Hamer Chaparral Max Bass

This bass was build from 1988-1992, my bass is a '91. It has a solid 2-piece quilted maple body with set-in 3-piece maple neck, a 21-fret ebony fretboard with boomerang inlays. Earlier basses were equipped with OBL P-type + HB pickup combination, later Hamer used EMG's as standard, mine came with EMG's, though instead the HB type they used the EMG soapbar type, which allows wider string spacing, all models have active electronics. The controls are Volume, a pan pot (earlier models had a 3-way switch instead), treble and bass. The bass came with gold-plated hardware as standard, Schaller M-4 tuners (4 in-line) and Schaller 3D4 bridge. This is a long scale bass, 34" scale length. The body is kept small (dinky size), it has the same dimensions as the Chaparral guitar. The trussrod access is, as usually on Hamer instruments, to be found on the headstock, and Hamer used a lubitrak nut on this one. I don't know what color options this bass had, mine is in natural high gloss finish (I know them only in this finish).I bought this one used, I got it with the original tolex hardshell case (including the tools).

I play this through a Trace Eliott (GP-7) amp. The active tone control on this bass is quite effective, this bass can sound very bright (as one might expect this from an all-maple construction) and also can deliver a very punchy bass, I don't even need the amp's EQ. The P-type pickup can also sound very aggressive, good for rock stuff. The pickups are very quiet. The bass really has a very variable sound, it can deliver vintage sounds as well as modern sounds. And for a set-neck bass it has a really good attack.

When I bought this bass, it hung there for over one year (maybe even longer), it was quite dusty. The body had a few dings but it is not visible due to the natural finish. It was built perfect, and especially the ebony fretboard is of high quality. I can't say how the factory set-up was, but when I bought it the neck had a bow and needed adjustment, this was a thing I can do myself. But with the old strings that were on it, this bass couldn't convince anyone (but me, so it seems) to buy it. After adjusting, cleaning and restringing (D'Addario 0.45-1.05 Nickel), this bass had a completely different look and sound. I couldn't recognize any production flaws. One might think that because of the small body dimensions this bass might be unbalanced, but this isn't the case here, perfectly balanced. And compared to other all-maple construction basses, this one isn't heavy (compare it to a Gibson RD Artist or Victory).

This bass is of very high quality, it was once the flagship of the Hamer basses. I'd use it without a backup, but now it is common to have a 5-string on stage as well. I can depend on it, this bass hasn't let me down yet.

I haven't dealt with Hamer yet. I also have several guitars by them and just haven't needed their Customer Support. The Hamer people just take their time to build their instruments well enough. But as HFC'er I know that the Hamer people care for their customers.

It's a real pity that they discontinued this bass model. It has great looks and a flexibility one could not find often. But Hamer seemed to have no luck breaking in the bass market with their models, so they gave up producing basses (except for the 12-string basses). I also have a '98 Fender US J-Deluxe, another modern bass, but the Hamer doesn't need to hide from it. I am not missing anything on the Hamer. If it was stolen I'd be very sad, as one may not find another one again very easily, I'd try to get another one.
When I joined the HFC it renewed my interest in Hamer instruments (I already played their guitars for a long time), and when I bought my Fender I saw this bass first, a year later it was still there! So I finally bought it and am lucky to have it. The nice thing is that I didn't even pay a lot for this bass. All I can say to Jol Dantzig and Frank Untermeyer (the main Hamer guys) "Get this bass into production again!"