Hamer Duotone

Korean Duotone with an "F" hole on top rather than the circle cutouts. Nice looking, especially from a distance, sunburst finish. "Duncan Design" pickups with a piezio. Dual output jacks for electric/acoustic amplification. Dot neck. Two tone controls, one volume, all in a line. That last piece about the controls is the only thing I dislike about this guitar. And becuase I have 5 or 6 other Hamers, the same holds true for them. I always have to stop and fiddle trying to figure out which control does what, and its because of the arrangement. When the controls are all in a straight line, they all look and feel alike. Gibson has the ideal arrangement with separate volume and tone controls for each pup, and they're not all on the same level.

This is one wonderful sounding guitar! I've only used it once so far playing in a club, but I was wondering if it was just a quirk that it sounded so good at home. No quirk - those pups are warm, articulated and make the sound of each string jump out at you. Forget any bias about the price or the "Design" in the name, theis pups are wonderful! I did not try it in acoustic mode as yet, but the electric mode was absolutely stunning! I use it for blues and some jazz. Main amps are either Music Man or Rivera in clubs and Magnatones at home. I try to hold stomp boxes to a minimum - maybe just a Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive. Effect boxes include an Austone VibroStomp and a Teese Wah. Been fooling around with a Vox ToneLab which sounds very promising.

I bought it used, so it would be unfair to judge how it came from the factory. However, the volume knob is shot and, while useable, will have to be replaced. Other than that, no problems. The bridge is fixed, the nut is proper height, the action is very comfortable, the frets are medium gauge. A big biggie, is that the guitar is very light. I'll give it a 9 for the volume pot only because other reviewers have said they had to change pots, so it may be a weakness in this guitar.

Haven't had it too long, so no rating. Shot volume control as mentioned.

I use a local tech I trust for repairs/advice.

Been playing for over 30 years. USA Hamers and USA Schecters are easily my favorite electric guitars. This is my first non-USA Hamer and it was well worth the price. Amps and effect/stomp boxes are as listed above. Now for the funny part...This guitar was sitting at my local GC for about a year with an asking price of $400. I was interested but told the salesman, a friend who usually will go the extra mile in getting me a deal, that the store could not go lower. I told him I had seen the same guitar on eBay for $275 to $300. So for a year we were stuck. No one else even looked at the guitar, because everyone wants Fenders and Gibsons without trying to assess what's right for them. About 2 months ago, GC had a clearance. I went, didn't see the guitar and was about to leave, when, lo and behold, I saw it stuck in a dark corner of the showroom - price was $200. In the long run it may not have resale value, but for $200, or even the original asking price of $400, this is one very, very nice guitar, wonderfully playable with great tone.

This is a review for the import model.

The features, especially considering the price, are phenominal! The finish is a nice vintage/cherry sunburst with no factory flaws, and the binding looks good. The body is a flat top, double cut, thinline LP style. The top is sprice, the back and sides are mahogany, and the fretboard and bridge are rosewood. The neck feels thick, but it's still pretty fast (it's not like a baseball bat or anything, but it sure isn't a Strat neck). You probably already know if you're researching this guitar, but this is a hybrid. It has an acoustic-style bridge with both an active piezo pickup and passive humbuckers. It has two separate output jacks (one for electric and one for acoustic). There is a 3-way switch that selects either the humbuckers, the piezo, or both. There are two volume knobs (one acoustic and one electric), a tone knob (electric only) and a three-band EQ with gain for the piezo (accessible using a ceramic screwdriver on the back of the guitar. It is a pain to adjust this EQ. My particular guitar is upgraded with Duncan '59 pickups and Grover tuners.

This guitar is extremely versatile - mostly because of the two pickup systems. I'll describe the two outputs of this guitar separately.

