Hamer Echotone

Made in China, two Hamer humbuckers. A 335 look-a-like. All the features have been discussed here before. Came with fairly decent hardshell case.

Pups are somewhat brighter than my Guild Manhattan. An absolutely great sounding blues/rocker guitar for the bucks. I run mine through a Peavey Envoy 110 and a Fender G-DEC. Neck pup is a killer on blues. I love the neck which is narrower than my Guild from front to back, although it takes a bit of getting used to after playing the other. Even with the stock 10-46 strings it can get some mellow jazz tones although flats would make that even better.

Got the guitar off the wall at a local dealer. The setup is absolutely perfect as it came. I did replace the strings right away as the ones it were strung with were pretty grungy. No telling how many people noodled around with it before I bought it. The finish on the body is fine (2-tone burst). The wood on the neck has, to me, a cheap look about it, and the tuners don't look like the sturdiest I've ever seen. However, since I installed the strings and tuned it up, they've held their place remarkably well.

I believe it will withstand live gigging with no problems. Hardware on this one is chrome and cleaned up well. Everything about it seems solid.

Lifetime warranty. Never had to deal with company, so no opinion there.

I've been playing for 45 years off and on. Haven't gigged since 1970 and mainly play at home for my own enjoyment. Only other guitar is a '90's model Guild Manhattan that I use for jazz. I was looking for something I could string with lighter wire and work on some blues licks. Played Fender, Gibson, and Peavy in the same style body, and the Hamer was as good sounding as any of them and better than some. If it got stolen I'd most likely get another. Only dislike is the cheap looking wood/finish on the neck, but since it plays so well I think I can overlook that.

2005 Hamer Echotone, made in China. Same features as reported by others on this site. Transparent Cherry finish.

I am by no means a guitar expert. I started playing about a year ago and this is my second guitar. I also own a Fender Highway 1 Strat. I am playing both through a Roland Cube 60 amp. I'm trying to learn to play blues and this guitar is fantastic for that purpose, especially using the neck pickup. I can only imagine how it would sound if I knew more about what I was doing. The neck pickups give a deeper bluesy sound. The middle setting offers a more jangly feel and the bridge offers plenty of bite, especially when modelling the Marshall and Mesa Boogie amps on the Roland. The guitar is not noisy at all and I was pleased with the controllability of the feedback. Not having owned a hollowbody before, I wasn't sure how this would work out. Between this guitar and the Strat, I can get pretty much any blues sound I want as well as rock or jazz.

I had read prior reviews and made sure I looked this over carefully for any problem spots, but I could honestly find any flaws in the finish of this guitar. I looked very carefully and if the top is not one piece, I certainly could not find where two pieces were joined. Thje set up was done at Good and Loud Music in Madison and was just right for me. No buzzing, properly intoned, good low action.

I don't play gigs as I'm a fairly raw beginner and I'm in the process of picking up a case, so the guitar will not be leaving my house any time soon. It feels really well constructed. The strap buttons are large. If I were playing gigs, I would probably have a backup because you just never know.

Never dealt with Hamer, but it has a lifetime warranty and this seems like a pretty reputable company. The 5 is just because I've never dealt with them.

Like I said, I've only been playing about a year, so I'm not nearly as advanced as most of the reviewers on this site. I turned 45 and decided that as much as I loved rock and blues, I should learn to play. Both my children are taking lessons (one bass and the other drums) so this is something we can do together. If it were lost or stolen, I would replace it, but I would be heartbroken. I tried other ES 335 copies, but everything about this one just felt right. at $300.00, the quality of this instrument is just ridiculous. Yeah, it may not have quite the tonal qualities of a Gibson, but at this point in my journey, that's not a huge issue.

i have no idea when the guitar was made, but it is a korean-made guitar with some good workmanship overall. the downside is that it suffers from cheap materails (more on that later).

the guitar has 22 frets, which look to be your typical gibson-size jobbers. the top is probably laminated with a maple veneer or a photo-flame finish--i doubt it's a really thick maple top. controls are two volumes and two tones--one for each humbucker--and a three-way selector. you have one neck humbucker and one bridge humbucker, both of which are duncan-designed models. electronics are purely passive.

i believe the body is laminated maple with some kind of center block of another type of wood, but i'm not sure what kind of wood it is. the neck might be maple, as well--it doesn't appear to be the open grain that mahogany is, though it is stained to have more of that kind of tint.

