#6082 – Hamer Monaco SuperPro – used/2004 – Tobacco sunburst

£1999.00

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Overview comments regarding this used Hamer Monaco SuperPro from 2004 :- £1999 will allow you to buy a USA boutique hand built instrument that is loaded with tone – There is of course an obvious comparison to a Les Paul, yet there are a few key differences that are not noticeable at first – A Fender-esq 25.5″ scale length is the first difference – So a slightly tighter feel, that will also add a touch more bite and snap to the overall tonal character – Furthermore the one piece mahogany body is chambered – Not part of a process to utilise heavy wood, which then enters a weight relief program, in order to reduce it to an acceptable criteria – Popular Hamer models like the Studio Custom and Monaco Elite still favour a solid one piece mahogany body, but still come in at a sensible weight, thanks to a careful selection of wood in the first place – So the SuperPro features a chambered body for its tonal character, that sits somewhere between that of a 335 and Les Paul – Of course a lighter weight guitar is a bonus – You may well suspect it is all original, but take out the pair of humbuckers and you’ll quickly note they are a pair of hand wound Kent Armstrong ‘Vintage Replica’ models – HPAN57 – Note these are the more expensive/desirable hand wound models and not the cheaper far eastern regular budget models

Of course it is hard to ignore that delectable flamed maple top, decked out with a traditional nitro-cellulose tobacco sunburst gloss finish, but it only gets better once you hook it up to your amp and put it through its paces – From chilled out blues to bone crushing rock, this Hamer will enjoy showing off its expressive tonal character – Thanks to a one piece Honduras mahogany body, with hollow sound chambers, you’ll discover more articulation than would be found on a Les Paul, hence moving more towards the tonal qualities of a 335 – The hollow chambers brings this guitar to the scales at an astonishing 7lbs 8oz, but don’t worry about any lack of sustain as this guitar just sings all the way until the cows in the meadows start drifting back home – The hand built, impeccable attention to detail is present and correct including  22 medium jumbo frets, that are profiled and polished to perfection, along with the ‘victory’ mother of pearl fingerboard inlays and ‘Hamer’ headstock logo – An extra nice touch is the grained ivoroid binding around the body, fingerboard and headstock – The hardware is all from the top draw, with Schaller 3-a-side tuners, plus a Schaller ‘tune-o-matic style bridge, as well as a Gotoh tailpiece, whilst even the pots are specially ordered with an improved taper, that allows you to preserve that expressive tone, whilst backing of a notch on the volume pot – This allows you to control the amp, from the guitar, so wind it up for more singing overdriven tones, or back it of for more clean or subtle overdriven  tones – Surprisingly the Monaco SuperPro has a Fender-esq 25.5″ scale length, yet even re-strung and set-up with a set of 10’s, you’ll notice a firm but slinky feeling playing action – The mahogany neck has a full-ish, Les Paul-esq profile  – This is one of those instruments that the more you play it, the more tones you find, especially when both pick-ups are on together – A pair of independent volume controls allows you to blend the 2 pick-ups for additional tonal variations

Further details :-

Tonal character :- The Fender-esq 25.75″ scale length will have an influence on the tone, as will the chambered magogany body – In short it delivers more articulation that many Les Paul’s you’ll play – As such it leans more to the versatility of a good 335  – Overall the tone is more lush and cultured, rather than pure ‘hot and brutal’ but it can kick dirt as required – On clean amp settings it possesses enough natural character to not sound ‘bland’ with a laid back voice clearly apparent from the neck pick-up – With more of a hot ‘country’ pick’in voice from the bridge position – Add a shed loads of overdrive on the amp, as required – Like a Les Paul it is not a pure hot death metal guitar, yet it doesn’t lack girth and energy – The 25.5″ scale length ensures it stays tight when laying into power chords and riffs and you’ll find the scale length will help with any Drop D tunings as required – In my opinion the guitar shows its true colours when played with more subtle gain on the amp, that is somewhere between Green/Kossoff and Bonamassa/ZZ Top – Now utilise the volume pots on the Hamer to control the level of gain that you require – As such a volume setting of 6 or 7 will deliver more of a chilled out cleaner voice, yet it won’t loose any of the guitars goodness – This option can be your ‘base camp’ setting – Now turn the volume back towards 10 as and when you require more gain, with a touch of extra bite   – This approach delivers far more emotion as you and the guitar now control the amp – A great guitar for fans of Robben Ford or Steely Dan where the guitar’s culture offers more expression

Just a pity that the USA boutique Custom Shop was closed down once the Fender Corporation acquired the brand – But at least you can now acquire a fine used example

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For additional product info, to arrange a showroom visit + viewing, or indeed any other questions, then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Call: 01335 345777 or email: mark@guitars4you.co.uk. Please note that showrooms visits are strictly by appointment only.

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Guitars4You is not another corporate high street guitar store - My selection of premium grade guitars is about quality not quantity. Every guitar has been selected, inspected and approved by me, with particular attention to the set-up and playing performance. Every sale, phone call, email and mail order transaction is handled by me. A journey that is now over 40 years old, has fuelled my knowledge, experience, love, devotion and passion for exceptionally fine guitars.