Electric -- This guitar sounds really fat. I have Duncan PAF's in there, and they sound pretty big - maybe a little too big. I am considering a change to Duncan Alnico Pro II's (they are really sweet pups). The volume and tone knobs are terrible - I totally recommend that you replace them (I will be soon). The fat, beefy tone can get almost too dark sometimes, and I tend to like darker tone. This is well-suited for rock, but not necessarily all forms. It's not the best at light crunch sounds, but it does a decent job. It works best clean or at medium overdrive levels. It just won't work for metal, but I don't really like or play metal (so I guess I don't care about that one).

Acoustic -- It has a very convincing acoustic tone, especially considering that this is almost a solid body electric. I think that it still needs a little help, though. I usually run the acoustic side through an acoustic processor and into the PA. I've used my friend's SWR Strawbery Blonde (a really nice acoustic amp), and that works almost as well. The (mostly) solid body detracts from the acoustic tone, but you can process it well enough for an audience.

Together -- This is where the guitar shines! No, it's not my best sounding electric. Yes, my rosewood-backed acoustic with a mic would sound better... but you can have a good acoustic sound and a good electric sound all at once. I play this guitar all the time, just for its versatility. The ability to go from jangly acoustic to full-on overdrive is just fantastic. For solos, it's a cool touch to keep the acoustic side going to have some clear, acoustic tone alongside your overdriven solo tone. Independently, they are a 7, but together they are a 9. I'll average those to make an 8.

I bought mine heavily used and abused, so I can't comment on the factory. The feel of the guitar is good, although it can be a little stiff at times.

No problems yet, and this guitar's already been through a lot.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing alternative and classic rock for 11 years. Like I mentioned earlier - this isn't my best electric or my best acoustic, but it's a good electric and a good acoustic all in one. There are other hybrid options out now, but this is the only one I've played. I like it, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who needs a versatile guitar.

This is for my Hamer Duotone USA, transluscent red with f-hole. Bought new in 2003, I've kept all the original parts on it including pickups, knobs, tuning keys, etc.. I want to say it has a spruce top with maple bottom. Upper portion of guitar body is hollowed out (hence the f-hole). Lower portion is solid body. Two toggle switches: first is for the usual 3 positions of pickup selection, like on a Les Paul type of setup (but located near the tone/volume knobs). Second toggle switch selects between acoustic pickup (under the bridge), electric pickups, or middle position has both on at same time. This guitar also has two 1/4 inch instrument jacks. One cord can go to your electric guitar amp, and the other goes to an acoustic guitar amp. Using the toggle switch allows you to play through one or the other amp, or both at the same time. Pretty nifty! The sound on both electric and acoustic is very nice! The acoustic tone is especially stunning. A friend commented that it sounds more acoustic than his acoustic. A professional recording engineer also had high praise for the acoustic tone. Nice looking binding around guitar..very eye-catching.

I play rock, pop and blues mostly, and this guitar is diverse enough to handle all of the above. I use Music Man 100 watt or Peavey 5150 120 watt amps, and it sounds great from both. I also use Fender Acoustisonic for the acoustic setting on the Duotone guitar. The guitar sounds so clear and crisp on both electric and acoustic, but especially the acoustic side. Not sure if this would be a good metal guitar, but I think for nearly any other style of music it would work well.

Guitar had perfect setup out of box. Action is close to frets, didn't need any adjusting on my part. Neck is straight, binding done very well, transluscent (see-through) red finish is flawless on front of guitar. The only flaw scared me at first...there's a small crack in the paint job on the back of the neck (where my hand would hold on, around 1st fret). I was fearful that this might be a crack in the neck and sent it back to the company. They inspected it and determined it was only the paint cracking, not any flaw in the neck. Slight imperfection, but could have been worse.

I use it for shows about twice/month and it's been great for me. These USA-made Hamers are hand made, so there's great attention to detail, and I am confident of it's lasting ability. I keep my guitars pretty well polished up so the finish is lasting quite well. Binding is great, beautiful. I would use it at a show w/out a backup....but I still always have a few guitars in case of a broken string. It's faster to change guitars than strings in a live setting. Tuning keys work nicely and keep guitar in tune for a long time.

