Hamer Echotone

I bought the guitar new in 2001. It's a standard semi-hollowbody archtop. Very much like a 335. Here's a quick rundown of what it has:
- Solid maple body (even the expensive ones use a laminate)
- Fat Mahogany neck w/ 22 fret rosewood board
- Two Seymour Duncan Designed Humbuckers
- 2 Volume, 2 Tone, 3 way switch
- 3 on a side sealed tuners
- Tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece
- Transaprent red finish
- Creme binding

I give it an 8 because it's pretty standard, but useful overall

I use it with my trusty trademark 60 (I love this amp!) and it sounds great. The bridge pickup has a nice midrange growl to it. The neck is pretty mellow with alot of bass. Sometimes, I roll off some bass on the amp to keep it from "farting" out when playing on the neck pickup. I originally bought it thinking I was going to replace the pickups with a set of SD 59's, but the ones on there sound good enough for now.
It's a great Blues guitar. When I first tried it out in the store John Lee Hooker kept coming out of my fingers. After an hour of playing Boogie Chillin, I decided to buy the guitar on the sound. Great raunch, good warmth and decent snap. It has a little too much raunch for clean Jazz playing, but with some amp tweaking, you can get by. It truly has a fat tone that is great for Rock and Blues.

The setup was OK from the store. I had to raise the action a bit and put 10's on it. Soapbox: I can't understand why people put 9's on a guitar by default, especially this guitar. Most "Blues" guitars sound much better with fatter strings. Anyways, with that aside, the guitar was put together pretty well. The binding wasn't perfect, and the fret edges a little rough, but definitely playable. The neck is a little fatter than I am used to, but if it helps with the tone, then let it be. All in all, very good construction for a factory guitar.

Haven't had it long enough. But since it is an archtop and set neck, you have to be a little more careful with things such as temerature and humidity, as well as possible physical damage. I think, it will be a great stage guitar and withstand the rigors of a gig. I'd rather bring this than some overpriced Gibson ES-335.
The guitar feels solid, and it can do the job.

Don't know for sure, but Hamer has always been responsive in answering questions.

I've been playing for about 12 years now, and owned and played many axes. I like this guitar alot. It sounds good, and plays well, and reminds me of my wife. I have played the Gibson ES335 and the Epiphone Sheraton, and I actually prefer this guitar. The ES335s are nice, but way too overpriced. I find it wierd to play guitars that cost as much as a piano or used car. Yeah, I'll bring my $2500 axe to a gig for someone in the crowd to spill beer on...RIGHT! Guitars are meant to be played, not for some guy to act like Nigel Tufnel showing it off to someone.
It's a great guitar for the price. For a semi-hollowbody guitar made with the materials and craftsmanship of this piece, I'd expect to pay more, but I am glad I didn't.

Korean made 1999. Vintage tuners, 335 Dot copy, sunburst

SOund is weak, dull, not interesting at all.
Strangely enough it sounds great when played acoustically.

The guitar is built well, solid and doesn't lose tune. Feels greats, looks great. Out of the bog the setup was so-so, but once I adjusted it it's beautiful.

Strong, solid Realiable, durable. At least for a guitar under $1000. For the price you really are making out good.

Don't have the slightest clue.

This is the second guitar I've owned. I've only benn playing for 3 years. I bought it, eventually changed the pickups (Seymour duncan Antiquity- neck, Seymour Duncan Seth Lover- bridge). It's now a great axe. A compliment to anyone. Buy the guitar change the pickups and you have the looks and sound of a $2000 guitar that you've only payed $700 for.
THumbs up from me

Year made? Don't know.
335 copy sunburst

The pickups were a nice surprise for a guitar in this price range. However, I was disappointed (but not surprised) by the tone controls. Instead of continuously variable brightness, there are two choices; bright or dark. I had to smile. Why bother with a rotary knob? Of course they were trying to make it look like a 335. I checked my Epiphone Les Paul ES and my Hamer import strat copy and both of them had variable brightness with their knobs. It still sounds pretty good for the money. When I get better, I will probably want to get a Yamaha or Ibanez 335 style. I will never get a Gibson again after reading on Stephen Goldin's web site what they did to Lynx Crowe.

The set up was pretty bad. One of the volume knobs was loose and the pickup switch went sideways instead of up and down. I fixed both problems pretty easily, since it is a semi-hollowbody. I gently took the volume knob off, put my fingers in the F-hole and tighted the nut with a wrench (VERY GENTLY). I then loosened the pickup switch, repositioned it so up was selecting the neck pickup and down was selecting the bridge pickup, then re-tightened it (again very gently).
Another problem was the frets after the 18th fret. No sustain. I had to have some fret work done on it. However, buying it at $250 originally, I still didn't come out to bad.

