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

Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

My girl got her some love last night. Lemon oiled the board, alil wd 40 on all the screws as they were showing alil rust, cleaner in the pots as they were crackling, balanced the Floyd as it was alil out of whack from when I put the big block on an some fresh strings. She's ready to rip!!
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

I wanted a Kramer back in the 80's. But I was just starting out in life and didn't have the income for one.
Years later I was enjoying playing other guitars, but came upon a great deal on this one. The coolest looking model they ever built, in my opinion. There probably were bolt-ons with slimmer necks. The neck on this one is wide-flat.

Kramer Stagemaster.jpg
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

What's wrong with plywood? (except for the weight ?) My about 1991, 300 USD Kramer 210 has huge sustain.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

greekdude said:
What's wrong with plywood? (except for the weight ?) My about 1991, 300 USD Kramer 210 has huge sustain.
Click to expand...

Plywood is POS material, that's the problem. Doesn't matter the sound, if the material is junk, it bothers me. Something just isn't right and I know it is still there, know what I mean?
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

Gotta be the selected old growth plywood or it doesn't count bwahaha. Now, that's one elegant piece there, Kosh.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

Obsessive Compulsive said:
Plywood is POS material, that's the problem. Doesn't matter the sound, if the material is junk, it bothers me. Something just isn't right and I know it is still there, know what I mean?
Click to expand...
whatever ..... if this guitar of mine was lightweight, it would be my no2. People chase tone for ages and when tone is found I think any other excuse is redundant.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

i have 3 guitars in rotation at the moment..
1) 2001 DK-2 /poplar body
2)1995 Squire Strat/plywood
3)2001 Squire Stagemaster/alder

Out of those 3.. my dk-2 body resonates the best..the strat, while it definitely doesn't sound bad.. but it just doesn't resonate near as much as the other 2 guitars...

seriously.... I can put my DK-2 against my chest and literally feel every note when its unplugs. The stagemaster, even though it has a "superior" tone wood, just doesnt resonate as much as the poplar body. They are close but its not quite there. I can tell the difference.Its small but noticeable to me.

I do wish the strat had an alder body but it is what it is.. The overall sexyness and electronics/mods partially make up for the lack of better body wood

to summarize.. Not a fan of plywood body but im not against them either
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

Kosh Naranek said:
I wanted a Kramer back in the 80's. But I was just starting out in life and didn't have the income for one.
Years later I was enjoying playing other guitars, but came upon a great deal on this one. The coolest looking model they ever built, in my opinion. There probably were bolt-ons with slimmer necks. The neck on this one is wide-flat.

View attachment 72590
Click to expand...

NICE!! Yeah, the claw necks and stagemasters had the wider, "shred"necks.. the new SM1 is supposed to be like that.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

Plywood is heavy and dense, and given the choice, I'd rather use it to build a treehouse than a guitar. Kramer covered it with thick, goopy paint, and sold a million of those, and still went out of business (until Gibson 'rescued' them). Gibson has a habit of aquiring brands (Tobias, Steinberger) and then sitting on them- no promotion, and no investment.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

Mincer said:
Plywood is heavy and dense, and given the choice, I'd rather use it to build a treehouse than a guitar. Kramer covered it with thick, goopy paint, and sold a million of those, and still went out of business (until Gibson 'rescued' them). Gibson has a habit of aquiring brands (Tobias, Steinberger) and then sitting on them- no promotion, and no investment.
Click to expand...

heavy and dense = the usual argument to describe the ideal tone wood for sustain. As for Kramer going out of business, this happened when metal and thrash died about 1990+. All point-shred-guitar makers felt this.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

Brandenburg said:
i have 3 guitars in rotation at the moment..
1) 2001 DK-2 /poplar body
2)1995 Squire Strat/plywood
3)2001 Squire Stagemaster/alder

Out of those 3.. my dk-2 body resonates the best..the strat, while it definitely doesn't sound bad.. but it just doesn't resonate near as much as the other 2 guitars...

seriously.... I can put my DK-2 against my chest and literally feel every note when its unplugs. The stagemaster, even though it has a "superior" tone wood, just doesnt resonate as much as the poplar body. They are close but its not quite there. I can tell the difference.Its small but noticeable to me.