Customer service was fine. I sent it back once to inspect the above-mentioned crack, and they were good about it, returned it to me in a fair amount of time.

I've played 20 years, own Les Paul Classic, Tele, Dillion acrylic, Guild acoustic, ESP bass. I would buy the exact same type of guitar if this were lost/stolen. I depend on this guitar for certain tones and flexibility that no other guitar offers me. Love the look, feel and sound of the guitar. I'm a lover of heavy guitars, but this one is very light due to it being semi-hollow body. It's weird putting down a heavy Les Paul and picking up a feather-weight Hamer, but for the quality of guitar that it is, I'll live! I compared this to the Korean version of the Hamer Duotone, and didn't like the Korean version. It didn't feel as nice nor did it sound as crisp and full as the American version.

usa, 3 hole solid spruce top. it came w/ SD jb/59 pups, which sounded good. i swapped 'em out for SD phatcats (humbucker sized P-90's, more on these coming). acoustic bridge & electronics.

this is it for me! i'll never sell this. i use this guitar both for acoustic duo gigs (strung w/ acoustic strings), and w/ my neo-jazz original project (strung w/ electric strings). the amplified acoustic sound (w/ acoustic strings) is very good; my buddy has a martin acoustic electric, which is kinda apples & oranges (its a fully hollow acoustic), but the duotone has more low end, and slightly less complex top (hey, its semi-hollow). i leave the magnetic pups turned off until i take a solo, then roll the volume up (mag pups thru a yamaha magicstomp w/ light OD/comp/delay) and WOW! what a sweet blended tone.

believe it or not, this thing REALLY impresses me as a straight up electric. strung w/ 10's or 11's thru my carr rambler (booteeky fenderish amp), it has the sustain of a solid body w/ some of the airy-ness of a jazzbox. i attribute this to

1) semihollow spruce top,
2) phatcat pups,
3) wooden bridge.

i'm a rawk guy who dabbles in jazz, i like neo-jazz stuff best
(sco, MMW, charlie hunter), this guitar does that stuff so nicely!
then, crank the gain, and damn if the phatcats don't sound mean and gainy! killer.

nice. 2nd best fit/finish of all the guitars i own/have owned
(2nd only to my hamer artist custom, which is still only my 2nd fave guitar).

only complaint is sometimes the high E will come off the side of the neck when i get too excited soloing. i'll deduct 2 for that.

got this used w/ gig wear, have put more wear on it since then. i think the spruce is softer than maple, so it might ding easier. minus 2.

dunno.

my #1, try one, esp w/ phatcats, ypu'll be pleased.

I have owned the USA model of this guitar for 4 years. I bought it used but it was pristine. I owned the Korean version before that. It has a solid spruce top with three sound holes and is finished in natural. There are two Seymour Duncan humbuckers and a piezo pick up. There are two output jacks... one for the electric pick ups and one for the acoustic. There is a three position switch for the humbuckers and a volume & tone knob. There is a volume knob for the piezo and an EQ accessed through the back. There is also a 3 position switch that allows you to use both outputs at once... to me the real beauty of this instrument. One feature that would have been nice is coil tapping or splittin to be able to split the humbuckers to single coils.

This guitar sounds great... clean, dirty, acoustic, or a blend of those. Sometimes I run the electric side to my pedal board and Peavey Classic 30 tube amp (with upgrades) and the acoustic side through an acoustic effects pedal either to the PA or another amp. With that set up the sound is amazing. Some sweet crunch with a blend of clean smooth tone. The acoustic side gives you nice clean attack and the overdrive gives you dirt and sustain. I play for contemporary church services and a local band. I need to get nice U2 type delay sounds, overdriven tube amp tones, and clean tones. This guitar does all of that. We have an acoustic player with a Taylor in the band so I never really use it as a solo acoustic guitar. I keep electric strings (10's) on the guitar which sound a little thin on the acoustic side... but blend nicely with the electric side. It really enhances my playing and creativity.