We will see. I would rather have this live than an expensive 335 style guitar. If this one gets a little beat up, better that than a good or great guitar getting beat up.

I have no idea.

I've been playing off and on many years. I have an Epiphone Les Paul ES and a Hamer strat copy. Of course I bought the Epi before I found out about Gibson's unethical business practices. If I had known that then I would have looked for a good deal on a Hamer Import Duotone on Ebay. If it were stolen, broken, or lost, I might get another one, or I might check out some other 335 style guitars. If I had the money at the time, I would definitely look for an Ibanez.

Korean 335 copy. Heritage Cherry, standard 335 configuration.

Stock, the guitar sounds great acoustically. Harmonically rich, and a decent amount of sustain for a 335. However, I really disliked the (Duncan Design) pickups. They seemed very dull and muddy. Some of this could be due to the amp I play, an Ampeg tube combo which is fairly dark sounding. I've replaced the pickups with a Harmonic Design Z90 (bridge) and a duncan humbucker in the neck. With these new pickups, this guitar can handle just about anything except metal rhythm and I would give the guitar a 10.
I suppose the original pickups cover the same sonic territory, they just don't sound anywhere near as good (particularly the bridge...)

I had to adjust the action & intonation when I got the guitar. This is fine, because these are very minor operations. The woodwork/fretwork/finish was all excellent, especially when compared to similar guitars in the price range (Epiphone Dot comes to mind).

So far the guitar seems durable. I wouldn't recommend ever gigging without a backup guitar. As far as hardware, the bridge & tailpiece seem fine. The tuners will have to go at some point, probably sooner rather than later. The volume pot on the bridge pickup is slightly screwy. Once it gets down to about the '3' mark, the volume stops dropping. This hasn't created any problems for me yet, but I'll eventually replace all the wiring/pots/switch just to be safe.

Haven't dealt with Kaman, although they've got to better than Gibson USA.

I've been playing guitar for about 7 years. In addition to this, I've got a cheap resonator, a Fender 12 string acoustic, an old Kay nylon string, a Steinberger import, a funky old metallic blue Teisco, as well as a couple amps, a POD, and a few effects. This guitar was a great find for me. Stock, it's a decent to good guitar and can serve well. With a few more minor mods, this will be at least as nice, tone and playability wise, as my old Gibson Howard Roberts. All this for under $600 (original price, a steal around $270 or $280, + pickups, tuners & electronics).

As far as I know it's a 2000. Got it in 2001. It's a Korean-made 22-fret--well, the literature says it's got a solid top, so OK. It's got the standard three-position switch, two volumes, two tones, two Duncan-designed humbuckers, passive. maple body, mahogany neck. The finish on mine is a sort of antique sunburst. The body style is pretty similar to a 335, possibly a little exaggerated. It's got chrome appointments, including a tune-o-matic style bridge similar to a LP/335 style Gibson's. I believe the stock tuners are Gotohs. It's got quite a fat neck like some of the older Gibsons do, wide fretboard, rosewood fretboard, dot inlays, 24 3/4 scale. I bought a case to go with mine, it didn't come with one.

It fits my playing style pretty well. I'm more in a bluesy-rock vein, but never in an artery. I use a Marshall VS-265 stereo combo amp and a Line 6 Flextone. It's no more noisy than the average guitar. Now the sound, that's the thing. I've had this and a Duotone for import Hamers, and whatever Dunc has passed along to our Korean friends, they listened. These pickups have a throaty growl distorted and are nice and chunky, with decent definition, clean. It does a good neck pickup singing bluesy sound and a very impressive crunch on the bridge pickup. You can get a reasonable Allman thing happenin' clean using both pickups. I like it, but you'll have to read on. You have to do some work to get it that way.

