Rich_S Posted June 4, 2013 Posted June 4, 2013 Hi, all. I'm a HFC noob, though I know a couple of you from the SDUGF. I've been a big Hamer fan ever since I watched Cheap Trick, at the bottom of a triple-bill, blow Sweet and headliners Foghat off the stage at the Philly Spectrum, right after "Heaven Tonight" came out. The natural-maple Zandard he played that night has been my fav ever since.Anyway, since I'm not playing out any more and have four kids to get through college, I make do with budget guitars, though I try to find the ones that just "work" right and provide the sound and playability of more expensive axes. The other day I noticed a Hamer on the used wall at my local store, when I pulled it down, I found it was a Hamer Slammer Series. It's roughly the equivalent of the "Sunburst" model; double-cut LP Junior shape, single-bound maple top, trans amber finish, two humbuckers, tune-o-matic with stop tailpiece. I only had a minute to check it out, but the clear-finished body and neck appear to be all mahogany. I only played a couple of chords, but it rang with a clear, midrangey voice, with nice sustain and resonance. GIven the $200 price, it certainly fits my "bottom-feeder but with standards" mentality. I need to get back to the store and check it out better, but in the meantime, I'll ask the experts: what's the rep on these guitars? I understand they're imports, but are threy good imports or crappy imports? Assuming they're still stock, what can I expect from the pickups? What about hardware, is it compatible with normal stuff and upgradeable?Tell me what you know, Hamerites.
zorrow Posted June 4, 2013 Posted June 4, 2013 Welcome around!I have played only the shredders, so I cannot tell for the Sunburst, but from what I've tried myself, the Slammer Series are really good imports -way better than anything you can find around nowadays.
gorch Posted June 4, 2013 Posted June 4, 2013 Welcome to the boards. The Slammer Series are perfect guitars, just not USA made and miss out one or the other comfort feature. Those guitars are highly underrated and cheap to get. Check it out in the shop and you will hear it confirmed. Ask for little price reduction and you could not buy happier.
Steve Haynie Posted June 4, 2013 Posted June 4, 2013 The Slammer Series were good Korean made guitars. For their price range when they were new they were respectable.
Rich_S Posted June 4, 2013 Author Posted June 4, 2013 Well I spent some quality time with it today. Double-checked the peghead, it is indeed a "Hamer Slammer Series". It plays really well, but the sixth string buzzes when fretted from the first fret up to around the fifth. I had trouble getting it to stay in tune, but I think this was just because the store put new strings on it, and they haven't been played in yet. The intonation was off, but the saddles all seem to have enough travel to get it set corrrectly. The unplugged sound is good. The electronics all work , but the neck volume pot is needs cleaning and the output jack is loose and needs replacing. The pickups say "Duncan Designed"; anybody know what they are? There are a few small dings, and one big one below the controls. It looks to be purely a finish crack and as far as I can tell, the wood isn't dented. There is a small indentation in the binding. There is some finish weirdness around the neck. At first, I thought it had been reglued, but after a closer look, it appears the finish has just lifted off the inside corners. Is this what they call Hameritis? In some spots, you can feel a crack where the neck finish has lifted higher than the body. In other places, it's just lifted off the wood, but the finish "fillet" is still smooth. I don't see any problem with the finish across the back of the neck joint, just the sides. Whadda ya think? Good deal at $200, or haggle? Or pass, and hang onto the MIM Esquire I'd sell off if I bought the Hamer?
hamerhead Posted June 4, 2013 Posted June 4, 2013 You may want to hold off - something better will come along. They're out there with less issues for less money. I wouldn't go more than $100 on that particular one - if you really wanted it. It's had the pickups changed to boot, because 'Duncan Designed' pickups came later.The 'Slammer Series" (under the Hamer logo) are the first and arguably the best of the Hamer imports. The 'Hamer' line (with nothing else on the headstock and 'Duncan Designed' pickups) would be my 2nd pick. The XTs are good for certain models, not so much with others. The 'Slammer' and 'Slammer by Hamer' guitars are probably the worst.By changing names every couple of years, Hamer confused the import line as much as they confused the USA line.
Brooks Posted June 4, 2013 Posted June 4, 2013 haggle. there are plenty of slammer series out there. buy that fender superchamp XD, too.
Rich_S Posted June 4, 2013 Author Posted June 4, 2013 Welcome! You know how I feel. Umm... "Buy 'em all, and if they don't exist, design 'em and have 'em built." ?
Carl.B Posted June 4, 2013 Posted June 4, 2013 The HAMER slammer series are very good guitars for the money. That was the first run of Korean made Hamer's the next two series just say HAMER on the head stock with a made in Korea sticker on the back of it. Those are good guitars that can be had reasonably cheap too. The Duncan Designed pickups are knock offs of the JB/59 pickups good but replaceable. I currently have 3 Korean Hamers , eclipse, strat/daytona, and a sunburst all total for $335. Check your local Craig's list or guitar center used site or music go round website they always have one or 2.PSWelcome to the HFC!
Ting Ho Dung Posted June 4, 2013 Posted June 4, 2013 1st thru 5th fret buzz = truss rod adjustment. Easy fix once you get it home. Tell them you'll take it but at reduced price so you can get your tech to look at it.
Victor (Fret Friend) Posted June 4, 2013 Posted June 4, 2013 Likely made at the Cort Factory (a great builder) between 92 + 98. Duncan designed HB-103s are designed around the original Seymour Duncan SD-6 (Super Disstortion) but are made by a 3rd party in Korea. Slammer Series are fkn good guitars even tho (like zorrow) I only ever owned/played the import shredders...
aknapp Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 Is that Hameritis? On an import?!?!? I thought that was a standard feature only on the US made guitars.....
