Hamer Californian Import

Black finish, some chips in the body but i bought it used so i didnt expect it to be perfect, just almost perfect. Strat style body, i love it because i have a squiere strat and this one, my hamer, looks so much better to me. Floyd Rose thingy, i like it, i stripped one of the locks tho so i dont use them, it didnt come with a tremelo arm so i just move it up and down real quick with my fingers or palm. No brand tuners, just black and go with the guitar. Made in korea, i was kinda sad when i found out it wasnt the american model but w\e, still awesome to me. 27 frets, maple neck, boomerang inlays. i think the place i bought it from didnt no what this guitar is worth cuz i was looking at the other reviews and they all payed over $200. i only payed $100...in store credit.:D :D i dont no what year it was made. i was hoping i could find a website where i could input this number i found on the headstock of the guitar and find out about it. 1702164 3 way selector, volume control single coil neck pick up, bridge humbucker, duncan designed, sounds awesome through either.

it sounds awesome, i like to play metal, trivium and some other bands, im tryin to learn some DethKlok now. no buzz. overall awesome sound.

im guessing this is one of the better put together ones. everything works great. nothing more to say i guess.

i havent played live. not in a band yet. it all seems like it would last forever. strap buttons are cool. i can and will definitly depend on this guitar for years to come.

i sent it in for a string change but that was to a local music store.

I have been playin for like 2 years. i dont claim to be an expert but this guitar is freakin awesome! if i ever lost this guitar i would definitly try to find it or as a last resort buy a new one. i love the neck and the inlays. i wish i had the tremelo arm but that was lost b4 i bought her so i dont care about it.

Hamer 2000 Califorian blond, Dot Rosewood neck,Korean , 27fret . S/H Duncan designed pup, stratish with a touch of Jackson on the headstock. just a 3 way switch and a vol. no tone a very ballsy move if you ask me and so that is the real premice of this axe, max drive oh yea ,and a silly floyed Trem, all hardware is black none name branded but for the price not bad, I sure have seen better but except for the trem not terrible.I gave it a six because the pups will need replacing and the trem is now blocked and will need something to maker it stable,The six is for the neck its that good.

When I played it in my friends studio I couldn't belive the action that it had , I was just getting in to tapping and this was way better than the cheap Satriani I was going to get (also this was $360 less expensive) also the neck was so thin I could finally wrap my thumb around the neck to get at the low E and play the jimi chord that eluded me on my strat. I can't really say I love the sound cause I've played mostly blues and make no mistake this is a METAL HAIR BAND guitar, I play through a mess of pedals and pedal boards ( OK Here goes,12 various boss's, Akia G-Force, Budda Phatboy, digitech RP12, Roland GT6,Digitech DSP 128+, Vortex by lexicon ,2 shultz rockman EQ's and a few too many more) so as you can see even with a compromised on board sound I usually can tweek it to sound great, I will be replacing both pickups more than likely to EMG's as the sound is weak and enimic. If I had to only have an Amp and this setup stock it would have to be an Amp with digital effects to make up for the lack of oomph.

Well I bought it used and the guy I got it from tweeked it for me already so I can't say of the action but now its the best action of all my guitars. as others have noted there are some flaws in the finish and they are small blems and not so great joining of the woods on the body. But the neck boys THE NECK...

Because of its limited versatility and the fact that I really wanted it for tapping and lead work it probaly will never leave the studio, seems that a metal band would do ok with it though, I've got a friend who wants it if I ever sell and he plays it every time he comes to visit. Yes its solid and I really think that it would hold up as long as you don't use the wammy ( except for your last note,ha)

I'm a studio owner and play many insturments over my 46 years,Guitar is my 3rd serious study (Drums/Percussion,and Tuba/Arco upright Bass) There are no perfect insturments, just perfect insturments for the occasion. And this falls into One perfect class metal ,shred ,and my use Tapping. Its not a great guitar now but with the trem blocked and pups changed it will compliment the gorgous thin neck. Its a fair instument at a very reasonable price and those like me that need a real thin neck should really look for one of these.Thank you and Peace.

Follow-up to my last review: Instead of the DiMarzio Evolution I planned on installing, I instead chose a Steve's Special. After reading a bunch of reviews on both, the SS just looked like it could deliver more of what I wanted out of this guitar. I also recently discovered the joys of an EQ pedal, so with my new setup I can get everything from "...And Justice For All"-era Metallica ball-crushing tones to some SRV twang.