This guitar is a bargain, but only for people who know how to tinker with guitars--properly. If I were the kind of guy who goes into a store, buys a guitar and expects to just walk out and play the thing without doing anything to it, I'd hate it. Don't buy one if you don't know how to do things. The nut was WAY too high--you couldn't get the action down to a decent level the way it was. Shaved about a 16th to 1/8th off the height of the nut, took care of that. The stop tailpiece--somebody was in a hurry to get to break here. The holes were too big for the grommets, so they wrapped some masking tape around them and stuck them in there. I had to add a little wood there to make that right. The bridge was just stuck on and not adjusted whatsoever, so I had to intonate it and adjust it for height. I'm a big boy, I can do that. The tuners SUCKED. One guy in here said he took his back because of the tuners. Naw, I'm too stubborn for that. I could see it had potential. I took those off, put a nice set of eBay Grovers I got for $15 on there, ahh. The stock ones were all loose, rattled to beat hell, wouldn't stay in tune, and absorbed half the vibration of the strings instead of passing it to the neck. Now it sounds considerably better and stays in tune. I've still got the old tuners if you want them. Just for cosmetic purposes I bought a set of Gibson top-hat knobs, the old style black ones with the chrome inserts. Very nice. And I took the things you could tie your boat up to that they called strap pins off there and put a set of Schaller straplocks on. This really isn't a huge investment in money or time, bad as it sounds, and the guitar is worth it--the factory should have done this shit, but then they'd charge you a couple hundred more, wouldn't they? Do it yourself, get a bargain. The finish is very good. I read other opinions where they said they thought it was "delicate." About average, I'd say.

This guitar I'd play anywhere, anytime--NOW, and it'll hold up as long as I want it to. But I don't beat the crap out of my instruments, either. I'd use it with no backup, though I do have some if I wanna use 'em.

Don't need it, don't want it.

To be fair, the thing has a 2 stamped on the back of the headstock, which means "don't expect TOO much of me." I've been playing 32 years, not that you'd be able to tell, really. Other stuff I have, a '93 American Strat, a '91 PRS CE-24, an '84 Fender Balboa, a '76 Fender P-bass. No further questions, Your Honor. If it was stolen, I don't know what I'd do, really. I don't tend to keep guitars forever, and I've gotten to try most things that way. I love this guitar in a warped peculiar way, I guess. It's really a very nice instrument with a little fixing up and upgrading, sounds great, action like a Gibson's, and I've had 335s, a 295, 125s, etc. Plays great, sounds great, don't look half bad. I won't get rid of it anytime soon, I don't think. Takes care of my hollowbody Jones when I get one. I bought it because I wanted to see what it would be like and to keep me from bidding on 330s and 335s on eBay so my wife won't kill me. My favorite feature would be the sound, secondly playability. What I'd like to share: how about a joke? Why do farts smell bad? So deaf people don't feel left out. Howzat?

korean made with duncan designed humbuckers..not sure what duncan designed means versus a real duncan..i.e. how close they sound to the real ones

the pick-up screws d not line up exactly with the strings but dont notice any effect..

the binding on the top side of the neck is marred but is intact and sound..the tuners are the old style like what I had on my Gibson j-50 deluxe from 72..plain but functional and hold well

super..more clear and driving than a gibson es 335..easier on the ears..ringy clear chords with nice almost beatle-esque ring if u know what I mean..also reminiscent of new riders and pure prarie league greatful dead etc..the hollow body character is easy to hear and it cuts thru the solid body sound of the other guitar player..
..yet also excellent for metal and edgy blues..I used an mt-2 pedal with it got excellent distortion metal sound..sounded great doing cover of rick derringer song

12 th fret action is close and easy..
nut is a bit high..am considering taking it to a luthier for adjustment
overall very playable
pickups were a bit low and do not line up precisely with each string..doesnt seem to affect sound however

tobacco sunburst is very clear and well-done..the ribbing accents overall and gives the guitar an expensive look

seems very soild..not lightweight..seems to be more solid than a DeArmond Starfire..

would use it without backup..Ive been playing since 1971 and the worst guitar problem ive ever had was a loose humbucker on an sg standard ..I dont smash my guitars so have no worries about its ability to stand up under pressure

not sure because havent dealt with them

would like to know warranty period myself

playing since 71 own a martin hd-16 have owned gibson sg standard 73..
strat plus with fender lace sensors 90..
gibson j-50 deluxe from 72

Id buy it again..its a super sounding guitar for its price..only a high end Gretsch might sound better..I think it even sounds better than the Gibson ES 335

I bought it because was tired of only having solid body sound..band Im in doess folky rock from late 60s and early 70s..was bored with the lack of complexity of tone in most solid bodies..am very happy with it..chose it over a DeArmond Starfire because the duncan designed pickups had more character and complexity and color

I am not certain about the year this echotone was made, probably within
the last couple of years... the serial # is 1700973 If anyone knows how to date these korean hamers, drop me a line !
The guitar is very similar in design to a gibson es-335, the exceptions being the shape of the headstock and the side-mounted versus top-mounted output jack - I think the side jack looks better, and it might be more sturdy. The finish is a dark brown to amber sunburst.