my particular guitar has a transparent amber finish over a flamed maple veneer or photo-flame finish, which looks stunning against the gold hardware and gold pickup covers. it's your typical 335 kind of shape in a semi-acoustic construction style. bridge is a tune-o-matic bridge with a stop tailpiece. tuners are your basic die-cast ones. scale length is your typical gibson length--24.75". the neck is slim and fast, like many 335's i've played.

i bought the guitar used off ebay, and it came with an SKB hardshell case.

i like this guitar for mid-gain rootsy sounds...that's what it's designed for. it's not a high-gain blazer, and it's not a super-clean spanky kind of tone. think warm and mellow like larry carlton got on the old steely dan stuff, or stuff like tracy chapman or the wallflowers, and you're in the tonal ballpark that i like with this guitar.

for those tones, the guitar sounds great, though the pickups leave something to be desired. the stock pickups are on the dull side, which is problematic because this kind of construction tends to give you a more round, mellow sound to begin with. you need a pickup that gives you some decent top-end detail, or otherwise things get muddy. the stock neck pickup is pretty unusable once you pile on any kind of dirt, though it's passable for a straight-ahead jazz tone.

i'm using the guitar with a bogner metropolis 15-watt combo with a single greenback and a custom audio amplifiers 112 closed-back cabinet with a vintage 30. i've got a variety of pedals, including a fulltone fulldrive 2, a fulltone clyde, a keeley blues driver, a line 6 tap tremolo, a line 6 space chorus, a line 6 DL4 delay modeler, and an MXR dynacomp. the entire board is buffered with an axess electronics BS2--an absolutely essential magic box if you use anything over 20' of cable.

the guitar isn't noisy at all, but as i said above, the stock pickups leave something to be desired. i'm changing the pickups out to duncan seth lovers after doing a lot of research, and i'm sure that will be a HUGE improvement. the bones of this guitar are solid--it just needs some better pickups and a quality nut (more on that below).

overall, the guitar is built pretty well. it's certainly amazing to think about how good korean-built construction has come in the last 5-10 years. there are no glaring construction issues with this guitar at all...i just wish that it had some better components.

one perfect example is the nut. i've been having lots of problems keeping the guitar in tune, and it all came down to the fact that strings were binding in the nut. after taking it to my repairman in NYC (norio imai, who used to be the ace repair guy at sadowsky guitars in brooklyn), we determined that the nut material itself was the issue. the plastic used is very cheap and soft, and over time the strings start cutting into the nut, making the grooves deeper and sticking when you tune. as a result, norio is cutting me a new nut from bone--any hard material will do.

i bought the guitar used, so i can't comment about the factory adjustment, but the guitar needed a bit of intonating.

the only other things to really be aware of are the cheaper pots and switches used (you might want to change those out), as well as the fact that the gold hardware will easily wear off. with regard to this last issue, that's not endemic to this guitar, but rather just about any guitar with gold hardware.

i have quite a few guitars, so this hamer hasn't seen that much action. time will tell whether there are reliability issues, but hamer generally has a great reputation, so i'm not concerned. having said that, i've dumped a few hundred bucks into the guitar to make the components roadworthy, and i wish hamer hadn't skimped on the parts to begin with. i realize it's a korean guitar, but what's the upcharge to go with CTS pots and switchcraft jacks instead of the stuff they use on the guitar? and how much more expensive is it to use a decent material for the nut?

i would never gig without a backup guitar...you're just asking for trouble if you do that.

i've never dealt with hamer, but i've heard that they stand behind their products.

i've been playing guitar 21 years and own a lot of other gear including two andersons, a tyler, a grosh, a suhr, and another hamer. my amp rig is based around a bogner ecstasy, but i also have an effects rack with a bradshaw foot controller and a switching system. for combo amps, i have a bogner metropolis and a custom audio 112 cabinet for rootsy gigs and tones.

if this guitar were lost or stolen, i would buy another, but would factor the cost of the upgrades before paying the same price i did the last time.

for budget 335-style guitars, though...it's definitely one of the better choices. the other stuff in its price range doesn't have the components, so i'd be in the same boat if i bought an ibanez or an epiphone.

2003 model - red with chrome hardware and black plastic parts, creamy white binding on the body, neck and F-holes. Good workmanship.

Electronics are typical dual humbucker, 3 way switch, separate volume and tone controls...

Surprisingly good after I messed with the pickup heights. The foreign made Duncan Designed pickups are warm at the neck without being as muddy as the real Duncans I have in other guitars. The bridge is slightly brittle, but heavier strings helped that to the point of being acceptable and useful.

