Hamer Artist Custom

2001 Hamer Artist Custom, arch-top semi-hollow body with f-hole, quilted AAAAA maple top, 1-piece Honduran mahogany body and neck, ebony fretboard. Cream binding on body, neck, and headstock. Real mother-of-pearl trapezoid inlays on fretboard. Duncan Antiquity humbuckers. Schaller tuners. Medium frets. 1 tone, 2 volume controls. Dunlop straplocks built into the strap buttons. Came with Hamer case. Shop around, compare what you get for the money, take a look at Hamer's build quality (100% by hand), and you'll see why Hamer Artist guitars have such a devoted following.

This guitar sounds wonderful, the Antiquity pickups really bring out the natural tone of the guitar. They sound great clean or distorted, hi-gain or no gain. I mostly play this through a clean amp with a little reverb and chorus, it sounds so sweet! It has really nice natural acoustics.

This is where this guitar really shines. The attention to detail is really outstanding. The binding is "ribbed" (for lack of a better term), so the surface isn't just plain old flat cheap looking binding. The binding is also taken right up to the raised sides of the frets, so moving quickly around the neck is really smooth. The mother-of-pearl inlays are not cheap paper inlays, they are a full 1/16" solid mother-of-pearl, they actually look like they have depth to them (unlike some other brands where the inlay looks like junk). The sunburst finish really brings out the depth of the quilted top as well, and I was lucky enough to find one with a AAAAA quilted top. I did find one nick in the binding under the upper horn. Unfortunately the nick goes across the ribbed pattern, so it would be expensive to fix. For the price I paid for it, and knowing the attention to detail that goes on at the Hamer factory, I have to give it a 9. Call me a perfectionist!

The action is really nice on this guitar, very low with minimal buzz (common among semi-hollow guitars). It needed a neck and intonation adjustment out of the box, but nothing major.

A common problem with a lot of these type of guitars (Gibson, Epi, Guild, Hamer, etc) is the 3-way switch starts going out right away. So far this one has been working fine, so we'll see what happens. The finish appears to be pretty durable, though I plan to guard this guitar with my life. Everything looks very solid and should last a long time.

I have looked on the Hamer website, the Kaman Music website, and other resources and could not find a number/address to the Hamer factory in CT. All I wanted was the specs on my guitar - when it was built, etc. I wouldn't know how to get ahold of them if there was a problem. For that they get a 5.

I can't sing the praises of this guitar and the Hamer company enough. I absolutely love this guitar, and I recommend USA Hamers to anyone considering a PRS, Gibson, or Guild. If it were stolen, I'd be out for blood because this was not an inexpensive guitar, and I'd have to wait 4 months to have another one built for me. With the exception of the nick in the binding (which may be a rare occurance), this guitar is flawless and worth every penny I spent on it.

I own a PRS McCarty, Epi Dot (modified), Fender Strat, and a custom Tele (I built), and I find myself playing this guitar more and more and leaving the others on the stand. A lot of people ask me how it compares to the PRS. They are two different guitars, my PRS is a solid body with hot pickups and the Hamer is a semi-hollow body with ultra-clean pickups. I use them for different things, but I'm finding the Hamer can do a lot of things the PRS does better, but they are both very nice guitars.

USA made, one of the last from the Arlington Heights factory. Gorgeous natural mahogany with a breathtaking gold flamed maple top. Seth Lover humbuckers in the front and back. Gold hardware, totally stock with no mods. Essentially, this is the guitar Gibson tries to build but continually fails. Everything is exactly what I would expect from a custom-shop high end guitar, and has yet to disappoint. No tremolo bar, but why muck up such a beautiful piece with an ugly twisted metal bar?

I play power pop, and this sucker allows me the luxury of a warm, vintage kerrang along with the sweet throatiness of a semi-hollowbody. Interesting combination, and I'm constantly complimented on its unique tone. Incidentally, I play it through a Soldano-modified Laney 100W w/EL34s and 12AX7s, with just a little rack-mounted EQ in between for good measure. Even for a semi-hollowbody, it does not feedback or howl unnecessarily and maintains a very full voice.

This is Hamer from Illinois. Everything was just about perfect upon delivery, except for the setup. It needed some slight adjustment and a truss rod turn, but nothing out of the ordinary. As far as the finish, hardware, and workmanship, everything is flawless (believe me, I've looked)!

The only complaint I have is that the toggle has occasionally hiccups on me while switching from one pickup to another. I've flipped the switch and, to my horror, no sound! Had to jiggle it a little to get it right. Opened up the guitar several times and pulled the contacts closer together, but still have sporadic problems. I don't fault Hamer for this, though, as something as simple as a toggle is easy to replace. Otherwise, everything else is excellent. Standard wear and tear on parts, but the finish is the real star......little to no evidence it's even been played after 4 years of HEAVY use!

Never needed it, but if I did, I'm a little sad they moved the whole operation (and very few of their best people) to Connecticut.

I've owned mostly medium-quality guitars and custom-built knockoffs, but after playing a series of Hamers, vintage Gibsons, Paul Reed Smiths and Fenders, I've come to the conclusion that Hamer is the best bang for the buck, without question. Exquisite craftsmanship (and frankly, better playability than their more expensive counterparts).

This is a basic Two-humbucking maple top/mahogony back guitar. However, it's hollowed out on one side and they have an f-hole over the chamber. Two volume, one tone control. This model has Seymour Duncan Seth Lover pickups-- two of the most amazing sounding pickups I've ever heard. For a long time I thought pickups were pickups. But when I A/B the pickups on this guitar with other guitars, I can't believe the difference. There have tone to spare. They're balanced and clean and meaty all at the same time.

