Hamer vs Heritage

[atquinn]

...they didn't really convince me.

In what sense?

-Austin

in quality!!!

binding and paintjob lacked.

ridiculous for show guitars.

i also didn't have that feeling: I'm home!

like i always had when i got my others.

the guys (i guess fender) even left old dirty strings on

and i had that feeling they want to ruin that brand.

that doesn't make sense to me.

the hamer "showroom" was ridiculous small for represent

hamer at the world's biggest musicfair.

(about 10 times bigger than the NAMM)

they had about 7-8 USA hamers there, including 2 basses.

rest was asian crap - see pic!

klaus

Interesting. Have you been to MM in the past few years? Because I would be surprised if Hamer's presentation was much different pre-Fender. Due to their relatively low output, it doesn't make sense for many boutique companies like Hamer to expend much of an effort at MM. Hell, many don't show up at all!

-Austin

[Thundersteel]

No matter what forum you go on, they're going to be biased. If I were to go on the Fender Forum and ask which is better, Fender or G&L, what do you think the answers will be?

I like my Heritages, Hamers, G&Ls, Seagull, Tacoma, and Gibsons. They remind me of Baskin-Robbins--what flavor will I play today?

I have heard but never confirmed that the Heritage LP "Copy" makes a Gibson LP feel like an SG...they are supposed to be brutally heavy

.

Not true. My two H150s (LP "Copy," as you put it) weigh less than my '89 LP Custom.

[proxmax]

austin,

i'm there every year - it's 20 miles afar

for years hamer didn't have even a distributor - quiet ridiculous.

no wonder they had to sell the company, when they don't want to sell guitars.

then they had a distributor that didn't show any effort.

they had a big stand, but didn't know too much about hamer.

"we call back" - never did.

kaman showed up next year, but without hamer.

now fender just took hamer with them, but nothing more.

not even a guy there people could ask questions.

no accident, i'm always there all 4 days.

last but not least the prices:

that newport usa costs ~4000 €, by actual exchange $ 5600.

would you buy?

many other "boutique companies" showed up there and they made good business.

even very small ones like nik huber or siggi braun were there and

they have way less output.

in germany the youngsters don't even know hamer.

that can't be hamer's philosophy.

cheers

klaus

[atquinn]

...

even very small ones like nik huber or siggi braun were there and

they have way less output.

...

3 guesses as to what the main difference between those companies and Hamer is

If you think Hamer prices in Europe are ridiculous (and I think they are; so much so, that I'm surprised Hamer tries to sell them at all), try to buy one of the guitars you mentioned in the US!

-Austin

[edgar_allan_poe]

If you think Hamer prices in Europe are ridiculous (and I think they are; so much so, that I'm surprised Hamer tries to sell them at all), try to buy one of the guitars you mentioned in the US!

Only the most outlandish Huber will take you to 5.6K. I could be wrong as I haven't priced them is a couple of years, but you would have to get some serious bling on a Huber to take you to 6K. IIRC my Redwood with exceptional top, Dolphins, and braz board listed for around 5.5K.

[proxmax]

i read here from many nik huber customers.

don't know about the us-prices.

i don't see any sense for a company to sell their

products "just a bit" and not with full effort.

[JohnnyB]

I don't think you can make a totally fair comparison between the two brands because Heritage overall makes good guitars, some really nice, and in the case of their better jazz boxes such as when they made the Johnny Smith, exquisite.

Hamer manufactures to only one build quality--exquisite.

But a guitar doesn't have to be exquisite to be a great instrument. Compared to the Gibsons, the Heritage hollowbodies, semihollows, and thinlines are bargains. Hamer doesn't make any constructed hollow guitars. They're all routed mahogany planks with a maple or spruce top. In that area, the Heritage is a better deal if that's what you're looking for.

But even there, Heritage is not necessarily the value leader. Like anything else, some models will be market leaders and some won't. For example, I've played the Heritage ES-335 copies--the 535, and I own an MIJ Ibanez AS-180 (very similar to the Scofield artist model). I'll take my Ibanez over the Heritage.

OTOH, Johnny Smith was a Heritage endorser for awhile and I saw/played a NOS Heritage Johnny Smith Rose, and I don't see how a guitar could be any better. Heritage dropped the model when Smith moved on to Fender/Guild/Benedetto in 2006. Here's what it looked like:

Also, if you want a Les Paul but don't want to spend the money, I can't imagine what would give you more of the power and heft than one of the H-150 variants. I've seen used ones priced at $450 that would equal all but the best of the LPs.

[MTM105]

Also, if you want a Les Paul but don't want to spend the money, I can't imagine what would give you more of the power and heft than one of the H-150 variants. I've seen used ones priced at $450 that would equal all but the best of the LPs.

this is the answer I sought when starting the thread.

I honestly thought the thread wouldn't last 1/2 day.