Most under-rated guitar company

Most under-rated guitar company

  • Hamer

    Votes: 62 23.9%
  • Fernandes

    Votes: 8 3.1%
  • Schecter

    Votes: 52 20.1%
  • ESP/LTD

    Votes: 17 6.6%
  • Framus

    Votes: 5 1.9%
  • Jackson

    Votes: 18 6.9%
  • Peavey

    Votes: 17 6.6%
  • MusicMan

    Votes: 22 8.5%
  • G&L

    Votes: 36 13.9%
  • Epiphone

    Votes: 22 8.5%

  • Total voters
    259
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

Binnerscot said:
...... hamer.... I would say are on par with PRS.

Having owned a Custom 24 and a McCarty this year (as well as another Reed years ago), and comparing them to my new Hamer, I'd say Hamer has got PRS beat, unless you really like the aesthetics of one over the other. My Hamer standard is def as good and possibly a better instrument from a QC point of view. The Hamer is also $350-500 cheaper than either PRS brand new (and neither Reed had 1/10th the top the Hamer does, and they don't even have the time consuming binding work of the Hamer.)

Made a fan outta me for sure...
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

mongrollo said:
GUILD!!!

I have a Guild S-100 (SG shape) and it is a great guitar for the price. Saddly they are discontinued...

I've been looking for one of those for years. Theres a reason Kim Thayil from Soundgarden swears by them.
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

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Heatley.


www.heatleyguitars.com
 
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Re: Most under-rated guitar company

Wow. This tread really endured.

St_Genesius said:
In short, Ibanez has become too diverse a manufacturer to dismiss because of any particular model or series.
I agree wholeheartedly. Anyone who makes blanket statements about Ibanez is missing the big picture. There is so much going on there that it's nearly impossible to make a singular statement about the company.
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

I really dig my Tipton Custom, that being said all the guitars mentioned are great.I really do have to say though that the Hamers are awesome. I have a USA Hamer Chapparal with Duncans, a Floyd and a Sustainiac unit in it .I got
at a pawn shop back in the mid 90's and it rules. They have great necks...
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

I paid $800 Canadian for a used mint G&L Legacy. It has wonderful workmanship, plays like butter and has a really, really sweet sound. I went to the music store recently and tried the higher end strats - IMO it's not even close to the G&L.
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

For quality and workmanship I don't think you can do better than Hamer. Too many think of Hamer as an 80's guitar company. But they've been making some of the best stuff available. My vote is Hamer.
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

Mike_C said:
For quality and workmanship I don't think you can do better than Hamer. Too many think of Hamer as an 80's guitar company. But they've been making some of the best stuff available. My vote is Hamer.

I've started with their "new" models, and I am going back now to the older models. Their "fender-clones" (T62-T51 - mid 90's) are better than everything I had from the Fender. I voted Hamer too.
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

Mike_C said:
For quality and workmanship I don't think you can do better than Hamer.

I think almost anyone you ask would tell you that Hamer is the quality guitar, so in that way Hamer is not under-rated.

But... as a company, Hamer is definitely the most under-rated. Their accomplishments and list of "firsts" set the stage for every one of the boutique builders including PRS and even Gibson's custom shop. The fact that so many of their ideas were so far ahead of everyone else is lost on most people. The more I read and learn, I realize there wouldn't even be a Dean or a PRS if Hamer hadn't broken the ground for them, yet people I talk to don't seem to know any of this.

GS
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

Music Man cannot be classified as truly underrated because their basses and amps were so widely accepted. G & L maybe a different story. Another consideration is time period. I would argue that some of the most underated guitars in their time were the Ibanez jazz boxes of the "pre-lawsuit" period in the 70's s when they were making almost perfect copies of Gibson ES175D's. My friend sold his on ebay 3 years ago for $1200. And this boy knows acoustical type git-fiddles.:fingersx: he has a martin D45 and JC42 (why do i wear black? cause i'm Johnny Cash) and he LOVED the thing,but got tight for cash. Heis foaming at the mouth to get another oneso he can rock once again:laugh2:
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

here is a quandry.......can a guitar line be the most overrated and yet underrated at the same time? i say thatthe Gibson Historic series can be. If you pay MSRP, they are overrated. But if you pay what you can on ebay, then they are underated.....ESPECIALLY the R7 which may be the best new production Les Paul or Les Paul type guitar available for any amount of money today. And this comigfrom a guy who has owned an exrtraordinary R7 and a damned fine R9......had the jones for the flame, man:laugh2:
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

I voted for G&L because it's always in Fenders shadow. Before I learned more about them, I looked at them as "not-fenders" but theyre so much more than that. However, having said that, I havent spent much time with some of the other brands out there (Hamer for instance) so I might have to go and check some stuff out this weekend =D
 
Re: Most under-rated guitar company

Hamer has to be up there.

I just tried one of their lower cost import models, a Gold top double cut set neck with P-90's, was selling new for $325 at my local guitar shop.

Nice looking, very solidly built, very nice sounding, nice neck, every bit the guitar as those PRS imports that everybody raves about that go for $499, I thought the Hamer was a more solidly built guitar by a significant margin, and it sounded every bit as good if not better than the PRS.
 
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