Hamer Monaco Elite I've been watching not sell since about 2018

[kizanski]

8 hours ago, Feynman said:

No. 

No Elites.  SuperPro == awesome.  Elites, smash with rock.  I feel like this has been covered already.

Monaco Monaco is also awesome.  I'll allow one of those.  Monaco III, great.  You get the idea.

Accurate.  

[currypowder]

9 hours ago, Feynman said:

No. 

No Elites.  SuperPro == awesome.  Elites, smash with rock.  I feel like this has been covered already.

Monaco Monaco is also awesome.  I'll allow one of those.  Monaco III, great.  You get the idea.

[ArnieZ]

I have owned a Superpro and MIII, both really nice guitars but ultimately not for me. When the Elite came out I was very excited to play/own one. What could be better than a Hamer LP. It wasn’t the shelf but no real improvement on playability over the LP. Immediately lost interest. OTOH A PRS McCarty 594 did resonate strongly with me. Under 8.5 “ un chambered blah blah

[Jim85IROC]

6 hours ago, ArnieZ said:

I have owned a Superpro and MIII, both really nice guitars but ultimately not for me. When the Elite came out I was very excited to play/own one. What could be better than a Hamer LP. It wasn’t the shelf but no real improvement on playability over the LP. Immediately lost interest. OTOH A PRS McCarty 594 did resonate strongly with me. Under 8.5 “ un chambered blah blah

I have a 594 SE doublecut and it's pretty impressive. Lightweight, fantastic upper fret access, great ergonomics and I love how the pickups sound.  I especially like the fat neck and the 10" fretboard radius.  It's a fantastic combo.  So... why do I always pick up my Les Pauls instead?  I need to spend more time with the PRS.

[currypowder]

While I do like the way my Monaco Elite plays and sounds, I would agree with @ArnieZ that there's no real improvement in playability over a good LP.

I recently acquired a boutique Japan single cut from Bizen Works. While it has the bones of a good LP including Honduras mahogany, hard maple and Brazilian RW, it also has some great features that really improve playability including a fantastic chunky soft V neck, a heel-less neck joint and a bevel on the top back. There's just something about it that has quickly catapulted it to my fave LP to play.

[golem]

From my perspective, it just seems odd that a shop is willing to hold onto guitars so long just in order to get a little more money. I don't fully recall all the guitars they had from that same estate sale, but it was a lot of nice stuff. There were a few I'm pretty confident stuck around for years, but this was the tone that struck me both as the most interesting and overpriced. I was clearly right about overpriced.  

[WiskiTangoFoxtrot]

Always wanted to like the Monaco but that wacky cutaway shelf always leaves me scratching my head. 

Edited May 5, 2025 by WiskiTangoFoxtrot

[currypowder]

On 5/5/2025 at 6:14 AM, WiskiTangoFoxtrot said:

Always wanted to like the Monaco but that wacky cutaway shelf always leaves me scratching my head. 

Have you ever played one? I felt the same way until I actually played one. That shelf is a non issue concerning playability, IMO. 

[django49]

35 minutes ago, currypowder said:

Have you ever played one? I felt the same way until I actually played one. That shelf is a non issue concerning playability, IMO. 

Same. Mine, goldtop with non-original P90 pickups, plays better and is a better guitar overall (YMMV) than the original 1956 Gibson LP I had for nearly 2 decades. And, you might say, somewhat more affordable. 😁

[WiskiTangoFoxtrot]

On 5/7/2025 at 9:19 AM, currypowder said:

Have you ever played one? I felt the same way until I actually played one. That shelf is a non issue concerning playability, IMO. 

I have not had one pop up less than a 3 hour drive from me.  Would love to try one out but that alone was preventing the drive. Good to know my shelf fears are unfounded. 

[golem]

Well now we're into 2026 and it's still there. I'm guess it's been 8.5 years since I first saw this guitar. It's one of the nicer tops I've seen on a Hamer. 

[Disturber]

5 hours ago, golem said:

Well now we're into 2026 and it's still there. I'm guess it's been 8.5 years since I first saw this guitar. It's one of the nicer tops I've seen on a Hamer. 

If you want it, then you want it. Now you have spent 8,5 years of your life lusting for a guitar that you never get to play. Time is money. You have lost a lot of money. Just buy the damn thing and stop being miserable.

[golem]

@Disturber My experience in that shop has been kind of off putting. They aren't entirely honest and don't do their best work. If it was just one event, I'd probably have let it go by now. The fact that I look this guitar up from time to time is mostly to chuckle at how stubborn they are. 

I only stop by when I'm in the area which is about once or twice a year these days. Webster Groves is home to the best book store for 100s of miles The Novel Neighbor and a niche folk music store that's the best of it's type until you get to Chicago or Nashville (if you're driving North and South respectively). That folk music store is called Music Folk and is probably 100m or so (300 ft?) down the same road. In fact, I love that area and many of the small businesses it supports, which makes it more ironic to me that I have a moderate level of dislike for this particular place. 

But that's what happens when their tech screws up a basic setup on your guitar, doesn't make it right, asks you if you can afford an expensive guitar, and you catch a few other retail employees in small lies that make you feel the business is untrustworthy. It's never worth lying just to make a few bucks.