Beautiful woodwork for the price... no flaws I can find.

I've had other Hamer imports and they seemed to hold up well, but I do tend to throw American made electronics in them. I'll probably change the pots and switch just because it's my habit, but I think I'll keep the pickups like they are.

I don't care for the Kluson style vintage tuners, just in general, but these hold. I'd still probably stick Grovers on it some day.

No experience

I've played for 35 years, just as a hobby, rarely in a band and never too seriously. For overall comfort and supplying what the semihollow style should in terms of tonal characteristics, this is a great value.

The only thing I wish it had was a variatone switch like the Gibsons.

Es 335 copy which I sold because the neck was nearly unplayable (see below.) Features as noted in other posts. I got this off Ebay because I wanted a good 335-type guitar to play around with mods on. I have a "genuine" 1982 Gibson ES335 that I don't really want to mess with. I particularly liked the sunburst finish: The fade extends into the upper bouts the way older guitars from the 60's do. Newer 335-type guitars (including Gibsons) usually have that teardrop shape with an abrupt fade, which I think looks cheesy.

My original thought was to change the pickups out to experiment with other pickups. The stock Duncan-designed humbuckers sound so different from the PAF type pickups that came stock in my (genuine) ES 335 that they are not comparable. It's just a completely different sound. I don't like it, but frankly, I can't see dissing these pickups: The neck PU sounds just like the Duncan Jazz (which has NOTHING to do with jazz!.) The bridge sounds like the usual shrill, biting after market bridge pickups like the Duncan "JB" that seem to be selling very well. Obviously, I don't care for the sound, but if you're thinking of putting in the Duncan Jazz/JB set, think again - It won't change your sound. Try the 59s if you want it to sound like a 335. But maybe you don't - I'm tired of my 335's muddy neck pickup. I was thinking of putting in some humbucker-sized P-90s.

Well, I didn't expect a good setup. I have been doing my own for years. But here's the problem with this particluar Echotone: There was a buldge in the fingerboard that peaked around the 12th or 14th fret. It was not exactly unplayable, but you couldn't possibly get the action to anything but a mediocre height. I had to adjust the truss rod so that there was quite a lot of relief in order to compensate for the hump and get it as playable as it was going to get. That being said, it's obvious that not all of these have this kind of major flaw. But I don't see how it could have passed inspection by anyone who actually plays guitar. But, then, maybe it didn't (though it's not marked "second" or "used" or anything.)

The nut was way too high overall and the slots were also too high. Fretted notes went sharp on the first three frets. From reading other posts it sure seems that the Echotone regularly ships with a nut that's just not cut correctly. I'm not a proponent of expensive changes that make no difference in sound - like putting a bone nut on an electric guitar (plastic is fine!) - but you can figure you're going to have to at least have the slots cut deeper on this guitar.

The volume and tone pots were fine. I don't know why you'd change them before they start to crackle. But I think you can figure on that happening a lot sooner with these than more expensive pots. I didn't have the "either/or" issue with the tone controls I read about in one post here. The tone controls felt a lot like my Gibson in terms of their taper. Same with the volume.

Tuners? Sometimes I wonder if people are changing tuners just because it's an easy upgrade. I had no issues with the tuners at all. Maybe you have to wait to break in a new set of strings before you conclude the tuners are a problem. I've had a lot of guitars over the years and only had an issue with ONE (very old) tuner. Personally, I'd save my money for the POTs you're eventually going to replace.

All in all, though - for things that really DO matter, this guitar was terrible.

There's no way I could have used this guitar live given the above-mentioned problems. But it was no more or less durable than any other 335-type guitar.

No idea.

I've been playing for 38 years. I've owned a lot of guitars in that time. My main guitar - and the one I have currently owned the longest - is a 1982 Gibson ES335 dot-neck reissue. I wanted to get a 335-type guitar to experiment with different pickups, particularly some P-90s. This Echotone was so poorly made that it was not a contender. FYI: I did find a suitable alternative - a mid-90s Vantage 635. It plays great - every bit as good as my Gibson. I like the stock no-name pickups so well (listen with your EARS) that now I plan to put the P-90s in the Gibson. The Vantage definitely needs a completely new wiring harness (but the tuners, as always, are just fine.) I think a mid-90s Aria Pro would be essentially the same quality. Both cost a lot less than, and are every bit as good as, an Ibanez 335 copy.

