straightblues

How about one of the Orange Tiny Terror amps with a pedal or one of the Marshall 18 watt clones.

I have played guitar for 20 years. I have never owned a Les Paul until about 9 months ago. I always tried to avoid the overpriced Gibsons and sounding like everyone else. Well, my two Les Pauls, a Standard and a Historic R6 with P-90's get that Les Paul sound that we are all use to from the records. The sound isn't better or worst than other guitars, it has just become the standard of so many records. Suddenly with a Les Paul really nailing the tones on the records becomes much much easier. So I would say that if you really want that Les Paul sound get a Les Paul, nothing else will do it 100%. Many will get close, including several Hamers but none will get it 100%. I played about 125 Les Pauls in the process of buying my two guitars. They do vary in sound, wieght and tone. There are good ones, and flat out bad ones. I wouldn't buy one without trying it first. Each one has a slightly different voice. The Les Pauls are not made as well as my Hamers (the fit and finish aren't even close).

I am working on not playing so much and leaving more open space in the music. Playing parts of chords and doing more horn type little riffs.

I have owned lots of hollow and semi hollow electric guitars through the years. They have included every type from a 17 1/2 inch wide 3 1/2 hollowbody with a spruce to all the way down the the Hamer Artist. one of them have ever given a good unplugged acoustic sound. Many have been ok, but none will be great. So I wouldn't let that be your focus. They really aren't much better than playing a solid body unplugged. Ted Nugent plays a ES175 (full hollow) with distortion. That is about as much distortion as you can get from a full hollow. If you ever listen to his live recordings you will hear the feedback and howling on occasion. If you are going to go full hollow you will need to limit the gain and focus a lot on your placement in relation to the amp. Never face the amp with your guitar. The best spot is about a 45 degree angle from the front of the amp. Stuffing the F-Hollow with foam, towles, cotton balls or an old shirt does work to help control the feedback. If you are going to be playing with gain, go semi hollow. Hamer Newport, althought fully hollow really acts more like a semi-hollow. From Hamer look at the Monaco, Newport and Artist. The Artist is most solid body like. I have a Newport (spruce top with phat cats), Mahagony Artist and a Gibson ES333 (humbuckers, a budget 335). They would all work great for you. I like the Artcore line from Ibanez if you are on a budget. Also on a budget, look for 50's and 60's Harmony, Silvertone, or Kay guitars. They made some higher end guitars during this period in addition to the junk they are most known for. Also for a budget guitar you should look for a used Hamer Echotone from Korea. The Korean made ones are very nice for an import.

I think that is the most knobs and switches that I have ever seen on an amp!!

I just bought two Les Pauls in the last 4 months. A 2000 Standard and a 2000 Historic 1956 Reissue (Goldtop with P90's). These guitars sound different than any other guitars I have played.

Well let me know how it goes. It is a sweet one.

Well I did it. I bought a Les Paul Goldtop but I didn't end up with the R4. I bought an R6 instead. (The R6 has a tunamatic bridge instead of a wrap tail). It is a players guitar, it was owned by the guitar player from the 80's rock band Europe, whoever that is. I bought it in Hollywood. All guitars in Hollywood seem to be attached to some famous or semi-famous player. It is a 2000 and it has been played and toured. It has it share of dings and the case is pretty beat up and has airline stickers on it. But the guitar plays and sounds great. It is 9.2 lbs. It is all orginal. I paid $1,600 out the door. It was a better deal and a better sounding guitar than the R4's I was able to play so I went for it. Also, I just sent Cmatthes an email. The store I bought it at acutually has one of the rare single pickup R4's in near mint condition. It is a great guitar. We should give cmatthes the first shot but if anyone wants the info on it, send me a pm.

The reason I started this journey is that I had Don Mare wind me some P90's. I have bought 4 sets of Lollars and love them. But these pickups Don wound for me are nothing short of amazing and they need to be in an amazing guitar.

Can someone tell me the diffences between the VOS and non-VOS. Hey JES 1680 does yours have a dark back? What is the difference with the dark back ones?

Thanks guy for your approval guys. I am shocked that this many Hamer fans have one of these. I guess I am in. Looks like I will need to sell a couple things to make it happen. I will post them here shortly.