Before I begin: any ratings I give this guitar are based on comparisons to my own variety of guitars, as I feel comparison is the most accurate way to gauge a product's worth.

I bought it used, so I dont' have much information on it as far as where/when it was made. I'm guessing from the Duncan Design pickups (bridge HB and neck slanted single) and the super-low price that it's the import, though. It's got standard Californian features, stuff you should probably already know before you get this far into researching your potential next guitar. Mine's the black model, very well-done, I have found no blemishes except for an insignificant ding on the back from the previous owner. I give it an 8 because I have more tonal variety on my Parker P-38, but the middle position on the Californian's selector switch, with both pick-ups on, sounds very nice and unique, especially when blasted through my Crate GLX-65 with the presence and gain knobs on 10.

Here is where the Californian shows it's weaknesses. For starters, the paltry 2 pickup/3 way selector/1 volume/0 tone knob set-up leaves something to be desired. Obviously, this guitar is made for thrash/metal/heavy rock. While it does these specific sounds perfectly, a little more versatility would have been most appreciated. I may decide to add a tone knob in the future, as I feel I will have this guitar for a long while.

Aside from the aformentioned middle-position tonal sweetness, the individual pickups, I felt, were somewhat disappointing. The single coil, while nice, buzzes a lot, and my Parker can do single coil sounds much better. The humbucker emits an odd whining noise when not being played, which is what I suspect was the reason for the previous owner to return it. Considering the tiny amount I payed for it, I feel a DiMarzio Evolution would be very appropriate for the guitar's overall vibe and style. Until then, I'll keep my Les Paul for standard humbucker tones and use this for that one special tone I love so much.

Obvioulsy, the guitar was WAY out of tune right out of the box, but I fixed that very quickly. The action was absolutly perfect, no adjustment at all needed there. The only place I noticed any buzzing whatsoever was on the 25th fret of the low E-string, but that's a ridiculous place to be playing anyways. The only complaint I have with the guitar's neck is the fretboards thinness. There is hardly any space between the high and low strings, so unless i'm very careful, I end up pushing the strings right off the fretboard. This obviously requires me to alter my playing a little bit.

Also, I've read that this guitar has a 25.5" scale. While most guitars with this scale length have 22 or 24 frets, this guitar's 27 requires all the frets to be pushed together a little bit. I have fat fingers, so I have to be especially accurate when tearing it up above the twelfth fret. I purchased this guitar because many of the songs I play require fast access to high frets, and both my Parker and my Les Paul where limiting in this respect. I can go anywhere and still have plenty of room to spare on this baby.

Another small quibble: the boomerang fretboard markers cross 2 frets apiece, making it easy to get lost if you're too used to looking at the front of the fretboard (like me) instead of looking at the side markers.

Everything seems solid, but I may take it in to have them fix up the intonation when I have my Evolution put in. It seems a bit off, and I'm always scared I'll bust the Floyd Rose, so I'll have a pro do it. I also want to have a Tremsetter put in, they seem to be miracle workers. And Steve Vai's got 2 on his main axe! I replaced the strap buttons with locking ones after 30 minutes of the guitar in my posession, because they are absolutely necessary.

This guitar seems fine for live playing, but the lack of tonal options pretty much requires a backup if you're covering several playing styles. Granted, I've only ever played live with my school's jazz band, and playing only chords in the background isn't very intensive on a guitar, but I always take 2 when we play. It's just common sense: a guitar is a complex piece of work, with dozens of things that can happen to render it unplayable. My Les Paul and Parker are most suited for the Jazz style I play live, so I keep this at home for personal fulfillment.

AMS rules, I live in Japan, and stuff I order from them gets here in less than 2 weeks. Orders from Musician's Friend and the like took upwards of 4 weeks to arrive when I still lived in the United States.

I've been playing for about 4 years now, and in addition to the Californian, own a Parker P-38, Epiphone Les Paul Standard with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge, and a Fender Stratacoustic. I've wanted one of these for a while, and looked everywhere, but could never find them. Then one day I went the the AMS website, and saw one in the scratch-and-dent section (the only scratch or dent I could find was a small ding on the back, hardly noticable with a microscope). I was so amazed, I ordered it that night. This is the only way I think I could have gotten one, and I'm grateful that I did.

