80's Kramers... Just slay...

B

BloodRose

Professional Scapegoat
I just love 80's Kramers.. They just had it right back then.. I love my Pacer and loved the focus models I had. Though I loved em all, the Black Focus 6000 I had was just awesome sounding. Had this killer woody type of sound that I heard alot in 80s metal. Really miss that one.

Anyhow, Got my Pacer out of the moth balls and plugged it up to the Splawn last night.. I cant recall if Ive ever even plugged it up since I put the large brass block in it. Was getting awesome tones. The strings are pretty gnarly and need to be replaced, but it was just singing! Sustained pretty well before, but much better with the block in it.. Gotta lube the pots as they are crackling some, but otherwise the Jazz and JB were doing their thing..

Just had to put this out there.. Kramer love anyone???
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

I had a killer Nightswan, a cheapo mij striker or focus...cant recall..as well as briefly one of those setnecks with claws...which I remember hating. I got in a trade and.flipped it pretty quick for a Charvel, iirc.

The Nightswan and the cheap one were awesome, though just not a superstrat guy and never will be, I guess.
 
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I love my Kramer. Although, the neck profile is just not agreeing with me lately. It's more of a D shape with the flatter back. I'm still toying with the idea of getting a fatter neck from Warmoth for it. I'll just put the stock neck away.

The old Focus models are crazy good guitars. Built solid with real Floyd Rose trems. The 2000 I had was an absolute workhorse.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

JeffB said:
I had a killer Nightswan, a cheapo mij striker or focus...cant recall..as well as briefly one of those setnecks with claws...which I remember hating. I got in a trade and.flipped it pretty quick for a Charvel, iirc.

The Nightswan and the cheap one were awesome, though just not a superstrat guy and never will be, I guess.
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You hated your stagemaster?? Why?? In my mind, that has always been one of my dream guitars.. HOWEVER... I have never played one, and Ive heard the neck is wider on them.. At least the new reissues are.. If the neck is wider, I may not actually like it so much.. I lusted for a Jackson soloist for years too.. Finally played one and didnt love the neck width.. Yeah, the Focus' were made in Japan and were awesome! The Strikers were low grade and ply. I had a Striker 200 (?) in high school.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

ErikH said:
I love my Kramer. Although, the neck profile is just not agreeing with me lately. It's more of a D shape with the flatter back. I'm still toying with the idea of getting a fatter neck from Warmoth for it. I'll just put the stock neck away.

The old Focus models are crazy good guitars. Built solid with real Floyd Rose trems. The 2000 I had was an absolute workhorse.
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For me the neck is the guitar. Or more than half of it. I believe most of the sustain and tone comes from the neck. I have a Kramer 210, which I read must be of Asian origin. It has Seymour Duncan livewires metal pups. When I played it it back in 1991 at the shop, I was between this and an ESP "Dokken" sign which was much more expensive. I was so blown away by the Kramer that I bought it immediately. Still have this and take care of the Kramer. I agree about the neck feeling fat. Also it is very heavy. Doesn't get the playing time that my two newer Ibbies get, but its still a guitar I respect. I might install some modern blackous (not metal) to get some jazzy tones as well, since the bridge pup is not usable on the clean tones, but then again I am reluctant of losing the vintage 80's hairspray metal character of this.
And one other note. This guitar with its super low action and incredibly mid-boosted and powerful bridge pup might have been the reason I had not developed as a guitarist for quite a while. I played like a shredder with this one, but struggled with guitars with higher action and "normal" output pups (EMG 81/60)
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

Big Kramer fan with an early 80s Pacer Special and almost the whole set of Focus models. Just need the 2000. Crazy good deals on them with an OFR, they can't be beat. I bought three of them last year and $200 is the most I paid. Still need that Baretta.
 
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Loved the ESP Focus I had.
:headbang:
Also bought a Kramer brand new in 1984.Was also looking very hard at a Washburn "A" Series("chopped" Explorer,set-neck,Brass Donut inlays locking trem),but I "had" to have a Floyd Rose.Was also kinda into Gillis at the time,& teh Kramer was Red/Blk p/g.I'd prolly still have the Washburn had I jumped on it...
Preferred & still miss the Focus.
 