Well mine is a brand new 2003 model, in the 2 tone sunburst. I like the jack at the bottom of the guitar as a opposed to the way Epiphone uses a side mount approach on their Dot models. The only complaint I would have is that the Kluson style tuners look a little cheap. But they seem to work ok, Perhaps i will break out $45 for a set of Grovers in the future. If I were Hamer I would sell the guitar without the pickguard as I think it looks classier without one.

Well i got this guitar because I wanted something very different than the other guitars I have. I play rock and Heavy Metal and wanted an axe that was ok for messing with the idea of some country and blues playing. It has the Duncan Designed hb 103 pick ups which are the Asian version of the SH 6 Distortion. I have heard my buddy's Schecter with the hb 102 and wasn't impressed at all. But these are passable for my purposes. The way I see it is if you can buy a Korean Axe and keep the stock pick ups in the guitar, it has got to sound pretty good. In fact, I think this is the nicest sounding $399 guitar around.

The guitar was set up perfectly from the start. The original strings however sounded like crap!! But after lemon oiling the fret board and putting a set of Ernie Ball strings on it, it plays extremely well!!! As far a flaws in the guitar, the binding which is very nice was installed a little sloppy in a few places, but for the price of the guitar no big deal.. The top on these Hamers are really nice, much nicer than most Epiphone Dots I had seen. I Iooked at them too but for $25 less I think the Hamer is a better overall value, even though the new Dots have Grover tuners now.

Well it seems pretty well made, i have had it for 10 days and it seems tough enough to go to my friend's house for a jam session. I don't think I would go on tour with Motorhead with it but then again Lemmy, Phil and Mickey haven't called me either. LOL .

You know I had one dumb question about the construction of the guitar and I emailed Hamer about it and they emailed me back the next day. So I think that is great!!!!

Well i have been playing about 15 years and i like it plenty!!! If it were stolen I would buy another in a New York moment.. I like the fact that is pretty loud unplugged more so than the Dots I looked at. I also liked the fact that I didnt have to buy a Red guitar, I like the 2 tone sunburst alot.. For the Price I give it a 9 out of 10. I am very pleased with it.

You should know by now what the features of this fine guitar are, so I won't rehash what has already been said.

I play all differant types of music including rockabilly/psychobilly, punk, blues, surf, rock, and a bunch of other musical styles. This guitar DOES suit all of these music styles very well. At one point I was getting feedback when playing at high volumes, but since then I have added a noise gate, so now I don't have to deal with feedback.

The guitar has a very nice, rich, full tone to it (after adding heavier strings). When I first brought it home it had 9 gauge strings on it, which totally didn't suit the guitar, so then that same day I re-strung it with some 10s. The tone I was getting was great. The other day I put 11s on the guitar, and now I can't even begin to say how great it sounds now! Semi-hollow bodies and heavy gauge strings were made for each other.

The pickups are alright. I like the neck pup a lot, but I am not sure about the bridge pickup. I may switch it out for a gibson '57 classic.

When I first got it, the action was low. There was some buzz because of how low the action was, so I highered it a little bit. The pickup height was perfect for me, so I didn't change it. The neck of this guitar is awesome. Its big and wide, which I love. The tuners that came on this thing SUCKED, so I got some nice chrome Grovers installed in place of the cheap keystone copies, now it actually stays in tune! YAY! It also looks better as a result.

Since it is a semi hollow body it is prone to getting damaged more easily than a solid body. Just don't be stupid and watch what you are doing and you should be alright. I haven't gotten around to playing any shows with it, but when I do, it will be my main guitar.

Haven't had to deal with the company, and I guess that is a good thing.

I absolutley LOVE this guitar to death. After the slight improvments I have made, this definatly deserves a rating of 10. I am looking to buy another one, or two for that matter. I want the Echotone Custom with the trapeze style tailpiece, and one that has the sunburst finish on it.

This is possibly the best $300 I have spent in a long time!

Standard semi-hollow features. No bells and whistles.

I was quite shocked to hear the recommendations to replace the duncan designed pickups. This things sounds better than any guitar I've ever played and bumped my Les Paul as my main axe. Highly distorted, I can get that ringing feedback that I never seem to get with other guitars. It sounds awesome through my marshall and doesn't suffer from hum or other irritations. Best sounding guitar I've played in any price range.

This guitar also plays better than any guitar I've played. The flatness of the neck suits fast, long runs that require lots of pull offs and hammer ons.. again, this plays better than my les paul, my strat, and any other guitar I've played over the years. The only problem I've had is that I"ve had to adjust the neck a couple of times due to some fretting problems at various positions on the neck. This is probably due to the climate here in Fresno, California, but nevertheless could be a huge problem to someone who doesn't want to mess with this stuff.

