Hamer Studio

I bought a 1996 Hamer Studio in Emerald Green over flame maple top. It has two Seymour Duncan pickups with chrome covers, a Les Paul type bridge, double cutaway, rosewood fretboard, Schaller tuners, dot inlays, and a mahogany body. It is a very basic but beautiful guitar. It has one volume knob for each pickup and a single tone control. It has the 24 3/4" Les Paul scale and a fairly fat neck. It came with a hardshell case.

The neck pickup has a very midrangey snarl to it that gets kind of thin when you back off on the volume too far. From 6-10 it has an improved Les Paul bite with some very nice overtones that you usually only hear from your neck pickup. The neck pickup is very articulate and full with a lot of girth but is not muddy. Every note rings out evenly and distinctly. Intonation and tuning are very critical with this guitar because you can hear everything with it. I have never played a guitar that has this kind of note articulation AND a full bodied tone. The middle postion with both pickups is my preferred rhythym position. I usually switch to the neck pickup for leads. The neck pickup sounds pretty good clean and can get into jazz territory when you back off the tone a bit.

This is where I am amazed. This is their studio version, and it has the perfection of a custom shop instrument from other manufacturers. The folks at Hamer are perfectionists. I could go on, but you can say very little about perfection without being redundant.

Everything appears to be well-made. I would NEVER play a gig without a backup. Not even a Hamer.

Ne need to contact them yet.

This guitar is right up there with any custom shop guitar made. It plays like a dream and sounds like a nightmare. In the past few weeks it has become my main squeeze, usurping my Les Paul. In fact, I am looking to trade my Les Paul for another Hamer USA guitar.

USA Hamer Studio, beautiful flamed top with some sort of "redburst" finish on it. Two Seymour Duncan humbuckers, mahogney body and set neck with the maple top, wrap around bridge/tailpiece, came with case and straplocks already installed. As far as other features, it's your basic L.P. double cutaway style, with your basic tone and volume knobs and pickup selector switch.

I love the sound. I use is with a Fender Blues Deville 212 and it screams on leads. Too crunchy for me on the rhythm side though, although that is the amp and not the guitar. I use a distortion pedal for rhythm word to smooth things out a bit. If you like the Les Paul sound you will love this more. I bought it to substitute for my Les Paul (getting to be worth a little too much money to use at some gigs) and I wound up liking the playability and sound better. Don't get me wrong, I love my LP, but this is one hell of a guitar.

It came ready to go. The action was great up and down the entire neck, the pickups were set perfect, and the finish is out of this world. It has a true "3-D" look to the color and flame. Something about the way Hamer floats some of the tint between layers of clear I think. I'm not sure, but the finish puts my Gibson to shame. Hear that Gibson? Wake up! Give us what we're paying for with your guitars today!

Perfect. I loaned to a friend that plays much larger venues than me, and he loved it too. He even let a big name from the eighties metal scene try it when they were playing together, and he loved it too. Very dependable.

Never had to deal with Hamer. I don't think I will ever need too.

I have been playing guitar 29 years. I'm a former music teacher, play guitar for myself today, but have played professionally on a locay level in the past. Currently I have a USA Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson Explorer, Kramer Baretta, Hamer Studio, Cutaway Fender elec. acoustic (Korean made), and Takamine 12 string. I use assorted Boss effects, but lately have been using a Zoom 505 for simplicity and the headphones. I use a Fender Blues Deville 212 and my original 30 year old Fender Champ amp.

When I bought this guitar I was looking at Gibson DC Les Pauls. This was a better guitar. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it. I love the playability, the tone, and the beauty of the finish and the quality of the craftmanship that went into the construction of this instrument.

Hamer USA. Studio model in Aztec Gold. This is a transparent honey.
Top of maple (Tiger). Body and neck Caoba from Honduras.
Two Seymour duncan 59.
I play rock, pop, blues.
Perfect. I am sure, this guitar plays all styles.
Tune omaitc. Made in Germany and made in Japan (GOTOH).
Very estable tuners. Sperzel 12:1 Ratio.
For a guitar Les Paul Style: 10.
Better than Gibson. SURE.
Better finish, better neck, better freting, and better sound than a lot of expensive Gibsons.

