The mid-‘70s surely were not the heyday for the “Big Two” American electric guitar brands. The quality at CBS-owned Fender and Norlin-owned Gibson dropped dramatically. It was during this time that Seymour Duncan started offering alternatives to Fender’s and Gibson’s stock electric guitar pickups. And it was during this same era that a bunch of aggressive, young, American guitar designers sprung up and offered high-quality alternatives to the lackluster solid body electrics. Some of those brands: Schecter, Charvel, Jackson, Anderson, and Dean still endure. Another one of those designers was Jol Dantzig, who co-founded Hamer Guitars.

Hamer’s early artist roster included Cheap Trick’s Rick Neilsen, Vernon Reid, Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre and John Glascock, John McVie from Fleetwood Mac, Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, and Andy Summers and Sting from The Police.  Over the years, Dantzig’s guitar designs won eight Editor’s Pick awards from Guitar Player magazine. Some of Jol’s design achievements include the first 12-string bass, the first locking tuner, and the first workable electric/acoustic hybrid guitar.

Hamer was eventually acquired by Kaman Music Corporation, best known for their Ovation guitars. And a few years ago, KMC was acquired by Fender. In 2010, after two years at Fender, Jol left to start Dantzig Guitar Design in order to continue with his unique vision for musical instrument design and construction. Dantzig Guitar Design instruments are built one at a time, by hand. Each example is built to a concept and theme. Most use Seymour Duncan Custom Shop pickups.

Jol is currently at work on a guitar he calls The Crow. This unique one-off instrument features a Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Charlie Christian pickup. You can read about The Crow, the Charlie Christian pickup, and some unique modifications Jol made to the pickup on Jol’s blog . If you’d like to read the transcript of Jol’s Q&A with the Seymour Duncan User Group Forum, click here.

If you’re interested in purchasing a Dantzig Guitar Design instrument, get in line and get out your wallet. Production is extremely limited and prices start at $16,000. If you want to know more about Seymour Duncan Custom Shop pickups, click here.