Having owned both the Korean & USA versions I can compare the two. The Korean version uses cheaper components. Over time the pots got real scratchy and the output jacks crackled when the plugs were moved. The Seymour Designed pickups on the Korean version sounded good but don't touch the responsiveness and tone of the real deal in the USA model. The fit, finish and quality of the USA model is way better. It came with a sweet tolex case but I generally haul it around in a molded plastic Gibson LP case that I had (a perfect fit) so that the original case stays scratch free.

This guitar can and does withstand live playing. I depend on it so much that I whittled the number of guitars that I own down to three. I would try one for a while and even rehearse with it before a gig... but when gig time came I would play the Duotone. It stays in tune very well which is more than I could say for my Strat.

I haven't had to deal with Hamer yet.

I have been playing for 35 years and have owned quite a few guitars. This one is my favorite and never lets me down. I recently sold my upgraded Strat because it was a shame to see it sit around in the case... never could keep that thing in tune. I would not hesitate to buy another USA Duotone. Once you've figured out how to get great blended tone you can't go back.

mine's a USA model. "59 burst. PRS style swithed tones from the humbuckers, and very realistic acoustic tones from the piezo. i'd like to point out, that, while it does have an acoustic style bridge, the strings still go through the body, so the bridge shouldn't shear off "as acoustic bridges sometimes do." very comfy neck. alot like a robin avalon or savoy. very akin to the 335 dots neck. mine came w/ a les paul style tolex case. the top is solid spruce....oooo!

i use it w/ a variety of amps. dig., solid state and tube. great match-ups so far. chorous is very welcomed w/ this axe's tone......not needed, but the brightness.....or "brilliance" of the HBs really drive the effect......so, it's pretty rich sounding. like i said b4......the acoustic tone is very realistic, on account of the solid spruce top and hollowed tone chamber. top marks in this category! i have noticed no noise from this axe.

hamers have always been known for their top notch workmanship. the only probs i notice seem to be design flaws. (1). the 2 adjusting screw pickups can wobble if they're not tight enough, (2) "hameritis", there always tends to be some strange whitening on glue joints on transparent finished hamers.....probably a reaction of glue and laquer.....unsightly, but i haven't seen one come apart yet.,(3). now....i love the nice, thin, comfy neck on these....however, they have to make the head/neck joint dangerously thin to achieve this........and.....if the guitar gets dropped the wrong way.....that head is gonna SNAP right off......(i've seen it happen)....if you don't drop it you should be OK, tho'. (4). this is a matter of taste.....and it's part of what makes this axe sound so good.......the hollowed out tone chamber.......it does the job......however it should be mentioned.......that this feature tends to make the guitar a little neck heavy.

otherwise, great wood, hardware, construction, look.....very well finished.....beautiful burst !

it's a 95, and it looks like it's hardly played. frets are still clean. all hardware is still tight. i would not hesitate to depend on this one even w/out a backup.....(arrr.....i be not afraid...arrr!!!)

i got it used, so, no warranty. i haven't had to deal w/ the mfr yet.

26+ years i've been playing and trading. i've had 2 of everything.....except duotones( i was in a band in the early 90's called the duotones.....predating this guitar.......should i sue...?)

this is a gem. the only thing that i don't care for is the weight distribution. i love the tones and versatility and the sexy looks. i traded for it because i was bored w/ my strat....wanted to try something different. i can compare it to a ernie ball music man axis super sport piezo i used to have.....this duotone has much better acoustic tones.....but i like the way the axis ss balanced better. the duotones HB electric tones are brighter too.......even with dead strings.........probably a result of the acoustic stuff in it and spruce top. i wish i had an axis ss w/ the duotone's acoustic sound.....i might go back.........otherwise, GREAT AXE!