Two 59.
Well, i always use 59, JB and Jazz.
This guitar sound better than my other guitars with 59's.
Fat, clean, high.
Very good for AC/DC, Led Zeppeling, Pearl Jam, Mark Knopfler.
Perfect for rock, pop, blues...
There is a lot of sustain here.
I touch a string the last week. Today it goes on playing!!!!

I don't like chose a 10. But i must do it.
Perfect neck. Three pieces of Maogamy from Honduras.
The fretting work is excelent.
I have a Hamer older, and the neck of the older is better, but this neck is better than the neck of other guitars.
No buzzing. I have low action. No problem.

Like a rolling stone!!!!!
Hard like a rock.

I never have contact with them for a problem.
I write for questions.
Very fast answer.

This is the best guitar i ever had. This and two Hamer more.

1993 USA Hamer Studio in 59 burst. Mahogany body with maple top with very nice 3-D 59 burst finish. Duncan JB/59 pickups, 2 volumes and 1 tone, and tunumatic bridge. I have noticed many people have given this guitar very high rating for its features, but I would have to disagree. The first thing that I think really takes away from the versatility of these guitars is the location of the pickup selecter switch. After growing up playing Les Pauls and Stratocasters I find it extremely difficult to change sounds on the fly with the pickup selecter switch located on the far lower right of the guitar. The location of the volume controls on these guitars is a bit different as well. The volume control for the bridge pickup is the middle knob. Since most players live most of their time on the bridge pickup I never understood why Hamer put this volume control in the center. If you want to be able to roll your volume up and down while your playing you will have to move the bridge pickup volume knob closest to the bridge.

I play everything from clean blues and jazz to metal and heavy alternative. I play my Hamer through a modified Rivera Quiana 55 head into a Marshall 4x12 cabinet. If your amp is as versatile as mine this guitar can pull off a wide variety of sounds. The Duncan 59 in the neck is just awesome dead clean, and the JB can get some serious chunk when you crank the gain. Just an all around great sounding guitar.

I just love the feel and playability of this guitar. The maple top and 59 burst finish on this guitar are unbelivable. If you were to buy a PRS or Gibson with a top this nice it would cost $2500.00. Very good quality.

Built like a tank. Should last a lifetime if cared for.

Never had to deal with Hamer customer support.

I have been playing guitar for 25 years. I play mostly Stratocasters with humbuckers in the bridge so I must say the shorted scale of the Hamer is a bit uncomfortable for me(same as Les Pauls). I really like and bought the Hamer because the of the way the neck is set into the body. There is absolutely no heel on these guitars, and playing the upper frets is effortless. You can find these guitars on E-bay from time to time for under $700.00. Best guitar value for the money.

This is an early 90s Hamer, made in the USA... I'm actually pretty sure it's the same one that was owned by Bill Johnson, who is further down the review page- he's a local pro, and I bought it used locally after a "local pro" traded it in =) Could be wrong, though. Anyway, it's the most beautiful thing- wow is the wood top notch on this guitar. The maple cap is soooo thick, and has the nicest flame I've seen in a long time. Even the back on this guitar is beautiful. And the finish!! The finish is a mile and a half thick easily, and looks amazing. The funny thing is, it doesn't kill the resonance- this thing vibrates so much that it tends to feed back, just because the whole guitar is ringing... I of course mean this in the best way =)

This guitar is a dual humbucker, Les Paul DC-type guitar. It uses a Vol-Vol-Tone setup which is fine, and a single switch which is located below the bridge (which takes some getting used to).

Well, I play many different styles in a few different bands. When I purchased this guitar, I was in a girl-fronted power-pop band- that seems to be the sort of thing this guitar is made for. I'm running it through a ToneBone Classic -> ToneBone British -> Big Muff -> Amp. It's definately not noisy.

