Re: Help! I hate my Hamer!
The Hamer Special debuted in early 1980. And like the early Sunbursts, the maple veneer was so thin on them that they really didn't affect the tone of the guitar much at all. Compared to the current Hamer Studios and Specials, the early Sunbursts and Specials sound more like the all mahogany models as opposed to the current models with thick maple caps.
I've got a 78 Sunburst and a 95 Special FM that has a killer thick flamed maple top. The Sunburst does not have the high end or tightness that comes from the maple top on my Special FM.
That being said, I would look for a pickup that compliments itself to a guitar of all mahogany construction. The stock DiMarzios in my Sunburst sound awesome. However, the bridge pickups used at that time were pretty inconsistent. Apparently I got a good one. The closest you'll find to the early stock pickups will be a DiMarzio PAF. Later on into the early 80's the pickups got hotter until they more resembled the current Super Distortions. My 83 Vector has pickups that lie somewhere in between a PAF and SD. Still sounds killer in the all mahogany body & neck, just a little hotter than the old PAFs.
All that aside, if I had one pickup to toss into my Sunburst, it would be the Brobucker. It is quite possibly the best pickup ever made. I've got one in my Talladega right now and it flat out screams.
