Hamer Studio

Features? Well, it's got some tuning pegs and a couple of knobs and pickups. Also a little hole for the cord to go into.

I play in a professional punk band. However, my influence in playing is mostly classic rock. This is the best sounding guitar I've ever owned, and I've had quite a few. I used to have a Custom Les Paul from the 70's, and the Hamer sounds much better than the L.P. did. I've recorded several albums with it and I've had many unsolicited comments from producers/engineers about how great it sounds. It's the best rock guitar that is being made, presently.

Action? Well, I've had it for so many years now that I don't remember exactly how it played off the rack. Besides, I take every guitar to my tech for setup before I play it. But as far as neck width and fret size and so forth, it's great. Much better playing than any L.P. I've ever played. One complaint... Before this model, I tried to purchase a Hamer Goldtop, (basically the same guitar with goldtop and binding). There was a major flaw in the finish. I mean it was terrible... cracking, chipping around the neck. Big pieces flaking off. However, I bought it believing I could send it to the factory to get retouched. Read below for that nightmarish story. So I eventually had to trade it back to the store I purchased at for the Studio. Looked good then, but now I notice a ton of bubbling in it's finish. Fortunately for Hamer, tone and playabity far outweigh cosmetics, in my perception.

Well, I think I've gone out of tune maybe once with this guitar. Seriously. I've been touring with it for several years now, and it never goes out of tune. I've never had a problem with anything but the finish. On stage, I always have a backup but I've never had to use it.

Hooboy! F- for these guys. As I said earlier, I sent the Goldtop into Hamer for warantee repair. I was in no hurry at the time. They said 6 to 8 weeks. Fine. 6 to 8 weeks pass and no reply. I call and they say a few more weeks. A few more weeks pass... and so on. Finally, after SIX MONTHS I am at A&M studios in LA recording an album and I really get anxious for that guitar. I call and talk to the man in charge, (I believe his name was Ken) and I calmly say, "Hey,I'm recording a record and I want my guitar repaired and sent to me in a week". "Look man, we're in the middle of moving and I don't know what to tell you" Click. He actually hung up on me. When I called to complain to someone in charge, the secretary refused to patch me through to anything except "Ken's voicemail". What good is that?!?! I can complain about Ken to Ken?!?! So they send the Goldtop to me and it has been UNTOUCHED by human hands. The same flaws were there. That's after six months! They just let it sit and collect dust for six months and sent it back. Infuriated, I went back to the store I purchased it at when I got home. They couldn't believe it when they looked at the thing. I'm pretty much over it. But I always feel the need to give the Hamer customer service bad press whenever I get the chance.

Overall rating? After 10 years of playing, (about 5 professionally) and touring worldwide with several different guitars, I'll give it a 10. Of course the problem with the finish is a drag, but after so many years of hard playing, cosmetics are hardly an issue. Besides, what rock guitarist worth his salt cares if his guitar is "pretty"?

Made in the USA 1996 Natural finish maple top (beautiful flames) Studio with a wrap around tail piece which feels very comfortable. Pick ups are Duncans, one JB and one '59 which I replaced for a PRS Dragon I neck. It sounds much bigger that the '59, which is specific for a certain type of sound that I'm just not hip to.

The sound is huge, for the exception of the '59, which to me is somewhat bluesy. The '59 smokes in the distorted arena, but I play more clean when using the neck pick up. I switched to a PRS Dragon I because I'm fimiliar with that sound and I like it. As for the JB, a pick-up I'd of never consider buying until I got the Hamer; very hot, very big and very well suited to play along with the dragon I. The guitar has a natural ring to it. The sustain and vibration when you strum a cord is Noticeable, to say the least.

The finish is great. I don't know if Hamer charges more for better finishes, but this particular guitar is as close to 10 as I'll ever get to. The action is just fine. The neck is a bit fat, which is just fine.

Reliability/Durability is it's greatest asset.

Haven't a clue, which is a good thing.

I just don't understand why this guitar hasn't gained much popularity. I'm not a Hamer fanatic, but this is as solid as any PRS or Gibson I've owned. I'm not very technical when it comes to specs, but I know a great guitar when I hear and play one. Not long ago, I sold a PRS regretfully(not to compare the two) 'cause I wasn't convinced about the feel(very stiff), although I loved the sound, hence the PRS dragon I. I shopped around, but refused to pay $1500 for a guitar. That's when Hamer came into the picture, a guitar I've never paid much attention to, until I played one. It's not as attractive as a lot of other high-end guitars out there, and it's very basic as far as features, but it is very well crafted and does the job. Granted these guitars have a terrible resale value and are worth much more brand new than used(I paid 650). I don't think I'd pay the retail value of this guitar if it were new, but this is by far the best after market guitar you can get, bang for you buck if you will. No plugs for Hamer, I'm just speaking as a consumer.

