Hamer Echotone

Korean made,22 fret,dual humbuckers,vintage style tuners,Red with white binding. fit and finnish were excellent,solid maple no vissable seems..like a ship in a bottle.Looks like es-335.nice black white black sandwich pick gaurd .amp cable hole on side instead of the front makes more sence to me the way it is.smallish neck smallish frets .

the sound is THE THING with this guitar and I have a few guitars that dont come close to the way this guitar sounds ,it has to be its best feature in a guitar that sounds so "great"

the action was fine out of the box and stayed in tune.It is hard to put down and I thought about its sound all through the night like a sirens call.the neck and other bound areas were well finnished on my guitar the transparent red finnish was very well done this guitar is very under valued .

durabillity ,its still in my lap as i write this i can not put it down you have to check this out at this price it is unbelievable

I have been playing two years self taught and play blue blues rock music.This guitar made everything i have learned so much better sounding and easier to play if you can believe that it even helped me to recall tunes and licks i forgot as i wanted to try all my tricks on this guitar.Id buy a few more and put them away till the rest discover its "sound" these Duncan design humbuckers are realy the reason to enter and its beatifully classic in its red and white and black apointments ...take my word and go plug this one in to any thing you have and put a smile on your face its worth that !!!

Basically an ES-335 clone, with humbucking pickups, cherry finish, vintage style tuners. Hamer claims this guitar is made from solid maple, so I'm guessing that the top and back are a low grade maple pressed onto the solid block inside the body. This is still more appealing to me than plywood. Hamer also claims "mother-of-pearl" dot inlays, but if they are I'd be suprised. They look more like "mother-of-plastic". But for the price, the appointments are just fine.

The sound of this guitar is outstanding. Despite what I'll say later in this review, I love this guitar because of the way it sounds. It is articulate and somewhat trashy at the same time. Superb for a unique blues voice and blending with the standard Gibson/Fender tones. I tried once to change the pickups, but every other one I tried (Duncans, DiMarzio PAFs, Gibson 490's) gave too much micrphonic feedback. The stock Duncan imports are saturated in wax to prevent this, and I think they complement the overall guitar design. I won't change them again.

This guitar has the worst workmanship of any I've ever owned. The bindings are horribly done, the pickups are out of alignment with the strings, the finish is uneven, the tuners are finicky, you name it, it was done poorly. But from more than 5 feet away it looks great, and like I said, the tone is worth $1000. So I don't mind, in fact it sorta adds to the character of the guitar.

It has held up under 4 months of hard playing so far, but I'm worried about how well the body was glued based on what I've noticed about everything else. Time will tell.

Don't know...if it breaks, I'll fix it myself.

Tone is all; this guitar oozes tone. 'Nuff said.

I own a 1999 Hamer Echotone made in Korea. It features a 23 fret Rosewood Fretboard with a maple top. There are two volume and two tone controls and a 3 way toggle switch. The guitar has two "Duncan Designed" humbucking pickups which really work well. The hollow body is maple with a maple neck. I have the Transparent Cherry Stained Finish. This guitar closely resembles a Gibson ES 335 double cut-away hollow body. There is a tune-o-matic bridge and vintage green tuners. The neck is a very comfortable round back and not too wide or too thin. It is very smooth, straight and easy to play. Along with this guitar I bought a matching hard shell case.

I am more than pleased with this guitar and the full sound it produces. I play mostly through a Fender Princeton Chorus on the clean setting, sometimes with a little bit of chorus. I like all three toggle switch settings and find that both pickups provide a rich, full and crisp sound. This guitar fits my jazz, blues and medium-rock style very well. It also screams very nicely with some distortion. I had been using a Fender Strat for many years, but now that I have this axe I doubt I'll ever switch back! This guitar is much quieter than my old Strat, thanks to the humbuckers. Along with the rich full sound it is also a very bright sound. The hollow body really resonates well and adds to the richness of the sound. I am thoroughly pleased with the full range of tones and sounds this guitar makes.

The guitar I bought is a factory second, which means it has a few minor finish flaws. But these are very hard to find without looking closely for them. The neck and setup had been adjusted by the retailer prior to shipping to me so it has very low action, no buzz and is surprisingly easy to play. The maple on the top is very beautifully matched and the Cherry Stain accentuates the wood's natural beauty. The glossy finish is also very smooth. The only minor problem I have noticed at times is that the Low E String tuner buzzes occasionally, as does the small set screw on the bridge. But these can be tightened or adjusted to eliminate this problem. I believe that for the very affordable price I bought this I got a great deal since it is a second. The minor finish flaws don't bother me.

This guitar is very solid. The set in neck is tight and so is all of the hardware, from the strap buttons, the tuners, the bridge and nut all the way to the cord input. It seems that this axe would endure much live playing. And since I am not one to beat my guitars I am sure this one will last a long time. From all that I have heard and read about Hamer guitars, even their imports like this one, I know this baby will be my axe of choice for years. I would feel safe using this guitar on a gig without a backup.

