Hamer Archtop

2001 hamer archtop guitar with the sunburst finish. Gold hardware, set neck and mahogany body with pearl dot inlays. The top is flamed the best i have ever seen one

i play creed metallica stained just about any rock style and this one covers it all. The stock pickups have a fat sound that is just a little too muddy for me so i put 2 dimarzio super distortion pickups in it and it scorches like a 7 headed demon from hell. And the clean tones sound like a bell.

The set up was suprisingly well, It wasnt perfect though the nut was cut way too high and the frets had a hardly noticable buzz with high bending on the upper frets. The top is flamed like i have never seen i know i got lucky with this one. I put schallar locking tuners on it instead of the no name tuner from the factory

i can depend on this one for anything. I would take this any where i went. I put 20 hours a week on this thing and it smiles back and says is that all you got. I put straplocks on because the stock ones are a little small

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This guitar is for you if you want a PRS guitar or a Les Paul DC. It has the fat sustain but cost and weighs a third of the weight and the price. I have a strat a les paul DC standard and a SG which i use for slide this hamer is a nice additon and can hold its own with the other guitars easily. I been playing for 10 years and if some one stole this guitar id rip off thier balls and feed them to thier mother . Have a nice day

Mahogany body,Maple carved flame top,Two volume, one tone control ect.

I talked to my buddys that work at guitar center and the word is out! Buy the thing,change the pickups with high end ones that the big buck Guitars have, replace the tuners with Top flight ones and your in! two of the employees have done just that. The sound is a 6.5 until the upgrade and a 10 afterwards. this axe is on sale for $299,00...{shhhhhhh!!!!} now as Of FEB 27 2001

Everything was set up just fine. There can be no disagreement that this is a Great Looking Guitar.

Hey $299 for a flametop Quality Mahogany body and the only thing left is a pickup change and tuners and you have a great guitar that you don't have to be married to! If it were stolen life would go on as the world would stop turning if you lost your custom shop Gibson

- Nice archtop Flame Top
- Bound Mahagony - Craved Maple Top
- Rosewood Fingerboard
- Mahagony Neck
- 2 Duncan Designed Humbuckers
- Aztec Gold finish
- 3-way switch for pickup selection
- 2 volume and 1 tone knob

The sound is pretty nice considering the prize of the guitar. The Duncan Designed humbuckers are very warm and have great sustain. Even though I liked the pickups I exchanged them for Seymour Duncan JB (bridge) and 59 (neck)pickups. Those gave em the sound I was actually looking for. I also wanted to get them in cream/black color to get a better look (It looks a lot like the Santana PRS model).

The factory did a very good job setting up the guitar. I didn't have any problems. Great action!!

The finish/ color (aztec Gold) is beautiful.

Haven't had any problems. The only thing I might change in the future are the tuners. I might put some Schaller tuner in. That is it. But there is nothing wrong with the tuner on this guitar. This guitar really stays in tune.

No problems!

Overall, I want to say that this guitar is pretty nice. I've been playing now for 14 years and I've had quite a few guitars, and I have to say that this one is a "keeper". I have an Ibanez RG 560 with DiMarzio pickups (Tonezone & HS3), Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Model, and Ovation Guitars, and I must say that this guitar is at the same level as all the other guitars I own.

It sounds great for Santana songs as well as Jazz. The Duncan 59 pickup gives you a great warm, and very powerful sound (in neck position) and the JB model is great for Lead-guitar playing. The way I modified this guitar, you can use it for any type of music (Jazz, Blues, Funk, Rock, Metal.....) It sounds great. Plus, you can't beat the prize. For $299 you get a GREAT guitar. I guess I was lucky to get it for this prize. Please note that the prize went up on these guitars. I recently checked the prize at Guitar Center and it went up to $499.

99 hamer archtop. Aztec gold finish. 22 fret, Red mahogoney set neck(glued not bolted) with rosewood fretboard. 5 piece mahagoney body with bookmatched flame maple top. 2 duncan designed HB (decent. two volume and one tone control.

