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Kramer 210 : back to SD! restoring to the original livewire neck + non-metal bridge

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  • Kramer 210 : back to SD! restoring to the original livewire neck + non-metal bridge

    Hello,
    coming from https://forum.seymourduncan.com/show...e-bridge/page2
    here is the story, boughter this lovely Kramer 210 back in 1990. It had the livewires set , with livewire metal (LW-HMET) on the bridge. It was huge. Noob as I was, played with an ESP Dokken sign before that at the shop, but the Kramer with the duncans blew my mind! At the time all I thought about was power! So I got it. By the time I wanted to use some cleans on the bridge as well. Not an option with the LW metal. So I did the mod by adding an extra voltage divider, basically an extra vol pot. It was bearable but still sucked, was like playing with wah wah. Good for solos, not so much for riffs. Also the metal was not tight at all. So sucked on thrash as well. After each power muted chord there was an ommmmm sound from the guitar. The neck pup didn't have this problem. This was very tight. So at some point I bought from an ebay seller the original non-metal livewire. Which didn't came after waiting for 6 months or so. So I got an EMG 85/81 set I bought off from ebay, and the result :
    2020-01-07_10-38-27 by panixgr, on Flickr

    It has been a nice set, 85 on the bridge, 81 on the neck. Nice tones, but nothing distinctive, and too much noise (50Hz hum). At nights it became a PITA. Anyway. In the meantime , as like in miracles, the SD came!! Back in 2017.... ((it had blue band/stripe and not yellow, so I guess it might have been the neck, multimeter readings would be the same, pls read on)). I had plans for the restoration back to SD but it didn't happen till few mins ago. Yesternight (or early morning today to be more accurate) upon finishing with the final solderings I was unfortunate to try a 9s set of chinese strings I had acquired from aliexpress. Although in general, lately accoding to my own experiences chinese products are generally acceptable to good, this time those strings sucked. I mean, the guitar had LOW output. G open sucked. Harmonics sucked. I did some tests volume-wise against an other EMG axe I have, and EMGs won... Argghh not exactly the result I was after. So today I thought about trying with a new set of dadarrios and new batteries (batteries was not the culprit, I replaced those early on as you might have guessed). I thought it could not be possible for those pups to sound so dead. I mean I never remembered the LW neck pup which was stock on the guitar to sound so dead! So I fitted the Daddarios, re-adjusted bridge free floating position, plugged in aaaand voila!!! The guitar had plenty of output!! I tested by ear on clean channel aganst the EMGs, and they sound like they have equal output, I can say that marginally the LW cut better, due to the treble. Same or better easiness with harmonics. What can I say!!! Those sound GREAT!!! Those ones I am talking about are the SD LW originals - not the II version! So, now I have as spares the 85/81 set and the old SD LW metal. More testing tomorrow! Ahhh I forgot to say, they are 100% noiseless in contrast to the EMG 85/81.

    The new state of the Kramer:

    2020-01-07_10-22-57 by panixgr, on Flickr

    2020-01-07_10-23-08 by panixgr, on Flickr

    2020-01-07_10-23-21 by panixgr, on Flickr
    Last edited by greekdude; 01-08-2020, 06:48 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Kramer 210 : back to SD! restoring to the original livewire neck + non-metal brid

    Did some tests!! The guitar slays! so so happy! This can do anything, old rock, hard rock, metal, and of course due to high mids and highs even reach to djent teritorries. I know I said that, but .... SO HAPPY!!!
    Last edited by greekdude; 01-07-2020, 03:54 PM.

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    • #3
      Re: Kramer 210 : back to SD! restoring to the original livewire neck + non-metal brid

      badass man! love the simplicity of the setup and those old livewires are damn fine pups. pretty sure id break that little switch though

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      • #4
        Re: Kramer 210 : back to SD! restoring to the original livewire neck + non-metal brid

        This is the original switch style, it has to be 80s correct man!! haha I replaced all electronics, pots (100k), cap, and the switch! The old one was scratchy. There is one question still in my head though : was the original non-metal bridge blue-banded/striped ? Were those any different from the neck ones? A member here (allstarme) had written to me that the original bridge had yellow band/stripe. Anyways, this is great as it is! I wish solderless was invented back then in order to switch from the normal bridge to LW-HMET easily!

        Those are superior to the 85/81 IMHO. I wonder why were they not much more successful back in the 80s.
        Last edited by greekdude; 01-08-2020, 02:04 AM.

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        • #5
          Re: Kramer 210 : back to SD! restoring to the original livewire neck + non-metal brid

          After the gentle gesture by allstarme (thank you Jason!) I fitted today the original yellow-band-ed livewire classic bridge! There was a problem with the insulation on the extension solder and also a problem fitting into the cavity, the 2nd one was easy , the first was kinda pain, since I didn't know what's going on. I removed the protective coat and insulated the 3 wires.
          I cannot say it is much hotter than the neck version (blue band-ed) which was in the bridge position prior to that, meaning that still, the neck position (original blue band-ed) sounds louder, but I think it is slightly tighter (or I just wish so). Anyways, now I have a full set available for other mods : the original bridge metal and the 2nd neck I got off ebay before!
          Last edited by greekdude; 01-27-2020, 12:53 AM.

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          • #6
            Re: Kramer 210 : back to SD! restoring to the original livewire neck + non-metal brid

            Hello ppl, the guitar kicks! Any love for the original livewires? I love it now that I know the guitar is how it should be since day 1. (i.e. with the original classic bridge livewire instead of the metal version).

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            • #7
              Re: Kramer 210 : back to SD! restoring to the original livewire neck + non-metal brid

              Sorry for the bump, but those livewires ROCK! It was a guitar I never played (heavy, 10s string set, noizy due to EMGs) and now this is the only guitar I play!
              So, now I got as a spare the original livewire metal and the the spare neck, so that I can use in some project guitar. Also I'd like to try the blackouts !!! but on a new guitar!

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