I do wish the strat had an alder body but it is what it is.. The overall sexyness and electronics/mods partially make up for the lack of better body wood

to summarize.. Not a fan of plywood body but im not against them either
Click to expand...

Resonance = reversely proportional to sustain. My Kramer 210 is the least acoustically heard among all my guitars, and of course it out-sustains them all.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

greekdude said:
Resonance = reversely proportional to sustain. My Kramer 210 is the least acoustically heard among all my guitars, and of course it out-sustains them all.
Click to expand...

perhaps.. but my dk-2 is my #1 for a reason.. if a guitar sounds like sh*t unplugged, there is less chance it will sound good plugged in to an amp. obviously, having pups that sound jive with the wood, will make a guitar sound better no matter what kind of wood.

as for sustain.. i believe that sustain is directly proportional to resonance .A guitar that resonates well, will sustain well.. the plywood is the least sustainable IMO . my theory is that, all the different layers of wood has a disruptive effect on the sound waves. now, don't be getting all bent out of shape over what I said.

This isnt a steadfast rule ,as all guitars are different and this is just from my experience, with my guitars

IMO.. probably get some flak for saying this but
resonance has to do with just the body wood and to a lesser extent the neck wood..
sustain has to do with several variable and is the sum of those variables like the neck,set-up,body wood,frets,player,'pups,etc

not trying to win OR loose an argument here. this is quite literally, from my experience
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

greekdude said:
whatever ..... if this guitar of mine was lightweight, it would be my no2. People chase tone for ages and when tone is found I think any other excuse is redundant.
Click to expand...

So you would go for a plywood guitar with superior sustain/ tone, instead of a solid-wood one with average tone?
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

If the weight was good (light) then of course. Its like saying would you buy a cheaper but good-performing hyundai rather than an expensive but sub-performing mercedes. The laws of capitalism would bet on the huyndai.
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

Brandenburg said:
perhaps.. but my dk-2 is my #1 for a reason.. if a guitar sounds like sh*t unplugged, there is less chance it will sound good plugged in to an amp. obviously, having pups that sound jive with the wood, will make a guitar sound better no matter what kind of wood.

as for sustain.. i believe that sustain is directly proportional to resonance .A guitar that resonates well, will sustain well.. the plywood is the least sustainable IMO . my theory is that, all the different layers of wood has a disruptive effect on the sound waves. now, don't be getting all bent out of shape over what I said.

This isnt a steadfast rule ,as all guitars are different and this is just from my experience, with my guitars

IMO.. probably get some flak for saying this but
resonance has to do with just the body wood and to a lesser extent the neck wood..
sustain has to do with several variable and is the sum of those variables like the neck,set-up,body wood,frets,player,'pups,etc

not trying to win OR loose an argument here. this is quite literally, from my experience
Click to expand...

I get your POVs. We had those discussions before in these forums and most probably in the future. We will age debating tone and sustain :)
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

Man..the other day I saw one up on eBay that was refurbished (more like completely rebuilt) with a sick custom paint job/Gotoh Floyd/Duncans..the works...I gassed so bad lol ...but it was priced way out of my league :(

Just for eye candy...

Le0Star_CustomPaintJob_Kramer_Russia.jpg
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

I remember buying up some old Kramer parts from Victor Litz,got a coupla' Mpl necks w/Rev hdstks.
Ended up being sold,but still nice necks! :(
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

Rand-O-Monium said:
I remember buying up some old Kramer parts from Victor Litz,got a coupla' Mpl necks w/Rev hdstks.
Ended up being sold,but still nice necks! :(
Click to expand...

I remember being in high school and broke and seeing Victor Litz selling Kramer nightswan necks and bodies for cheap, wish they had that now that I could buy the parts!
 
Re: 80's Kramers... Just slay...

greekdude said:
heavy and dense = the usual argument to describe the ideal tone wood for sustain. As for Kramer going out of business, this happened when metal and thrash died about 1990+. All point-shred-guitar makers felt this.
Click to expand...

Not for my back, it isn't. Heavy and dense are no-nos for any wood, plywood or not, for me. Light, resonant, and under 7lbs is what I look for. Never tried a plywood guitar that light. I can't imagine glue is good for tone, anyway.
 
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