As mentioned before, the only things I want changed are the humbucker (to an Evolution), the addition of a tone knob, and the addition of a Tremsetter. After that, I will love this guitar forever. It obviously requires a big change in playing style from my other guitars, but for the sheer freedom the insanely long fretboard offers, its' worth it.

This is a review of a 2000 Model Import Hamer Californian. 3-way selector, Duncan Designed hum at the bridge and Duncan Designed single at the neck. 1 Volume control. Maple neck - smooth! Floyd licensed trem (major weakness). Cheap-o tuners.

I play all types of music... from Rolling Stones to Korn, from Black Sabbath to Dire Straits, from Elvis to Primus...
I use a Fender Champ, Mesa Mark IV and, for practice, a DSL201 with this guitar... First off, I have to admit... this is not my main guitar. This is more of a "leave at home" and "practice guitar". But that is what I bought if for. My main guitar is an SG. Anyways, that said, this guitar rocks. Period. Now, I say this knowing that it costs $450 new, and will not compete with anything in the over $600 range. It provides a decent spectrum of sounds, from full on metal to midly overdriven and to clean rythym. Nice overall sound. This guitar, however, was built for the 80's... Poison, VH, Motley Crue, Extreme...

Again, I will repeat: I am basing my rating on a $450 guitar. This is not a relative rating of all guitars - this is not a comparison against a PRS or the like.

I bought this guitar used, so cannot speak about setup from the factory. The action was a bit high for me when purchased (could have been altered by previous owner). Everything seemed in order, no visible blems or defects. The pickups seemed a little low, so I raised them also. Would like to mention that the Floyd trem stinks. Not just this model guitar, but all licensed Floyd's stink.

Never had a problem. If my main guitar broke down, I wouldn't hesitate to take it out. Everything seems solid, maybe just replace the trem.

Never Dealt.

Again, I play all types of music, and have been playing for around 12 years. If it were stolen, I would purchase it again at the same price $200, but for a few hundred more, you're looking at the next level of used guitars.

I bought two Hamer Californians online (returned both) through ebay from someone who shipped them to me directly from the dealer. They werent even out of the box.

27 frets

3 piece body? looks like it because you can see through the finish where the pieces were glued together.

Volume and 3 way selector

Pickup configuration: S/H

Overall, not much tone control. Thats why i give it a 5.

Duncan Designed pickups - Surprisingly, the bridge pickup sounded really good. Very much like a duncan distortion. Nice van halen sound.

Maple neck.

Finish: transparent orangish color. they call it Aztec Gold. Looks nice, ok. BUT both guitars that i ended up returning had flaws in the finish. One had a very thin spot where it seemed not enough finish was present and another area had a small bubble. Not really noticeable unless you look very closely. Poor craftmanship.

Body style: Strat

Bridge style: Licesned Floyd. Seems a bit on the cheapo side. Did not stay in tune that well.


Tuners: No names. This was a huge problem with the guitar. A few of the holes for the screws on the tuners were not drilled correctly. They were off by at LEAST 30 degrees. It looked ridiculous when i got the guitar. I thought maybe i could just adjust them....the actual drilled holes for the screws were off! HORRIBLE. I was so disgusted when i saw this. Yes, im still angry.

Neck/Scale: Neck feels thin. Feels very nice. Too bad the rest of the guitar sucked. Anyways, the first one i received had a crack in the fretboard from when they put in the inlays. No excuse for shipping that out like that. NO WONDER major retial stores will not carry this garbage (Try finding them on musicansfriend.com or your local guitar center, you wont find that crap there). Especially at $400 ?????? WHAT A JOKE.

Any included accessories: GIG bag

I was using a 5150 combo with a rocktron multivalve effects processor. Sounded good. I thought I would change the bridge pickup when i got it to a Duncan JB, but then figured it sounded cool the way it was. The neck pickup was useless to me. I would only want a clean sound from the neck, and it didnt provide that. Basically, its good for 80s rock/metal. Thats about it unless you change the neck pickup, and even then Im not sure. I didnt keep the guitar long enough to find out.

How well was the guitar set-up at the factory? Action was pretty good. Low, no buzz. BUT, there were defects...so this is all pointless

How well were the pickups adjusted? Pickups were fine.