Acoustically this guitar sounds pretty good. Its fairly bright with a good midrange twang and nice sustain. Not as dark or rich as a Les Paul but this is to be expected because of its composition (its fairly light about as heavy as a strat) Amplified the guitar does a pretty good job of emulating the classic les paul sounds only "lighter" with more midrage and less bass. The pickups are good but very "vanilla" sounding. I believe that this guitar would definitely benefit from a pickup upgrade but they sound good enough as is that i'm not all fired up to spend $200 on ducan seth lover's. Clean sounds are good in the neck and neck/middle position with the bright engaged on my 68 bassman. The bridge pickup is worthless for clean although this is true for every guitar except the telecaster in my opinion. Distorted, the guitar really shines with fat smooth leads out of the neck pickup and bright muccular tones from the bridge that are perfect fo hard rock or heavy metal. I've heard better but this guitar ain't bad.

The guitar plays fine. the action might be a little high for some but I don't like it hovering just above the frets anyway. The nut like many guitars is a little suspect as the action at the first fret is just a little too high. Either the slots need to be deepened ot the nut should be filed. The pickups were adjusted fine in terms of height but the rear pickup cover vibrates annoyingly with certain notes. This doesn't induce feed back and you can't hear it live but I need to trace this down and get rid of it. The finish is amazing at this price. The aztec gold color is very nice and the flame maple while not quite as good as say a PRS or a custom shop guitar it is beautiful none the less and I get a lot of complements on its looks. That being said there are a couple of flaws in or under the finish. Between the pickups is a black speck of of something (tint or dust maybe). The back of the neck has a smallhole in it that was obviously filled before it was finished. There is a small chip in the fretboard near the nut that has been filled. There are also some touchups at the edges of the fretboard near the fret ends. The neck is wide and medium thick but not the baseball bat type you find on some Les paul type guitars. It feels great in my hands and plays well. The biggest problem is the damn pickup selector which depending on the day of the week will or wont stay in the bridge postion. This is very annoying and will have to be fixed. Lastly, the body is made from 5 pieces of red mahagoney Although I would prefer a solid piece, this is standard for cheaper guitars (the standard strat is a 3 pice poplar body). If it wasnt for these MINOR FLAWS I would give this guitar 8 because of its good playability and great looking finish

THIS GUITAR STAYS IN TUNE!!!!!!! I don't know if I'm lucky or not but this guitar stays in tune for DAYS with only minor tweaks after a heavey blues bending spree. If I was just using it for rhythym I would barely need to touch the tuners (which are average at best)

never dealt with them

First of all I want to state that I do like this guitar. It plays and looks great and gave me that dual humbucker sound for a fraction of what you would overpay for the cheapest shit Gibson (before you get on Hamer check out what gibson offers in the sub $1000 range)Here's my only caveat you have to search through a bunch of these to find a good one. It took three tries to find one that felt good played good and looked good. Each of the three guitars was vastly different in materials, set up and feel. This is what you should expect in a cheapo korean model -INCONSISTENT MANUFACTURING. This does not mean that there are no good korean Archtops. It just means that youy have to look for one. I found one and I like it. A great guitar for $399

Mahogony body and neck maple top. Cherry sunburst finish with two ducan design pickups.

The sound ain't bad, not bad at all. It one of the few good things that I can still say about it.

The fit, finish, action and setup were terrible.

I didn't keep it long enough to find out, but I suspect it was not going to be very good.

Now theres a good joke! No phone number, no web address. Who you gonna call.

Ok, I admit it, I was wrong in my previous submission. I must have been out of my mind!!! I sent the guitar back a few day after the submisson. I really wanted to believe I had a good guitar and the so called small problems could be solved. They couldn't. I apologize to all those on this page that dogged this guitar, you were right I was wrong. Do not buy this guitar. There are a lot more instruments out there a lot more worthy of you money!!!

