You've got to admit, it's getting better
Written: Apr 18 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Terrific! Versitile sound, beautiful flamed maple cap, incredible value for the money.
Cons: Guitar was unplayable at first. Little flaws in the binding. Case smelled like a skunk.
The Bottom Line: You absolutely will not find a better playing, more versitile guitar in this price range (or even in substantially higher price ranges).
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| higle's Full Review: Hamer Echotone |
Ah, Korea. Instruments that are made in Korea have a certain stigma about them, and rightly so. In the past, "import" guitars meant "no good". Cheaper materials, poor pickups, manufacturing shortcuts, etc...
So, today I'm here to let you in on a little secret: Korean guitars ain't so bad these days. I had purchased a Les Paul Standard made by Epiphone (see my review!), and overall was satisfied with the workmanship and playability. It still wasn't enough to change my mind about import guitars, though. No, that didn't happen until I bought my Hamer Echotone.
I had been wanting a semi hollow bodied electric guitar for a while and had been shopping around and playing everything I could get my hands on. Just for giggles, I played a Gibson ES335 in the Guitar Center here in Knoxville, ignoring the $1700 price tag and approaching it objectively, using it as the benchmark by which I should compare all of the other guitars in my price range. It played smoothly, had great tone, and everything else you would expect from an instrument you'd have to get a second mortgage to purchase.
So, I played the Epiphones (Dot, Casino, Sheraton), they were alright. The Sheraton was cheesy with all of the mother-of-plastic inlays, which drove the price up to around $500 apparently. The Dot sounded like the Sheraton, but was really sparse on the decoration, and still cost $400. The single coil pickups on the Casino were weak and tinny, and it was more expensive than the Sheraton. Bleh.
Then I saw the Hamer Echotone. It looked ES335-ish and was conservatively dressed in a tobacco burst finish, had tasteful dot inlays, and two humbuckers. It had "Duncan Designed" pickups, which are made by Seymour Duncan (the company, not the man himself), but are made in mass batches for Korean guitar companies who want to put upscale pickups in their guitars. These pickups sounded great. Leaps and bounds beyond the Epiphone no-name pickups. Hell, in my humble opinion they sounded better than the Gibson.
The bridge pickup was clear and punchy and would push the Fender amp I was playing through into a beautifully controlled overdrive. The neck pickup wasn't muddy at all, which was very surprising. In fact, this is where I scored it higher than the Gibson. With the neck pickup, I could produce blues and jazz tones, nasty heavy rock, all with minute adjustments to the volume and tone controls on the guitar. When both pickups were used together, the sound was very well blended and balanced. I was impressed.
The neck was a bit different than the ES335. The fingerboard had a very flat radius, the back of the neck was not so much like a baseball bat. It felt a lot like a classical guitar. I have large hands, and this guitar felt nice. The ES335 style cutaways in the body made access to the 16th fret and higher possible, although not as easy as a Les Paul, SG, or Strat. This isn't a Steve Vai speed metal guitar, and I'm not a Steve Vai speed metal player, so that worked out just fine.
The guitar was marked at $400, and it was used. I knew I had to have one, but not this one in particular.
When I got home, I looked up all of the reviews on Harmony-Central.com (there were none here!), and found nothing but praise. All of the things that I had mentioned above about the pickups and tone were unanimously agreed upon. That sealed the deal.
A quick jaunt to eBay and I had found my guitar. It was the Hamer Echotone with a limited edition "Aztec Gold" flamed maple top and gold hardware (you can see my guitar on my website, www.higle.net), brand new, Buy It Now for $350. I bought it, needless to say.
When I got it, I was a little shocked. It was unplayable. The bridge was set so low that all of the strings buzzed, and the high E string wouldn't even play at all because it was "fretting out". It had cheap 9s strung on it, which were way too thin for this guitar. Neither of these things were major, though. I had read a book about setting up guitars and had practiced on my Les Paul, so I was ready. Raised the bridge, set the intonation using the bridge saddles, and set it up for 11s. When I was done, I had a guitar that I was very, very proud of.
The guitar is fully bound, which is absolutely beautiful. Except for the fact that the binding was apparently cracked in one spot on the neck, and they just lacquered over it anyway. I'm talking like a half of a centimeter, though. I guess I'm just picky like that. Hey, what can I expect for $350?
Another oddity was that the Hamer case that came with it smelled just like a skunk, which in turn makes the guitar smell skunky when I keep it in the case. Probably more the seller's fault than Hamer's, but you never know. Might be some kind of factory second because someone accidentally let a skunk in the warehouse or something :)
Overall, this guitar rocks. My guitaring friends have, of course, played it. They are all jealous. And who wouldn't be? For $350 and an hour of work, I got a guitar that is extremely versatile, arguably sounds better than the Gibson that it's patterned after, and has a gorgeous flamed top. Even my non-guitar friends who don't give a crap about anything guitar related like it because of the finish.
Don't shy away from a guitar just because it's Korean-made. Even if you have the $2000 to lay down on a big name axe, give one of these little guys a try, and you just might be surprised.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
higle
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Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 3 members
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