Hamer Sunburst Archtop SATQ

Others have covered the technical details well. My particular guitar has the flamed maple top, mahogony body, large bindings, in-lay around the rosewood fingerboard with large rectangle fret markers, and "made in china" stamped on the back.

With switch in the middle (2 pickup) mode, if either volume pot is at zero, there is no sound (I like this feature).

Out of the box, the Duncan Designed pickups sounded great in some configurations, but very muddy in others. The stock neck pickup is to blame.

I changed out the pickups with some Duncan Seymore Jazz (neck) and JB (bridge)... now it is clear with great sustain for the highs and still has a good growl for the lows. I highly recommend this upgrade.

Pre pickup change: 6

From day one, this has been sweet. No complaints. Unbelievable at this price. I feel guilty knowing that it puts American artisans out of work.

I'm an enthusiast - been playing for 10 years but rarely gig. Seems like its road worthy, but I'm not really qualified to say.

For $275 guitar + $130 pickups, I've got a beautiful axe that plays like butter and sounds like cream.

This is an update of my previous post. The only things that are stock now are the neck and body wood, frets, and input jack.

Replaced the Duncan Designed pickups with a Duncan Jazz(n)/Pearly Gates(b). Replaced the pots to get master coil cut, a Torres Tone control/Mid switch (master), and a modified TBX Tone control (with true bass roll off from 6-10 and a VH Audio 0.033??F V-Cap for treble rolloff from 5-0). Also added 2 mini toggles to reverse the phase of each pickup (allowing for 3 different out of phase sounds, and access to each of the 4 coils in coil cut mode).

With the tone wide open in "standard" configuration, the Jazz neck tone is warm but still maintaining clarity on the top end. All of the covered woofiness of the DD neck is gone. The Pearly Gates neck has an aggressive, brighter tone than the DD with top end clarity and warmth at the same time. The DD pickups really were lifeless with no top end clarity and so-so dynamics. They sounded better with some type of distortion.

I'd say a change of pickup is worth the effort. Now, this guitar really sings and has very good sustain. Getting a chance to hear a friend play it at a gig, I was surprised at how good it sounded.

Even with 2 different master tone controls and a volume pot (that's 3 pots in the signal chain) the guitar has more clarity, dynamic punch and volume than the original pickups/wiring scheme.

Got a chance to do a "side by side" with an SATF I purchased from ebay, and the stock Duncan Designed pickups had a similar tone to the originals. The difference was eye opening.

That said, when trying the SATF in the store, I was able to adjust the amp (Fender Super Sonic) to the guitar and get a good useable sound out of it, but the change to better quality pickups will unlock doors for this guitar.

The Sperzel locking tuners have a higher gear ratio than the stock tuners and are more precise and easier to tune. After the minor fret dressing, the action can be set so that the guitar is absolutely effortless to play. The neck has remained very stable as the seasons go from summer to fall.

I have still not gotten the chance to play a USA Hamer, but my Import Series SATQ (with some tweaking) has become an instrument that has a tone that continuously "pleases my ear." Overall the sound now is warm but retaining clarity and power. Sounds great clean or distorted.

The usual, listed before, but I'll point out a few things.
Transparent black stain on a quilted top veneer. Poly finish. . .very subtle and rich looking with the abalone(ish?) binding. Definitely catches your eye. Tune-o-matic type bridge and stop tailpiece. The bridge felt light (not very massive), and the wire that held the screws down was very flimsy. Upgraded it to a TonePros system 2. Hamer USA uses OEM Tone Pros parts, but but not the import. Had to have the bridge altered to fit the larger sized thumb screws as the Tone Pros didn't fit.

"Hamer" tuners. They seemed decent, but did not like the low gear ratio. Replaced with Sperzel Locking tuners with a higher ration and more precise tuning. Note that the Schaller locking tuners should fit the screw holes and not require drilling for the extra lugs on the Sperzels.

The neck has a pretty large radius fingerboard, but has enough of a curve to work great with slide! Better than my Brian Moore i21. Medium frets.

No case (looks nice in the TKL Les Paul case). Chinese made.
Quilted maple veneer on top. The Hamer site says the body is mahogany. Probably a sandwiched core with a better veneer on the back. 2 volume, one master tone.
P/U's are Duncan Design with Hamer stamped on the covers nice look.