Rich_S Posted June 5, 2013 Author Posted June 5, 2013 IDK... I'm a noob. I never heard of Hameritis until I read about it here yesterday. It just looks as though the finish has separated from the wood along both side corners of the neck-body joint. It looks fine along the back of the joint.It's funny... I took that photo to show the defect, but what I moslty see is a nice piece of mahogany. A couple pieces, actually, the neck's nice, too, although that spliced-on heel is kinda weird. I understand why they did it - to reduce waste while making necks out of thinner pieces - but it looks weird. The spliced-on headstock is really bizarre, I've never seen anything like it, but at least you can't see it from the front.
humfree Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 You may want to hold off - something better will come along. They're out there with less issues for less money. I wouldn't go more than $100 on that particular one - if you really wanted it. It's had the pickups changed to boot, because 'Duncan Designed' pickups came later.The 'Slammer Series" (under the Hamer logo) are the first and arguably the best of the Hamer imports. The 'Hamer' line (with nothing else on the headstock and 'Duncan Designed' pickups) would be my 2nd pick. The XTs are good for certain models, not so much with others. The 'Slammer' and 'Slammer by Hamer' guitars are probably the worst.By changing names every couple of years, Hamer confused the import line as much as they confused the USA line.This should be a sticky.. along with production numbers for USAs..I don't know why I can't keep it straight.
BTMN Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 I have one exactly like that with the Duncan Designed 103s in it just like Vic posted. Oh wait my friend Tim has that one out in Phoenix at the moment. It has Duncan Designed logoed ones in it like the one you have seen.Have a Trans Red one too.Does it have a hard case? Does it "warble when you wiggle it' as if the neck/body joint is loose? Not really "hameritis" in the classical way as most describe it and I have not seen that on an import.Looks more like a finish stress crack like most imports. Deans are notorious for it in the import line. Doesn't really bother most any guitar I have ever seen it on unless that guitar was abused as some are.If they adjusted the truss rod and gave it a setup, cash in hand/pocket I might offer $150 with case or $125 no case, see if they bite.
gorch Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 Ask if they would make a proper setup, intonation, trussrod etc. Pickups are allright, not the best, but alright.
hamerhead Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 I have one exactly like that with the Duncan Designed 103s in it just like Vic posted. It has Duncan Designed logoed ones in it like the one you have seen.Have a Trans Red one too.Are yours stock 'Slammer Series' guitars, Gene? I'm no expert (on anything - trust me), but I always thought the 'Duncan Designed' pickups came later and weren't the stock pickups in the 'Slammer Series' guitars.
BTMN Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 I have had 3 Trans Amber and one Trans Red Sunburst models all labeled Hammer Slammer Series. All late 90's guitars with Duncan Designed labeled exposed Black coiled pickups. All were stock. I would make no claim as an expert either so there may have been like you mention.
Victor (Fret Friend) Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 Are yours stock 'Slammer Series' guitars, Gene? I'm no expert (on anything - trust me), but I always thought the 'Duncan Designed' pickups came later and weren't the stock pickups in the 'Slammer Series' guitars.My 1992 Slammer Series Diablo (made at the Cort factory/Korea) came with Duncan Designed HB-103s as stock pickups. Though iot was built in 1992, I bought it new in 1996 from Music Inn in Nottingham, UK for £350.00 ($550.00 US)...
cynic Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 It's funny... I took that photo to show the defect, but what I moslty see is a nice piece of mahogany. A couple pieces, actually, the neck's nice, too, although that spliced-on heel is kinda weird. I understand why they did it - to reduce waste while making necks out of thinner pieces - but it looks weird. The spliced-on headstock is really bizarre, I've never seen anything like it, but at least you can't see it from the front. Did they make these from solid wood or is that a veneer used to pretty it up? I'd never seen the headstock "splice" so I found a photo of one. Might that be just a meeting of two pieces of veneer and not a structural joint?
Rich_S Posted June 5, 2013 Author Posted June 5, 2013 As far as I can tell, it's all solid mahogany. I don't know why they didn't use the usual scarf joint you see on low-cost imports, but the result is the same: grain in the peghead is parallel to its own back-angle instead of the neck, and they can get away with smaller billets for the neck. It looks weird, but it's probably less succeptible to headstock cracks the usual Gibson design.Speaking of veneer, does anybody know how think the maple on the top of this guitar is? It's too pretty to be a think piece of figured maple, so I assume the top layer is veneer. Under that, is there a thicker plain maple top, or is it just maple veneer over mahogany?
gorch Posted June 5, 2013 Posted June 5, 2013 What is the discussion on a $200 or even less guitar? Buy that thing, rock it out, and sell it years later for the same cheap price.
Rich_S Posted June 6, 2013 Author Posted June 6, 2013 Hahaha! Cutting right to the chase. Don't think that hadn't occurred to me, that I'm reaaly overthinking this.The non-rhetorical (and somewhat existential) answers is:I'm an engineer by trade - I like thinking abaout how things are made, especially guitars. I have four kids to get through college. My normal budget for gear purchases is about 1/10 of a normal gear-ho's. I've been into Hamers (without actually owning one) for 35 years. I'm enjoying getting into the club, even if I'm using an econo-class ticket. Even though I'm buying a cheapo, I'd hate to overpay. Lots of valuable knowledge to be gained here.
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