Used Korean Hamer Vector

[marnold]

Hi all,

I have a line on a used Korean Hamer Vector in black. I know very little about them. It's got block inlays and neck binding (I believe). The headstock looks like a cross between a Gibson flying V and "open book" headstock. It appears that someone moved the jack from inside the lower horn to the front, behind the volume and tone controls. It is a hardtail, string-through-body.

This one has Seymour Duncan (not Duncan Designed) pickups. Not sure what the neck is, but the bridge appears to be a Screamin' Demon since that's the only SD pickup I know with both screw and allen head pole pieces. It's in pretty good shape except they lightly sanded the neck to remove the glossiness from the finish.

My questions are these:

1) Were those Duncans ever stock on a Korean Vector, or is that aftermarket?

2) Any idea what the wood might be? Fret size? Radius? From eyeballing it it appears to be 24 3/4" scale. Is that right?

3) Any idea what year it might be?

4) Any idea what a decent price might be? I think they were asking $350.

I'm rather interested because I've always liked that style of flying V. If the pickups are aftermarket, I'll have to look at see if the wiring is a hatchet job .

Thanks for any help you can give. I've been Googling up a storm and searching through here, but haven't turned up much.

Thanks,

Matt

[zorrow]

Black Korean Vectors with block inlays are quite rare. I think they were built just at the beginning, when the import Vectors started, because at a given point they were no longer available and you could only get the dot inlays on the red and black models, and boomers on the flametops.

As far as I know, all those Korean Vectors sported Duncan Designed pups, so those you have are very probably aftermarket.

The year is hard to tell, but it should be late 90's, early 2K. I frankly don't remember.

The scale is definitively 24.75", yes.

The wood should be alder body with maple neck and rosewood fingerboard.

BTW, those early Vectors should follow the specs of this one here, more or less: http://www.hamerguitars.com/?fa=detail&mid=960

As of the price goes, in the $300-$400 range sounds fair to me. Don't know what others might think though.

[marnold]

Thanks for the info! What is the general consensus on the Korean-made guitars? In general, I've heard and experienced good things from Korean-made instruments, but not so much about the Hamers.

[zorrow]

The first Korean-made Hamers were the Slammer Series (warning: it's not the same than "Slammer By Hamer", which came later and were quite crappy and made in Indonesia).

Those "Slammer Series" were as good as any Japan-made guitar. The general consensus is that they were really great. Awesome quality for lil' price, still IMHO the best deal out there for any electric guitar.

Then, the XT models arrived. They were made in Korea at first. I've owned two of those. Their quality was still quite good, although I've always felt the "Slammer Series" were much better.

Then, they started building the XT models in China. I owned a Chinese Standard that was an awesome guitar. Sadly, I never adapted to the shape. I sold it to a guy who compared it side-by-side to a US-made Gibson Explorer and ended choosing the Hamer, so you can bet it was that good.

Now I've seen around some XT models built in Indonesia. I've never tried one, so I have no idea how good (or bad) they are.

[marnold]

Do the original Slammer series indicate that somewhere? Seems to me that the "Slammer by Hamer" ones had that on the headstock.

[kizanski]

I had one with crowns many moons ago.
It was a very decent guitar.

[JohnnyB]

Do the original Slammer series indicate that somewhere? Seems to me that the "Slammer by Hamer" ones had that on the headstock.

Yes. It has the big Hamer logo on the headstock, and underneath it in a smaller font it says SLAMMER SERIES. When the marketing geniuses later came out with the sub-standard Indonesian Slammer by Hamer series, they absolutely KILLED the reputation and resale value of the original MIK Hamer SLAMMER SERIES. I picked up a pair of Hamer Slammer Series Strat copies at a pawnshop for $120 out-the-door. That's right, $60 apiece.

[cmatthes]

I bought one new for my son 10-11 years ago. It was new at GC for $105.99.

The Duncan is a replacement - Duncan Designed were original.

Pretty decent for the money, but $350 seems pretty steep to me if it's been mucked with. The switches suck - I'd replace that if it is going to be a gigger.

[marnold]

Yep, kizanski, that's exactly what this one looks like, except with the real Duncans and the jack in front. It's been there for five months on consignment, so I might be able to talk him down. Assuming that the Duncans actually work and the wiring is halfway decent, it would be worth looking into. Oh yeah, there's just an open hole now on the top of the lower wing where the jack once was.

I didn't have a chance to play it, but I'll have to try when I go back there on Tuesday.

Thanks for everybody's help and info. I really appreciate it!

[marnold]

I played it and the wiring was a little wonky--lots of noise. The shop owner opened it up and, among other minor problems, one of the leads was basically not soldered to the switch. There was a blob of solder keeping it from pulling out entirely, but that's it. Someone mistakenly thought solder is glue. Anyway, when he was fixing it the owner took out the pups and confirmed that it is a Screamin' Demon in the bridge and a Pearly Gates in the neck. He claims it works fine now, but I haven't had a chance to check on it. Also the B or G (don't remember which) is binding at the nut, but that's relatively easily remedied.

[marnold]

Another thing I noticed when the cavity was opened up is that the tone pot had a huge Russian cap in it. At least I assume it was Russian because it had Cyrillic letters on it. It looked like it was installed very well. Were those typically used in Hamers or was that aftermarket as well?