Hamer Artist Mahogany

USA made Hamer, double cut-away, single F-hole (seperate sound chamber) mahogany, stop tailpiece, 24 fret scale, medium frets on rosewood fret board with a set neck that feels like PRS met 60's Les Paul. The neck is round but not too chunky and the finish on the neck (and the rest of the guitar) is incredible. Hamer USA has one of the very best finishes in the guitar world. Deep but light and transparent (how do they do that?). It really shows the wood. 2 Seth Lover 59 Humbuckers on this axe blends real nice with the tone you get from the mahogany wood.

I own lots of guitars, Les Paul, Strat, Tele, 335, Burns, Dobro, etc., etc. This Hamer Artist has the most versitle tone of any of them! I play rock, blues, jazz. It is suitable for any of these styles. It's clean setting sounds awesome or crank it up and get that great 59 Seth Humbucker growl. Any setting provides a full wall of tone. I can't say enough good things about the way this one sounds. I mainly play through a Fender HotRod Deville and use a Vintage 1964 Princeton accompanied by a Marshall 4x10 cab for smaller venues. Both sound equally impressive. The guitar rocks both these setups. No pedals needed, but it does sound nice with the addition of a distortion pedal at crunch time.

I bought the guitar used so there were only a few very small dings from use. Other than that, the instrument is Absolutely flawless! Beautiful craftsmanship. Well appointed hardware. Hamer USA does not cut corners on their quality.

Haven't had it that long to know of long term reliability. However, quality usually lasts and this baby is solid. Finish is great. Top of the line hardware. Set neck is sturdy.

No experience in this department. No need for it yet. I have heard good things about their service. I know one of their clinicians and he speaks highly of the company and their dedication to their customers.

Fortunately for me, Hamer USA does not have the name recognition that Fender and Gibson have established. That makes the "used-value" of these babies somewhat more affordable than that of the more advertised brands. I would have paid twice the amount for this guitar. I 've been playing over 20 years and have not been this enthusiastic over a guitar in a long time. It kicks my Les Pauls butt. If it were lost or stolen I would huddle in a corner with bottles of good Kentucky Bourbon for a week, then go buy myself another Hamer Artist. There is not a better guitar out there for the money!

USA made Hamer with the double cutaway body style Hamer is known for. A single f-hole hollow chambered body finished in translucent red. Two Seymour Duncan P-90 pick ups. Two volume and one tone knob. Three way toggle switch. Features are simple but effective. Body and neck are mahogany, rosewood fretboard with a medium fret profile. 24 3/4 inch scale, 22 frets. A BASIC, solid guitar design that does the job well. I took a few points off due to the lack of bells and whistles, but overall Hamer did a nice job.

This guitar has the ultimate clean tone. When played through a Fender Twin, notes rang with a glassy sheen. In recording situations using a J-station, excellent tones were acheived but as with any amp simulation device, loss of high frequencies and a tendency towards midrange "honkiness" made the use of a good eq indispensible. Through a Peavey classic practice amp, the pickups had a very thick, focused tone. The P-90s are noisy, slightly more hum than a conventional single coil . The sound with a saturated amp is not as impressive. P-90s will not give you the same crushingly heavy tone as a well made humbucker. Ease off the gain for a blusier sound and this guitar really sings. Regardless of the amount of gain, I still have to trim the mids back 2-3 notches to acheive a balanced tone.

This guitar was as close to flawless as I have seen. The only noticable finish discrepancy was on the inside of the f-hole. The guitar was set up with 10's and the action was low without any buzz (measured 2mm at the 12th fret, low E side). The three piece neck grain was well matched. Pickup height was perfect, no volume loss when switching from the neck to the bridge position.

Solid construction on this piece. No reason to question its reliability or durability. I've had it for less than a month but in that time, no problems.

Lifetime warranty. No interaction with customer support because I haven't needed any work on the guitar. I won't rate this area since I haven't interacted with their customer support department

I've been playing for 15 years, mostly in the blues and jazz-rock vein. So far, I love this guitar. If it were lost or stolen, I would definitely get another. If you are looking to fill the sonic landscape with a thick, meaty tone, this is the guitar for you. If you want a more traditional sound, look for a good strat or les paul. The distinctive tone of this guitar is its best feature and should be the primary reason for purchasing it.