Body style is regular Hamer double cutaway. See http://www.edromanguitars.com/infoham.htm for more information about this guitar.

Gloss finish over natural wood. Tune-o-matic bridge. Schaller tuners. 24 3/4 scale. Came with case.

This guitar sounds pretty good unplugged, but when it's running through the pickups, man is this thing sweet.

I use a Fender Hot Rod 2 x 12 60 watt amp and a Roland/Boss GT5. Rich creamy blues tone. Shimmery clear tone for jazzy chords. Rear pickup has good bite, but not a razor through your ears. I think the best way to label the sound is "balanced". Seems to be a bit more variety of tonal range over a regular 2 humbucking guitar. Just sweet al around.

Came with .009s attached. I've always loved the feel of .009s, so I left 'em on. Some might like .010s or even .011s better. Matter of personal choice.

This thing is a work of art by itself. The lacquer finish really brings out the bookmatched flame maple. Excellent wood all around. Fingerboard is rosewood with crown inlays. Pickups were adjusted correctly.

Not a scratch anywhere.

There does seem to be a slight issue with Hamer Artists with bound fretboards. The binding around the fingerboard was either not high enough to begin with, or it had shrunk. The ends of the frets were higher than the binding, which meant pulling the high e and the low strings a bit much sometimes caused them to jump off the ends of the frets. I took the guitar in to the local luthier and he offered two options-- either dress the fret ends so they were flush with the binding or completely refret the guitar and bring the fret ends out all the way to the sides of the fret board. I chose the second option. He did it for about 200 bucks and I'm glad I had him do that. The small amount of extra fret length makes all the difference in the world. No more SPROOOOOINGGGGGG if I pull the e string to far while playing a weird chord.

I've seen this issue on two different Hamers with bound fingerboards now.

This is a strong, durable guitar. The Hamers already seem to come fitted for StrapLoks. Very nice. I bought one of these through a dealer and then found someone selling one on EBAY for a reasonable price, so I have two of these. So now I have a backup.

I have dealt with Hamer before (for a different guitar). They are a small shop and were very eager to please.

This is now the one guitar I'd save were a fire to come rushing down the hill. After 25 years of playing this is definitely one of the best guitars I've ever seen or heard (aside from the fingerboard binding issue).

Mine's a custom model, with Gold hardware, cream binding, block mother of pearl inlays, and top quality book-matched framed maple top in orange '59 sunburst.
Check out the full manufactor's specs at http://www.kamanmusic.com/hamer/html/usa/artist.html
A very, very well built guitar. The neck is straight (some LP standards / nitehawks / SG I've tried in the store have slighty bend neck...) and feels just right, fits comfortably in my relatively small hands. I guess preference of neck side/shape is a matter of taste, but the first impression when I picked up the guitar is good...only a PRS matches in this aspect. Finish is almost flawless. Like its lightweight.

My setup: Hamer Artist Custom (stock Duncan Seth Lover pickups) ->Dunlop Crybaby wah ->Boss Blues Driver ->Sansamp GT-2 ->Boss BF-2 Flanger ->Boss 7 band EQ ->Boss Harmonizer ->Zoom 5050 Choir ->Marshall valvestate / Mackie 12 channel mixer
I play anything from Hendrix, Eric Johnson, Malmsteen, Gary Moore to SRV. I was actually looking for a LP standard but new ones from Gibson these days disappointed me: the setup was bad, neck is slightly bent, pickups have no dynamics, can't get the thick LP sound...Then I picked up the Artist. Its tone has many of the nice features of a good LP tone: thick, solid bottom, mellow mids and clear highs.
Clean tone is sweet, thanks to the semi-hollow body design. In the shop I played thru a Roland Blues Cube with the neck pu, tone rolled off a bit, and I have the sweetest clean tone ever. Haven't try the ES 335 but definitely way better than the Epi clone. Pickup is hot, sensitive to picking nusances and have good dynamic range.
I was first a bit worried about distortion with this babe. But after tweaking with my sansamp/eq a bit I was able to dial in the thickest meanest distortion sound, with extra hi/low boosted. Blew my old Ibanez RG away. Probably because of the semihollow body design, the distortion tone is way fuller and warmer than those from my solidbody Ibanez.
The tone / pu selector / dual volume control is very usable. Can easily get anything from thick, mellow tone to crispy funky clear, and anything in-between. Offers the out-of-phase hollow tone, too. The Seth Lover Duncans are again, thick and mellow, but not without highs. This means I can get almost the both world of ES355 / LP.
The control chamber is NEAT and clean. Very low noise.

The set-up was good and ready out of the factory. Wish they bind the headstock too, but that's nothing major. The shape and look is a really killer. Can't beat the PRS in look, though, but it's got a much friendlier price tag.

Have been playing it at home for a few months, so not sure if it's gonna stand anything tough...but with its gorgeous bookmatched flamed maple top, I would sacrifice anything to protect it from any damage. But the way it's constructed, the electronic routings, etc,...suggest that I probably won't need any service in at least a few good years.

Life time warranty was given to me, but I've never deal with them, so no comment.

Excellent instrument. It offered the best components / craftsmanship for the price. I've tried many Gibson LPs and the quality varies alot...some were good and some were really bad for price. Overall I think Gibsons and PRS charge too much a premium for their good name. I strongly suggest you try out a USA made Hamer before consider buying any guitar of this price range. The quality is consistently good.
Give it a 8 because I still think it's very expensive axe...