Hamer 12-String Bass Strings

Hamer brand round-wound strings were manufactured by D'Addario and were sold by Hamer and Kaman retail dealers. Unlike D'Addario brand strings, they had all brass ball ends with the ball ends for the octave strings being the same larger size as the fundamental strings.

These strings were made in the USA and were 34" long scale. They are no longer available.

• Fundamentals: G .045, D .065, A .080, E .100

• Octaves: G .020, D .025, A .035, E .045

Review - Hamer 12-String Bass Strings

by John Carpenter

I recently bought a set of Hamer 12-string bass strings off eBay. It only took a week for them to arrive and even though the envelope was damaged the strings made it OK. I have tried the D'Addario strings on my Hamer CH-12 and they sounded fine but I hate the different colored ends - they look stupid! From what I can tell the Hamer strings are identical to the D'Addario’s except the Hamer strings ends are all the same brass color. I know D'Addario makes Hamer's strings for them.

The sound when I first put them on was good. Of course every new set of strings sounds good when you first put them on. The real test is how they sound after you've played out with them a few times. Like other strings the Hamer strings lose a little bit of their brightness after a while but not enough to be really noticeable. They seem to stay in tune well and I haven't had any of them break on me. I'll probably soak them in alcohol after a while to clean them because boiling them makes them wear out faster because they would rust.

I paid $39.99 for the Hamer strings plus another $14 for shipping. That is a bargain compared to what my local music store wanted to charge me for them (over $60.00!) but it seems pretty expensive compared to what I just read about the S.I.T. strings on 12stringbass.net. Next time I'm going to get the S.I.T.'s from Just Strings and try them.

I recommend Hamer strings for all 12-string bassists, it's just that they are a little more expensive than some other strings.