This is a double cutaway Hamer in the Gibson pattern with a set mahogany neck, mahogany body and flame maple top. Although I bought it this year it had a warrantee card with the old Illinois address.
The studio has an interesting combination of features, a pair of humbuckers but a wraparound tailpiece/bridge. For tone and bending nothing beats it, and the Wilkinson design is an excellent compromise between adjustable intonation and simplicity. Over the years I've used the original Gibson wraparounds, Leo Quan Badasses and the Schaller - the Wilkinson is much easier to live with than the latter handful of parts.
The Duncan pickups are a classic set JB in the bridge and a 59 up front - If I were designing this over again, from scratch, I'd go for a slightly brighter sound to compliment my amps. The only other change I'd suggest would be Sperzel tuners, because I'm lazy. The Schaller tuners on it are just fine
The best trait of this guitar is its feel - very light, well balanced and "tossable" much like a LP Special except it balances even better. Let me emphasize that, this guitar is LIGHT, like an SG maybe, except it balances on the strap.
This thing doesn't have a lot of "Features" as the rating system describes, but the basic features it has are extremely well considered and well executed.

This is, to me, a straight forward rocker's guitar. It'll do anything a Les Paul will do without hurting your back. It will growl and bite or it'll sing sweetly. I think all that mahogany and the wraparound are responsible for a lot of that versatility. I really wouldn't do much strum and hum with it, but plugged into a Twin it will play clean and large.

My guitar was a casualty of the music retail environment - there was a gouge on the edge near the upper bout facing up at the player and a pretty bad bruise on the bottom edge, between the pin and the jack. Neither of these are visible from the front, but do explain why I was able to buy this beautiful guitar for $650.
Otherwise the construction and craftsmanship of this guitar were superb. The mahogany body was not the finest I've seen (like on an early SG) but is excellent by recent standards. The neck uses wood as good as I've seen on anything.
THe flamed top is not a particularly lurid pattern, but is strongly striped and finished well to bring out the depth of the figuring - this goes deep.
All aspects of the assemply were well done with no problems or poor fits. The pickup mounting rings are not the standard items and fit this guitar better than is usual.
Shortly after buying it I did take the control plate off (metal, nice touch) to shake out some construction debris that was rattling around in there)

This guitar shows no weaknesses whatever. If something breaks it will be a total surprise. It is solidly built from top quality materials and should be as reliable as any electric guitar could be.
I cannot think of any reason to not have this as a number one guitar. Unless you throw it down and jump on it, you shouldn't need a backup.

I've been playing for some 30 years, I've owned almost everything that there ever was and played the rest. This is as good as it gets - my main amp is a Marshall 50W combo with some respectful mods and this is a great combination.
This guitar combines everything I like about the Les Paul Special with some great features of its own. If not this guitar, I'd have to find another much like it.

This is a double cutaway Les-Paul type guitar. Two Seymour Duncan humbuckers-- a '59 in front and JB (Jeff Beck) in the rear. Two volume controls and one tone control. Finish is clear. Top is flamed maple. Back and neck are Mahogony. Fingerboard is (Indian) rosewood. Stop tail piece with Tunomatic bridge. I don't know if this guitar is old and made before they put on the Wilkinson wrap around or whether this guitar is new and they've stopped using the Wilkinson Wrap around. Anyway, most models of this guitar that I've seen come with a Wilkinson wrap-around hard tail bridge. The wrap arounds sound very good, but it's hard to intonate them. I prefer sacrificing a tiny bit of sound for the sake of tuning.
I bought this guitar in 1997. Don't know the year.
Not your super coi-splitting gazillion sound whammy bar guitar, but a great, solid Les Paul type.
Comes with guitar-shaped case.

This guitar sounds really really good. I have a PRS Custom 24 as well, and these guitars are comparable to each other in sound (except for the PRS having split-coil options).
Solid, meaty Les-Paul sound. Not a whole lot of variety of different sounds, but very good standard Les-Paul sounds.
I play this through a Fender Hot Rod Deville (2x12 60W) with a Boss ME8. I'm very happy with the sound.

Workmanship is top notch. No flaws detected. The guitar was set up very nicely. Action is not too high nor too low. Top is matched nicely. Frets are solid.
Only problem was with toggle switch. Cleaned it out with contact cleaner and now it's fine.

Solid. Will withstand live playing vey well. Hardware is strong. finish is strong, too. No scratches yet.

When I had the hardtail version of this guitar, I had a problem with one of the screws in the bridge. Hamer sent me replacement parts quickly.

