Hamer Archtop GT

read the above reviews for features. really great

this is THE blues machine. sounds good clean or dirty.I use it alot
in a church praise band.I would like to change the pickups to rio grande or fralin for a fatter tone but for now is fine.

best I have seen at any price. Hamer really did it right. It is used
and has much playing wear but construction is top of the line. DON'T
WASTE YOUR TIME ON A OVER-PRICED LES PAUL. Buy a hamer. The neck is
what really got me on this guitar. Best neck on any guitar at any
price.I really mean it.

this guitar plays live about every week with NO backup. It really is
THAT good.

No opinion. I did email them once to let them know what a fine ax
they build and they emailed me back next day.

this is the one. Don't spend money on overpriced gibsons or prs. Get
a usa made hamer. awesome quality and great value. I was a little
skeptical at first but after playing it I could not put it down. I have played them all from cheap to very expensive custom made stuff
and for the price THIS IS IT!!! If someone stole it.....well I don't
even want to talk about it.

Late 90's USA Hamer Goldtop. Carved maple top on mahogany body. Mahogany neck. While not a 'baseball bat', the neck is reasonably beefy. Certainly not a thin shredder's neck! Rosewood fingerboard and lovely block inlays. Dual Duncan P90s. Three way toggle switch. Two volume, one tone knob. Tunomatic style bridge. Bound body and neck. I had mine modified so that the in the dual pickup mode, the pickups are "out of phase." Sounds wonderful! and adds yet another tonal dimension to an already tone-rich guitar. Since there are no coils to split, etc., I give features a solid 10.

Dripping in TONE. I play jazz and some blues. I regularly play this through an old tube Fender Princeton Tremolo and a Mesa Boogie Mark III. I've also played this guitar through a Mesa Rectoverb and a friend's tube Marshall Combo. This guitar sounds GREAT clean. The neck pickup goes from acoustic like with some added single coil chime with the tone full up down to a "smoky jazz" tone with the tone knob around 2-3. The neck pickup is bright, but not brittle and perfectly suitable for clean tele-style picking. Try THAT with a typical Les Paul style guitar. Both pickups out of phase gives a wonderful hollow cluck that's difficult to describe but is just beautiful in the right context. With either pickup dimed and the other set lower, you progressively loose the phase effect and can nicely mix to "complement" the dominant pickup. In spite of my style preferences, the guitar REALLY comes alive on medium gain "dirty channel" settings, or running through a TS9 into my Princeton. This is a BLUES MACHINE. The added clarity of the p90's gives wonderful chimey harmonics and great string definition that cuts nicely through the warm tube distortion. You can play for hours and not get bored with the tone of this guitar. The P90s really bring out the STRINGS and the WOOD that is so often lost when play through "hot buckers." I should mention, that as with most other Hamer USA instruments, this guitar is remarkably resonant acoustically. Wonderful instrument. Finally, there is some single hum noise, but this is very sensitive to lights, amp proximity and the like. Frequently, in various different rooms, amps, etc., the guitar has almost achieved dead quiet.

I bought this used, so I cannot comment on factory setup. As received, the action was medium. A quick setup at the shop and some later fine tuning of the bridge height yields extremely low action with no buzz whatsoever. The intonation is spot on and this has remarkably held up in that "magic guitar" fashion. The finish is lovely, although the gold top is a bit greenish in tint. The mahogany is beautiful, and the fretwork is superb as on most Hamer instruments. The binding is in perfect shape so far, unlike that on most guitars made by another fine instrument maker. The toggle and pots are still in good shape. Look, it's no secret that USA Hamers are extremely well constructed instruments. This one is no different.

This guitar is a solidbody instrument of recent vintage. It's a tank. I'd play without a backup with no qualms whatsoever (except that would be foolish according to Murphy's Law ;-)

I have no experience with Hamer support. I do know that they take many special orders for custom instruments and have heard reports from many happy customers.

I've been playing on and off for 24 years (since I was 11). I've played nice instruments for 12 years. I have 10 guitars including a Tom Anderson Cobra, Parker Fly Deluxe, AmStd Strat with Bardens installed, Ibanez AS-180 (killer 335 style guitar), Heritage 550 Custom Jazz Box, Taylor 710-CE, etc. Given my personal preference for Jazz, this is actually not the favorite guitar in my collection. If it were lost or stolen I'd drown my sorrows by buying a hand made archtop guitar with floating pickup. OTOH, given my collection, I've not given this guitar the attention it is clearly due. This instrument could easily function as a player's "main axe" given its playability, tonal diversity and omnipresent clarity. It's a seriously under rated guitar, even among the Hamer faithful. Given the recent popularity of P90 equipped instruments, this is a great mystery to me. Definitely consider this instrument before laying down the plastic for a PRS or Gibson equivalent. You won't be sorry. I'll reserve a 10 rating for my favorite guitar.

