Hamer Sunburst Archtop SATQ

I believe this is a 2005 model. It has all the features of the previous reviews (H/H pickup config, 2 volume 1 tone, abalone inlays...etc)

This guitar is definately easy on the eyes, the paint and binding is top notch.

I paid $420 that included a very nice hard shell case via the internet.

I was working out in California for a short time and went into a music store close to my Hotel and saw this SATQ hanging on the wall. It was a nice looking guitar, so I took it down and started examining it closer, I couldn't find any flaws on the binding or paint job. I was looking for a backup guitar for a Samick AV-6 that I have.

When I played the first SATQ in Cali. I only played it clean through an amp they had in the store. It produced a nice jazzy type tone on the neck pickup and the bridge pickup seemed to be fairly bright.

I played this SATQ that I purchased through my Korg AX100 multi-effects pedal and noticed the bridge pickup doesn't seem to give me as much bite in the overdrive department as my Samick does, so I may be replacing the pickup with one with a slighty higher output. This is mainly due to the fact that I don't want to have to increase the gain on all the patches that I have configured on my effect pedal.

I play in a classic rock cover band, but I think this guitar will be a good fit in my arsenal of guitars for the kind of music that I play.

The SATQ that I ordered off the internet arrived in dire need of an appointment with the local guitar tech. Straight out of the box, the 15th and 16th fret on the high E string produced the same note, I cranked the action up until it was gone so I was thinking that it might have been a high fret and needed to be filed. I haven't talked to the tech that fixed her up for me so I don't know if he had to file the frets in the vicinity or not. It plays pretty much perfect now with the exception of a little buzzing on the bridge that doesn't appear at the amp.

One thing I noticed was when I bend the strings while playing a lead, the strings seem to bind, it's almost like a gritty feel, maybe this will go away in due time with enough playing. The tech put on a new set of strings and this helped, but didn't make it go away. Maybe the frets need to be polished a tad.

I think the guitar will withstand live playing without problem. The guitar seems to be well put together. I'm sure all the electronics are about what you'd expect in a guitar in this price range (decent, not top of the line). I will always have a backup guitar and wouldn't play live without one.

Never needed to deal with them.

I've been playing for around 20 years, I have a '90 USA Fender Strat, Samick Avion AV-6, SX Strat, Ovation CE57 Acoustic, Korg AX-100g multi-effect pedal and Mesa Boogie Nomad 45 amplifier. If I could afford a couple of Gibsons, I'd have those, but price is a factor and prevents me from making that a reality.

Overall, I really like this guitar, if it was stolen I'd probably buy one just like it or maybe another Samick or Agile.

If you're reading this review and want to know if this guitar is worth the money, I believe it is. Whether you're a beginner or intermediate player on a budget. It's every bit as good (if not better) than the Epiphones that I've played.

Someone once told me, "It's not the equipment, but how you use it". This guitar in the hands of a beginner just starting out is not going to sound good, neither is a $2500 Gibson, but in the hands of a talented musician, it can sound damn good (I say this because if I can make it sound good, a pro could make it sing).

The previous review covered all the basic features. The one I bought is decked out the same way, except that it is done in the TBK (transparent black) finish. One noteworthy exception to the previous reviewer's SATQ is the country of manufacture. The one I'm reviewing was made in China(!) rather than Korea (more on this later).

This guitar, overall, is pretty visually striking. I say this without reservation even though the "quilt top" on this guitar is about as ugly as it gets. I've seen pictures of the guitar with the Honeyburst finish and the quilting looked pretty impressive (even though we all know that veneer has to be whisper thin). The only thing that saves the one I bought from being a total disaster is the fact that the finish is so dark you almost can't make out the figuring. That's fine with me. Truth be told, if this model had been offered with a solid black finish, I would have chosen that, but it wasn't, so I didn't.

Other than the lousy quilt veneer, the finish on the rest of the guitar is really unbelievable for an instrument in this price range. The abalone (if that's indeed what it is) and mother-of pearl (ditto)inlay work is flawless, as is the paint and binding. I wished I could say the same for my Les Paul Custom, but that's another review (don't EVEN get me started). So again, this guitar gets high marks for its good looks. I haven't played out with it, yet, but I'll bet you a gross of 63mm Dunlop Tortex picks that all that abalone (if that's indeed what it is) will absolutely catch fire by the light of a SuperTrooper and have a few audience members 'ooohing and ahhhing'.