The clean sounds here aren't the forte- they're good, but not spectacular. The real deal comes when you put some distortion on. The whole guitar is soo resonant, and any distortion is clear but super heavy- what a sound. The neck pickup is very smooth and warm, and excels at Santana-esque leads. The bridge is much more crisp, and is great for chording away on =)

I find all of the knobs are very responsive- there's great roll-off in the volumes and the tone. The volumes have a definate jump between 8-10, which is great for soloing.

Since I got it used, I'm not sure how the factory setup was (from what I hear, I'm sure it was phenominal). Still, every guitar should be setup to the players personal needs anyway!

As for things like the bookmatching, routing, etc- they are positively sublime! The fit of this guitar is so solid it's unreal. The neck feels completely solid, the joint is right on, nothing wiggles, nothing rattles. I opened up the guitar and the inside (hidden by a clever grounded metal backplate) is clean enough to do surgery in. This is easily the best construction I've ever seen on any guitar.

The hamer feels super solid. There's no question that it will survive live playing. This guitar is over 10 years old, and the only problem is the slightly peeling neck finish where it touches the rosewood (commonly referred to as "hameritis", I believe). Apparently this was due to a problem with the finish compound which has now been fixed. I would depend on this guitar 100%.

I've never dealt with them. I hear they're great, though.

I've been playing about 6 years now, and have been steadily purchasing more and more guitars. I believe I'm up to about 16 now, but I'm not entirely sure =) At any rate, I had heard of Hamers before this but had never owned one. Now, I'm _totally_ a convert. I would easily, easily, _no_ questions asked buy another. In fact, I'm really gassing for a Hamer explorer at this point =) I mean, it's not a strat, and it's not going to replace the strats (and I'm a strat man, really), but it's the one I reach for when I need something that will perform perfectly every time.

my studio is a rare Korina version i happened to stuble upon (looks awesome). two SD 59 humbuckers. 2 vol, 1 tone knob and a pickup selector switch. regular dot inlays.

this guitar sounds amazing. i went out to buy a Gibson LP or hereitage LP and ended up getting this with no regrets. this guitar just felt right in my hands and the sounds from it is what i was expecting. with the way people talk about LP's i thought they would be as great as everyone says. but almost every LP (priced under $2K) i have always walked away unsatisfied. i feel they have a very muffled type sound (or maybe "not open" is good).

the guitar resonates like crazy, you can feel it on your body (it's the whole guiatr working). i have had this guitar for 2 years, haven't played anything yet that makes me want anything else.

action and intonation i have adjusted a couple times when the weather changes, but everything plays and works great. good sustain and intonation, no fret buzz, but i expect any guitar i play to be this way.

all seems good to me. just don't throw it around and care for it and i expect to haev this for a long time.

never had to contact them

i love it and want more. i am scared that the secret is comming out and will drive the prices up. better get another soon.

Solid mahogany Studio in cherry finish. It seems to have Sperzel tuners and also a Duncan JB/59 set. Rosewood fretboard and all mahogany construction as far as neck and body.
Please see the features below.

This guitars sounds nice and thick but kind of narrow in it's frequency response. Hard to explain, but my Les Paul and McCarty sound like they are more full and just hitting more frequencies than the Studio. I also tried a maple topped studio and it seemed similar but a tad more full. Sounded good, but not as full as my McCarty which is a similar guitar. I tried to swap out the pickups but it didn't change much, but still over all a nice sounding guitar well worth the money, especially used. Great bang for the buck. I just don't sense any mojo with Hamer guitars. I only find that in Gibson and PRS. Maybe just me.

Perfect in this category and a great, great quality instrument. In the end, as nice as this guitar is.....it just has no vibe to me similar ro how I feel about Carvins. Just no life in mu opnion. It's a shame because Hamer puts so much time into these guitars and are made so well. Still, I don't feel they are made any better than PRS.