Properly routed bridge? Again, the quality on both looked really shoddy. Rough edges around the recessed part of the body.
Did the guitar contain any flaws? YES> MANY. The first guitar had a crack in the fretboard from when they put in the abalony inlay. The second guitars tuners werent installed correctly. They were almost hitting each other when you turned them!!!!! Can you believe this? I wanted to pick up a Korean import and change the hardware to sort of "americanize" it (love the necks on these) but it was a WASTE of time. The second guitar also had finish flaws that I explained above. This guitar is poorly assembled and manufacuted, which is a shame, because it has the potential to be a really nice guitar if the people putting it together actually cared. Its obvious that the people assembling, putting together these guitars dont give a crap. Sorry, but it's the truth. Im only motivated to write this review to save someone from the hassle i ahve had (and continue to have trying to get my money back). The tuning pegs are also loose. two words sums it up: Poor quality.
Maybe the guy on ebay had a bad batch? I dont know. These two guitars I looked at were the most overpriced, poorly crafted guitars ive seen in a while. I've seen Fender Squiers with better craftmanship than those pieces of SH!#.

I would never play this anywhere except next to a campfire.....right before i threw it in the fire....

I dealt with the person on ebay. He said he would refund me. Still waiting for my funds to be reimbursed. I feel really bad for him actually, it isnt his fault Hamer sent him such low quality crud. I offered him the opportunity to use me to speak with the service/customer representative to explain the problems. I would love to find out why two such horribly put together guitars made it to a consumer's hand. No excuse.

first off, Ive been playing since i was 10. Im 27 now and am not a novice. Ive seen a few guitars and understand what things consist of a decent guitar. With that said.....

I bought this guitar with the expectation of replacing the hardware and converting into a nice import with american hardware. Both times i received this guitar there were problems that I could not overlook. I was willing to ignore the flaws in the finish, but not when some fool at the factory misdrills a hole like that. Or cracks the fretboard when installing the inlays. I will never ever buy another Hamer. I dont care if it is American or not. Hamer shouldnt put their name on such crap. I understand they make great american guitars. I have tried the old USA Californians and it is a beautiful guitar....but this has left such a bad taste in my mouth i dont even want to buy a used american version anymore. I dont want anything to do with Hamer ever again. If you had to deal with this nonsense also, you would feel the same. There is no excuse that a guitar that lists for $800 and sells for around 400 should have problems like I've listed here. Its ridiculous. I completely understand why it is very difficult to find these guitars in any local music store. They are the worst manufactured guitar i have ever put my hands on. Now, im not saying it is bad because of the materials used. On the contrary, the materials are ok. the neck feels great. It's just that the people putting them together do a horrendous job. Do not even bother with purchasing one of these in any hopes of coming close to the American Californian Hamers. I wanted to sort of create a new "americanized" version by replacing the hardware etc. It was a headache that i am still dealing with almost a month later. Hope this saves someone from some hassle.

Regards.

This is a "super Strat" made in Korea. It has a 27 fret maple neck with rosewood fretboard (the fretboard is cut at a slant, and some of those highest frets are just for looks). The body is finished in a clear stain and looks like one piece of wood. I think it is mahogany.

It has one humbucker in the bridge position and one single coil in the neck position. One master volume, one master tone control, one 3-way slide pickup selector switch. The bridge is a Floyd Rose copy, and it has a locking nut. The tuners are no-names. Mine came with a no-name hardshell case.

I think it has plenty of features for its intended audience, which I believe is 80s era metal heads (like me) who grew up watching people like EVH do amazing things with guitars with one pickup and one volume knob.

The body has exaggerated Strat-style cutaways and is very comfortable. The neck is by far the best part of this guitar. It is extremely thin, (similar to an Ibanez) with a nice satin finish. I love it, though I wish it was 22 frets. I get lost up there.

I have played 80s metal in the past (e.g., VH, Dokken, Ratt, etc.). It is good for that. I am now getting old and expanding into SRV and bluesier stuff. It is not so good for that.

I did not like the original bridge pickup. I replaced it with a Seymour Duncan Full Shred, which helped the sound quite a bit. The neck single coil is very dull, bassy and lifeless. Basically useless, IMO. I wish it had a 5-way selector switch allowing a coil tap on the humbucker and an out of phase option between the two pickups. The guitar is very bright sounding. Good lead guitar for metal. Not a lot of variety, though. I am using it with a Marshall Valvestate S80, and it sounds okay for metal. I also have an $80 Zoom 505-II, which actually offers some better sounds than the Marshall. I will keep this for my metal guitar, but I am getting a Strat for blues.