Date of manufacture is unknow. It is made in Korea.
Other data has been listed in other posts.
It did not come with any accessories.

I play in a church related contemporary praise & worship band. Music ranges from very mellow, slow ballads (adapted from traditional hymns) to heavy beat, distortion (youth oriented). The church suffers from poor acoustics which cause howling feedback. I had been researching alternate instruments (Ovation Viper, Carvin AE185/AC175, etc) and have considered constructing and instrument from Warmoth parts. I live in Hawaii and do not have access to many of the models that are available from the various manufacturers. I found this guitar in the back storage of a small shop locally and it certainly is good enough to meet my needs.
The acoustic setting matches the slower, mellow music that we play. The ?buckers are very capable of mild to heavy distortion. It?s nice to do this at the flick of a switch.
Current setup is to an AER Compact 60. It?s a high-end clean acoustic amp with two independent channels. I have the piezo into one channel and the electric into the second channel via a TS7 distortion pedal. The AER has a single balanced out to the PA (a 3k watt monster, I may add).

I am impressed with the quietness of this guitar. On their website, Hamer mentions that the control cavity is painted with an RF shielding paint to control interference. There is no noise that I can hear.
The piezo required a bit of tweaking to get to close to a true acoustic sound. It will never replicate the Taylor that I normally play, but the versatility far out-ways the overall sound quality. The ?buckers are warm and do not have the single coil bite of, say, a Strat.

The factory setup was unusually high, even compared to an acoustic. Oddly, there is a low E fret buzz somewhere around the 12th fret. I loosened the truss rod tension about ? turn, which reduced, but did not eliminate the buzz. The pickups were adjusted well, with no hot strings.
The grain of the spruce top is very fine and nice. The paint/finish has many flaws, however. There is overspray on the body binding (from the sides of the body) and the nut is completely painted (from the headstock).

I?ve only had the guitar a week so I can?t comment on the reliability or the durability. The hardware appears to match the cost of the instrument. I used it live on Sunday. The controls were smooth, with no static.

One of the primary reasons that I purchased this was its versatility. Our church stage area is very small and congested. There is not enough room for additional guitars (12 string, 6 string acoustic, Strat) and switching guitars mid-set really breaks up the flow of the worship service. To this end, the Duotone is an effective solution for me. For the 6 to 8 songs that we play each week, I do not normally bring a backup. I don?t think that there is much that can fail on an electric guitar other than string breakage (vs a Variax where electronics failure would result in loss of signal). So, changing the strings regularly and bringing an spare 9v battery for the acoustic preamp would be enough preventive maintenance.

The factory strap buttons are adequate, however, I changed to Straplocks as a normal course of business.

Hamer website does not contain much technical data. They have a single "owner's manual" posted which covers all of their guitars. I would recommend that they improve their website.
Have not had any reason to contact the company

I give the Duotone a relatively high rating, perhaps 7 on a scale of 10. I deducted 1 point for the overspray, 1 for the fret buzz, and 1 for price?the price doesn?t match the quality of the instrument (but I bought it anyway).
I?ve been playing for 35 years and own the usual assortment of guitars, pedals, amps and other gear. This guitar is light (much lighter than a Strat), doesn?t feedback, and offers a variety of tones. If it were lost or stolen, I would consider this guitar and the new Variax 300 as a tossup.

My Duotone is the Korean model made in the mid 90's is my guess. It's has the spruce top with the sunburst finish. Two Duncan-Designed humbuckers, one piezo pickup, and dual outputs. Volume and tone knobs for electric pickups, Volume knob for piezo, and 3-band EQ for piezo on the back. It's kind of bizarre that it's on the back, but it's nice to have the EQ option.

I bought this guitar with the intent of finding a backup guitar for my Carvin AE185. The AE185 is a very similar concept to the duotone. I toyed with the idea of buying another AE185, but I wasn't in the mood to spend another $1200 or so. I found the Duotone on E-BAY for about half price so I bought it. I've only had it about a week, but so far I'm really impressed with the similarities of the two guitars.