Mahogony body and neck, maple top. Cherry sunburst gold hardware. Two Duncan-design pickups(which are good at what they do),all things consider, even thought they seem to get bad reveiws. The guitar was made in korea. The neck is glued on, not bolted like some cheapy's. Two volume controls and one tone control. The neck is thin but has a great feel, even for my long fingers. Beautiful!!!!!

The guitar gives a good rock sound. Probably not best suit for country. It does has good sustain. But lets face it, if your looking for a replication of a Strat or a Les Paul sound then go buy a Strat or a Les Paul. On stage through a good Marshall it screams!!! I have not had the buzzing problem others have reported. At low volume it cleans up good, although I say again, "this is not a Les Paul or a Strat".

The finish had only one very small flaw. The pickup selector was noisy for the first few times but then smoothed out. The neck was bowed back slightly, and I say only slightly. After I ajusted it then all was fine. I lowered my strings and get pretty fair action. The frets were fairly low cut from factory, unlike my Gibson Explorer that I had to file down and do a setup on in order for it to play decent. The neck of the Hamer felt like an old friend from the first time I play it. The tuners are very smooth.

Only time will tell, but am confident that if taken care of it will do well in the long run

It has a limited lifetime warrenty. If they stand behind it then thats good. I have not dealt with the company so I don't know how well they will stand behind their product.

I have been playing for 33 years and have played in bands off and on for 25 of those years. I have owned Gibsons, Fenders, Ibenez......you name it. And trust me, any of these names on a guitar doesn't necessarily mean "Quality". To the guy who calls this a piece of crap, He should have played my first really professional guitar I bought, or so I thought. It was a Gibson Marauder. "Now theres a piece of crap" which by the way cost almost as much 25 five years ago as this guitar does today. I quickly traded that for a Fender Strat. I thought now here a guitar, but love nor money could get the harmonics and the action set up right. So then I traded for a Les Paul. You guessed it
another pile of trash. Finally I got ahold of a Gibson Explorer that I fell in love with and still own one, along with a 1984 studio Les Paul. Both are my pride and joy. Guitars are like new auto's, Just because it's new and just because it has a certain brand name on it don't make it good. Maybe part of the problem is that this guitar is not a beginner guitar, even thought the price would suggest so. But also if your name is Eric Clapton, then you can buy whatever you want. As far as it staying in tune, I don't have a problem, if you do, then tighten the screws on the end of the tuner, that may help. As far as the guitar going out of tune when you apply pressureto the neck,then don't do that!! And I have news for you, try it on whatever your playing. I'll tell you what you'll find, it does the same thing. Yes The neck is light and thin. The whole guitar is light, but that was one of the attractions for me. The bottom line is everyone has different taste. Play this guitar before you buy it as I recommend that you do with any brand. I have never owned, nor could afford a US made Hamer, so I can't compare the two. But this one is definitely worth considering!!!!!

Mahogony body and neck, cherry sunburst gold hardware. Two Duncan-design pickups(which are good at what they do),all things consider, even thought they seem to get bad reveiws. The guitar was made in korea. The neck is glued on, not bolted like some cheapy's. Two volume controls and one tone control. The neck is thin but has a great feel, even for my long fingers. Beautiful!!!!!

The guitar gives a good rock sound. Probably not best suit for country. It does has good sustain. But lets face it, if your looking for a replication of a Strat or a Les Paul sound then go buy a Strat or a Les Paul. On stage through a good Marshall it screams!!! I have not had the buzzing problem others have reported. At low volume it cleans up good, although I say again, "this is not a Les Paul or a Strat".

The finish had only one very small flaw. The pickup selector was noisy for the first few times but then smoothed out. The neck was bowed back slightly, and I say only slightly. After I ajusted it then all was fine. I lowered my strings and get pretty fair action. The frets were fairly low cut from factory, unlike my Gibson Explorer that I had to file down and do a setup on in order for it to play decent. The neck of the Hamer felt like an old friend from the first time I play it. The tuners are very smooth.

Only time will tell, but am confident that if taken care of it will do well in the long run

It has a limited lifetime warrenty. If they stand behind it then thats good. I have not dealt with the company so I don't know how well they will stand behind their product.

