A“I’ve been using the Talladega a lot lately and love
it. Its comfortable, vintage-feeling neck shape and
a cool tonal variety, wrapped up in a sleek, artful
design, inspires me to feel and play.” –Greg V.
shape, the T then the neck pickup alone and finally the grounds will find both useful and familiar.
influences o neck and bridge in series. The end result is Noted Tele-wrangler Greg V said the follow-
taking a turDalladega wears its Telecaster
n its sleeve. Where things start
n toward Kalamazoo, Michigan Ean über-flexible setup that iGs able to cover ing about his TaAlladega, “I’ve been using the
circa 1956, or, more appropriately, Wilmette, much more sonic territory than typically Talladega a lot lately and love it. Its comfort-Illinois some 20 years later, is in the guitar’s afforded using traditional dual-pickup wiring. able, vintage-feeling neck shape and a cool
set-neck construction and decidedly non- In addition to the bridge pickup’s raucous tonal variety, wrapped up in a sleek, artful
Fender-like choice of tone woods, using a Tele-inspired tones, using the bridge and design, inspires me to feel and play.”
chambered Honduran mahogany body with neck in parallel gives up a nice, bell-like vibe
a beautiful, hand-carved, flame maple top. not dissimilar to Roy Nichols’ work with
In fact, opening the case and catching sight the Strangers, albeit with additional beef.
of the Talladega’s tightly patterned, Italian Both pickups in series serve up a healthy
ivoroid-bound top will quickly obliterate any dose of fatty, greasy goodness, while the
lingering images of Ricky Bobby running neck pickup on its own offers thick, stringy
around in his helmet and tighty-whities sounds with plenty of grit – think Hubert
screaming “Help me, Tom Cruise!” Sumlin with the Wolf.
Under the Hood
The Talladega also features a self-refer-ential tip of the hat with the inclusion of
the Sustain Block bridge, which combines
Fender-like string tension with quick
response to right hand cues. This guitar
further asserts its identity via the Seymour
Duncan custom-wound, humbucker-sized
P-90s. As part of an ongoing collaboration between the two companies, the
pickup’s sonic objective was to cross Roy
Buchanan’s fat, squeally bridge pickup from
Nancy with more traditional P- 90 flavors,
with just a pinch of James Burton’s signature Tele-cluck thrown in.
Hamer shipped the Talladega with a straight
neck sporting .003” relief measured at the
eighth fret, and the action slammed down
to 3/64” on the bass side and 2/64” treble,
measured at the 17th fret. The action was
almost too low for this ham-fisted picker,
but never once buzzed or fretted out anywhere along the guitar’s quarter-sawn rosewood fingerboard. Other niceties included
a flawlessly executed nut and intonation set
correctly from the factory.
The Final Mojo
“Feel and play” could easily become the
Talladega’s maxim, due in no small part to
its almost visceral appeal, practically beg-ging to be picked up and played to see
what kind of sounds it has to offer, as
opposed to ending up a repository for tired,
old standby licks. The combination of new
and old inherent in the Talladega’s composition brings something fresh to the table that
will offer inspiration to almost any player.
Rating…
Tone…
Craftsmanship…
Features…
Value…
Overall…
In a video featuring Jol Dantzig, Seymour
Duncan and Evan Skopp (available at
hamerguitars.com) Seymour and company
achieved this goal by using oversized Alnico
magnet pole-pieces on the rear pickup while
using the more traditional steel-slugs-with-a-bar-magnet design at the neck, scatter-winding both. The end result is impressive,
with the bridge pickup, aided by the string-through bridge, delivering a nice mix of P- 90
grit with fat, Nashville approved Tele spank.
Visually, the Talladega is stunning, becoming more than just the sum of its parts and
quickly asserting its own identity moments
after picking it up and playing. Design-wise,
the guitar is a cohesive shout-out to many
different instruments, both lauded and overlooked, from the 12th fret inlay and peghe-ad shape that oddly recall Epiphone’s glory
days to the mid ‘50s Fender V-shape neck
profile, and finally the headstock binding
and Tone Pros “Kluson” tuners that bring to
mind vintage Gibson.
Web
The custom wound “Double-D,” or Duncan
and Dantzig, pickups also feature a unique
and surprisingly flexible 4-position switching scheme: all the way back is the bridge
pickup, next is neck and bridge in parallel,
Play it for five minutes though, and it simply
becomes the Talladega – and that, despite
all of the effort and foresight that goes into
the design and production of an instrument, is what ultimately matters most. To
that end, the Talladega is amazing, offering
up a new yet recognizable sonic palette
that players from many different back-
Hamer USA
MSRP $3800
hamerguitars.com
www.premierguitar.com