This guitar is a little fussy in terms of neck flatness and truss rod adjustments. Other than that, the only other problems I"ve had is the the nut on the guitar jack fell off a coupld of times, which can be hard to fix if the jack slips into the body.

Never contacted Hamer.

I've been playing 20 years and bought this guitar as a backup to my les paul. I simply love it and am considering purchasing another just in case this model is ever discontinued. If lost or stolen, I would buy another fast. The best guitar I"ve played in any price range.

Gibson 335 clone, but an outstanding one! I believe this was a 1998 model- serial number was 98.... Made in Korea. Rosewood bound neck, double bound body. Laminated construction. Well, let's put it this way, it might have a solid top, but the back is definitely laminated. Two humbucker, four knob control, three position pick-up selector, semi-hollow..it's a 335 clone. Came with an ill-fitting gig bag, but it's better than nothing.

I'm a classic rock/surf/blues kind of player and this was my first venture into humbuckers- I like them. It came with "Duncan Designed" pick-ups and they're much quieter than the single coils I'm used to playing. The neck is good for a surf and blues mode, and bridge/neck is good for rock, but I'm not liking the bridge stand alone too much- a bit on the muddy side. The guitar can cover a lot of music ground. Previous postings have called for a swapout of pick-ups, which may happen when I get a feel for different humbuckers. Maybe next year some Seth Lovers or Torres Engineering humbuckers with their wiring kit, but for right now I'm happy with the stock ones.

I bought it used, and was very pleased with the overall construction. The fit and transparent red finish were flawless. The bound neck was perfect. One caution- the neck is BIG and WIDE, something that I like. The place where it doesn't do well is with the hardware. After about two week I couldn't stand the buzzing TOM bridge and the retuning every time I picked it up, so off to the local luthier (Kenny Marshall, ALM Music, Norfolk, VA) it went. Relaced the bridge/stop piece with Schallers, fret file and dressing, new tuners (Gotoh Keystones) and a new graphtech nut. It's a whole different and better guitar. Plays like a dream with 11's. Super tone. Will it hold it's own against a Heritage or Gibson? Probably. The last Gibson I played at GC in VA Bch was horrible, as was the Epi Dot. Much, much higher quality.

Don't expect to have any problems with it.

Don't know yet, but I would expect Hamer to stnad by their product should something happen

Been playing for a while. I have a couple of G&Ls and now the Hamer. The fret board is wide and the neck is on the chunky side- I was told much like a mid 60's Gibson 335. With the upgrades in hardware (nut, tuners, bridge/stop piece), I'm pretty pleased. Even just noodling unplugged it has nice sound, and plugged into a SFSR with a TS-9, it is a blues monster. Well worth the money. I would get another if anything happened to it. Get one and modify it a bit- you'll still be way under the price of a beater Heritage. An excellent value for a Gibson killer.

There are two versions of the Hamer Echotone I believe. The upgraded version has gold plated hardware, better tuners and a trapeze tailpiece instead of a stud mount. This is the version I have. I bought it on ebay new from a music store for 435 plus 15 shipping.
I mainly sought this guitar out because I was looking for a ES335 copy
and the fact that it's made from solid maple instead of plywood (even real Gibsons are made of plywood)appealed to me. Mine has the solid cherry finish. It looks like polyester finish where the tint is incorporated into the finish like a candy apple coating. You can tell by the woodgrain patterns that this is indeed a guitar made from solid maple. The trapeze tailpiece version can maybe be retrofit with a Bigsby

8 for sound. These are Duncan designed pickups and I've been told on this forum that switching them out improves this model. I'm pretty happy with the sound as it is. Reminds me of B.B. King. The neck pickup sounds great and the bridge one is so-so. If I do tweak this guitar I might add a Bigsby and replace the bridge pickup to something fatter. The bridge has a faint rattle to it on some notes but this will probably quit after a few months when all the meatal parts settle.

Well for a 450 archtop semi-hollow dollar guitar it's great. There are some flaws to the finish but the set-up is perfect and the neck straight. I'm sure a Gibson ES335 would be a little more spiffy in the corners but definitely not enough to justify the 3,000 price tag.

Solid construction. I got no beef here.

A great value. Not too many of this design made of solid wood. Perhaps it will improve in tone with age like a fine axcoustic.