Since this guitar is a second there is no manufacturer warranty. But again as I said above, I don't anticipate having any problems with this guitar. If I do I have a great Luthier who can fix just about anything for me here in Pittsburgh, PA.

I have been playing guitar for 20 years. This is my only guitar now since I just sold my 15 year old Strat. I like this guitar's sound, feel and appearance much better than any Strat I have played. If it was lost or stolen I would be bummed out and would try to buy another one. The only problem is I have very limited resources, so I hope it doesn't get stolen. I love the feel of it. I can't really say that I hate anything except that the occasional buzz is annoying. But I plan to deal with that. I compared it with 3 or 4 other guitars: A Samick ES 335 copy, an Epiphone Les Paul, a Yamaha Pacifica AEX-520 and my old Strat. It played much better than all of these and surpasses their sound by far, in my opinion. What I like most is the very powerful Duncan Designed Humbucking pickups. The body resonates sound very well also. After 15 years of noisy, thin sounding Strat Single Coils, this baby is what I have wanted for a long time. This is a simple guitar with no flashy features, just like me. I enjoy playing all kinds of music and this guitar fits my style very well.

this is a 335 copy. Solid mapel instead of veneer as used on gibsons and epiphones. Comes with Duncan designed pickups. Body and neck binding. Mine has a vintage sunburst [2 color].

The stock pickups actually sound very good. Nice balance of power and tone. Overall the guitar has a much meatier sound than an epiphone. It seems to be fairly heavy in comparison to the epiphone.

Neck shape is nice, fairly flat and thin. Has super jumbo frets which I really like. Overall the fit and finish is excellent. Body binding is without flaw as is the finish.

It's a very well made guitar. No special concerns

Who knows, I own several other Hamers and have never had a need to contact them for anything.

An incredible value for the money, just like all Hamer products I've used

This is a 1999 Hamer Echotone. It was made in Korea. This gave me a bit of a concern about this guitar, but I am pleased I got past this issue.
It is a ES-335 type guitar with a solid maple bound back and top, (according to the factory), and even bound f-holes. It also features a rosewood 22 fret fretboard with dots.
For electronics it has 2 "Duncan Designed" passive humbuckers with a three way switch. There is a volume and tone for each pickup.
There's a Tune-o-matic bridge with a stop tail.
The frets are large and the neck is fat, reminding me of my LP Standard neck.
My guitar has a Tobacco Sunburst finish which is well done. The binding is without flaws and over all the fit and finish is nice.
The tuners are non-locking "keystone" type... This may need to be updated in the future.
The nut is plastic, another possibe future upgrade. When I went to 10's from the 9's on the guitar when I bought it, I noticed the "d" string was a bit tight, but a little graphite made things slide a little easier.
Other than the uniquely Hamer headstock, this guitar looks like a ES-335.
I'm giving this an 8 since there's no "quilted maple top", inlays, or other cosmeticly superior features, but what there is works.

I bought this for the sound. The neck pickup is smooth and loud. It is perfect for cool jazz or blues. The combination of tones available by changing the volume and tone controls is wide and sounds good. I A/B'd this pickup against a $3500 ES-335 and I liked the sound of the Hamer / Duncan neck pickup better for clean jazz / blues.
I'm using this with my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, and it is great with the clean channel. I also use it with my Line6 POD and I get a smooth sound with most of my favorite clean patches.
I also have made this guitar scream at higher gain settings both with the amp and the POD. I haven't gotten any microphonic feedback although facing right into the amp at volume gave me some musical and useful feedback. Overall, it's a quiet guitar.
The bridge pickup has a noticablly more biting and trebly sound. This is not as useful at clean settings, but really cuts through on overdriven sounds. This pickup is great for blues or rock solo's and I prefer to have each pickup have a different "personality".
The mix of both pickups is also cool, because you can vary the sound according to the individual volume and tone settings. This combination of the smooth neck and the trebly bridge is very flexible.
When I first saw this guitar, I thought I would have to immediately upgrade the pickups, but the more I play it, the more I've decided I like the ones in it.

The guitar plays very well with the factory settings. Once I changed the strings to 10's I really liked the feel. Easy and fun to play if you like a fat, (round) neck. It's easy to chord anywhere on the neck, and the intonation was easy to adjust after I put on the new strings.
There's very little new in this guitar's design compared to an ES-335, so if you like the feel of these, you'll like this guitar.
There were no blemishes, or problems with this guitar. Like other Korean guitars, I found a bit of variation between the four that were at my dealer. I obviously picked the one I liked the best, but the others were reasonably well made too.

