Hamer Double-Cutaway Archtop (made in Korea) Reviews 4

Purchased at Guitar Center for $399.

The guitar is absolutely stunning to looks at! It has one of the most beautiful Cherry Sunburst finishes I've ever seen! No Epiphone or Gibson Les Paul that I've seen looks quite like this one! Instead of having that annoying BRIGHT red sunburst finish of the Les Pauls, this one is a darker shade which is just gorgeous to stare at. I buffed my finger prints off it immediately after playing it for months after the purchase. Fairly good feeling neck, easy to reach and adjust on the fly knobs and pickup switch. Stayed in tune pretty well, too.

The pickups, although not crappy, weren't incredibly good sounding Humbuckers. Made by Seymore Duncan, they just didn't have the sustain or the cleanliness (for lack of a better word) of the sound. Les Pauls (whether Gibson or Epiphone) sounded better, but were obviously slightly - or vastly - more expensive. For $399, I guess I got what I paid for, but I ended up trading it in on a Nashville Power Tele instead. The pickups would probably be great in a rock setting with lots of distortion or overdrive, but when played clean, the sound wasn't as crisp, true, and ear-friendly as I had hoped.

Great construction. I liked having a non-bolted on neck. The guitar was heavy, but not nearly as heavy as a Les Paul. Basically, the weight actually held the guitar to your body when strummed hard. Beautiful looking guitar and it has a GREAT stage presence! I almost didn't want to get rid of it because it was so beautiful...

Great introductory guitar with two humbuckers, but if you're looking for good PERFORMANCE sound, choose the Les Paul instead...

Ryan from Seattle rated this unit 4 on 2002-10-30.

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