1996 Hamer Artist Gataso or 2000 Fender Am Strat Deluxe???

The Boogie Board

Help Support The Boogie Board:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Monsta-Tone

Well-known member
Boogie Supporter
Joined
Oct 1, 2005
Messages
5,515
Reaction score
18
Location
Maui Wowee!
I have a 2000 Fender American Strat Deluxe that I took in trade (Strat + $700 cash) for my Soldano Lucky 13 head.
It has Mark Knopfler pickups and sounds incredible.
I have never really gotten along with Strats, mostly because I always find myself looking for more sustain and harmonics than most single coils offer.

A friend of mine has a 1996 Hamer Artist Gataso in Natural finish that he wants to trade for the Strat.
It is really beautiful. I played it once, but not for more than a couple of minutes.
I seem to remember it felt similar to my McCarty that I had at the time.


Here is the only reason I am hesitating.....
I had tendonitis several years ago. I tried everything to get rid of it. Finally, I went to an old Chinese guy in Temple City, CA that did Chi Gong and Accupuncture on my wrist. After several painful hours of treatment and 2 weeks of recovery, it went away and has not been back since!
At the time I was playing a Jackson Soloist and an Ibanez 542R, both guitars had very fast necks, but very flat fretboard radii.
Since that time, I have discovered that flatter radii greatly affect my comfort level. My wrist will start hurting very quickly playing a flat fretboard.

The Hamer (according to their site, which only lists the new guitars) has a radius of 14.5.
The Strat has a radius of 9.5" and is fairly easy to play.
My main guitars are an Ibanez JS-1000 and an Ibanez 540R (with JS-1000 neck), which both have a 250mm (9.8" radius). These necks are very fast and super comfortable for me to play. The thickness of these necks is a little bit smaller than I like, but overall, they are pretty perfect for me.

I played a PRS McCarty for years. The neck was much thicker than my Ibanez JS necks, but was super comfortable.
The Ibanez JS neck to me is like a Corvette, smaller, more agile, and very fast. The PRS was like a Cadillac, very comfortable, still fast but not a sports car.


Anyway.....The Hamer looks interesting and is very rare on a small island. I haven't bonded with the Strat at all.
I'm just nervous about the radius thing.
Any opinions would be greatly welcome!
 
Would your friend be down with swapping for a trial period? I've traded before and the best thing to do is give like a two week window where either person can null the trade for any reason.

I've personally found its the neck shape that does me in more than the fretboard radius. I can barely play my Ibanez sometimes. Too flat and the corners are too square. My fender always feels nice though.
 
deaconschwaz said:
Would your friend be down with swapping for a trial period? I've traded before and the best thing to do is give like a two week window where either person can null the trade for any reason.

I've personally found its the neck shape that does me in more than the fretboard radius. I can barely play my Ibanez sometimes. Too flat and the corners are too square. My fender always feels nice though.

He was willing to do so, but had already packed the guitar up to send to the Mainland. I didn't want to make him unpack it since I wasn't sure if I would even like the guitar. His brother in law has a music store on the Mainland and they are always trading back and forth.
After talking with him, I decided that the flatter radius and the neck heaviness would just not work for me.

I hear what you're saying about the neck shape. I used to only play PRS Wide Fat necks because it was just so comfortable on my wrist.
The guy I got the Strat from has a newer Jackson Soloist that I almost took instead. Once I played it though, I realized that it would kill my wrist in no time.


The Hamer is a US made model.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top