I don't know how many of you ever saw the 3-D Science Fiction 'classic' "Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone", but indulge me for a minute. There's a hilarious scene in that movie where Michael Ironside, playing the part of Overdog - Mutant Ruler of Terra 11, jeers the hero Wolff (played by Peter Strauss) with the unlikely taunt, "You cannot hurt me. I am made of a substance you do not even know of." Well, whatever kind of wood they used to make this guitar falls into the same category. It's surely not indestructable, but what exactly it is is a mystery.

Someone reviewing an import Hamer Sunburst Archtop on this site took great issue regarding Hamer's claim that these guitars are made of mahogany and, in fact, challenged them on it. I'm no lumberjack, but I'm pretty certain the closest this guitar comes to mahogany is mahogany-like or mahogany-ish . . . and that's being pretty generous. Is that a bad thing? I think it certainly can be, but in this price range, hoping for a quality piece of tone wood is most likely unrealistic (but more on this later).

Whatever kind of wood they built this from is awfully resonant. Acoustically, this guitar is quite loud.

For me, personally, this 'acoustic' quality can be a positive or a negative depending on what I'm using the guitar for. Plugged in, this guitar has kind of an airy, woody tone to it that I've come to expect from electric guitars that are conspicuously loud when played unplugged. To me, that makes this guitar better suited to strummed or not-too-distorted, ringing, arpeggiated rhythm work.

That's not to say this guitar wouldn't cut it for lead guitar work. It's just that for my personal tastes, the tone lacks a certain density and focus that I prefer for most of my lead stuff. It's not bad, it's just not my bag, baby, and your results are sure to vary.

To be fair, I've only played this guitar through an effects processor to a digital recorder then out to reference-quality headphones, and not through an amp, but my experience tells me not to expect a singing lead machine no matter what it's plugged into. When I do get around to plugging in, it will be into a Marshall TSL100/1960AV, a Peavey Bandit, or a Behringer V-Ampire.

The guitar comes stock with duncan-designed humbuckers which do a pretty good job. These have a decent, though somewhat generic, humbucking sound to them, which in this guitar means fairly round and full without a great deal of harmonic complexity. The bridge p/u is ever so slightly on the brittle side, and backing off on the tone control makes it a little muddy, rather than mellowing it out. Still, working with amp/processor settings could probably overcome this. The neck p/u can get a little "pudgy" and "boomy" depending on settings, and as set up at the factory, slightly overpowers the bridge pickup.

Again, this guitar is not much of a surprise tonally (except that it sounds better than a guitar this cheap has a right to) and you'll get the 'type' of sound that you would expect from any guitar of this configuration. That is to say, it's not going to deliver anything near a twangy, Fender-ish guitar tone, but more of a, dare I say it, Gibson-like tone.

One thing that impressed me is how noise-free this guitar is. I live in an old house and the current is pretty dirty. My L.P. Custom buzzes like a beehive when I plug in at home. I have a Heritage 150 CM-CL that does the same thing. Even though the Heritage was doing it, too, when I took the Paul in for a fret level, I had the shop completely rewire the control cavity to make sure there wasn't a ground problem. When I got it home, the hum was as loud as it ever was. I only mention this, because the Hamer is dead quiet no matter how dirty a setting I've used on the effects processor and that's a good thing.

I've played a lot of guitars that were set-up worse at the factory than this Hamer. The action was actually TOO low for my taste. It's not that it was buzzing/fretting out, it's just I like to "lean into it" when it come to lead playing, and so I like the action to be a little higher for a little better grip when bending. The guitar was strung with 10s, which I use for some of my other guitars, but I restrung it with .09 GHS Fatties, almost immediately upon taking it out of the box. The neck was set up with the proper amount of relief, so the only adjustment I had to make to get the guitar playing the way I like it was to raise the bridge a bit.