This is a great guitar. For 1100 bucks I got a beautiful flame-top Les-Paul style guitar. I'd buy another if I had (but I'd only buy with the tone-o-matic bridge).
I also own a PRS and a Les Paul and a G&L Strat. this guitar is 97% as good as the PRS. What's missing is a little more variety of tone. I could always put in some coil-splitting pickups, I guess.

quick note: I've seen this thing list price at over $1500, and the place I bought it from wanted $1300, but I did talk them down to $900. (you'll never catch me paying more than $1500 for ANY guitar, period, ever.) This thing is worth what they ask for it though. Hands down.
I assume this fine piece of work was made the year I bought it, which was 1995. It's a 22 fretter, with 2 volume controls, one for each humbucker, both seymour duncans, which come stock, and one tone control. Pickup switch as well. No wimpy single coils here, just 2 great hummers, a seymour duncan '59, and a duncan JB. It boasts a mahogany body, with a beautiful maple top that can even stand up to the best of the paul reed smith world. It has a 3 piece set in neck with an east indian rosewood fingerboard. The finish on mine is a transparent dark blue, but they also have many others to offer. I even saw a rainbow burst on one of them. (gag me.) The body is double cutaway, again, very similar to a PRS. The bridge is the only thing on this guitar that I do not like. It's a Wilkinson Hard Tail Wrap-Around.. Perhaps my bitch with it is just that hard tails aren't for me, which I didn't know until this guitar, (live and learn) but my main problem with it is that THERE ARE NO GROOVES. you basically have to take your knowlege of guitar and place the strings where you think they should go. This beast has Schaller 12:1 Ratio Tuners, and a Frictionless Lubritrak Nut. The neck is 1.70" at the nut, and is similar to that of a les paul, from what I can tell, and because of this guitar I haven't been able to play a thin neck properly since I bought it. 22 .050" X .100" High Quality Nickel/Silver Hamer Frets, feel pretty damn good, perhaps too high set for real action, but that's a problem easily fixed. Mine came with a deluxe hardshell case. 9, simply because of the bridge.

THIS THING SOUNDS AND PLAYS GREAT! It's that simple. My personal style is VERY diverse, ranging from Jane's Addiction, to Pantera, to clean tapping, to pop, to anything. I play how I feel at the time, and this guitar can do it all. The bridge pickup is a little bit on the noisy side, but I only use it with distortion behind it, so it's not a big deal at all. Versatility is a great key for this instrument. If you're on the neck pickup, you get a VERY rich, full, creamy sound, begging and pleading you to play some clean chord strumming melodys, and the bridge pickup is very bright, just CRYING for you to pack on the distortion, and jam out the best solo you've ever played in your life. It has INCREDIBLE sustain, I can hold a note for damn near a minute when I crank it enough, and again, it just plain sounds great. It's a dream. No complaints.

The first time I picked up this guitar it was set up very well. The action was pretty low, I did lower it a bit, but that's just me, the pickups were, unfortunately, equally low, which was something I ended up fixing on my own as well. That's the only problem I've had with it. The neck pickup, when raised, has a tendancey to cave in completely into the pickup cavity. My guess is that the spring isn't big enough. I went and had this fixed, or at least thought I did, but the people at the store here, to be blunt, are fucking morons, and didn't do what I asked them to do. (get a bigger spring.) it caved in 5 minutes after I got it home. The finish is georgeous, again, competing heavily with the much famed PRS finishes. The 2 sides are nearly perfectly matched. Aside from the pickup cave in problem, which I'm pretty sure is the EXCEPTION, not the rule, this guitar had no factory flaws. Only petty things that I disagree with. (not anything wrong in the worksmanship, I just don't like some of what they did do, on any guitar, even though it was done perfectly.)

I've brought this thing through several gigs, partys, etc, and it does have it's share of battle scars, but nothing has gone wrong yet. (other than the before mentioned pickup cave-in saga, and the pickup switch locking on me a few times..) The finish is there for life, unless you go out of your way to intentionally strip it. In all honesty, I beat the hell out of my guitar when I get into it, and this thing stands up to all my aggression. (some scratches from picking, but they don't alter the finish, and can only be seen in certain lighting schemes, to be expected on any guitar.) The strap button DID come out of it's socket after the first 6 months or so, but I got it fixed at my local shop, and it hasn't gone out on me in the past 2 1/2 years now. I can and do use this guitar without a backup every time I do a show. It's my only stage worthy, or for that matter, play worthy guitar. This thing is built like a tank, despite it's exquisite elegance.

have not had to deal with them yet, and I don't expect I will ever have to. The guitar DOES have a warranty, but I haven't needed it or used it yet. I couldn't tell you how long it is, simply because I ignored it. probably a mistake on my part, but I didn't know better at t he time.

I have been playing for.. shit I dunno.. somewhere close to 4 years. My only regret is that I did not do more studying into bridges before I snagged this guitar, as I might have had them put a floyd into it. If this guitar were stolen, I would probably spend a long time greiving and trying to find out who took it, but in all honesty I probably wouldn't get the same thing agian, at least not to the standard factory specs. I love this guitar, but on a larger budget I'd have probably gone with something else. (such as a prs.) That's actually why I got this one. It was the closest I could get to a PRS on the budget I was on. If it weren't for the price tag, I would reccommend this guitar to ANYONE, even beginners, simply because it has the best of all worlds, and can produce any sound you want it to, the whole time playing like a dream. I love my guitar. Period. If you have any more questions, feel free to drop me a line.