The Hammer Jammer

Started by Kenmac, January 17, 2014, 09:12:35 AM

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Kenmac

I know, kind of a "gimmicky" sounding name but imagine pairing this up with your VG, GR or FTP?




If you check out the website http://www.bigwalnutproductions.com/ you'll also see an installation video. The cool thing is, it only costs $30.00.
"Let them brush your rock and roll hair."

Elantric


Kenmac

The only thing that bothers me about this is I actually had a an idea for a device very similar to this years ago but I never followed up on my initial idea. I guess I didn't want to tell others about it in case they stole my idea. Oh well, that's how it goes. I'll probably be ordering one in the future.
"Let them brush your rock and roll hair."

Now_And_Then

From the order confirmation email which I received:

*****************************

The Hammer Jammer video that you responded to has gone viral and sales are far above expectations.  Our intent is to have all current orders shipped by January 25.  All shipping is USPS only.  Tracking and express shipments are not available.  If your product does not arrive within a week in the U.S., or three weeks outside of the U.S., please let us know by email. 
 
All international shipments are marked "commercial sample" which is correct because we are selling all Hammer Jammers currently below cost in order to kick-start usage by guitar players. 

Please also remember that the product must clear customs outside the U.S., and because it is a new device, it can take time for the customs groups to clear.
 
Price for Hammer Jammers will increase after this initial market seeding is completed, and most likely will be handled through another company. 
(Emphasis added.) (End of email.)

*****************************

Note that the price is now $30 and $10 shipping, but if you order two it is $70 and  $10 shipping. I don't know about shipping for three units, though.

The current price seems incredibly cheap for a low-production-run specialty item. I would not be very surprised if the price goes up quite a bit, possibly even doubling or more.




Elantric

I also ordered one last week, and I got the same email.

Let me know who gets theirs first!

jburns

normally i use my middle and ring finger to tap but without having to hold a pick I'm more comfortable using my index and middle. when I'm tapping while not holding a pick it frees up another hand for vg99 usage, depending where my hands happen to be on the neck. i also like being able to switch to a keyboard instantly. dropping a pick isn't a problem but usually i have no time to grip another one up mid song. this is seems to look like it would be perfect for me. i really love this. simple and looks effective. I'm not sure how this is going to go on a floyd-er esp 24fret if there's enough room. my eyes are telling i can attach to the sides of my floyd rose if the bar wasn't there. my gut is telling me to drill a hole in that spot through the hammy jammy. it doesn't look like i could "trim" the mount down to save room but for the price I'm willing to tinkle with it. blocking the freeboard for me is a no go. if i can mount it to a trem and drill a hole for the bar id still have to place it right before my gk3 so I'm concerned with the available room left when lifting my trem. I'm sold on this but i have to give it some thought on how i would attach it for my needs.

hading

I'm not usually an impulse buyer, but I couldn't really resist this, and it came in yesterday and I put it on this afternoon. My first impressions, with the caveat that I am the least of all guitar players on this forum:


  • It's quite easy to mount to the neck (in my case to a Carvin DC127). You attach some felt to the bottom of the mounting bridge and then some rubber pieces to the bars which actually clamp against the neck. Then just tighten up the screws. I really have no desire to tape it down. With the screws it's easy to get on and off.
  • I think it will (as warned) take a little bit of time to get the hammers just right as far as positioning.
  • It's pretty easy to do simple stuff with it right away. There are a few songs that I play where I believe it would take little effort for this to work better than what I do now. E.g. there is one where I bang my palm against the strings; I think this will achieve the effect I'm after there both more easily and more consistently. There's another where I spend a lot of time plucking pairs of strings simultaneously, and again I can picture this working better for what I'm going for. With more experimentation I'm sure there will be other ideas that occur. Naturally, I think it's still non-trivial to do most of the stuff in the demos.  :)
  • As far as using it with a VG-99, GR-55, etc., I was trying it out on a GR-55 (will later on a VG-99_. For the normal pickups/modelled sounds I think it would fine. It's probable you'd want a separate GK settings set for use with it. For the PCM sounds I'm less sure right now (but of course I haven't had much experience yet). As far as I can figure you kind of lose the ability to do any significant right hand damping (though maybe more fooling around with reveal something I'm not seeing yet). So sometimes that's going to be problematic. With other sounds it's not as much.
  • As you might expect, overall it gives more of a hammering sound that is easy to get otherwise.  :)

I'm interested what other people in the VG world turn up with it. It's hard to see it not being worth $40.
[/list]

Elantric

Glad you received yours - with luck mine will show up soon too.