The pickups on this model actually come with covers and the pole-pieces on both pickups are cranked up quite high. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I plan on screwing them back down and raising the entire pickup to see if the sound can be improved a little. Also, it may be interesting to see if popping the cover off the neck p/u will add a little brightness to the sound (worked for Jeff Beck).

As previously mentioned, the "quilt" is pretty abominable on this guitar, but I can live with it. All the hardware, though obviously of "economy" quality, was properly installed and functions flawlessly. There are no mysterious rattles or buzzes going on anywhere on the guitar. The sealed machine heads, though no-name, work very smoothly with a good tactile feel and effective gear ratio. The guitar tunes easily and stays in tune. The nut and saddle pieces were cut properly, and there is no string pop when tuning. I've read a few complaints regarding the quality of the toggle switch, but the one on this guitar works fine (so far). It's not Switchcraft, but it gets the job done.

One of the questions in this section is, "Will this guitar withstand live playing?" I'm not sure what that means, but I suppose it depends on what kind of "live playing" you do. If you're Ritchie Blackmore, Pete Townshend, or the two guitar players from Black Oak Arkansas, I guess the answer is no. If you're not prone to seeing how far up into the lighting trusses you can toss your guitar; taking the term "axe" literally and chopping your amps, the stage, and your drummer's kit with your guitar; or, climaxing the last number in your set by smashing your six-string together with the other guitar player's over the head of your kneeling lead singer, then I would guess this Hamer will do just fine for playing live. The guitar has a set neck and pitched headstock (although pitched to a lesser degree than your average Les Paul), so it will probably repay you for clumsily dropping it on its back with a cracked headstock, if not breaking off altogether. This isn't a criticism, it's just the nature of this type of guitar construction.

I don't build guitars, so I don't know what materials are used to finish these instruments, but I'm sure it's like what every other guitar in this price range is finished with. It ain't nitrocellulose, but neither should you expect it to be. Whatever the substance, I'm guessing it will hold up as well as any other in it's class. The hardware, though as I mentioned being "economy" grade, is as well made as can be expected, and should probably hold up fairly well over time.

Another question in this category is, "Would you use it on a gig without a backup?"

Well, there's nothing overt to suggest this isn't a dependable instrument, but unless you're playing in the living room for mommy, daddy, and two-panty granny, there's no way you should even CONSIDER doing a real gig without a back-up. When it comes to playing live, Uncle Murphy and the Law are almost always somewhere on the bill.

N/A

This is what it all comes down to:

A number of years ago, while cruising the Musician's Friend website, I stumbled across a guitar called the Hamer Sunburst Flattop. It was on closeout for $279 with an SKB hardshell case. I've always liked Hamer guitars and even though I knew it was probably just a cheap Korean import, it looked pretty cool, so I bought it.

When it arrived, I was stunned by what I found when I opened the case.

The guitar was gorgeous, with a bookmatched flamed top (a veneer to be sure, but an extremely nice veneer) finished in a very savory transparent cherry red (front and back) that displayed a very attractive grain throughout. The body and neck were both made from solid mahogany, not mahogany-ish or mahogany-like, but the real deal. The unbound neck fit my hand perfectly and the guitar played like a dream. Plugged into my Marshall TSL100, the guitar had that thick, but clear, tightly focused tone that I love for hard rock lead and rhythm playing. Even brand new, this guitar had a hard to describe 'vintage' feel to it, as if it had already been broken in by years of playing, and I would categorize it as falling solidly between an old Gibson Melody Maker and Les Paul Junior.

The irony of all this is the little Korean Hamer Sunburst Flattop has succeeded in kicking the dog squeeze out of all my other guitars and gets played continually while the Gibson, Heritage, Ibanez, et. al. stay in their cases. I love Les Pauls, but only after they've been "worked over". I recently bought and sold a '99 Standard (internet) that just didn't have the magic. The L.P. Custom I have still wears it's original frets (which I hate) and pickups because it galls me to fork out another $500 to have it outfitted with Dunlop 6200 fretwire and some flavor of Seymour Duncan pickups. The Heritage is just about a perfect guitar . . . but there's just something about that darned Hamer Sunburst Flattop.