I run the electric output into a Vox Valvetronix modeling amp and I run the piezo output into a Marshall AS50R Acoustic Amp. I also use a "pan" pedal to pan back and forth between the electric and acoustic sounds. It's a sweet setup, but I needed a backup in case I broke a string. I believe the DuoTone will serve that purpose well.

I love the EQ option for the piezo pickup. When I first received the guitar, the piezo sound was very different from the Carvin. I did some tweaking and now the two guitars sound very similar, actually the DuoTone has a little more "sparkle" than the Carvin now. It's kind of hard to judge since I haven't used the DuoTone live yet.

I bought it used from E-Bay, so of course it wasn't perfect when I got it. It had .009's on it but I prefer heavier strings so I replaced them with D'Addario .011's with the wound 3rd.

The action was a little higher than I like, so I adjusted the neck slightly and got it feeling good. As I was playing with it, I noticed some pretty significant fret buzz on the 2nd fret. I'm guessing to really fix the problem would mean to refret the first few frets. I went with the cheaper alternative which was to raise the action up a little. It's slightly higher than the Carvin now, but it's still lower than most acoustic guitars.

The finish was pretty good. I love the sunburst finish. I noticed a few little specks of something in the finish, but you've have to be looking for them to find them. It's all a matter of perspective. If I would have paid $2000 for this guitar (like the USA version), I'd be less than satisfied; but since I paid less than $300, I'm thrilled!

I plan on this guitar being the backup so there's less to worry about. If this were my main axe, I'd definately have a backup. I'm more concerned about string breakage than I am about electronics failing or hardware falling off. This guitar seems to be pretty solid. It stays in tune much better with the heavier strings I put on it.

Never tried to contact them.

I've been playing for about 12 years now. In the last couple years, I've been leading worship at our church more often and the acoustic/electric combo is a nice setup so you don't have to switch guitars during the worship service. It would be a tragedy if I broke a string during the set with no similar type guitar to finish the set with. The DuoTone is a great backup for the setup I've got.

Korean made. Mine was probably made by a blind person who does not play guitar. We'll get to that later. The Duncan humbuckers are OK, the piezo pickup sounds reasonably good thru a clean amp and a PA. The two separate outputs function well.
The rest of the features have been covered before, so no need to be redundant.

I play Rock, R&B, Blues. The Guitar actually sounds good with either pickups, as the Duncans and the piezo work well.

An absolute trainwreck. Where do I start?

The nut is covered over with overspray from the headstock so badly that to remove it (I wanted to put a bone nut on it) would probably damage the headstock finish.

The nut is cut so badly that to play chords in the first few frets will always produce sharp sounds, as the strings have to stretch too far to touch the frets. This is no 'opinion', or matter of taste. There's just no way to play the guitar in tune until I take it to a pro for a complete setup. Guitar setup is very subjective, I realize, BUT you should at least be able to play in tune in the lower registers!!!

The guitar came shipped to me with .009s. So I wanted to put .010s on it. Two hours after I did so, the action was ruined. BUT, the neck is straight as an arrow. This means I have to have the saddle trimmed. This guitar needs a total setup just because I went from 9s to 10s? Ive never played a guitar with such horrible action. Im not sure the guitar can handle the tension from .010s!!!!

I have never seen such poor fretwork on ANY guitar. EACH fret needs to be leveled. EACH fret has such deep file marks that when I bend strings, you can actually HEAR the scratching thru my amp. Feels and sounds just awful.

I think the F-hole was cut by a Korean with a pocket knife, no CNC here. No binding around the F-hole, there are rough edges, I've never seen such poor work.

The Tuners are a bad joke. I've been playing for 30+ years, and I have always been able to keep a guitar in tune. Not this one. This guitar is made only for light strumming. Don't DARE stretching the strings!!!