Now_And_Then



Got mine yesterday and started installing it just a li'l while ago. However I noticed that the setscrews were rusted. I have no idea how this could have happened.

The two setscrews already in place were screwed in several turns and then unscrewed in order to make them more visible. (Note that you will probably need to scroll the picture in order to see the setscrew on the right.) The two loose screws in the upper center of the picture are shown exactly as they came out of the packaging. One is good and one is pretty rusted. I'd have to assume that the clean one will eventually rust too.

Has anyone else had this problem?

I am not sure what to make of this but it doesn't really inspire confidence, honestly.

montyrivers

Maybe it's me but I've never owned a piece of guitar hardware that never rusted, the screws at the very least.  Could be because the hammer jammers aren't exactly flying out of the workshop.  Rust doesn't always mean lesser quality though.  I have plenty of screws on my guitar that have rust but still turn and haven't stripped.  ...There's always the engle hammer.

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=9233.0

clearlight

Just got mine today . here's a little quick improv through the vg99:
My Music
My Band Website
GUITARS: 2x RG1521, 3x RG321 w/gk, Rg721 Fretless Modified, AmStd FatStrat w/gk, various others....
XV5050,Triton etc..
KOMPLETE 7
VGUITAR Stuff: VG99, FC300, RC5-

supernicd

Nice!  You make it look like you've had it for weeks.  Do you play a lot of finger pick style?  Just assumed these would take tons of practice to get used to the hammering.
Strat w/ GK-3, Godin LGXT
VG-99, GR-55, GP-10
---------------------------------------------------------------

clearlight

#12
I do fingerpick and slap quite a bit. the next videos will be better as it was 5 wines before my fiancee got the camera. lol.
I just taped it on as i stripped the allen driver and broke a screw trying to onstall it correctly. not sure what happened there.
So far my take is that its a really good idea. Personally a few springs and overlapping hammers would make fast playing much more doable.
COSM sounds are great but midi is unuseable so far. too quick a response and too ringy for triggering I think.
The hammers are also NOT easy to bend into the "right place" although its cold here....so that may influence it.

I'll post some more tonight.

ADDENDUM: I just realized the tension adjustment was there. This just got way better.....I am an impatient fool.
My Music
My Band Website
GUITARS: 2x RG1521, 3x RG321 w/gk, Rg721 Fretless Modified, AmStd FatStrat w/gk, various others....
XV5050,Triton etc..
KOMPLETE 7
VGUITAR Stuff: VG99, FC300, RC5-

datsunrobbie

While it's annoying to see rust right out of the package, I agree with montyrivers about rusty set screws. The bridge adjustment screws on several of my strats are showing rust, but it has not caused any problems in terms of function. If you really don't want to see the rust, there are stainless steel replacements available - if you can figure out what size the originals are.

Now_And_Then

#14
Quote from: hading on January 26, 2014, 04:02:54 PMit's still non-trivial to do most of the stuff in the (Hammer Jammer) demos.

True!

The demos on the Walnut Productions site at http://www.bigwalnutproductions.com and on Youtube, show someone with very advanced technique and no matter how well you know your way around the fretboard, you need to put in some serious practice to reach that level of proficiency. The Hammer Jammer is a complete, unique, and self-sufficient method of playing guitar. But it must be stressed that the required technique is probably very different from any other techniques familiar to you. Your fretting hand might not need to learn anything new but your picking/strumming hand will be an absolute beginner.



Installation was laughably easy. I was very happy about this!

You can install it on a given guitar, then uninstall it with no permanent scars left behind, and then install it on a different guitar. You will still need to re-adjust the hammers, and you might need to change some of the striking heads from the harder to the softer striking heads, for example, or vice versa, but none of this is difficult or time-consuming.

The mounting is a small metal "box" which you affix to your guitar, and the main striker assembly snaps on and slides off of it very easily. You might or might not be able to play the guitar with a pick while the striker assembly is in place; the strings have only limited accessibility which I think would be a problem for most people. While you could easily contrive to remove the striker assembly while in the midst of a performance, you would not find re-attaching it as easy unless you could cease playing for 15 or 20 seconds: a very long time if you are playing on your own!

