Hamer Import Standard

Made in Korea, I have replaced the Duncan Humbuckers with the same kind. Not a problem. It could have more, and i don't really enjoy the fretboard. But it is pretty sweet!

I play Speed/Thrash Metal, and a lot of bluesy stuff. I mainly bought this guitar for rhythmic playing, because i like the balance of these guitars when you sing and play at the same time. You can't beat the feel on stage while you sing. I plug through a Marshall half-stack, and it drives the rig like a car. It's beautiful. it's sound screams metal, and the tone is so heavy that it makes my little brother cry. the pickups really have a crunching crushing noise. it's awesome. you must be thinking "wow there's gotta be a catch to this guitar...what's the trade-off?" Well... to put it in layman's terms, the guitar doesn't really have a wide range of sounds. finger-picking sucks on this guitar. When you play clean, the sound isn't as rich as you'd expect, but it still sounds really nice.

I had to re-arrange the action a little bit lower. Not a problem :) the bridge is simple to use. I haven't really tried to see how low i can get the action to go :| the pickups were perfectly fine, although i had better ones to put in, which i did shortly after the guitar arrived at my door. the bridge was properly put in. The hardware is beautiful, and there is no sign of wear on the guitar. The wood is gorgeous, and my hands slide beautifully over the back of the neck. However, all guitarists like their guitars custom fitted, and that's what we gotta do, regardless of how it comes. But it's easy to do on this guitar.

There is something with Hamer...they always seem to make guitars that last and that are durable, ESPECIALLY their flying-v's and explorers. the explorers are so heavily built that it can go through even the most brutal gigs. the hardware seems to be built tough. the strap buttons are solid, and i depend on this guitar more than any other guitar i own. would i use it in a gig without a backup? who in the right mind would? you don't play in a gig without a backup, regardless of the type of guitar you're playing. however, if i didn't have a choice, then yeah, i would trust this baby.

I have been playing for a little more than 2 years, and I own 2 other guitars (Ibanez). If this guitar was stolen, i'd go on a rambo-style rampage and cut down the f*cker that took it, and i'd make his family bleed until....ok enough of that, you get the picture.

The shape of this guitar is brilliant. The balance of this guitar is probably what i like the best. The color is versatile, and you can use it for many different styles of music.

one little thing... i wish this guitar had fretboard design where you could actually reach the 22nd fret with EASE. it sucks trying to do a full-bend on the 22nd fret. it's impossible. but i use it for rhythmic situtations anyway, so what the hell.

Mines a 98, there made in Korea(Hamer imports are far better than most), it's black with white pickguard, dual duncan designed pickups, stop tail in chrome, rosewood fretboard, it just looks like rock-n-roll

It screams through my marshall, compared it to my Jackson, Wolfgang and Les Paul, these pickups sound very good, no hum whatsoever. Plays distorted great, I don't play alot of clean, but they sound good to my ears as well. Not sure exactly what the Duncan Designed pickups are based off of, that's kind of there generic name. Before I bought it, I thought I would swap them out for maybe a JB and 59 Seymour Duncan, but these sound good for now.

Like I side, the guitar sounds great for what I play, it feels really good, this was my first explorer style body, it's very comfortable, the neck is great, actions great, no string buzz at all. Mine came without one of the strap screws installed, Hamer does this because different people prefer it in a different spot depending on how you hold and play, usually it's on the top corner by the neck or on the back just below the neck(that's where I put mine). It's easy to do, just put a piece of masking tape down where you want it, dot the spot with a marker, pre-drill a hole just a little smaller that the screw, remove the tape and screw it in carefully, don't be scared, who am I kidding, I was freaking out, actually it took about a minute and was very easy to do. Not sure yet of how well it stays in tune, I might change out the tuners, haven't made my opinion of that yet. It's a great guitar for the money, half the price of a gibson.

