Hamer imports -- what can you tell me?

[Mononoaware]

I got a chance to play a few of the double cutaway import Hamers yesterday -- a P90 and a couple HH guitars. I was impressed with the workmanship overall, love the looks, and the unplugged sound on several was great, especially for the $$. And these are Chinese and Indonesian guitars, no less.

I've only seen the Hamer American work before now, which is fantastic, but out of my current price range. What are your guys' impressions/experiences with the lower-line Hamer stuff?

[darnright]

The ones I have played have been pretty good. I'm not sure if they were Chinese or Indonesian. I'm thinking they must have decent quality control. This was some time back (1-2 years) so way before Fender bought them..don't know if that made any difference or not.

-dave

[BTMN]

The Korean made Hamer Imports are a real nice made deal. I'd say try it, you like it take a chance. The Archtop Sunbursts are real cool.

[Lazarus1140]

I had a Hamer FM Special in the early 80's. It was a great guitar. The neck felt the same as a Gibson ES-335.

Other than that, my only experience has been that I have seen two Hamer strat copies with warped necks at pawn shops. That's not necessarily an indictment of the Slammer Series ..... you never know what kind of life a guitar has led prior to or during its stay at the pawn shop.

[marvar]

These are not SLAMMERS, that is a whole different animal (Junk). These are the XT series.
I have 2 of the Hamers you are talking about- one is Korean made, the other is Chinese.
I bought the Korean one just because I didn't want to take my old Les Paul out to the bars anymore. I fell totally in love with it. As I'm a Gibson kind of guy, these are just the ticket, great neck, great build quality, great playability. I also like having 2 vol pots, and as I never use the tone pot, 1 is just fine with me.
I liked it so much, I bought another one, but I didn't realize it was Chinese. I can feel a slight difference between them, the Korean one feels, well, just better, seems to have better tuners and pots. If you can find a Korean made one, I'd go with that.
I didn't care for the pups in these, it was the first thing I changed.
I have a set of Phat Cats in the Korean one,and it is my main guitar at the moment, and some Gibson HBs w/Gibson pots in the other. I couldn't be happier.
Can't beat them for the price.


P.S. I sold my import PRS, because I liked these better.

[Lazarus1140]

Man, that cherryburst is sweet looking. Mine was a flat top and was furnished with Duncans.

[PylonRacer]

Like Marvar said the pups are not so great. One thing I noticed with the Korean (and I'm assuming Chinese) double cutaways is the neck is a little flimsy. I was able to bend it all over the place if I put too much pressure on it. This is not the case with the US Hamers.

[marvar]

Like Marvar said the pups are not so great. One thing I noticed with the Korean (and I'm assuming Chinese) double cutaways is the neck is a little flimsy. I was able to bend it all over the place if I put too much pressure on it. This is not the case with the US Hamers.

The earliest of the Hamer series, from a few years ago, did have Duncan Designed pups, I had one of those at one time, I didn't care for those pups either.
As far as the flimsy neck, I've found that the truss rods weren't really set right from the get go, as I set up my own guitars, I snugged it a bit, I've had no real problems with the neck shifting. The blue one got knocked over, and the high E string was fretting out on the first fret. I re-adjusted the neck, and all is well now.

[Brett Valentine]

Nice, well made guitars. Worth getting a setup done (any uneven frets dressed). New pickups (I think new tuners as well) and you're good to go. One thing I noticed is that while they're pretty stable, the necks can be pulled sharp or pushed flat pretty easily. But these 2 (black SATQ, and amber SATF) are my current favorites.

[shawnr]

I have a Sunburst Flat Top from the first series of Slammers--the previous owner "downgraded" the bridge pup to a zebra pup that was probably from a Hondo, sounded really bad.

A buddy gave me an Ibanez V2, which actually sounds pretty good with the D. Designed neck pickup. The neck on this is "just right" and works very well for most things you'd want a Humbucker sound for.

[uOpt]

I love marvar's blue one

I have/had a Chinese LP copy that probably is similar to Chinese Hamer's. Very well made and sounds good for most uses. Problems are junk bridge and junk controls. Pickups and tuners are OK. The paint picks up scratches more easily than higher quality guitars. Playability is excellent.

Being a cheap guitar, it has a 3-piece mahogany back, and the neck has a separate headstock and the extra piece on the heel. The guitar sounds great on the bridge pickup but needs nursing on the neck, that probably has to do with the heel.

My Korean PRS was similarly well-made but had worse pickups, better bridge and controls and better paint.

Overall I have a "all that Korean stuff" kind of feel, the major problem is that these Korean mades are all very similar. I picked up a Schecter C-1 which I didn't look where it was made but it felt so similar to the PRS SE, same paint, same work style, almost identical, even in sound.