Hamer Korina Standard Explorer USA Guitar Review

by RALF SCHOENBERGER
(Zuerich, Switzerland)

I got my Hamer Korina Standard at Music Zoo, Little Neck (NY) paid USD 3480.00 incl. shipping to Switzerland.
I always wanted to own a Korina Explorer as a pendent to my original 1982 Gibson Korina Heritage Flying V but all those years of seeking never found an original Gibson Heritage from 1983 and Gibson's limited reissues they are available today were incredably overpriced that much.

When I checked the Hamer first I was impressed of the quality what it was made.
The wood shows a fantastic grain pattern, string action was perfectly set as the nitro cellulose finish was made better than those Gibson they are produced today.
Also the thinner neck feels much more comfortable than to the original Flying and body shape and thickness is more original spec. than all those overpriced Gibsons.

Korina wood offers a fantastic responsive tone with tons of overtones and sustain and
it seems the more I play with the more it becomes sustain and those swapping overtones which occure when you let the tone sing.

The only disadvantage of korina is that it reacts extremely fast and if you do not play very precisely the instruments will response in a way of uncover every mistake tone by tone.
In this case a mahogany les paul is easier to handle than any korina wood instrument ever will be !


I was quite disapointed of it's harsh disharmonic sound when I checked it first on my amp (Bogner Extacy) because those Seymour Duncan SH-1 which were equipped didn't sound as harmonic as the korina wood sounds fantastic.
Also the machine heads of Schaller didn't keep in tune which is a phenomenon I observe since years.
I'm wondering why Hamer does still install part of Schaller and Seymour Duncan as there are much better components on todays market.

After getting rid of pick up's and machine heads replacing with Amber PAF's, Bumble Bee caps and Gotoh's the instrument sounds outstanding great and versatile and I would say even beats any new Gibson Custom Shop.

My rating (1-10):

Playability: 8
Craftmanship: 9
Hardware: 3
Sound (after replacing Pick up's): 10
Versatility: 8
Price: 8


Keep on rocking !!!