willhutch Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 I just bought my first Hamer: A red Monaco III!!!!What a toneful instrument - way fat and full of wood and air! Never having owned a guitar with P-90s, I'm now in experimentation mode to see how it interacts with all my amps. It behaves much differently than my other guitars. Specifically, the pickups are somewhat hotter, requiring the amps to be dialed in differently. The guitar seems to work best with my higher-wattage amps, it seems to eat my 12 and 15 watters for lunch, unless I roll the volume on the guitar down a bit. The P-90's seem very well suited to controlling with the guitar's volume. There are usable sounds with the knob at 4 all the way up to full volume. A wider range than on my other axes. Excellent playability on this guitar - nice string tension and action. The bridge design and position of the pickups are comfortable. It's a bit different than what I'm used to, however. The neck is fatter and the body shape creates different contact points with my body. I had no idea that Hamers were such great guitars. Played my first gig with it and was really pleased with the tones available on the guitar. I have been playing Tom Andersons and I find the Monaco a wonderful addition to my collection. I hop I can join the brotherhood of Hamer users. I'll check back often!!!
serial Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 Welcome aboard and a very nice introduction to the brand, indeed! Hamer tone controls are "flat" at 5 or so-you might get even more useful tones with that in mind. Many people find Hamers too bright simply by never touching the tone control and leaving it on 10. Hamers won't "mud out" like Gibsons often do when you roll the tone off.Congrats and welcome again!
cmatthes Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 You started out with a fantastic Hamer. I love my M3.
Brother Noud Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 I too have a M3. It is just an incredible guitar with a great vibe.I found the stock duncans (hot and custom p-90's) just too hot for my tastes, so I swapped]them out for Lollars. I move I will never regret. Gotta love that long scale, wide neck. The inlays and binding are trulya work of art. All that plus the hollowbody mojo. Welcome to the club. By the way, which is your next Hamer?
BCR Greg Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 Welcome!Watch out for that Serial guy, he might try to sneak a kiss off ya!
Mad Man Mike Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 Welcome!Watch out for that Serial guy, he might try to sneak a kiss off ya!Let him learn by himself Greg what is wrong with you anyway. I had to learn the hard way. Welcome aboard and play the death out of the new Git Fiddle you now have. I have always enjoyed my Hamers and I am sure you will as well.
BCR Greg Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 Jeez, Gabe. SHUT UP, willya?These long posts are clogging my computer...............
Sentinel Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 Welcome to this friendly neighbourhood! I'm also quite new here (joined earlier this year) but already I feel at home; Hamer makes excellent guitars and the guys here are the good guys!
atquinn Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 Congrats on the new Hamer. If you're anything like most of the guys who hang around here, it won't be your last... -Austin
willhutch Posted December 27, 2006 Author Posted December 27, 2006 Thanks for the warm welcome! It sounds like Lollar P-90s are popular in the Monaco III. Seeing the way some of my amps respond to the stock PUPs, a lower output P-90 might fit the bill.
mathman Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 Welcome! There are a great bunch of people here who will help you a lot if you let them. I wish I lived closer to some of the jams. I would love to be able to go.
belgian Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 Beware ! Sentinel started here earlier this year with also one Hamer. Now he has 3. I don't even want to mention where it brought me
Sentinel Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 Beware ! Sentinel started here earlier this year with also one Hamer. Now he has 3. I was just thinking about that... one in April, one in July and another in November...! And NOW I'm even contemplating on buying another one soon... Hamer guitars are truly addictive! I don't even want to mention where it brought me Well if you say "A"...!!
Tokyo Tapes Posted December 28, 2006 Posted December 28, 2006 Addictive is the word. Welcome to the nicest forum on the net.
tafkathundernotes Posted December 29, 2006 Posted December 29, 2006 Well, let's see........ .......a new guy...... ......seems to have a command of the language.... .......only has one Hamer, ..............but that's one more than Poe ...... .............. Yeah, what the hell, c'mon in!
Hamer95USA Posted December 29, 2006 Posted December 29, 2006 I hope I can join the brotherhood of Hamer users. I'll check back often!!! Hey willhutch, Welcome to the HFC!! Let me get you a beer and some pretzels. The price of admission is a late '70s-early '80s crowned & bound Standard and you have to sell any of your Hamer guitars to me for $350.00. I want that Standard at my house before New Year's Eve, ok? Guitar George
willhutch Posted December 31, 2006 Author Posted December 31, 2006 Well, let's see........ .......a new guy...... ......seems to have a command of the language.... .......only has one Hamer, ..............but that's one more than Poe ...... .............. Yeah, what the hell, c'mon in! The price of admission is kinda steep around here. I gotta give away all kinds of guitars AND I need to have command of the language!!! Can I just be a honorary member???? The Monaco III continues to serve me well. I'm still floored by the sound of this guitar. Fat, but in no way flabby. It's rare to find a guitar with so much girth yet so much punch. It captures the best aspects of hollowbody and solidbody characteristics. It has the airiness, woodiness and roundness of a hollowbody. But it also has the sustain and explosiveness of a good solidbody. Many of the semi-hollowbody guitars I've played are kinda plinky, with sharp attack and rapid decay. Not here. In an effort to keep it real, I will offer the following criticisms: 1) The tuning stability isn't what I'm used to. The G string drifts. It seems to go flat after big bends. Goes sharp if I use the bigsby. Hopefully this can be addressed with some TLC. 2) The guitar doesn't play as sweetly up the neck as some of my other guitars. Granted, high notes loose some sustain on all guitars, but the effect is a little more severe on this guitar than on my Andersons (which are chambered solid-bodies). Maybe this can be tweaked by a good tech. I'm not skilled enough to work with this. The things I CAN adjust - intonation, trussrod, saddle height - all seem to be in proper adjustment. 3) The guitar is not as comfy as my other axes. Being a hollowbody, it is thicker, which feels awkward to my right arm. Also, the place where the top meets the side cuts into my right forearm. It got downright uncomfortable on the first gig, but I'm getting used to it. Also, the bridge seems to catch my sleeve when i do certain theatrical movements on stage. It happened about 6 times over the past two gigs. These issues are not criticisms or flaws. These are simply observations made thru contrast with my more familiar gear. 4) This guitar doesn't play nice with all of my amps. It loves my Two-Rock Opal and my Vibrolux (LOVES the Vibrolux, I say!). It doesn't get along with my Princeton or my Savage Rohr 15. The PUPS are TOO HOT. I need to roll off a lot of volume to keep the inputs of my low-power amps from being overloaded. Maybe some new PUPS are in my future???? But, back to the positives: TONE, TONE, TONE...........RESPONSIVENESS, PUNCH, SUSTAIN, CHARACTER. Anyone care to offer their experiences?
tafkathundernotes Posted December 31, 2006 Posted December 31, 2006 Try some graph-tech saddles or maybe some o dat "nut sauce" people keep talking about.
cordroad Posted December 31, 2006 Posted December 31, 2006 Welcome and happy new year. Glad to have ya!
phoenix Posted December 31, 2006 Posted December 31, 2006 Welcome! I must warn you though, if you come after my spot as omega guitar player, there is going to be a fight.No, momentary suckage wont cut it. You have to take years of lessons from a top-flight pro and learn so slowly that he writes a concerned note to your family asking about head injuries.
Abaco Posted December 31, 2006 Posted December 31, 2006 Congrats and welcome. Hamer guitars are really cool!!! And, the group of this forum are the best you'll find. It's a great club.
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