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MGR/Soul Driver 77 « Hamer Slammer »
Published on 12/25/02 at 15:00I purchased this Guitar Brand New for $480.00 in 1998. I bought it from a local Guitar Store. I loved the looks and feel of this Guitar. It looks just like the SANTANA SE made by PRS.
I love the way the Hamer Looks,feels,and plays. Its great to play lead on because of the Double Cutaway body(Looks like SANTANA SE) It has a Solid Body Neck which helps with the strings staying in tune. I played its USA made counter part in the store when I purchased it ,and could not find any differences at all other than the Tuners. There was however a $200 price difference between the USA Made and the Korean Made Slammer which I have. I have done some minor upgrades to it, which I think makes it sound as dood as any Hamer on the Market that I have seen. The upgrades included changing out the Factory Tuners, and installing GROVER self Locking Machines. I also removed the two original Seymour Duncan Humbuckers and replaced with two GIBSON 498 and 490 Chrome covered Humbuckers.(Les Paul Standard pickups)
I did this more for the Vintage look than anything. But I spent the extra money for Top quality Sound as well. Now she sounds like exactly like a Les Paul Tone wise.
I love the Looks as well. It is solid Black with a cream binding around the entire body.
The Outer Pickup skirts are Cream to match.
THe neck is made of a Rosewood Fingerboard, and is solid Black on the rear side. It has pop in style strap mounts as well which are always handy. It has tone and Volume controls for each Pickup.
The only thing I Ever Disliked about this Guitar I fixed. Which was the Factory Tuners. They were definately Low end. I spent $36.95 on The GROVERS and cured the problem forever. I also dont care for the Fact that its not USA made, but I dont plan on selling it, so resale Value isnt as important.
This Guitar is built very well, especially since it has a solid body with built on Neck. It weighs Exactly the same as my Gibson Epiphone Slash Model. It wil lwear you out if your a smaller guy on stage all night. But its sound is awesome. I would definately buy another one.
Great Rock/Blues Guitar. If you like to play fast youll love this one, the neck is average size, but very fast. Its a very good looking guitar, it sits in my band room with seven other AXES and always draws the most compliments. I think the price is just about right for what you get. As I said earlier I changed the pickups solely for looks and a little more of that patented Gibson Tone(It sounds better to me than my Gibson Epiphone) The original Neck pickup was a ZEBRA Humbucker and the Bridge was a standard Black open faced Humbucker, both made by Seymour Duncan. It is definately the best Korean or Japanese made Guitar I have ever played. I kept the original Humbuckers in case I ever want to make her original again, but I am spoiled now ,so I doubt it. Bottom line is, if your looking at any HAMER Guitars, and dont want to spend extra money on a USA made model, Check out the Slammer Series line, but be careful, some of the Slammer Guitars are not good at all. Make sure it has the binding, solid body and is made in Korea or Japan. some of the Slammers are made in Mexico or China. Stay away from those models.
HAMER Slammers are a well kept secret for the money!!!
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I love the way the Hamer Looks,feels,and plays. Its great to play lead on because of the Double Cutaway body(Looks like SANTANA SE) It has a Solid Body Neck which helps with the strings staying in tune. I played its USA made counter part in the store when I purchased it ,and could not find any differences at all other than the Tuners. There was however a $200 price difference between the USA Made and the Korean Made Slammer which I have. I have done some minor upgrades to it, which I think makes it sound as dood as any Hamer on the Market that I have seen. The upgrades included changing out the Factory Tuners, and installing GROVER self Locking Machines. I also removed the two original Seymour Duncan Humbuckers and replaced with two GIBSON 498 and 490 Chrome covered Humbuckers.(Les Paul Standard pickups)
I did this more for the Vintage look than anything. But I spent the extra money for Top quality Sound as well. Now she sounds like exactly like a Les Paul Tone wise.
I love the Looks as well. It is solid Black with a cream binding around the entire body.
The Outer Pickup skirts are Cream to match.
THe neck is made of a Rosewood Fingerboard, and is solid Black on the rear side. It has pop in style strap mounts as well which are always handy. It has tone and Volume controls for each Pickup.
The only thing I Ever Disliked about this Guitar I fixed. Which was the Factory Tuners. They were definately Low end. I spent $36.95 on The GROVERS and cured the problem forever. I also dont care for the Fact that its not USA made, but I dont plan on selling it, so resale Value isnt as important.
This Guitar is built very well, especially since it has a solid body with built on Neck. It weighs Exactly the same as my Gibson Epiphone Slash Model. It wil lwear you out if your a smaller guy on stage all night. But its sound is awesome. I would definately buy another one.
Great Rock/Blues Guitar. If you like to play fast youll love this one, the neck is average size, but very fast. Its a very good looking guitar, it sits in my band room with seven other AXES and always draws the most compliments. I think the price is just about right for what you get. As I said earlier I changed the pickups solely for looks and a little more of that patented Gibson Tone(It sounds better to me than my Gibson Epiphone) The original Neck pickup was a ZEBRA Humbucker and the Bridge was a standard Black open faced Humbucker, both made by Seymour Duncan. It is definately the best Korean or Japanese made Guitar I have ever played. I kept the original Humbuckers in case I ever want to make her original again, but I am spoiled now ,so I doubt it. Bottom line is, if your looking at any HAMER Guitars, and dont want to spend extra money on a USA made model, Check out the Slammer Series line, but be careful, some of the Slammer Guitars are not good at all. Make sure it has the binding, solid body and is made in Korea or Japan. some of the Slammers are made in Mexico or China. Stay away from those models.
HAMER Slammers are a well kept secret for the money!!!
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com