The duncan design humbuckers sound very good, lack microphonic squeal, and compare favorably to "real" duncans I've put in my other guitars - I don't think an upgrade is needed, which is often the case in import guitars.
The tuners are vintage style with aged buttons - they are not as slick as the locking sperzel and shaller tuners I installed on my strats, but they are smooth and solid.

I enjoy playing many styles of music - Metallica sits next to Joni Mitchell in my cd rack ! I got this guitar as a complement to a steady 20 year+ diet of strats - the strats all sound different and have different set-ups, but the thicker sound and ability to "grab" musical feedback at lower volumes is a real treat ! If you only play solidbody electrics, do yourself a favor and try a semi-hollowbody style ! This type of guitar does not do "chunky" metal rhythm well, but it can do anything else!
I use a digitech rp2000 and gsp-21 legend,a mesa/boogie studio preamp, a mosvalve poweramp, and marshall cabinets for gigs, with additional supro, fender and bogen (!) tube gear for recording - I know that tubes sound better, but my mostly non-tube setup is a lot more reliable, compact, and consistent ! 90%tube tone, 100% less hassles !
The echotone does not do the out-of-phase "clucky" sounds of a strat in the "in-between" positions, but I have read about Peter Green
of early fleetwood mac altering the phase of dual humbuckers on his Les Paul to acheive these types of sounds, so any suggestions would be welcome !

The top and back do appear to be solid wood, but with the f-hole binding,it is not easy to tell for sure.
The top has nice appearance, with some birds-eye figuring - mine has a few black specks in the finish, which is probably the reason it was stamped a factory 2nd - no big deal, since I had to look close to see it The neck is fairly thin in depth for this type of guitar - the finish is perfect, but I ran some extra-fine finishing steel-wool along it a few times to take some of the "sticky" feel away - I have played strats years - I usually strip the finish off the back of strat necks and apply tung oil for a very smooth feel, so the steel wool treatment is a comprimise....
The fretboard appears to be rosewood with consistent color and very small "pores"
The frets are of medium width and low - they are smooth and finished nicely at the ends, over top of the neck binding. With some additional hand finishing using various grades of auto rubbing compound and "brasso" metal polish, the frets developed a mirror shine If you want to try this on your guitar with a rosewood fretboard, be sure to tape off between the frets to avoid getting the compounds into the rosewood's "pores" If you have access to a dremel rotary tool with a buffing wheel attachment, it can make this job a lot easier !

I dont't baby my guitars, but I dont't throw them around either, so the echotone should hold up fine.
I unscrew the strap buttons, stick a "finishing" washer behind the button, then screw the strap permanently onto the guitar. Finishing washers can be found at most hardware stores, they look like straplocks,
and they cost less than a quarter ! You have to lift the guitar strap over your head to put your guitar on, but I have never dropped a guitar from it's strap! always wrap your cord around your endpin to avoid pulling a jack out !

I've learned how to fix my guitars over the years by LOTS of trial and error, so I doubt that I would contact Hamer...

I have been playing for about 25 years - If you are reading this, you probably know what a joy playing music can be ! The echotone has got me fired up ! I will always play my strats, a yamaha apx-4a, and silvertone classical for their unique sounds, but this hamer is one of the best musical investments I have ever made ! The members of my band,
"Morris Garage" are even excited about the sound of this guitar !

This is a Korean made semi hollow body ES-335 copy. Basic features of a guitar of this type. Transparent cherry solid maple top and back, cream body and neck binding, set neck, dual Duncan designed humbuckers, vintage style tuners. It is a good looking guitar except for the dots in the rosewood fingerboard look like sawed off plastic. I guess for the price they had to cut corners somewhere.

I would have to agree with the previous reviewers. The outstanding feature of this guitar is the tone. It sounds beautiful through my Mesa Boogie or through my Digitech and into the board for recording. Switching between pickups and/or using the seperate volume and tone controls gives wide variety of sounds.

This is where I am going to give the faults of the guitar.
The setup was not good, but when are they? The nut was too high and so the intonation was way off at the first couple frets. Open cords there were difficult and sounded terrible. I removed the nut, scraped away the buildup of paint and glue underneath and the nut sat down to the desired height. The bridge humbucker was in crooked and up against the cavity. This was easy to fix by making new screw holes and remounting the pickup. The old holes do not show. I did a complete setup, put on 10's, and now the guitar plays great. Intonation is right on at every fret.
The finish is almost flawless on this guitar, but I have seen not quite so good on other Echotones.
I am not going to slam the rating here too hard because you cannot expect a mass produced guitar of this type priced under $500.00 to be a hand built masterpiece.