There are "bulbs" on each hammer assembly which are what you need to strike; I am considering coloring these so that they are easier to see and aim for. 

My initial impression is that for me, personally, it might be the case that in order to play cleanly I will need a guitar with a wider fretboard than I need when playing with a plectrum. Time and practice will tell.



I have been fooling around with the Hammer Jammer for a week or so, mounted on a solid-body guitar, but not plugging in when I played it. This was actually not tactically sound because it's not really possible to accurately judge how well you are striking the strings without being plugged in and able to really hear what you are doing. You could mount the device on an acoustic guitar but you'll want to think hard about subjecting your family, significant other(s), and/or neighbors to your first steps with this device.

All the same, even though I was not plugged in, the exercise involved in practicing the striking technique that the device requires was still both useful and necessary.

Because of the new techniques to be mastered it really is non-trivial to do anything complex, but to get actual (if basic and elementary) music out of the Hammer Jammer is pretty easy. Well, like nearly all guitar playing techniques in that respect, right? I have been using standard tuning so far; I am thinking that perhaps various open tunings might increase the Hammer Jammer's flexibility both as an accompanying instrument and as a solo instrument in the sense of performing with no other accompaniment other than, for instance, drums and/or non-chordal instruments. (But that might be a matter of individual preference, inclination, and imagination. Or simply a function of proficiency.)

In an elaborated piece of ensemble music, the VG-99's ability to instantly switch between various tunings makes it possible to instantly retune the guitar for various sections, which would, it seems to me, maximize the Hammer Jammer's flexibility for each of those sections. Someone else will need to judge if the latest Variaxs with the dedicated tuning knobs are suitable for this purpose.

I am sure that other people will disagree with me, but I am not convinced that using a Hammer Jammer to play a "standard guitar solo" (of the kind that most guitarists usually play) offers any advantages over using standard picking techniques. Perhaps the Hammer Jammer's strength would be to play "keyboard-like" solos.

I have only just started using the Hammer Jammer with the VG-99 but in conjunction with certain patches the overall effect is quite impressive! The usual admonishments and strictures apply to the VG-99/Hammer Jammer combination as they do to the VG-99 in conjunction with a pick, or fingers: with the wide variety of sounds and timbres that the VG-99 produces, you will need to tailor your approach to the specific parameters of whatever patch you've got dialed up. There is no single approach that will work for all the patches that the VG-99 can produce, and not all players will be able to make use of all patches. Nonetheless it's important to venture outside of one's comfort zone - which, as V-Guitar users, we all know already.

A VG/GR specific note: it would probably be a good idea to make a specific GK Settings preset to use when you intend to play with the Hammer Jammer. (I simply have not looked into it but it would seem logical.)



The Hammer Jammer seems to be very solidly constructed. While made mostly of plastic, the plastic is of a heavy gauge and the device does not seem cheap in any way. The mounting box is made of heavy gauge metal, very nicely finished, as are all the other parts of the device. The unsightly large reddish logo in the promo videos has been replaced with one that's far less obtrusive and unsightly. However there is one point that needs to be mentioned: the Hammer Jammer comes with four set-screws. Right out the box, 3 of the 4 screws of the first Hammer Jammer were very noticeably rusted; 3 out of 4 set-screws of the second Hammer Jammer had just a slight amount of rust.) Nonetheless, I do not expect these things to simply disintegrate, like the Gizmotrons of old.

All in all, for the $30 per item introductory price (and $10 shipping per order), you can acquire the means to master a very new and distinctive playing technique - at an extremely low price. (As a point of comparison, The Engle is about $22 and not nearly flexible.)

(I know that I am not the only one who bought and is using a Hammer Jammer and I hope that some of the other users will chime in with their opinions, particularly when theirs differ from mine.)

Ooops! Please read the following, from the Hammer Jammer site:

HAMMER JAMMER SAMPLES ARE SOLD OUT  We apologize, but due to much higher than expected response, the remaining stock of Hammer Jammer commercial samples have run out. We are in the process of licensing further manufacturing to another company. It will be later in 2014 when the product is available again, and will be sold through a different outlet. We will post information as things develop on this web site. Thanks for your interest... and patience.
Sorry...
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kimyo

the hammer jammer people have a kickstarter campaign going:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bigwalnutproductions/hammer-jammer

i was lucky enough to get one before they sold out, it's a lot of fun.

pros: goes great with open tunings / split patches.  inspirational. 

cons: spacing of the mallets is angled, making installation/tweaking with a gk pickup difficult (upper strings work great while lower ones can mis-trigger or vice-versa).  even after a few months and several different approaches at mounting it it's not performance-ready. 

i made the attached with it and a gr-55. 