I am thinking about buying a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop R4 (54 historic reissue). It it is Les Paul Goldtop with P90's and a wraptail. I have my eyes on a minty used one $1,900 that sounds and plays great. I am looking for something to get those bitting Freddie King type P90 tones on. Should I buy the R4 or is there a similar Hamer that will get me there instead? If anyone has experience with the R4 let me know you thoughts.

This one isn't over yet. The guitar hasn't arrived and it he hasn't left you feedback. It won't be over until both are done. Whatever you do, do not leave your feedback first.

What I have learned from being in business for myself, the ones who whine and want special stuff up front, almost always want special stuff in the end. I have a policy now that nobody gets special consideration. If they ask for it I run the other way. I really hope this works out for you. 3 days to ship is totally reasonable. He is an a-hole it isn't you.

I remember in the late 70's early 80's Les Pauls were very out of favor. In fact, I couldn't sell a 1972 Les Paul for $400 in 1981 after advertising it for three months. I ended up trading it for a regular american strat. I couldn't imagine trading a basic american strat for any Les Paul today. So, just remember, old Gibsons haven't always been hot and at some point they won't be again.

My first guitar was a 70's SG Special with P90's. It was a really great guitar but had tuning issues that I could just never resolve. I bought a new SG Special in mid 2004. I went and played at least 50 of them before I bought one. The quality control on SG's are horrendous. I wouldn't even consider buying on unplayed. I think the magic in the SG line is the lower end Specials. They have the flimsy neck joint and I think it adds significantly to the SG tone. The higher end SG's sound too Les Paulish to my ears. Anyway, I eventually found a nice Special and I replace the pickups with Duncan Antiquites and had it sounding good. I was very happy with it unitl I bougth a Hamer Artist. The Artist got most of the same tones and was just a much much better guitar. I sold my SG about a year or so ago and have never looked back. BTW, there is a really good SG forum called Everything SG. http://everythingsg.com/forum/index.php?action=forum

May the peace of Christ be with you and your family during this difficult time.

I am always worried shipping guitars. I had a top seperate on my Ovation last winter. I always double box and use lots of peanuts and bubble wrap. I just bought a cheap SX SJM-62 from Rondo Music. It is a $139 Chinese guitar. It was put in a sinlge box with cheap chinese cardboard and one little piece of styrafoam supporting the neck. The guitar arrived in perfect shape. When you go to some place like Guitar Center and see the boxes that the guitars ship in from the factory, they are all simple single cardboard with a little foam inside. No bubble wrap or double boxing.

Unfortunately there are a lot of egos at jams. I too have signed up and never gotten to play. It is BS but it goes on all the time. I keep going to different ones until I find one that I like. If you don't like I-IV-V you don't like the blues. Stay away from the blues jams. Go to rock jams and leave us blues boys alone. I am a traditional straight ahead blues player. I hate blues rock jams. It usually takes awhile to find the right jam. I will never really understand why rock players come out to a blues jam and want to play rock tunes. It is like going to chineese restraurant and asking for hamburgers and then complaining when they don't have them.

I don't have any Korina guitars so I can't compare. However I do have an Artist Mahogany with Humbuckers. It is a great classic rock guitar. I ended up selling my Studio because the Artist covered most of the same ground IMHO of course. I paid $650 for my Artist a couple of years ago. I really really like it. It is my only Humbucker guitar besides my Newport with TV'Jones TV'Trons.

Here is my Artist. It is a little dirty. Next time I will have to wipe off the finger prints. In case you were wondering, the chicken head knob is a varitone switch. The pictures show Duncan Antiquity pickups in the guitar. I have recently swapped them out for Lollar Imperial humbuckers.

Hey I love cajun and zydeco. I even own a washboard. Let the good times roll!!!

I have a hard time that this group of 15 singers are the best 15 in the world. Yes they have one singer from Iceland and one from Australia so the producers cast a pretty wide net. If these are the 15 best, rock and roll is in a seriously bad state. I really don't think any of them are stars. A couple are pretty good but none are worthy of fronting a big time band IMHO and several have no right being in front of a microphone even in a bar band.

The pine body is suppose to give it a little bit rounder sound. It still has the snap of ash but the note kind of roll off nicer than ash. I can see why they went away from pine though. It is way too soft. My guitar is a couple of days old and I already have several dents. It is going to be a relic in no time at all.

I am using 47 cap and a 3k resistor. If you need some detailed wiring diagrams I can get them to you just PM me.