Seems super solid but I am looking to sell because I just can't vibe with Hamers.

N/AZ

Over all a great instrument and reasonably priced but a guitar has to feel like it was meant to be played and have some mojo. I can't get that from a Hamer. There necks play a little funny to me. In comparison, I could pick up a good Gibson or PRS and never want to put it down. That vibe and mojo is very important in a guitar. Sorry, Hamer.

Made in the USA in 1995. I purchased the guitar in 1996. Taken from the Hamer catalog I got with the guitar:

A. Schaller 12:1 ratio tuners and frictionless Lubritrak nut.
B. 3-piece handcarved stressed neck is 1.66" at nut.
C. 22 .050" x .100" high quality nickel/silver Hamer frets.
D. Quarter-sawn East Indian rosewood fingerboard
E. Oversized handfitted dovetail joint.
F. 14 coats of hand-buffed lacquer.
G. Seymour Duncan '59 and JB pickups.
H. Wilkinson hard tail wrap-around bridge.
I. 1 3/8" precision routed, solid select Honduras Mahogany body.
J. 5/8" hand carved, painstakingly finished ultimate grade figured maple top.

I have since replaced the Wilkinson bridge with a TonePros adjustable wrap-around bridge. Two volume controls and one tone control. One three-way toggle switch. Pickups are passive. Les Paul Junior double-cutaway body style with carved top. Non-locking tuners. Standard strap buttons -- no strap-locks. 24.75" scale length. All hardware is chrome. Mine has the 59 burst finish, which is a cherry sunburst. The back of the guitar has a transparent red finish which nicely shows off the grain of the mahogany body and neck. Neck is a chunky C-shape, but not too chunky, though. Came with gig bag. I would give a higher score for features if it had a coil-tap and if I had got a hardshell case with it.

I also want to say that the flame top on this guitar is far, FAR superior to the "10-tops" I see on PRS's these days. It is also far superior to any flame top I've seen on a Gibson or any other guitar I've seen in the last several years. The flame tops today have a very two-dimensional, shallow appearance. The flames on my Hamer have a really beautiful, three-dimensional depth to them. Back when I bought this guitar in '96, I didn't think much of the looks of this guitar at all -- in fact I really didn't like the way it looked. I bought it because it sounded good! And, because I got a really good deal on it. As the years have passed by, I've really come to appreciate just how beautiful my guitar is -- looks-wise and tone-wise.

This guitar sounds very Les Paul-ish, as you would expect from the specifications. This guitar has no coil-splitting function, so it doesn't do any single coil tones. Overall, this guitar is really warm, fat, and rich sounding. The tone is also very, very sweet with a delicious midrange complexity. Other guitars sound colder, harsher, more one-dimensional by comparison. The neck pickup is very creamy, smooth and warm. The bridge pickup has more of a biting tone. The guitar is dead quiet, no hum at all (the electronics cavity is completely shielded), which is something I can't say for all 3 of my Tom Andersons -- they buzz when I'm not touching something metal on the guitar. Every time I play this guitar with distortion, I think it sounds like Gary Moore's tone on his song, Still Got the Blues.

Perfect in every way.

This guitar is really put together exceptionally well. It is rock solid and will easily last a lifetime or more.

Never needed any support for this guitar.

I've been playing now for almost 17 years. Currently, I also own three Tom Andersons -- a Hollow T Contoured, a Hollow Drop-Top, and a Hollow Cobra S. In the past I've owned a Yamaha SE203M strat-copy, an Ibanez RG570, a Steinberger Spirit, and an American Series Strat. The Hamer only loses to the Andersons in two areas -- versatility and upper fret access. Each of my Andersons has a variety of switching options and can provide both humbucker and single-coil tones, whereas the Hamer only gives humbucker tones. I can play up to the 22nd frets on all my Andersons with ease. On the Hamer, it's not as hard to play up high as it is on a Les Paul, but it's not as comfy as on my Andersons. In every other way, the Hamer is every bit the quality of my Tom Andersons.