Frank

They're doing pre-orders again (I've submitted mine; they need to reach 250 to go into production) and these are supposedly an improved design https://hammerjammer.tilt.com/hammer-jammer--7

ericar123

Just ordered mine. Hope they go through with it. I remember watching the videos before and can't wait to try it.
I can't believe some company has not wanted to produce this in big numbers.

kimyo

Quote from:  ericar123 on October 19, 2014, 10:26:06 AMI can't believe some company has not wanted to produce this in big numbers.

imagine if they were by the checkout at guitar center, in a display with a video running.  not for everybody, sure, but a solid percent of people would be 'take my money.  now'.

it is amazing that the hammer jammer hasn't been snapped up by one of the accessory/string manufacturers.

ericar123

The order site seems to be gone. Anyone know what's going on?

Frank


ericar123

Thanks, just a problem with my Explorer. It wouldn't show the site but I have it working now. I put in a preorder and keep checking
to see if they get enough to produce them.

Elantric

#22
http://geargods.net/news/hammer-jammer-now-available-for-pre-order-jorder/

Hammer Jammer Now Available for Pre-Order Jorder
Posted by Trey Xavier on November 3, 2014 at 2:00 pm


Hammer Jammer
The last time I was able to make a fun pun like that was this past January, when we first brought the Hammer Jammer to your attention ("Hammer Jammer is a Gamer Changer"). That was fun, watching you all lose your sh** and break the internet with comments ranging from irrational hate and rage, to adoration, to claims that it will revolutionize guitar. But such is the way of the internet, and I honestly think that if you have an idea that is awesome and worth doing then you're going to get a lot of hate from people who feel threatened by it. It's a sure sign that such a thing is a necessary step forward.

When Ken McCaw invented the Hammer Jammer, he wasn't looking for an easy payday, or trying to make anything other than a cool new tool to get a different texture out of the guitar. He clearly succeeded in that, as the video below demonstrates the unique sounds you can make with it, but the Hammer Jammer also had a positive unintended consequence: handicapped and wounded people all over the globe found that they could play guitar again. For that reason alone I would support this project, but the fact that it really is an outside-the-box, effective, creative device gives me full confidence in its future success. It's not something you necessarily need to use 100% of the time, clearly it's a specialty thing, but it's CERTAINLY not cheating. If this is cheating, then so is using a pick, or an amplifier, or drumsticks, or anything that isn't growing out of your body.

Anyway, the news here is that you can now pre-order one. For $60 you can have one in hand around January of 2015, which means you can be slamming your Hammer Jammer by NAMM or whatever.

Click here to pre-order the Hammer Jammer.
https://hammerjammer.tilt.com/hammer-jammer--7


I think it's cool that it makes an electric guitar sound like a clavinet, and an acoustic guitar sound like a hammered dulcimer.

Here's the blurb from the inventor:

The Hammer Jammer allows guitar players to develop incredible speed and unique patterns, and provides new percussive sounds for the guitar. Ken McCaw, inventor of the Hammer Jammer, who is also a film composer, used the Hammer Jammer on a trailer for a feature film released in Europe about five years ago. From that, interest for this unique invention began to grow around the world. A demonstration video... ...was posted on YouTube and in January 2014, the video went viral. All 2000 Hammer Jammer samples were sold within a couple weeks, to players in 60 countries, many of them young guitarists beginning their careers. The Hammer Jammer also provides a legitimate and highly useful device for wounded soldiers and other players with arthritis and other issues which make finger picking and standard picking technique prohibitive.


About Trey Xavier
Feeding your sick instrument fetishism and trying unsuccessfully to hide my own since 2013. I studied music on both coasts (Berklee and SSU) and now I'm just trying to put my degree to some use. That's a music degree, not an English one. I'm sure you noticed.

yuri

#23
I think  , good solution for FTP , better of an plectrum  ::) ! No longer available

rockzvezda1

Who tried this one with FTP? is it really better than using a pick?