I have to give it a "4" for sound, because I didn't like either pickup, and I think they should have put in a coil tap and out of phase option to offer more variety.

The guitar was set up great. This guitar has best action I have ever seen. Phenomenally low, and easy to play. The finish is flawless. It has a crack in the headstock, which I believe was there since I bought it, but which I did not notice until after I had moved from that city. It has no effect on the tone or playability that I am aware of. Because of that, I will give it a "7," which is still a great rating in my book.

Yes. I have had it for about 5 yrs. with nothing broken. I have played out with it occasionally. The strap buttons are kind of stripping out, but that is probably my fault from too much tightening. I can completely depend on it. I would use it without a backup. I have never broken a string on this guitar, and until recently, I used .008s. And, I used to use a metal pick. I'll give it a "9" because it does have that crack. Otherwise, it's perfect.

I've never dealt with them.

I have been playing for 20 years. I have a Charvel 375 Deluxe, a couple of Ovation Celebrity acoustics, a Marshall Valvestate twin stereo chorus and a Zoom 505II. This has been a great guitar for me, but if I lost it, I wouldn't get another, because I find it too limiting tonally, I don't like the 27 frets, and I'm tired of the hassles of a locking bridge/nut setup.

I WILL START WITH AN EXPLANATION ON PERSONAL PREFERENCE. IF YOU GO TO A MUSIC SHOP AND PLAY SOME GUITARS, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DETERMIN AT THAT POINT WHAT YOU WANT. IF YOU ORDER THROUGH THE MAIL, YOU MIGHT SCORE BIG OR END UP WITH A LEMON. The Hamer Californian import model,(keep in mind, ESP, Ibanez, ECT> are also imports), is a kick ass guitar. Being 30 years old and having the pleasure of being a teenager in the 80's, I have played alot of the pawn shop prizes in their brand new, unplayed states. In my opinion, the Californian model will give you the as close to ultimate 80's metal sound. The stock humbucker is a Duncan design. It scorches enough for some Dokken. The Duncan singlecoil is all that is necesary for the 80's power balad clear tones. The tremelo is your basic Floyd copy and works very well. The controls consist of a three way pickup switch and one volume knob. As with most production guitars you get a few cosmetic flaws, but they are barely noticeable and do not affect the sound quality. The neck and it's 27 frets? This neck is amazing! If you like Ibanez or Jackson neck profiles, you will love this one. Very smooth and easy to play. The black finish is pretty good as well. It gets a nine for the slight, barely noticeable cosmetic flaw I found.

Like I said before, if you like 80's metal like Dokken, Motley Crue, Iron Maiden Ect. as well as Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer Ect. you will love this guitar. I play through a CRATE GFX 212, DOD Delay and a Morely WAH pedal. I turn my distortion all the way up on my amp and leave the volume on the guitar all the way up and mostly use the humbucker. I am a George Lynch ( DOKKEN ) fan so I can call this my Dokken guitar. All I can say is if you want to hear what this guitar sounds like, buy any of Dokkens early CD's like Tooth and Nail or go play one if they are still around.

MY bud at the shop set this guitar up to near perfection. The only flaw was the foam pad in the tremelo recess on the body was separated. This is not an esential part of the guitar though. The pickup mounting bracket was cracked a little and easily replaced using my trusty screw driver.

As far as I can tell this guitar will hold up. Everything so far has withstood the test of time. I've been playing it for about two years. The strap stays on and the guitar hasn't fallen to the floor yet. Always have a backup guitar when on stage. I've played $2000 dollar guitars that break strings. Just because it says Jackson, BC Rich, Gibson or Fender on the headstock doesn't mean it wont break a string.

DON"T KNOW> DON"T NEED EM YET.

I have been playing for 18 years. I began with a Yamaha spanish acoustic in 1982 and then in 1983 I got my first electric. I have owned just about every mainstream guitar like Fender, Jackson, Charvel, Kramer, ESP, Gibson, Ibanez, Ect. I really miss the stripped down one humbucker strats of the 80's and this Hamer comes as close to a production model in this configuration as I can get. I would be very upset if it were stolen and I would buy another one. Guitars are a matter of prference. A friend of mine has a favorite guitar that most people would never buy. It was his first guitar. It is a mid 80's cheap Yamaha Strat copy with 21 frets, 3 single coils and a very squared off Strat body and an ok neck. He owns several other pricey guitars and always goes back to his Yamaha. One mans junk is another mans treasure.