Which all brings me to the Hamer Sunburst Archtop SATQ.

Despite the fact (or more likely because) the Flattop has become my favorite guitar, I'd be real skittish about playing out with it for fear something might happen to it. The Gibson or Heritage could be easily (though not cheaply) replaced, but not that little Hamer import. I've looked for another one like it for years without any success. They've been discountinued and the model that's in the Slammer line IS NOT the same guitar. So I was hoping against hope that lightning would strike twice (it didn't) and ordered the SATQ from the internet without having played one. I was also hoping that because of the arched top, the SATQ might have an even fatter tone than the Flattop (it doesn't). So the search continues.

Even though the SATQ is not what I had hoped for, I think it still represents a very good value for such a relatively small amount of money. The guitar is astonishingly well-made, is very attractive, and it's sound and playability are quite good for what it cost me. One big surprise for me was the hardshell case that came with this guitar. The price included a Canadian-made, TKL "California Girl" case which is virtually identical to the one my $1250 Heritage came with. I'm a little reluctant to mention this because I really doubt that this is a standard option everywhere this guitar is sold, but it was a really nice bonus.

All things considered, I am not sorry I bought this guitar. I don't think it's destined to become one of my all-time favorites, but after a little breaking-in period and maybe some tinkering, it might become a guitar that sees its share of use. And unless and until I find another Flattop, this will probably do a serviceable job as a back-up to my other guitars. But if anybody out there has a line on an original Hamer Sunburst Flattop for sale, by all means, let me know.

Made in Korea, 22 frets, quilted maple laminated top, vol-vol-tone 3-way, Duncan "Design" PUPs, mahogany looking back and neck (pretty sure it isn't mahogany. Full binding on body, neck and head. Honey burst color - very pretty guitar. Tune-o-matic style bridge, cheap tuners.

The look of this guitar is probably its best feature. As a part-time luthier I am amazed at how nice they can make an inexpensive guitar look.

I have been a bassist for 20+ years and this is my first electric guitar. I have no style for guitar - but have played rock as a bassist primarily. This guitar is well suited for that.

Fender 50w Bassman head (not pre-CBS)
Ampeg VT-22 2x12 cab
Lab Series L-4(made by Gibson circa 1979)200w bass head and 2x15 cab
MXR Distortion +
MXR Flanger
Alesis Midiverb

Can get a pretty raunchy distortion with the Fender
Can get either with the Lab

Sounds fine to me for just goofing around.

Action needs to be set up better. Right now plays with some fret buzz. I have not fiddled with it yet, but believe I will be able to set it up satisfactory.
Pickups height was too low when I got it. Easy adjustment
For a $379 guitar (brand new) the top is beautiful. Even if it is only 1 molecule thick, as suggested in another review, you would not know it unless you gouged the top. A couple of the frets could use a bit more dressing. You have to keep in mind the price of this guitar when rating it. No, it is probably no where near the quality of the "real deal" USA Hamer, but for a novice or a player that only occassionally picks up a guitar - it is great looking guitar that is more than adequate as a playing guitar.

I am very careful with all my instruments, so durability will not be an issue for me. The tuning machines are cheapos and I will probably upgrade those in the near future. For gigging, the tuners would probably have to be replaced with something that does not go out of tune so easily.

Can't comment

20+ years as a bassist (20+ years as a pretty shabby guitar player)
Basses:
Gibson RD Artist
BC Rich (USA) Mockingbird
BC Rich (USA) Eagle
Alembic Exploiter
Spector NS2-A
Hamer (USA) Cruise w/2TEK bridge (what an awsome freaking bass for the $$, I became a huge Hamer fan after this purchase. Absolutely blows away Fender Jazz)
Carvin LB6
Erebus (custom)

Guitars:
Yamaha FG-335 accoustic

Overall, I am satisfied with this guitar. I would have liked to have gotten either the Hamer (USA) Studio Custom or the Artist Custom but could not justify the cash outlay given my level of playing ability. This guitar is a trade-off I can live with. It looks beautiful sitting in the corner of the room but is completely playable.

Good value for the money