On the whole, not bad. . . in fact, pretty good.

Tone wise? It is very "smooth." In the store, running it through a Fender Super Sonic, I was able to get some "response" from the pickups. Decent thick sound on the Bassman setting, some chime on the Vibrasonic setting, but I had to run it through my setup.

I was comparing this to a Squire Masterbuilt Esprit (tones very comparable as they both had Duncan Design p/u's), and an Ibanez double cutaway which had a brighter but thinner sound.

Run through my pedalboard/rig on the cleaner settings, I found the the neck to be on the darker side. The response was there, but there was no real stringiness to the tone, and more balanced through the mids and bottom end; not a whole lot of midrange warmth. Tone gets muffled when you roll the volume back (expected). The tone control has some variation along its range, but the p/u doesn't really give you much variation. It's slight indistinctness goes to muffled.

The bridge p/u is also missing some top end "snap," but the tone control is effective along just about its entire range until you get to the very end of it's throw and the p/u get's dark. More useful tones. Also pretty balanced.

I got better response the more gain I added. The neck p/u does begin to sing a little as you go higher up on the fingerboard (better above the 12th fret on the E and B strings). The bridge p/u is nice and balanced, more polite and pretty articulate, but not a lot of growl.
Pretty good sustain. I was surprised for such a light feeling guitar.

Despite the fact that only the back of the control cavity cover was shielded (and not connected to ground), the guitar is extremely quiet.

Compared to my guitars with the Duncan Alnico 2 Pro neck/Pearly Gates bridge combination, or Pearly Gates neck/Custom Custom combination, the tone is a little bit muffled; a little bit lifeless. That said, if it is your only guitar, a bit of adjusting on the amp's tone controls should get you bright enough (definitely more Fender amp friendly to my ears).

The pickups were set up fine. Good balance between the two. I raised the bridge a bit, lowered the neck a bit, and raised the screws to try to get a little more top end from the neck p/u. The p/u switch is a sealed unit, all the pots are mini pots. The wiring looked a bit like a forest of vines. Lots of extra wire filling the cavity, but the solder job looks good.

The neck is pretty wide and a little bit chunky, though not overly so. Action wise, it felt comfortable even with the strings up just a bit. It was still a pretty fast setup. There was a slight bowing in the neck. When I got it home and adjusted the neck relief, intonation and action, I noticed that the 13th fret was buzzing out on the high e string, and it got worse as I pushed the string towards the edge of the fingerboard. Took the guitar back to the shop and got a fret dressing under warranty. That was the only noticeable action issue, though the frets did seem a little bit rough.

Only found one slight spot at the neck/body join where there was a small gap in the poly coat. Not really a problem.

Looking at the control cavity, I noticed the body wood to be very porous and soft looking but not overly soft. It has some kind of black paint sprayed on the interior. Looks a little bit gummy, and there was some sort of white powder through out. Had to clean it out and will do a better job when I redo the electronics.

The cavity was not routed out uniformly. There are circular areas for the controls where the interior wood was routed down farther. Adding mini switches will require some drill work with spade or forstner bits.

The lightness of the body has me worried (feels like an inexpensive guitar) but it feels very solid. Just about all of the import Hamers I have tried in stores had either a switch or volume or tone pot that didn't work, and so I shied away from them for a while.

The switch gives a solid click, but seems to have a short travel compared to a Switch Craft (which will replace it).

Don't know. The Hamer USA website looks user friendly though.

Playing a long time. Have a bunch of guitars, some expensive, some not expensive. This guitar is meant to be a backup to a Brian Moore i21 which is outfitted with a Duncan Alnico2 Pro neck/Pearly Gates bridge p/u combo. They do compare well, though the i21 has a more contoured body, a slightly faster neck, and a much heavier body (the SATQ is just a little bit neck heavy, but overall, a nice, light guitar). I think the guitar would benefit from dual tone controls and a master volume, but that is just me.

In comparison, the Ibanez double cutaway was heavier in the body and the neck wasn't as comfortable as the Hamer. The Ibanez was brighter and thinner sounding, also with a 3 knob setup. The Squire Masterbuilt Esprit has a similar feeling neck (SATQ being a little bit easier), but the body was larger (like my ES 335 but not as big). The SATQ was a little more comfortable. They sounded comparable as they share similar p/u's.