I don't know the answer to this yet, but it seems pretty sturdy. It's not a solid body. You can't use it to knock over your amps on stage, but if you treat it like a hollow body take care of it, it should last.

Actualy this is my second guitar. The first one had a dent in the back of the neck. I bought it on EBay from amajormusic.com. I called them, they called Kaman music, Hamer's parent company, and they immediately sent me another guitar. In fact they sent me the second guitar before I sent the other one back.

I have been playing since I was a teenager, about thirty years ago. I only got serious again during the last year. I own two vintage Gibson acoustics, 1963 Hummingbird, 1946 J45, a strat, a Takamini 12 string, and an Ibanez bass.
You have to keep in mind that this is a mass produced economy guitar. There will always be a lemon or two in the bunch and probably a flaw or two on all of them, but overall I would say these are good guitars. After reworking it, this is a very nice guitar.
Buy the guitar, bring it to a good luthier or setup man, and for less than a fifth of the price of a $3000 Gibson, you have a guitar that plays and sounds as well or better. Better in my opinion.

Got this as a factory second from ebay. As soon as i opened the box I was impressed. Nice cherry finish. Dual chrome duncan-designed humbuckers. Like a 335. Cool vintage looking tuners. It's a factory second because the pickups are wired backwards.

Sounds great through my J-station. i will gig with it next week. Set up with .009 or .010 strings so it can still get a little twang. But really nice humbucker sound.

The action is great right out the box. Makes me play better. I like that.

We'll see about durability. It's korean.

i've been playing a long time. I really like this axe so far. Never had a hollow body before.

My Hamer Echotone is a 2000 model ES-335 copy with 22 jumbo frets, (which I like) made in Korea. This Echotone, however, is different than any other Echotones that I have seen. Instead of the stop tail piece, this model has the trapeze type stop with tune-o-matic bridge. Also, all the hardware is gold instead of steel or chrome. I looks great but I wonder how well the gold finish is going to hold up. Another plus is the tuners are not the "vintage" type tuners but a much better quality tuner (like those found on their other nicer models). It has the classic cherry finish with ivory bindings.

I love the sound of this guitar. The tone is well balanced in any pickup combination. The pickups are the Seymor Duncan Designed humbuckers. It has a three-way switch (just like most ES-335. You can get a variety of good sounds with these pickups with minimal noise. The neck pickup has a nice "woody" mellow sound while the bridge pickup has a bright, but not harsh, flavor. This guitar is well suited for my music tastes. I enjoy playing all kinds of music. That is probably why I like this guitar, it can pull it off in rock, jazz, blues, and pop. If you intend to play it for rock, it gives sort of a Les Paul sound and feel. If you play blues it will give you a "B.B. King" type sound but no Stevie Ray Vaughn type sound. I play mostly for personal enjoyment and occasional recording or live playing. I play the Echotone through a Fender Frontman 25 amp and it really shines through the clean channel. Through the gain channel it gives a real dirty bluesy sound. The only thing that would make this guitar sound better would be through a tube amp. The only effects pedal I own is a Zoom 505 (I know, I'm cheap) and that is to give me occasional chorus or a different overdrive sound. Through the 505, the Echotone is a little noisy but I also have an Ibanez electric that sounds much quiter through the 505.

This is a beautiful guitar to look at. Like I said, the gold against the red finish is great. If you look close, however, I see some minor flaws. I saw a few particles that were in the clear finish and the nut was not quite flush with the outside of the neck. I noticed in an earlier review someone complained about their being some saw or wood dust in the inside of the body: I found the same thing! The pickguard was covered in clear plastic and so was is perfect shape when I got it. The inlays on the neck are the block "wedge" shape that are called "mother of pearl" but I can't tell if that is true or not. The action on this thing is great for me. It is very easy to play and it stays perfectly in tune.

I have played as a hobbyist over the past ten years and have owned serveral guitars. I currently own only three guitars now: The Hamer Echotone, an Ovation Celebrity Deluxe, and an inexpensive Ibanez ES series electric. I have the Fender Frontman 25 and a Crate Acoustic amp with onboard DSP. If this guitar were stolen, I would panic because I have not seen another Echotone like it. I probably am most concerned about the hardware finish. I just can't see the gold hardware making it over the years, we'll see.