Hamm-tone Guitar Building Class is a sole proprietorship guitar building and repair operation based out of Winnipeg, Canada. We run a multitude of guitar building and repair classes. The atmosphere is very pleasant, the guitars are very nice. If you are interested in delving further into the world of guitar making, or are completely new to the concept, it may be a good idea to check things out here. Thanks for visiting!
My 1988 Gerald Anderson F5 has a small wood screw, but not exactly sure if it does too much. Resetting that neck would be a task. Most mandolins I’ve worked on do not have screws/bolts.
Compression frets are a very good concept, but they don’t always work as well as one may hope. The climate here fluctuates from 65% relative humidity to 5%, and with those fluctuations, it’s really nice to be able to adjust the truss rod accordingly. The neck can move a fair bit in the spring/fall/winter.
I would honestly say - and i have both a ‘57 j50 and a HD-28 - is the Hamm-tone sounds boomier or fatter to me - less tight - but what is the scale length? I think it depends what you are going for. It has more of a Gibson response to me but looks like a dread. Less upper mid focus, some lower focus, strings seem looser to me. I love my j50 but i don’t really like it for flatpicking. My j50 has written a ton of songs my d-28 never would have because of how it’s voiced, and how it asks me to hold it. I don’t know if that makes any sense but that’s what i hear. It’s a beautiful instrument though. I find Collings to be incredibly bright guitars. They’re so bright that honestly I don’t own one because The Collings dreads just have this very particular upper mid focus that I just think makes them sound kind of the same and not as much richness even though of course they’re awesome and incredible but this is just what I think.
Jeremy, the Collins a little brighter. Your guitar warmer. Both wonderful. By the way, in Ottawa you built me a Martin style baritone uke in 2000 in trade for my old 1960 somewhat beat up Martin O-18 because I had just bought a Martin J-40 and didn't need two guitars . The uke is rosewood, and spruce top, etc. Love it. Last year I traded my 1995 J-40 for a new O-18 at Toronto 12th Fret. J-40 getting too big for my advancing age. Nice to see you making such fine instruments
I’m so glad to hear from you! My old email account was lost about a decade ago, I lost your contact info! Would you mind sending me an email? jeremyhammtone@gmail.com
The Collings has that in-your-face pre-war Martin bark with tremendous presence. The Hamm-tone sounds nice & warm, but it's a much more mellower & subdued tone.........it doesn't have that "punch to the face".
Where did your 25th anniversary video go? It disappeared while I was in the middle of it! Did you discussion of capitalism set off an alarm somewhere? 🙂
I like your response. What exactly about the Collings is so much better than Hamm-tone? In real life, the Collings has more mid range, but the treble notes on both guitars are quite similarly focused. The Hamm-tone has more bass, no comparison. It sounds more like a Gibson J-45 with the bass frequencies. What did you hear that is so much better with the Collings that you prefer? I’m trying to build a better guitar and I appreciate you sharing your opinion. Thank you.
HammTone seems to have more "depth" or resonance from the very first note. They are both good. Next time new strings on both for a more fair comparison. BTW - might you be doing a "fix your guitar" workshop this fall? I think I have a guitar that needs a neck reset.
A really nice guitar build and a nice sound produced by it. Man, that is a credit to you!! I very much like your style of playing. Nice and laid back and sweet sounding. Thanks for providing the video, and cheers from the Sunny Coast of Queensland in Australia.
It's got that lovely original pickguard with the dark red celluloid pickguard which, I think, is unique to the sixties. That alone would make me decide to leave the top as it is. I've seen far worse-looking tops on Martins. I think that D18 has a lovely aged look with loads of mojo. If you re-top, it's present tone is gone and the breaking-in clock is reset to zero. Please don't do it! 🙂
That ended up being exactly what I did. I ended up just dealing with all the mechanical/structural issues of the guitar. It turned out just great. Thanks for sharing your good opinions!
You couldn’t be more right! The last few that I have made, I had my respirator on… Years later… I’m thankful my lungs still work. Good advice. Dust control folks!
@@Hamm-toneGuitars After over four decades of remodel carpentry I've done a LOT of sketchy breathing. Been lucky so far and am very careful now...fingers crossed and thanks for the tutorial. My radius dishes are getting pretty wonky and I might try your method rather than buying again!
The Goertzen is superior in tone.. can't see the instrument in its totality. The strings on the second mandolin look way beyond their prime. I prefer fully fretted mandolins, no abbreviations or "scoops" Just my thing.
The main reason for tying all 6 strings together in this age old traditional method is to reduce the chance (yeah, it’s somewhat unlikely) of a string unravelling and slapping back on the soundboard, making an ugly mark. I’ve seen it more times than I wish. There are many ways. If you like your way, you should stay with it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix. Right? Thanks for sharing your perspective!
Oh, you are so correct. The video is a sympathetic byproduct of what I do, in that I don’t really film these videos in a professional manner for profit. I’m just hoping that I can shed a little bit of light on certain things… But yeah, I totally feel silly for having such a big head with that massive corduroy hat in front of these different sections… Just learning different ways of filming. I’ll have to try making some sort of angled mounting structure for next time. Thank you for your input.
Oh my fav-o-rite part, bending all those tight curves and then the literal hours of scraping it down (NOT! I'm being sarcastic of course, and my hat's off to you sir, for your patience and care. You are a True Craftsman).