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Always wanted one...a Baretta of course! But The focus and Pacer's look beauty as well.

I haven't played very many though, but as a fan and owner of multiple 80's MIJ Charvels...I can't see why I wouldn't unless the neck shape got me all bothered.
 
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My buddy recently got a red Focus 6000 as a gift, he says it's amazing. I really want to try one, I've only played modern kramers. I still thought those were pretty nice though
 
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used to own a red focus 1000 w/ a emg 81 and had a reverse head stock./. wish i still had it
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

BloodRose said:
You hated your stagemaster?? Why?? In my mind, that has always been one of my dream guitars.. HOWEVER... I have never played one, and Ive heard the neck is wider on them.. At least the new reissues are.. If the neck is wider, I may not actually like it so much.. I lusted for a Jackson soloist for years too.. Finally played one and didnt love the neck width.. Yeah, the Focus' were made in Japan and were awesome! The Strikers were low grade and ply. I had a Striker 200 (?) in high school.
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It was a long time ago. I recall thinking it was tone, and the recessed floyd...hate em. I need a floyd.or.strat trem on the deck.
 
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I def had a "thing" for Kramers for a long time; esp the Stagemasters, Graphic Finish Barettas (Space, Hollywood, etc.), Pacers and Classic Tele Styles but I mostly built them out from parts. I still look for deals on them and certainly wouldn't turn down a nice/decent one at a sane price.

1987 Kramer E.E. SC-3
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1989 Kramer Telecaster Custom
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I used to have a collection. Some were awesome, my fave was a trans green beak neck pacer special. Had Pacer Dlx, Pacer Custom 1, Paul Dean, Focus 1000, 2000, 3000.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

phred said:
I used to have a collection. Some were awesome, my fave was a trans green beak neck pacer special. Had Pacer Dlx, Pacer Custom 1, Paul Dean, Focus 1000, 2000, 3000.
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Nice! Always thought those Paul Deans were kinda ugly, but tried to buy one few years ago cuz its rare and cool features.
 
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I've mentioned it on here before - my first guitar was a birdbeak Kramer Classic 2000 (supposedly, previously owned by Derek St. Holmes). Olympic white, maple neck, alder body, came with SD SSL-1s in it... with an odd bonus. If you removed the pickguard, there was a cavity routed beneath the pickguard, south of the neck and middle pickups, where a fourth SSL-1 was wired in. Factory paint in the cavity, so not aftermarket. Supposedly, it was to act as a dummy coil to reject noise (mine had always been disconnected).

Guitar sounded *fantastic*, if you liked jangly. Very bright. I tried a lot of things (some, not so bright) to get the tone under control, and ended up selling the thing. The one thing I should have tried (a neck with rosewood fingerboard), is the one thing I didn't do. Should have.

Kinda miss that thing...
 
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Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

my 1st new guitar back in '89 or so was a kramer striker 600.. I also had a kramer striker 200 at one time as well..
 
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I liked the first Kramers. Then they cranked out millions of terrible plywood guitars, which I think really hurt the brand. The top stuff was still great, but that isn't what was in the music store. I think Gibson is more or less sitting on them, like their other acquired brands.
 
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Gibson owns the name and is trying to resurrect the brand based off past success that they were not even involved in (reissues of the Pacer, Baretta, etc). I'm not a big fan of what they've been doing there. They've got some new designs as well which are pretty cool I guess. They hardly ever promote, I never see them at the guitar shows and if they are, it's a very very small section of hardly anything or models they did years ago that nobody has bought. The ones I have seen touched feel nothing like the Neptune era models.
 
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Mincer said:
I liked the first Kramers. Then they cranked out millions of terrible plywood guitars, which I think really hurt the brand. The top stuff was still great, but that isn't what was in the music store. I think Gibson is more or less sitting on them, like their other acquired brands.
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Yeah, they totally wrecked the name by what they did. Bc rich and all the hot brands did the same thing back then. Charvel- Charvettes etc.. Just kept watering them down till they were rubbish..

Gibson owns now, yes. and are weakly bringing them back.. New ones arent bad, but arent great either
 
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