T
TheProphet
Guest
Hamer Artist Korina P90 (went with a HC style review)
Features: I'd (for the most part) point you in the direction of the Hamer Website (Hamer)to check out their features section. Hamer is a company that I felt did things "right" for a long time now, but finding one to try out has been a bit of a long time challenge. But I've been gassing for this guitar for a long time so this is my major purchase for the next while.
As for the Artist Korina P90 it's got: a Semi-hollow Korina Body, REALLY nice Rosewood board, Grover Tuners and Tonepro's bridge, 2 Vol, 1 Tone, 3-Way Toggle and a pair of P90's
Sound:
Acoustic:This thing has a real nice acoustic sound. It seems to really blend the traditional Semi-Hollow Mid Range honk, with the sound of a solid body. Really resonant piece of wood which is always a good benchmark even before you plug it in.
In terms of pickups, this system is really tweaker friendly (which I wasn't until I got this guitar). Both pickups are very responsive to the volume and tone control so I've spent a lot of time messing with different variations.
Neck P90:
- Clean: Nice ... smooth, bright and airy. Probably one of my favorite sounds on this guitar very versatile
- Dirty: Not where this pickup shines IMHO, it felt a little dull which I think could be fixed if I fiddled with the pickup height, but personally I'm willing to sacrifice for the current clean neck tone. It does handle classic rock and older blues tones pretty well. Thinking a little bit more I think it's really good for those time when you have to use the guitar for more "background" music
Bridge P90:
- Clean: Fun, bright and articulate ... you can feel that it just want to breakup just a little bit but it won't. Really fun for Tele'esque style sounds.
- Dirty:
I kid you not ... dirty this guitar become more fun than Driving a Ferarri with a beautiful woman sitting next to you (or enter what fun analogy you want to). Even thinking about this puts a **** eating grin on my face. Messing around with the volume/tone can get a wide range of tones. Overall it's got a Strat/Tele edge but with a humbuckers warmth, when I first sat down with it I found it had the "and the wind cries Mary" tone to it. Wide open on the V/T I found myself cranking out AC/DC. Just an absolutlely GREAT rock tone, I'm dying to start playing Metal on her 'cause I think it'd sound great and I'd love to see peoples' reactions.
Action, Fit, & Finish: The neck's a bit thicker than I'm used to, but I wanted to move in that direction anyway. It's really comfortable compared to a lot of thicker necks that I've tried over the years. But with the paint being basically clear you can tell that this guitar was really well built.
Overall Rating: Excellent. I've been GAS'ing for this guitar for a long while. Despite having no hands-on experience with this guitar and being really nervous about buying sight unseen, but it turned out really well. I do believe this is quite possibly one of my dream guitars.
On another interesting note, this has me appreciating my Dean EVO Special 7 a LOT more. I knew that the Dean was really good guitar when I bought it, but for a Korean import soundwise it walks stride for stride with the Hamer in terms of tone and resonance (fit and finish are not quite at the same level)
Features: I'd (for the most part) point you in the direction of the Hamer Website (Hamer)to check out their features section. Hamer is a company that I felt did things "right" for a long time now, but finding one to try out has been a bit of a long time challenge. But I've been gassing for this guitar for a long time so this is my major purchase for the next while.
As for the Artist Korina P90 it's got: a Semi-hollow Korina Body, REALLY nice Rosewood board, Grover Tuners and Tonepro's bridge, 2 Vol, 1 Tone, 3-Way Toggle and a pair of P90's
Sound:
Acoustic:This thing has a real nice acoustic sound. It seems to really blend the traditional Semi-Hollow Mid Range honk, with the sound of a solid body. Really resonant piece of wood which is always a good benchmark even before you plug it in.
In terms of pickups, this system is really tweaker friendly (which I wasn't until I got this guitar). Both pickups are very responsive to the volume and tone control so I've spent a lot of time messing with different variations.
Neck P90:
- Clean: Nice ... smooth, bright and airy. Probably one of my favorite sounds on this guitar very versatile
- Dirty: Not where this pickup shines IMHO, it felt a little dull which I think could be fixed if I fiddled with the pickup height, but personally I'm willing to sacrifice for the current clean neck tone. It does handle classic rock and older blues tones pretty well. Thinking a little bit more I think it's really good for those time when you have to use the guitar for more "background" music
Bridge P90:
- Clean: Fun, bright and articulate ... you can feel that it just want to breakup just a little bit but it won't. Really fun for Tele'esque style sounds.
- Dirty:
I kid you not ... dirty this guitar become more fun than Driving a Ferarri with a beautiful woman sitting next to you (or enter what fun analogy you want to). Even thinking about this puts a **** eating grin on my face. Messing around with the volume/tone can get a wide range of tones. Overall it's got a Strat/Tele edge but with a humbuckers warmth, when I first sat down with it I found it had the "and the wind cries Mary" tone to it. Wide open on the V/T I found myself cranking out AC/DC. Just an absolutlely GREAT rock tone, I'm dying to start playing Metal on her 'cause I think it'd sound great and I'd love to see peoples' reactions.Action, Fit, & Finish: The neck's a bit thicker than I'm used to, but I wanted to move in that direction anyway. It's really comfortable compared to a lot of thicker necks that I've tried over the years. But with the paint being basically clear you can tell that this guitar was really well built.
Overall Rating: Excellent. I've been GAS'ing for this guitar for a long while. Despite having no hands-on experience with this guitar and being really nervous about buying sight unseen, but it turned out really well. I do believe this is quite possibly one of my dream guitars.
On another interesting note, this has me appreciating my Dean EVO Special 7 a LOT more. I knew that the Dean was really good guitar when I bought it, but for a Korean import soundwise it walks stride for stride with the Hamer in terms of tone and resonance (fit and finish are not quite at the same level)
Play her in good health and give her everything you've got!