If lost or stolen, I might get something else, or hold out for the USA built Studio or Monaco, or check out the Gibson double cutaway (which does have a little better access to the upper frets).

Love the bodywork and finish. Neck is good. Don't like the electronics or the way the cavity is finished. Wish it were completely shielded too.

Surprisingly enough, the whole comes off well. I read a lot of reviews on this guitar and most of them are positive. I'll have to agree.

The body/neck platform seem very solid, and so the guitar is very playable!
While the p/u's weren't to my liking, they are usable and smooth. The electronics were "standard" also. What you'd expect for this price range. The good part is that all of these things are replaceable if the platform is good, which it seems to be.

The electronics will all be replaced very soon (coil splitters, phase switches, treble bleed circuit, TBX style tone control, Torres Engineering Mid control/tone control). For pickups either the Alnico 2 Pro/Pearly Gates combination or maybe a pear of '59's like the more upscale USA models.

PROS:
It has an awesome finish. Great shape. sturdy.

CONS:
Could use two tone selecters. Would be nice with 24 frets.

PROS:
Duncan designed pickups. Sounds eccelent wether playing blues or full out shredding.

CONS:
None

I didn't notice anything, but I had it set up at a shop. Otherwise NOTHING wrong with it.

PROS:
sturdy, thick finish, closely cut.

CONS:
Only problem is it didn't have a full through neck.

Never had to deal with it.

Experienced (Playing on stage with $$$): Good guitar for practice.

Intermediate (2-3 years): great guitar Definitely BEST guitar for price range.

Begginning: Eccelent guitar.

if it were stolen or lost, I would definitely want to do everything to get another one.

Chrome Hamer machineheads, rosewood fretboard, 2 Hamer/Duncan humbuckers, offwhite binding along with abalone inlay along the top outer edge of the body neck and headstock, chrome stop tail with tune-o-matic and chrome knobs. V-T-T with Gibson style 3-way, set neck, arch top. I looked at a few of these online. Most of the black transparents were the same, but this one is an actual sunburst, dark edge to lighter middle. Came with a Hamer hardshell case.

Only Les Pauls get 10's

This thing rivals my Les Paul for sound. It's definitly not as thick as the Paul, but it comes close. Lots of sustain.

Right out of the box, beautifully setup, but not sure if the place I bought it from did a setup. Came with very light strings.

Very light, but would be good for gigs. I'll propbably change the pickups for a chrome set of Gibson 57's, and I'm definitly changing to a set of Sperzels with a roller bridge with Schaller staplocks and Diadarrio 12's, but I do all this to every guitar I own. The finish is beautiful, and seems strong enough. I would definitly depend on this instrument to perform, but I never go it alone. I always have at least 2 backups.

Never called.

I have been screwin' around with guitars for the last 20 years. I have played most major brands and makes. I play mostly rock stuff, mainly in dropped D.

I opened the box for the first time and almost passed out. This is one of the most beautiful guitars I have ever seen. The sound is great, the feel is great. I can't say enough about this thing. If it were stolen, I would replace it in a second, then find the dude and beat him with a Hondo Strat copy. I had never played Hamer before yesterday, and I'm glad I purchased this based on the reviews here and the overall look of the instrument online.

This is a Chinese made Sunburst Archtop Quilt top, in Transparent black. It was bought new in August 2005 and came with passive H/H pickups and 2 x volume and 1 x tone control. The finish is high gloss polyurethane and the double cutaway body styling is IMHO the best shape a guitar can have. It has a lovely thick single cream binding with an additional stunning 'sparkle'inlay that follows the body, neck and headstock contour. The neck has a fabulous feel and plays beautifully. The bridge is a chrome tune-o-matic and the tuners are Hamer logo'd with a chrome finish.

As bought, the pickups were fairly generic sounding with the bridge being unsuitable for anything other than single note lead work as chords can become muddy. The neck was much better, providing a really nice tone and some promising clean sounds, although chord work can still be mushy.In my opinion the sounds here are not even close to a Gibson Les Paul although it is advertised as resembling one.