The finish is too thick, ruins the sound. The crap underneath the finish (factory dust, etc.) really detracts from the appearance.

No damn way would I use this guitar live. I cant wait to sell it to some unsuspecting person. The WORST guitar I have ever owned, hands down.

Now, let's see what Hamer can do for me. I bought the guitar stamped 'USED" on Ebay, but the guitar appears as new. The serial number is obliterated. But that doesnt account for the shabby nut, saddle, fretwork, etc. I think companies stamp their guitars USED to avoid having to do fix their shabby workmanship. There is no reason for a guitar to be made this poorly. I expected a lot better from Hamer, even if this guitar is Korean.

I'm 50 years old, been playing since 1963. I've seen great guitars and I've seen guitars that amount to nothing more than wall hangers. Mine is the latter, rather than the former.

If Hamer were to step up and agree to take responsibility for such a trainwreck, I'd continue to buy their guitars, figuring that every manufacturer has bad days.

If this guitar were lost or stolen, it would be the answer to my dreams. I'd take the insurance money and get a Dean or a Godin.

For the money, this guitar could have been a real home run. As it is right now, it's just an unplayable hunk of wood, plastic and metal. Like I said, if Hamer were to take responsibility for this poor wormanship, I would eat my words and post an apology right here on Harmony Central. Until then, I have no recourse, because the guitar has no warranty, even though it is essentially a new guitar with no miles on it, because it cannot be played as is. Let's see:
Fret dressing: At least $75.00 (Every fret needs it!)
New nut installed: At least $35.00
New saddle installed: At least $30.00
Truss rod adjustment: At least $20.00.
What a bargain, huh??? If I have all this work done, I have a 'USED"
Hamer and $589.00 invested in it!
Caveat Emptor!!!

Mine is a 1995 model. Pretty much all the basses have been covered in previous reviews except the reviewer below me says his has a maple top. Mine is a solid spruce top with a
solid mahogany back and sides. The idea behind this guitar is brilliant. Use a spruce top instead of the typical electric guitar top wood. This makes the guitar sound identical to an electrified acoustic when the piezo is in use but how will it sound for full blown electric? State of the art, that's how. I don't get real excited over a guitar very often. I have had many guitars since I started playing in 1964. Some are worth a lot of money however, this guitar is the best made, best sounding guitar that I own. The workmanship is second to none. The neck is medium size with large frets and a beautiful rosewood finger board. I bought this USA duotone after trying out the import model in a music store. (new 599.00) The import version gets high marks here and it should. It sounds great. I started looking for a used import on e-bay when this USA model came up buy it now for 649.00 with hsc.

Now for the sound. It has it's own sound. I think this is mostly due to the spruce top. It stays tight sounding on neck pick-up and very full. Very bluesy. The middle setting (both pick-ups) is Bebop, jump blues, BB King, Duke Robbilard. You know, that sound. The bridge setting is rock and roll, Albert King, Billy Gibbons. You know, that sound. Now start mixing the acoustic sounds in with the electric and it is a whole new world. I play out a lot and I use a 1952 Ri. Fender tele ( a very well made guitar) that I have tricked out with a 1968 Gibson humbucker in the neck, a Duncan hot rails in the middle and the stock Fender bridge pick-up. I also added a Bigsby tremolo. Now that guitar flat out smokes but this Hamer will pick up all the ground that the tele can't get. I play through a 1977 Fender Deluxe Reverb and a Peavey Blues Classic. My drive pedal is a Nobels ODR-1, Boss Tuner, Boss Autowah, and Boss digitai delay. I take my time when I shop for equipment and I keep what I buy. This Hamer is no exception.

I bought it used in very good condition. fit and finish are excellent. Everything works as it should.

I can't think of anything bad to say about the quality of this guitar except maybe the Hamer name should be inlaid into headstock instead of silkscreen.

Do your homework. Check this guitar out. Compare it to other guitars even guitars costing three times as much then decide.