1996 USA model, 22 frets, solid Mahogany body with an arched maple top, two Duncan P-90s, three way switch, two volumes, one tone. Schaller tuners, mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard and MOP crown inlays. nice sparkle gold finish (a little greener than I'd like). Double cutaway LP junior body style. Tune-O-Matic bridge with a stop tailpiece. 24 3/4" scale neck, fat frets, Dunlop strap-locks. The neck isn't as fat as a Gibson's, but fatter than a Fender. Not really a feature-rich guitar, but it has what it needs.

I've been mostly playing Fenders for the past 15 years, so I wanted something fatter and chunkier without going all the way to humbuckers (which seem to suck the life out of my playing). While these are single coils, they certainly don't twang! This is a rock-n-roll machine, and it has a big, beefy sound with a nice mid-range punch. I play it through a Tech 21 Trademark 60 amp and love the creamy overdrive the combination produces. Rolling off the volume provides a wide range of tonal textures and more subtlety than I first expected...but nobody will mistake this for a Fender! I bought the guitar for a fat, overdriven sound but have been pleased with the clean tones as well. The three pickup settings are very distinct and all very usable. This guitar sounds fantastic, and I can't get enough of the tone. My Parker Fly has been sadly neglected since buying this guitar, and even my Tele and Strat aren't getting the hours they are used to.

Really well set up and a great finish. Plays wonderfully.

So far so good. I'd play it without a backup...except that I use several guitars at a show anyway.

I've been playing for 25 years, and this is the first Les Paul style guitar I've owned. Frankly, I don't like Gibsons, but I like this guitar a lot. I'd buy another if it was stolen, and am thinking of getting a Hamer Vangaurd as well (similar guitar with Mahogany top and one f-hole). This guitar was a real steal for the price. It's a blast to play, but I have to resist the temptation to bash out 70's riff rock on it whenever I pick it up!

My Archtop GT is a brand-new 1998 model. Made in the USA. It's a double-cutaway (like other Hamers) with a Les-Paul - ish gold finish. 22 frets. It's a maple on mahogany body. Beautifully finished. It has a bound neck and body, with deluxe neck inlays. Two volume and a tone contro, with 3-way switch. It has two Seymour Duncan P-90s. Neck is 3-piece mahogany. Rosewood fingerboard. It has Schaller tuners and a Schaller tune-o-matic style bridge. It has a much thinner neck than a Les Paul. It's also flatter than my G & L ASAT. It came with a hardshell case

I play rock and jazz. I was looking for a meaty sounding guitar. This has a big beefy sound. I love it. I'm running it through a Peavey Delta Blues - I occasionally use a Danelectro Chorus, but mostly play it straight through the amp. It's about as noisy as any single coil guitar. Running both pickups cuts the noise, and with the two volume controls, you can get a great sound. The tone is great. Absolutely great. It's easy to get that crying tone when you bend strings. It's definitely a two-pickup P90 sound. If you like that , it's got it in spades.

Incredible finish. To me, there's no guitar made that can touch it for the money. Easily betters a Standard Les Paul. I think it's the equal of a PRS. Came set up perfectly for me. However, when I got the guitar I noticed that the finish was lifting a small amount on the back next to the electronic s access panel. See below.

Everything is solid, solid, solid. It's a beautiful instrument, with a one hardware and pickups. Dependable as an old boot.

This is the most amazing part. As I mentioned above, I noticed the finish on the back was lifting off a little. (Like it was peeling). So I called the factory. I spoke with a great guy - Kim - who suggested I send it back. I did figuring they'd respray the back. He called me back and said that the body looked as if it was warping. (I hadn't noticed anything). Their solution: Hamer sent me a brand new guitar. All set up and ready to go. An unbelievable experience for me. I'm so pleased, I'd definitely buy another Hamer because of that. I'd rate this one a 12

I've been playing on and off for a long time. Hamers are not cheap, but they're a great deal for the money. It sounds fabulous, looks cool, is finished like a jewel. I don't have a single complaint. Honest.