The action as supplied was quite high, but a little tweak of the truss rod and a turn on the tune-o-matic helped make it much more playable. The intonation was also way out, but again a little bit of work and it is now spot on. The finish on the front was excellent and this is where this guitar shines - quite simply it looks superb!! The lacquer is excellent, the veneer is well matched and the paint finish on the back was flat and smooth with no flaws.

The tuners are the biggest disappointment with this guitar. I would describe them as 'gutless'. They continually allowed the guitar to de-tune and spoil the playing enjoyment. (This does not help the already average pick-ups to shine). The strap buttons are solid enough but I would not risk live playing with the tuners as you would be continually re-tuning. The other hardware looks very solid and dependable and a quick look in the controls cavity is very impressive and leaves no doubt that everything has been well wired and connected.

Not dealt with them.

Despite my criticisms of this guitar I love the shape and appearance and would buy it again if it broke. Since purchasing it I have swapped the two pickups for a DiMarzio Fred in the bridge and a Di Marzio Air Classic in the neck and swapped the tuners for Grover 18:1 rotomatics and the results are stunning. The guitar stays in tune all day and the pickups sound awesome. Playability from the neck was always enjoyable, so right now following the changes I have made, I would rate this guitar as a 9. Even though I have had to spend another $100 to achieve the desired results, it has been well worth it. I love it. However as purchased this guitar would only really rate a 6 or 7.

It is a double cutaway archtop solid body electric with two humbucking pickups and a three way toggle selector. It has two volume and one tone controls. It is made in China. The body and neck are mahogony with a glued joint. There is a quilted maple cap with a honey burst finish. the body and neck have a cream binding along with an abalone inlay. It is sriking in appearance to say the least. The tuners are sealed die cast and the bridge is of the tunomatic variety. The fingerboard has crown mother of pearl inlays. The neck is very Les Paulish in feel to me and the frets are fairly large.

I like classic rock and this guitar has the mid growl one would expect of a LP styled instrument. I am using a Epiphone Valve Special and an Ibanez Tube Screamer with it and getting good results.

It was set up well out of the box. I dropped the action just a hair to suit my liking and the intonation was good. The top is bookmatched, the strings pass directly over the pickup poles. The finish is flawless, the nut is neatly cut. My pickup selecter was wobbly and has a white stress mark across it. It broke within a day of owning it. I think it was a shipping issue though.

I think this guitar is built well. The switch was poor as mentioned above, but I think that happened in shipping. I replaced it with an identical one and it is rock solid. There is a poly finish so I think it will wear well. As far as the strap buttons, I replace all of mine with locking devices. I think it is dependable but who would gig without a backup?

I e-mailed Hamer about the switch. I received a response in ten minutes and a new switch is on the way. I told them I replaced it with one I had and they said that I won't need it but they are sending a replacement anyways. They also felt it was damaged in shipping but owed me a working switch.

I've been playing for 28 years and I own 14 guitars currently. I own two Les Pauls and this guitar measures up. It feels good in my hands and is an instant favorite, made in China or not. I would hate to think of losing it. The only short coming in my opinion is the tuning keys. They work smoothly, they keep the guitar in tune but the keys are thin and I like the feel of thicker ones. I have a couple of other made in China guitars and they are the same, namely my B.C. Rich Body Art Mockingbird and my Rogue Herringbone dreadenaught Acoustic. I can live with them though without replacement because if it ain't broke don't fix it. They work well.

2005 Sunburst Archtop AKA SATQ.Made in China.
"Honeyburst" quilted maple VENEER arched top over mahogany or a mahogany'esque type wood. Set neck, also of the same wood. H+H "hamer" branded pickups. Two volumes, one tone, black top-hat style knobs.
Abalone (probably 'abalaminate')binding around the entire body, neck and headstock. "hamer" branded tuners. Overall a strikingly beautiful guitar. Standard features for this type of guitar.

Pickups are fairly quiet. Pretty generic humbucking tones here. Neck pickup is slightly weaker than bridge. Playing thru a Behringer V-ampire head with an old marshall 4x2 wired stereo. Tones lean toward being Les Paul 'ish without quite as much sustain, probably due to the mahogany'esqe type wood. No coil tap function.

