These two models represent the excess of the late eighties - extra strings
and extra frets. Whereas the Maestro's styling is fairly traditional (and not
unlike the Chaparral), the Virtuoso is very much an original design to
accommodate the extra frets.
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Maestro (1989 - 1990) - Seven string guitar with offset double-cutaway body, bolt-on maple neck and custom built seven-string trem. with graphtech saddles. Three custom wound Seymour Duncan pickups (see right). Most of these guitars were built for Alex Gregory. There were about three or four built, as well as the double-neck shown left. This strange and over-the-top guitar features snakeskin finish, one seven string neck (with trem.) and an octave neck. | 
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Virtuoso (1987 - 1991) - Small contoured double cutaway body with a glued-in 36-fret neck (26.25 inch scale length) with maple fingerboard, six-on-a-side reversed peghead and a scalloped neck/body joint. Fitted with a single Seymour Duncan "Hot Rails" pickup (angled on early guitars only) and either Sustain-block bridge, Floyd Rose or Kahler trem.. Most Virtuosos have a Scalloped fingerboard. An exception to this rule is the red guitar shown top left, built for Gary Moore. Few Virtuosos were built (maybe 20-24), including the quilted maple example shown middle left. Note that on this later guitar the pickup is not angled. On the left is shown two of the earliest Virtuosos in the factory in 1987, including an example made of korina. The red one in the picture is not the guitar shown above. There are a run of ten Virtuosos from 1987 that carry unique numbers from 0001 to 0010 including the Gary Moore guitar. Details found to date are 0003 is metallic green, 0007, 0008 and 0009 are red and 0010 is black. They all appear to have a sustain-block bridge and gold hardware. |
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This Snakeskin finish Virtouso is shown in the 1990 Hamer Catalogue. |
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Shown left is a 1987 Virtuoso headstock. Note the unusual scalloped upper edge and Virtuoso! logo. |