PU-Advice for MIK Echotone

[Vintage Hamer-Lover]

Last month I bougt a red Hamer Echotone, my first Made in Korea. She seems to be in a good condition and the price was right: € 300,- (ca  $ 310,-). Woodmaterial and workmanship looks quite good but not the hardware. So I will install a Gotoh nickel Tune o Matic-Bridge, a new selector switch and pots.

But especially the Duncan Designed Humbuckers are not my cup of tea: too loud, dull and muddy. 

What can You recommend for the Echotone?

I am searching for a typical ES 335 sound: like wooden '79 Sunbursts Humbucker. I love the sounds of my 79 Hamer Sunbursts. They are my ideal PUs, therefore I prefer Di Marzios. The Echotone should become similar, from clear to scream but with a little bit more 'acoustic' wooden sound amendment: not the same, but more Knock on Wood ;-).

 

By the way: Is my Echotone a first generation Korean model? When was she built? The Ser. Nr. is 9805704

 

Thank You very much in advance for Your help!

[Biz Prof]

I'd venture a guess that either '59 PAF or 36th Anniversary models would work well in that platform if you really want DiMarzios.  If  you go with Duncans, perhaps the APH set would work well, given those have AlNiCo 2 mags and have a less pronounced midrange.  Along those same lines, I still maintain that Gibson '57 Classic/Classic+ sets are damn near perfect for classic rock/blues.  And you'd be surprised how often those OEM units get pulled from Gibsons.  I have a set in an Ibby Artcore semihollow, and they just flat out kill. 

[Biz Prof]

2 hours ago, Vintage Hamer-Lover said:

Is my Echotone a first generation Korean model?

I think so.   The body shape eventually changed to a much-less-Gibson-ES silhouette.

3 hours ago, Vintage Hamer-Lover said:

When was she built? The Ser. Nr. is 9805704

The Korean/Chinese/Indonesian serial numbers have no means of decoding them to determine the build date.  Most MIK Hamers were built between the late '90s and early '00s, IIRC. Not sure if it was Cort or Samick that actually had the MIK contracts with Kaman. 

[JGale]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest a '59, or thereabouts, wind on A4 magnets. Unless my ears are wrong (I have a set of JGs), they have a flatter response curve and might tenderize the low end content I associate with guitar with holes.