Guitar shipped with cheapo 10's. Changed to 9.5 immediately. Lowered the TOM bridge just a bit to my taste, and everything was golden. Action is now ALMOST as good as my Carvin DC127. No fretting out or dead spots. Overall the fretwork is good, but the frets need to be polished and or smoothed more at the factory to eliminate some of the gritty feel. I buffed them carefully with a dremel buffer, and they are fine now.

The binding, finish and attention to woodworking detail all seem to be first rate. I bought this guitar (at a very good price) as a "second" due to a finish flaw, and it is all but undetectable.

Tuners are just OK. Not great - but I've seen worse.

ELECTRONICS ARE CHEAP AS HELL. Pickup selector switch was broken upon delivery, and the output jack died a week after I replaced the switch. The control cavity is sprayed with some kind of black powdery crud that stains your fingers when you work in there, and the wiring looks like a 5th grade electronics project. Not great at all - but I suppose they had to cut corners somwhere. If you're reasonably handy with a soldering iron, and don't mind spending a few extra bucks for a higher quality switch and jack, then this is an easy fix. If you're looking for neat wiring and top notch switchgear - ala Carvin, look elsewhere.

After the aforementioned mods, the guitar should hold up reasonably well for live playing. It will sure look good, at least.

No dealings with Hamer.

Been playing 20+ years. Most of my other guitars (5) are fairly plain, I wanted a "looker" but not a case queen and I got one. Even my kids commented on the looks. FOR THE PRICE I PAID, this was a great deal. Kudos to guitarfactory for handling my complaint about the busted switch quickly and professionally.

Basically a LP DC copy, quilted maple top, two humbuckers, two vols and one tone control, 22 frets, I'm assuming a mahogany or maybe basswood body, rosewood board, they normally come with some kind of no name tuners, but I had mine installed with Grovers. Basically, a decent cheap Les Paul copy.

Good, really good for a guitar of this price range. The pickups are a little mellow, not exactly bright and edgy, but the can be remedied by changing tone setting slightly. Plus, I like the fact that these pickups have good defenition, they don't go too much over the top, it makes me sound better. The only complaint I have is that the volume knobs for both pickups don't give a ton of difference when you roll them, unless you go almost all the way to 0. Anyway, this thing sounds extremely vibrant, both acoustically and amplified. Overall, the sound is definitely warmer and low key, which might make it a little underwhelming for playing with a metal band, but great for jamming and recording. I know lots of pro players use USA Hamers, but this Korean one is definitely a steal, pick one up if you can. Beats the hell out of any Epiphone I've ever played. Oh, BTW, my setup is Hamer - Boss dd-2, Johnson Tremolo, Ibanez sc-10 chorus, BBE 382 sonic maximizer - Trace Elliot Super Tramp, SS 2x12 80watt combo. Not exactly pro quality, but decent for a college student.

Great. Noramlly, cheap shiny guitars just look gaudy to me, but this one looks great.

It does kind of feel like a cheap guitar, but still plays and sounds great.

never dealt with Hamer.

Hamer must have been doing something right when they made this guitar, I was basically looking for a decent cheap Les Paul substitute, and this thing covers that ground really well. I might change the pickups eventually, I like these ones for now, but if I start gigging, or jamming with a real band, I'll probably need something a little hotter and brighter. Anyway, pick one of these things up and you probably won't regret it, I mean, for a usedprice of $300-400, it's a steal.

Made in Korea. This is the Honeyburst version and it is very good looking. I have scrutinised the finish and it it really nice especially when you take into account the price, 399 british punds.

The pickups are prette basic Duncan sounding, a little bit jazzy. I am not sure If I like the tone control if you want to adjust the tone, but usually I keep it on maximum so it makes no problem. With my Fender amp I really get a nice and warm tone. The Marshall stack I got sounds more vintage with this Hamer than with other humbucker guitars I've got. I do consider buying a new pickup for e bridge position, but I do that with all the guitars I've got. The lack of noice and buzzing from the pick ups are pretty amazing.

THe strings from the factory were dirty so had to change them and this got rid of all buzzing an the uneven feel. I can't find any flaws on it really, but maybe some of the frets needs some polishing. I consider taking it to a technicians, but I have to wait and see.

It seems like the guitar will last and it is solid.

No experience with support

This is my first Hamer guitar and even though it is not an American made one I am really impressed. Usually I do not get impressed but this time I was considering the price. I would say it is better than the cheap gibsons.