27 fret three piece maple neck (stressed neck construction), bolted onto a solid maple body, which is scalloped nicely on the top. Rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays(nothing fancy here). It came with "Duncan Designed" single coil at the neck and trembucker at the bridge. Otherwise, your standard Californian configuration, with a three position blade selector and one knob(volume). Floyd-licensed bridge. The finish is black, in that new fangled (polyester?) finish that's cheap to lay on but looks killer. Medium height frets, 24.75 inch scale. All hardware is black chrome. The tuning machines are some sort of schaller copy, but are very nice, with no slop, remarkably. Basically, all the goodies are there, I rate it an 8 because of durability issues with the bridge(which are gone after replacing a couple things and adding a tremsetter-a gizmo I consider mandatory on any trem-equipped bridge. Example: within four hours of getting a USA Centaura sent to me, there was one installed).

If you can't stand 80's metal, avoid this guitar. It has a bright crunchy sound and is all about squealing floyd-induced histrionics. The single coil pickup is worthless; anemic is too nice a word. The trembucker was satisfactory. I have since replaced the pickups with a Duncan Hotrail at the neck and a JB at the bridge, and it really brings out the in-your-face character of this guitar. There isn't a lot of variety in terms of tone. It has one, and it does it quite well.

Apparently, when I received the guitar via UPS, the last guy to look at it was the dude packing it in Korea. I had never had a Floyd-equipped guitar in my hands for more than a couple minutes before; I had the thing set up within a half hour, pickups and all. The frets were dressed beautifully. For a factory mass-production guitar, the fit and finish was flawless(I'm talking about the neck). Nothing wrong with the finish on the body, it's just plain, nothing noteworthy. There wasn't a single flaw in how the instrument was put together, and I looked quite closely, believe me. I did dress the frets from 22-27 on the treble side; this allowed me to drop the action to 2.5/64ths at the 12th fret(high E) with clean bending. The neck(I've never seen a guitar with a thinner neck) and action have not been equalled by any other guitar I have ever playing in my lifetime. I now feel that any guitar I own needs to have this particular neck profile.

Unfortuately, even though the parts were assembled with precision, the quality in the Floyd system sucked. The nut clamp screws stripped, the trem arm got sloppy, and the bridge posts wore out within three months. And the fine tuning screws weren't flat, making for imprecise fine tuning, as well as a sticky feel to them. The fix was easy and ran me about $25 for parts made of better quality metal. (new trem arm w/fingertip adjustment, fine tuning screws, nut clamp screws, and bridge posts). Since then I've also replaced the tuning machines with Sperzels(not a quality issue, just for convenience and, IMHO, improved tone sustain-wise). I consider this guitar to be 100% reliable after the changes to the floyd system. It stays in tune, period. After the strings stretch out after changing them, I never need to unlock the nut until I change them again(every three weeks). Just fine tune a touch, and go. Very nice.

hmm, this is a tough question, as I very well know that Hamer closely supports it's customers, but only on USA made instruments. Some other channel(not the USA custom shop) deals with warranty issues. I have never had to deal with any warranty issue, however, nor is it likely that I will ever have to. And the warranty is lifetime.

I've had this guitar for about six months now, and have been hesitant to post a review because of all of the modifications I've done to it; that implies that it's a substandard instrument. But I can't rate it overall as a mediocre instrument. There's a reason why I was very willing to drop another $350 or so on pickups, miscellaneous parts, tremsetter, etc. This guitar is the best playing guitar I have ever touched. I find that the feel of any other guitar I've picked up since getting this one is crappy. I play this guitar almost exclusively; I have to remind myself to play my other guitars. The scalloped downsized body is perfect. The neck is perfect. Ideally it would have more of a tonal rainbow that I could pick from, but I don't play out, I just practice, and so playability is foremost for me. If I were to become separated from this guitar in any way I would be very distraught. Hell, when I'm at work I often think about how good it's gonna be when I get home and get this guitar in my hands. Seems like everyone eventually finds the guitar that fits them, an instrumental soulmate if you will(Steve Howe and his ES-175, Jimmy Page and his '59 Les Paul, etc). I never thought I'd find it in a $400 import, but I did. In my opinion, Hamer's design here for the ultimate super-strat is unequalled.