As I said above, time has really made me appreciate just how great this guitar is. It has a fantastic tone, the flame top is gorgeous, and it plays very well. I used to think I would never own a guitar I'd have any sentimental attachment to. I will never part with this guitar. In fact, I really need to sell some of my guitars (unfortunately, kinda at a low point in life right now), and when I think of which ones I want to keep, I realized that I just can't part with my Hamer (I'll also be keeping my Hollow Cobra S). I just really love my Hamer Studio and I want to be with it forever.

Made in 1995 - double cut with a flame maple top finished in red. The top would be consider a 5A or 10top by other manufactures. Two Seymour Duncan pickups, two volumes and one tone control - three way switch. Nice thin nitro finish - prefect color with a super looking two piece flame maple top.

22 fret mahogany neck, nice rosewood fretboard with dot inlays. Medium size neck, very comforable to play. Included a Hamer hardshell case. Shaller tuners, gold hardware.

This is a poormans PRS santana IMO - with qualiy as good a PRS. Great sounding guitar, quiet operation.

One thing, I wish it had coil taps on the pickups.

Perfect, Hamer does thing right. The only issues I have with the guitar, the gold hardware is pitted from playing - typical of gold hardware. Guitar is rock solid, the finish it thin and care must be used. Plays like a dream, perfect fretwork.

No question, Rock solid.

Don't have a clue, never tried to contact them.

A super value, these are somewhat un-known treasures. But I suspect as people become aware, prices of uses Hamer's will increase. I think Hamer started in the late 70's, and I don't understand why they are not more popular. I have owned a couple of them, and everyone has been fantastic. I often feel like I'm buying a PRS with out the high price tag. I think Hamer's build quality is as good as PRS, the gutiars both play great - so it's a real bargin IMO.

1996, USA built, flamed to hell Maple top, mahogony back, crazy fast neck kinda like a little chunkier 1960 Les Paul, Duncan Pickups you know the routine all the features you need. I love the seperate volume controls and the placement of the selector switch. For info on Hamer go to EdRoman.com to find out the story behind them

Play Blues/Metal type music, sound is bell clear almost single coil on the bridge pu,can do everthing from Country to Metal fat round tone,not brittle at all, turn back the tone control and get the perfect Woman tone, sustains forever,not a hum well shilded, I play through Marshall JCM 900 stack, Crate Vintage Club 50, Line 6 Spider sounds good through all of them depending on the mood I'm in (distortion or lots of distortion)

Guitar is 8 years old and I've had it a year, some laquer peeling along the edge or the fingerboard, I have to adjust the truss rod seasonally and tweak the bridge ocassionally mainly because I set my string height under 1/16 inch at the 12th fret. yes the neck is that good! also I dont case store my guitars I hang them. all parts look new and tough as nails, well built, perfect bookmatch on the top not even a crackle in the knobs, lets see your POS Gibson do that after 8 years.

Had it a year and haven't even broke a string and I play HARD. Finish is the famous Hamer 12 coats of hand rubbed Laquer, bang it, it doesn't dent, replaced strap buttons the day I got it to straplocks, this is the one guitar I own that if I had to I would use with out a backup, I wouldn't even take a spare string.

Bought used so no warranty, however I was in the local Hamer dealers and the Factory rep was there. He went over the guitar for me! Checked the intonation, just checked it all out even though I didn't buy it there and had bought it used. He even recomended which models I should look for for collectability on the used market. Impressed me all to hell, these guys just love Guitars

Been playing 30+ years, went in looking for a PRS and had never before played a Hamer, had the nicest neck,top and was 1/3 the price. I've owned them all Gibson,Fender, solidbody and archtop presently have 2 PV Wolfgangs but thats a completly different weapon. This is the nicest, most versitile guitar I've ever had. If it were stolen I'd be in jail because the guy would be dead but I'd have my Hamer. I've just bought another Hamer a Korina Artist, nuff said