Hamer 30th Anniversary Limited Edition

Flame maple on Mahogany. 3 piece neck with brazilian board. Schaller keystone tuners. Nickel bridge and tailpiece. DC Les paul shape. Upgraded TKL case. Suncan ANtiquities.

Everything that should be there is there.

Has a smooth bet very complex tone. Duncans are great in this guitar. Does everything that your best Les Pauls will do. Very authentic vintage tones.

Everything was as perfect as any guitar I have every owned. Finish, setup, finish were all beyond perfect. Beautiful burst.

As rugged as any guitar of it's type.

Lifetime warranty.

I've been playing for 35 years, and own more than 30 guitars, including some very expensive and old stuff. This is the best new guitar I have ever owned.

I am giving straight 10s on this one, because it deserves to have them!

The 2004 Hamer USA 30th Anniversary Limited Edition is based upon the Hamer Studio Custom (which is roughly similar to a double cutaway Les Paul Custom). Chambered Mahogany body with a highly flamed maple cap and 7-ply binding, three piece mahogany neck with an amazingly figured Brazilian rosewood fingerboard (bound, 24.75" scale). 22 medium frets, keystone shaped inlays. Two Seymour Duncan Antiquity humbucking pickups, nickel tun-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. Two volume pots, one tone. Nickel Schaller keystone tuners, bound flame maple laminate headstock. Dunlop strap buttons. Deluxe hardshell leather case.

Hamer made 30 of these, mine is #010.

I'd have preferred sealed tuners, but otherwise this guitar has everything I need.

Killer sound. Like most Hamers, it covers plenty of ground but still has loads of personality. I like the lower output Antiquity pickups because they don't overpower the sound of the instrument. Rich, full tones, great sustain. The tone pot generates useful sounds across its entire sweep (I usually keep all three pots at 6).

I play in a pop/rock band and need tones from clean to gnarly (you can hear my band at http://www.e-misery.com), but I usually play with a light to medium breakup. I've usually shied away from humbucking pickups because they sound dull to me, but these produce great, balanced sound.

My main amp is a Fender Cyber-Deluxe, and I've also played it through my Lexicon Signature 284, Tech 21 Trademark 10 and PSA-1 with great results.

This guitar was just about perfect right out of the box. I had to tweak the truss rod slightly after changing to a heavier string gauge, but that's to be expected. The attention to detail on this guitar is astounding. The multi-layer binding and inlay work are meticulous and the finish is stellar. The natural-to-amber-to-ruby burst on the top is breathtaking: it moves and changes with the light. Sadly this guitar does not photograph well: I was underwhelmed when I saw the NAMM pictures, but when Greg at BCR Music & Sound sent me a set of photos he'd taken I realized that this was something special. Even then I wasn't prepared how great it looks in person. I've never seen a better looking guitar.

The nickel hardware is more prone to tarnish than chrome would have been, but it is better suited to the color of the instrument. I know this is a collector's guitar, but I'm gonna play the hell out of it, so yeah, it's gonna get tarnished. So be it.

I think you'd need a magnifying glass to find any flaws with this guitar, and even then you'd have to look long and hard.

I have seven Hamer USA guitars and they are amazingly well built instruments. With proper care and maintenance this should last forever.

I always have a backup for gigs...that's not a reflection on the quality of any particular guitar, it's just common sense.

I've never had to deal with Hamer directly, so I can't comment.

I've been playing for thirty years and have played all kinds of instruments. I never bought a Gibson because I never found one that spoke to me: usually too heavy, too poorly made and much too expensive for what you got. I liked the idea of a Gibson, just not the guitars! So I played Fenders, Parkers, Guilds and G&Ls. I've tried a few PRS but again, they left me flat. Four years ago I played my first Hamer USA guitar and I felt like I'd come home. I now own seven and each is a gem. Even so, Hamer outdid themselves with this guitar. This is the holy grail for me.

Everything works. The scale, the balance, the medium chunky neck, the combination of woods and pickups. It is effortless to play and very expressive. I just think it and the sound comes through this guitar. I've always liked the look of a flamed top guitar but had never bought one before because I found a plainer looking instrument that played or sounded better. But this one has it all.

This is the most money I've ever spent on a guitar, but I think I got a great value. Certainly you can pay thousands more and get less guitar. I've had this four months and it keeps getting better.