I'm sure this guitar won't be as durable as say... my Tele. But it seems well constructed, and for the price, I won't mind if it eventually has a few "battle scars". I'm not sure I'd feel the same way if it was $3500!
The finish seems to be solid, and the hardware is chromed, so it won't immediately wear off like gold plated stuff often does.
It has well designed strap buttons, but I plan to add strap locks soon.
I would depend on this guitar, but I ALWAYS have a backup.

I've never dealt with Hamer, hopefully I never will. Nothing bad to say... just prefer not to deal with guitar companies.

I've been playing for over 20 years. I have about a dozen guitars, but never a semi-hollow body blues / jazz machine like this. I feel this is an excellent value. I have played a number of similarly priced Epiphone Dot's and this guitar is far superior to them IMHO.
The sound of the pickups is better, and the guitar just "felt" better to me. I also liked the "solid maple" back and top, (I haven't investigated this claim yet), and the overall construction is better than the Epiphones.
I may still someday buy a nice used Gibson semi-hollow, or probably a Heritage version... but for now this guitar satisfies my urge for this type of guitar.
Anyone looking for this style should at least check one of these out.

The Echotone is Hamer's copy of a Gibson 335 semi-hollow body. It is a reasonable visual copy of the Gibson. Construction is laminated maple with dual humbuckers, dual tone and volume controls. This guitar was finished in transparent cherry similar to Gibson's 335. Vintage Kluson-type tuners with plastic aged tuner knobs.

The humbuckers are "Duncan Design" that have a rich, full tone similar to the Gibson humbuckers. Style-wise, the guitar fits well with jazz and blues, which I bought it for. I had no trouble using it through my amps and pedals in the same manner as my Gibson Les Pauls.

The original setup left the strings too high for playing, so I adjusted the action immediately. The outward finish was very well done, great fit and finish. The interior did have residue (wood dust) throughout. Otherwise the guitar was very presentable

Hardware......this was my problem with the guitar. No matter what you did you could not get the thing to stay in tune. The tuners immediately creeped. I restrung it with a locking wrap, yet the strings crept out of tune immediately.

No experience with Hamer, however, Guitar Center allowed me to exchange for another Echotone or cash or select another guitar. After trying three more Echotones, I selected a new Fender '50's Classic (MIJ) that is fantastic.........and stays in tune.

Playing for 25 years, own 5 Strats, one Tele, one Danelectro, several acoustics, and two Les Pauls.
I previously owned a '78 Hamer Sunburst. I love Hamers, but I'm unhappy that this did not work out. I believe Hamer has gone too cheap on the quality of their tuners.

This is very cool ES335 style guitar, manufactured in Korea in 1999. The hollow body is maple with a lacquer red finish, Duncan Designed pick-ups, a tune-o-matic bridge and multi-laminate plastic pickguard.The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard and mother of pearl dot inlays. The neck is fast, smooth and flawless and virtually plays itself! Green Plastic(very vintage)tuners on traditional Hamer headstock This was one of TWO Hamers I purchased at Guitar Center, because the quality of these guitars is outstanding, and easily comparable to axes 3 times their value

I play in a progressive power pop band whose songs run the gamut from reggae clean to punk rock dirty and everywhere in between. The Echotone is perfect for my lead style(blues based) and surprisingly effective for the rythm end. Clean is beautiful and warm, dirty is thick and thundering. I use a Line 6 Flextone HD with a Line-6 2x12 cab, all my effects are in the amp. The Echotone mixed with the Line-6's JC-120 channel is a slice of blues heaven, but the guitar rocks on the Soldano setting as well, although high volume distorted settings do cause a wee bit of feedback, but thats what the volume pedals for!

The guitar was set up fine, the strings were new, but not my gauge(I use coated 10's). The body was perfect and the maple top beneath the finish was perfectly bookmatched to the sides. The frets were filed down, not a rough edge in site, and the set neck was right where it ought to be without a glue blob in site. The pickups and pickguard were coated in plastic wrap, so they were flawless when the wrap came off. The only problem was a loose truss rod cover, which was fine because I took it off to have my new guitars name(LULU)etched in. Yes, I name my guitars, always have.

I have always owned Hamers, since 1983 when I bought my first Studio. These guitars are made to last, and while this is an import, this ain't no Epiphone or Squire. This bird sings with the big boys, and it is by far the prettiest bird in my flock! The strap buttons are chrome, huge, and on there good, with a pearloid finish around the base. As far as the finish, well, it seems durable, but I beat my guitars onstage, and this one will be no exception, so I expect some love blisters on this baby

Never had to talk to Hamer, and I usually fix anything thats broken myself, so I probably never will.

I have been playing for 17 years, and have owned a PRS, a few Les Pauls, several Strats, Danos(which I love), and virtually everything else under the sun. This guitar plays better than the PRS, looks better than any Strat, and sounds as good as the Pauls. The only guitar in my arsenal I like better is my Hamer Special (P-90 pickups float my boat), and my other new Hamer Aztec Gold finished Artist also built in Korea, and purchased for $499 at guitar center! see that review!