Fred Hammon Email & Phone Number

Dark Star Pickups | Hammon EngineeringRecreating the Hagstrom single coil bass pickup used on Hagstrom Coronado IV, Guild Starfire, and M-85 basses.I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to participate in the history of the Hagstrom BiSonic pickup. It all started when I began playing the bass in the '60s. At that time, my influences were the Beatles, the Stones, the Animals—even Tommy James and the Shondells. Eventually, I went the way of the hippie and got into the San Francisco psychedelic sound, however I was a bit too young to fully participate in that scene.Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane was a hero and major bass influence of mine. Curiously, I didn't discover that until years later when I started listening to their old stuff and heard myself in Jack's playing...or maybe it was the other way around.In the old days, Jack and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead were playing hot-rodded basses that had been modified by some electronics wizards who gravitated to the San Francisco scene in the '60s. Ron Wickersham, Owsley "Bear" Stanley, and Rick Turner, a master luthier that later went on to form the Alembic company.Around eight years ago, I became nostalgically obsessed with that whole scene, and started looking through the internet to gather information. The Hagstrom pickups that were used on Jack's Guild Starfire bass particularly fascinated me. When I found out that Guild reissued that bass with different pickups, I was inspired to investigate the Hagstom BiSonic. At first, I approached this as a personal hobby, but over time it evolved into the business it is today. If you'd like an idea of the Hagstrom pickup sound, check out the bass sounds on Jefferson Airplane's "Crown of Creation" and Grateful Dead's "Live Dead."For more information, please visit my website: http://hammoneng.comSpecialties: Pickup Builder and Consultant, Customer Liaison.