I have been playing for 33 years and have played in bands off and on for 25 of those years. I have owned Gibsons, Fenders, Ibenez......you name it. And trust me, any of these names on a guitar doesn't necessarily mean "Quality". To the guy who calls this a piece of crap, He should have played my first really professional guitar I bought, or so I thought. It was a Gibson Marauder. "Now theres a piece of crap" which by the way cost almost as much 25 five years ago as this guitar does today. I quickly traded that for a Fender Strat. I thought now here a guitar, but love nor money could get the harmonics and the action set up right. So then I traded for a Les Paul. You guessed it
another pile of trash. Finally I got ahold of a Gibson Explorer that I fell in love with and still own one, along with a 1984 studio Les Paul. Both are my pride and joy. Guitars are like new auto's, Just because it's new and just because it has a certain brand name on it don't make it good. Maybe part of the problem is that this guitar is not a beginner guitar, even thought the price would suggest so. But also if your name is Eric Clapton, then you can buy whatever you want. As far as it staying in tune, I don't have a problem, if you do, then tighten the screws on the end of the tuner, that may help. As far as the guitar going out of tune when you apply pressureto the neck,then don't do that!! And I have news for you, try it on whatever your playing. I'll tell you what you'll find, it does the same thing. Yes The neck is light and thin. The whole guitar is light, but that was one of the attractions for me. The bottom line is everyone has different taste. Play this guitar before you buy it as I recommend that you do with any brand. I have never owned, nor could afford a US made Hamer, so I can't compare the two. But this one is definitely worth considering!!!!!

Sticker on the back of the neck said "Made in Korea". 2 volume, 1 "tone" control. Beautiful finish, great looking guitar. It ends there.

Unlike the rest of the poor souls on this page, I was lucky enough not to have even left the store with the thing. I went to my local Guitar Center looking for Epiphones and since they don't carry them the manager started plugging the Hamer. He told me it's the absolute top of the line, better than a Les Paul (at $499?). Before I go any further, let me say that I am a complete amateur. This will be my second electric, the first was a Telecaster Thinline semihollow that's just beautiful but too mellow for my taste. But even I could see that this Hamer was crap. I plug it in and it sounded God-awful... the salesman had just appeared to tune it. I tried to tune it and two strums and the thing was out again. It was all buzzy at certain frets and I told the manager, who said that the truss rod just needed adjusting because he had just put this piece of crap on the floor the day before. Wouldn't you make sure the thing played correctly before putting it out in front of customers? He "fixed" it and gave it back to me, and it just sounded awful. No character, no sparkle, cheesy controls made no difference, garbage. Anyway, it never got any better. Horrible. Don't do it.

Guitar was set up so poorly that it buzzed and rattled, truss rod was all out of whack, I could do better with rubberbands and a tennis racket.

Doesn't stay in tune if you can even get it IN tune to begin with.

Didn't call, won't call, won't buy it, hates it.

It's a shame because the guitar looks fantastic. Beautiful finish, nice, flowing lines, sounds like hell though. I'm waiting until I get paid to go back for the sweet turquoise Fender Fat Strat I saw, played, and fell in love with.

Ah, the bargain basement bin. A aztec gold import, made in 2000, maybe 1999. Two Duncan Designed (not too bad, honest) pick-ups, one tone (like it makes a difference). Nice finish, it looks sharp, but looks aren't everything. It's a pretty sweet les paul style wanna-be. All gold hardware, Tune-O-Matic bridge. Volume control for each pickup. The tuners bite. Sorry.