As far as reliability goes, it seems very solid and tight. The tuners might be my only concern about staying in tune, if I was a pro, I would probably change them, but I've only had mine a few weeks, so I'm still checking them out.. Would I have a back up guitar when playing, what are you kidding, I don't care what kind of guitar you have, things happen, whether it drops or a pickup shorts out, always cover your a**

Never dealt with

I've been playing for fun about 15 years off and on. I've had many guitars, right know I have a Standard Wolfgang, Yamaha Acoustic, Les Paul Standard and got the Hamer Import Standard about 2 weeks ago. If it were stolen i'd probably want another one, I like the body shape and you can't beat the price, I don't care if people say my USA Gibson explorer is better, do you think they really know, Remember not every US guitar is built great, I've played many import and US made Jacksons and Charvels, and for me it's been a toss up, some of the imports were better and some wern't, just compare apples to apples, comparing a top of the line US made to a lower line imports is silly. Hamer imports are made very well compared to most. I thought about getting a Gibson, Epiphone, and Hamer - Gibson is overpriced, and the quality of the Hamer is far better than the Epiphone. The only thing I might change is the tuners but I'll keep playing it awhile before I make that descision. It's an all around great rock guitar, and you can't beet the price

i'm not sure when but it was made in korea. it's pretty standard for an explorer, 2 volumes, 1 tone, 3 way toggle, tune-o-matic and stop bar. 2 duncan designed humbuckers which are very cool. compared to my strat's pickups they are a godsend. it's bloody heavy tho, being made of maple and all. it's aztec gold finish, which i hear is the only finish you can can get it in. it's a sort of see thru orange. umm what else...22 frets, surprisingly good high fret access. didn't come with a case. only thing i don't understand is why put a pointless pickguard there? it's ugly, and it's white, and serves no purpose. i know it's like an original design thing and they wanna keep it original, but it's just a stupid little feature. 9 for the pickguard

this thing is perfect for me. the sound is classic and it just screams metal. it's got great distortion capabilities, especially on the bridge pickup. only thing with distortion is that the middle and neck settings are pretty much the same and are a little muddy, even with the tone on 10. clean is superb. it's got that sparkly sound that i love in a guitar in clean. it's really bright and crystally, if that makes any sense. there is no hum whatsoever, but the pickups are pretty hot so if you aren't great at guitar it's gonna pick up every little mistake you make and you wont' appreciate that unless you plan on cleaning up your style. i think this guitar is really only suited for metal, but by dampening the sound you could get a good jazz or blues sound. it's got a very full tone, i guess that's coz of the size of it. it's huge!!!

finish is pretty thin, but that doesn't matter unless you plan on selling it. personally i like guitars with heaps of scratches on it, they look sweet. there is a little ding in the finish on the front lower horn, but it's so small no one notices. i had to put heavier strings and lower the action but hey who doesn't? everything was fine apart from the obvious. no noise, no rust, no chunder, everyting was cool. 8 for the thin finish. would have got a 9 but most people prefer a thicker finish

of course this guitar could withstand live playing!! explorers were made so guys like me can get up on stage and let it rip!! the hardware is solid as anything, and it wearing off can only add to it's rough appearance. don't be worried about the strap coming off unless you have a 50 cent strap. this thing's strap buttons are huge. you could shake it by the strap and nothing would happen. you probably just hurt your neck. it's built like a brick shithouse too so you could drop the bloody thing of the cn tower and it would just laugh at you. don't try it tho....
never go to a gig without a solid backup. strings breaking can be a real embarrassment if you aren't prepared. as solid as it is, don't try gigging without a backup

never dealt with hamer

this guitar is great and it's just perfect if you aren't rich and can't afford a gibson explorer. it sounds almost as good and the only thing this lacks in comparison to gibson's explorers is the colour range. if it came in a few more colours it'd be my guitar of choice over any other explorer
i've also got a USA fender strat in natural finish, a marshall avt150 and a dunlop wah. this eats the fender alive as far as metal goes. it gets the clean tone i could never get with the fender, and the distortion canes the fender hard
if anyone stole it i'd have to find the bastard and ramm the top horn up his ass. but no one's gonna steal it coz i take good care of my gear and after what happened to the last guy who tried to steal my stuff...yeah you get the idea
only other thing i'd change apart from the colour is the pickguard. i hate pickguards