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atquinn

By atquinn
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Mike_C Inner Circle

Mike_C

Posted
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Got me I love my 3 p-90 standard and ahve really dug the p-90 gold tops I've played so I would think that this would be a great sounding guitar but p 90's are an aquired taste.

cmatthes Veteran HFCer

cmatthes

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Is it a hard & fast rule that Hamer is doing maple instead of spruce tops on anything with an opaque finish now? I'm curious, because I have a M3 in the works.

That being said, I have a spruce-topped P-90 goldtop Duotone that sounds fine to me - P-90s are P-90s. The opaque finish on that is 10 years old and not a single ripple or flaw yet.

kizanski Veteran HFCer

kizanski

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What's up with this guitar?!? Is it just a dud or do maple tops REALLY clash with everything else Monaco III's have going on?

A dud? No, I wouldn't say that, but the guitar is not without its "issues."

If the guitar is the way I sold it (and there's no reason to believe otherwise), the seller is accurately describing its condition. It was brand new condition when I bought it from the original owner, and I sold it in the same condition.

In fairness, the guitar hasn't been passed along like the proverbial prom date. The seller is the guy I sold it to. He has just listed it several times with no success. With the current lower price (he's selling it at a several hundred dollar loss), he should be able to move it. The guitar is certainly worth a lot more.

The issues that I alluded to are purely in the realm of design.

The maple top may not have been a bad idea on its own, but coupled with the hot Duncans it came with, it was simply a bad combination.

That said, it is a great playing guitar. In typical Hamer fashion, it is smooth as glass, and rings quite loudly when strummed acoustically. Plugged in is where the guitar loses its functionality. It's simply too bright and tight sounding, and completely devoid of the "coolness" that the other M3s I've heard have.

The custom wiring was just a mistake, plain and simple. I am not a fan of the "master tone/master volume" setup, so I can see the desire for the additional control, but that 3rd control on this particular guitar was there to blend in the middle pickup. This was a problem for me for two reasons:

First, the knob is about a mile away from your picking hand, and hidden under the Bigsby. God help you if you really need to roll the middle pickup in or out while playing the guitar standing up with a strap. It's hard enough to get to while seated.

Second, why "blend" in the middle pickup when a push/pull pot would do the job much easier and faster. The difference in sounds by blending the pickup partially in or out was akin to picking gnat sh!t out of pepper.

If I were in the market, I would snatch the guitar up, change the pickups, and live with the middle pickup inconvenience. At the minimum bid price, you'd be saving over $1000 from what this guitar cost new with all of its options.

atquinn Veteran HFCer

atquinn

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Thanks for the background Kiz. I'm in the market for something totally different right now myself, but hopefully someone will end up buying that guitar and giving it the love it needs ;).

-Austin

cmatthes Veteran HFCer

cmatthes

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You should order one, EL!

I know a dealer or two... ;)

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