, and didn't gig as often.
I came home from work one day around Thanksgiving of 1997 to find the back window into my studio broken out, The Hamer and a couple of other instruments, along with my wife's camera gear stolen. The moronic thieves took the Hamer but left my much more valuable LP standard sitting there. That was the last time I saw my old Hamer.



Fast forward to last Friday night. I picked up my tablet during a commercial and for some reason on Reverb.com, I searched "hamer special" and on page 2 of the results - THERE IT WAS!!!! Plus, it was at a little hole in the wall used music gear store only about 30 minutes from me! The mods and some of the dings and damage left me with no doubt it was my old guitar!
I attempted to go by the book, but when I tried to get the old records, I found out the little town I had lived in had dissolved their police dept. 9 years ago, and had not forwarded the old reports to the county dept. that took over. So I just had to go try to buy it back. Fortunately, I was able to point out old damage the storekeeper hadn't taken into account and got the price down to semi-reasonable.
So now, after 22 years away, my old rock machine has returned! The poor guitar looks like it spent the last 22 years riding a cheese grater on the back, but it still plays and sounds great after a clean up and restring. A new bar for the Kahler is on the way.

It's not as sexy or versatile as my PRSi, but I think it's pretty cool, and it's back home again.
Plus, in my defense, there were no PRS outside Maryland or rock stars in 1983!

Thanks for reading my long story.

Excellent story. Too cool. You maybe didn't hear it in your excitement when you saw your old friend but I'm sure it purred a little when you picked it up after so long gone. Right on!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

That looks like a fun guitar. Chicagoland was littered with Hamers while I was growing up, I kinda wish I would’ve grabbed a couple.

 

[WA Paul]

Wow, great that you were able to reacquire your guitar! Should be a song or two in there somewhere

 

[Parralax view]

While not a theft victim, my first self bought guitar,a 65 Mosrite Ventures II model in blue, has an interesting story. I kept it under my bed while I was in the Navy. My new wife wasn't nearly as interested in music as I was, so after highschool, Navy, home, and college, it stayed under one of our beds or another. When I started gigging again, all I had was that Mosrite and a big Kustom tuck and roll head and cab in black. Not ideal to say the least. I sold off the Kustom, and traded the Mosrite to a Trunk Gypsy in Dallas that I was acquainted with. Fast forward to mid 2010 or so and I'm on the net with Tym's Guitars in Brisbane Australia. He's a Ramone's fan of the first order and had several MkII's in white, red, and this curious blue one that looked very familiar.

I emailed him, we compared marks and dings, and one that didn't show that I knew about sealed it. It still lives in his collection. Not nearly as good as getting it back as was the Hamer's destination, but it exists, is valued and loved and I can't ask for anything more. I like hearing about lost guitars that find their way home, no matter who it is.