Hamer Standard Flametop Electric GuitarThe Hamer Standard Flametop is the only guitar that can rival the original Hamer USA Standard Custom. The Ivoroid-bound neck and body are made of Alder and capped with a stunning two-piece Flamed Maple top. This baby features two Hamer humbucking pickups and Rosewood fingerboard dressed with Crown inlays just like its USA cousin.
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This is pretty decent guitar for the money. I was hard pressed to find a Standard Flametop to play before I purchased this one. However, I was able to try Ibanez and Epiphone Explorer copies at a nearby store so I had an idea of the guitar's overall feel.Keep in mind, within this review, that I haven't even played it through an amplifier yet. All my gear is at our drummer's practice studio. However, I can comment on the guitar's quality and Music123's service.Music123.com's service was excellent when I ordered the guitar by phone. I paid an extra $20 for shipping because I wanted it quick for an upcoming gig in late October. The 3-day Fedex service delivered it one day early! Awesome! Thanks guys...It has a few extremely minor defects. One looks like a finishing blemish on the back of the neck (a series of 5 very small light grey dots underneath the finish). The other looks like a "skid-mark" nick on the back of the lower horn (5 tiny nicks that are about 3/16ths wide and combined together are 1/2 inch long).But these minor defects are not even noticeable from 2 feet away and both are on the rear of the guitar. I've already been told they can be buffed out pretty easily. I'm not too concerned since I play live about twice a month.I was impressed to find that all the frets were in great shape--no flat spots or buzzing anywhere. The Standard appears fully intonated and ready to go. The action was set just right--I couldn't believe it.Acoustically, this guitar is loud and sustains long without amplification. Like many posts that I've already read about this particular Chinese-made Standard, I will be replacing the pickups and nut right away. No one seems to like the stock pickups and black plastic nut. Others have complained about the stock tuners but I don't think they're all that bad. I've seen much worse than this. I'll probably end getting Schaller locking tuners anyway.The neck is nice and smooth and plays similar to a Gibson or Ibanez Les Paul. The only drawback I found was trying to reach the 22nd fret. It is blocked by the curve of the lower horn. After careful examination of other 2005 catalogs by Ibanez, Gibson and Hamer, it's just part of the design of the Explorer. The curve of the horn comes up to the top of the 20th fret. Depending on left hand size, you will have to bring your hand over the top of the fingerboard to reach the 22nd fret. It is do-able but takes time getting used to it. I had the same problem with some Les Paul copies that had bolt-on necks where the joint area was fatter than usual.Overall, this is an excellent guitar to play and own. Most players I know start swapping out hardware the moment they get their import guitar.I'm no different from the rest...I will try and follow-up with a review of the guitar's amplified sound with the stock pickups and EMG pickups later.
this guitar sounds very good. it needs to be set up when it comes out of the box, but other than that , its over all good
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