I'm a blues player, true and true. I've been playing acoustic for as long as I can remember. I was looking for a moderately priced electric that had a good sound out of it. I had been using a friends fender for a while (a mexican made doohicky, nothing special). I like the hamer, the look, the style, the feel. I checked it out at the store and thought it was pretty sweet. I like it. I brought it home. I plugged it in to my Crate. It sounded pretty good, for all of 10 minutes. Then it went out of tune. I retuned it, same thing. So, it can't stay in tune, that's okay. I played with it some more. It's pretty clean so long as you are high up on the neck, after that, forget it. It has a bit of a hum and the action was pretty poor. Also, if you apply any pressure at all to the neck, you can hear a change in the note. It's like they made the guitar out of the same balsam wood they make the little flying planes out of. Who needs bends when all you have to do is just apply a little thumb pressure. This will be going back tomorrow. I got it Wednesday, today is Friday. It lasted all of three days. GOOD NIGHT IRENE! I'm going to pick up a new guitar tomorrow. Probably going for the Amer. Std. Tele.

It was set up okay, although the action was a little high for my taste. The pickups seem a little cockeyed. I wish I'd had my glasses with me at the store, and some punk was attempting to slap base some punk tune. Wood quality was pretty poor on the neck. The body was be-a-utiful though. It was perfect, no blemishes, no nothing. Wish the whole package was like that.

Strap buttons are solid, so far. The body will take a beating me thinks, but the neck, eek gahd I dunno. Balsam wood I tell ya, balsam wood. The finish looks sharp and heavy, but who knows. I wouldn't use this on a gig. I wouldn't use this on a pinata.
Not going to give it a chance to play live......it would be pretty good if you were playing dead though.

Haven't called them, have no interest in calling them. In fact, anyone know their number? Didn't think so.

I've been playing for quite a few years now, and all I can say is that this is by far one of the most pathetic excuses for a guitar I've ever come across. Yeah, I know, you get what you pay for, but I have a Tacoma I bough for $500 bucks and it is just amazing. I've got a martin that I inherited from my great uncle that makes me cry when I play it. I've used a SRV Strat and it was just beautiful. I've played a Dean (okay I guess) les knock off that runs about $500 and it sounded so much better than this hamer. It's quality was much better, more reliable. Even the $100 job my baby brother got when he was ten was more solidly built (yeah, that sounds really sucked, worse than this one, but it lasted). If this guitar were lost or stolen, i'd feel bad for the schmuck that found it or took it. I bought this cause it sounded great the first time I played it. It was sharp and not too pricey. But once you get out of the store and really jam on it, it chokes--worse than the Boston Red Sox. I'll let you know what I think of my new guitar in a few months. I expect that one to last. Peace and happy playing.

Mahogony body and neck with carved maple top. Two Duncan-designed (which means manufactured cheaply by another company) pickups. Volume pots for each pickup, single tone pot. Tune-o-matic bridge. All hardware is gold colored.

I play everything from jazz to heavy metal. This guitar is anemic when it comes to sound. The variation in tones is virtually nil. I play through a Boss multi-effects processor and a high end Ampeg tube amp. Some tweaking made the guitar sound halfway decent. Straight through an amp with no effects unit, this guitar sounds like a low end $100 Les Paul copy.

There were no obvious flaws when the guitar arrived. The nut wasn't well cut, leaving the action on the 1st fret too high. The action was, of course, set too high, and the truss rod was loose. Minor adjustments made the action much better. However, the neck is so light that even light pressure caused the guitar to go out of tune. The finish looks nice. The wood is so light in weight that it feels more like pine than mahogany. The neck feels like plastic.

I'm not going to keep this guitar long enough to find out about reliability. Given how light the wood is, I doubt that this is a sturdy guitar. My thin Ibanez S series custom weighs more.

Don't need customer support. I'll never buy another Hamer guitar.

This guitar lists for $849.00? What a load of crap. Artificially inflated list price to make a bad guitar look good. It's too light, the neck bends if you even breathe on it, the sound is thin and hardly changes with pick-up configuration, it was poorly adjusted from the factory, it's difficult to play sitting down... I wouldn't use this guitar as my 5th backup. I've been playing a long time, and I've owned everything from Ibanez to Fender Strats to a genuine Les Paul Gold Top to off brands. This Hamer is, especially for the price, one of the worst guitars I've owned. It won't disgrace my studio for long. I'm returning it tomorrow.