New Guitar: 1988 Kramer Pacer Imperial

This will probably be my last snag of 2025, which in a strange change of pace for me is the first year where I sold more guitars than I bought (!). I still have far too many and plan to let more go in 2026, depending on market conditions of course.

I’m a big fan of these 12th fret inlay Kramer necks, so when this popped up on Reverb I threw out a fair offer and I was thrilled that it was accepted.

It’s in really great condition, with the most important part (the neck) in nearly spotless, mint condition with no fret wear at all. It has a smooth, light gloss on the back and a relatively flat fretboard by Kramer standards.

The body also looks great, with one small chip by the forearm at the edge of the body being the only obvious sign of use - I bet whoever owned this was upset when they bumped into a table or whatever caused that, since it is otherwise so well taken care of.

Pickups are the standard JB and Jazz combo, and since this is a true Imperial 7/8 body there are no extra holes drilled like the more common Sustainer bodies from this era (which often become “imperialized” when their Sustainer electronics fail). Another sign of the great condition is the Floyd, which hardly has a smudge or any sign of palm sweat on the saddles, which is quite a surprise. Saddles are straight across so I wonder if the intonation was ever set on this, or if the previous owner just set them straight before selling it.

Great guitar to end the year on. See you all next year!

More pictures here

New Guitars x2: 1995 Kramer Vaccaro Pacer and 2006 Baretta 85 USA RI

As a bit of a Kramer fanatic, I’m always absorbing information about the brand and its turbulent history. As many know, Kramer as we knew it went out of business in 1990 which culminated in an infamous “fire sale” at the factory in Neptune, NJ, where many parts were sold off to pay creditors. The next point that people seem to commonly know is that Gibson bought the brand name and revived it, initially with the online purchase, factory direct “Musicyo” website (a novel idea in 1999 when most guitars were still bought in person), but now with new models in a more traditional distribution style akin to their Epiphone budget brands.

However, there were other attempts to revive the brand during the 90s, and one of those actually produced a handful of very nice, high end, USA made guitars. In 1995, 5 years after the original Kramer company shut its doors, Henry Vaccaro and his team started on producing a new line of guitars under the name “Kramer Music Industries” or KMI. This resulted in a lineup of both wood neck and aluminum neck guitars, sometimes reusing old bodies and necks from the 70s and 80s, but with unique new designs. Still, the designs were in a more classic spirit, as the pointy headstock glam guitar thing was dead and buried by 1995. Check out the catalog scans here on the Vintage Kramer website.

I don’t know how many of these guitars were actually built, but there are quite a few cool designs and they are exceedingly difficult to locate, but I finally got my hands on one. It’s a more basic model, simply called the “Pacer,” which looks and feels just like an early 80s beak headstock Pacer Imperial.

This is definitely the “safer” model in the lineup, and there are only a few noticeable differences compared to a Pacer from 12-13 years prior. The Wilkinson VS-100 tremolo jumps out at me first - no Rockinger or Floyds on any Vaccaro era Kramers. This is a great bridge, and some of my all time favorite Kramers are the early beaks with the traditional strat trems, and this is very similar to that.

Pickups are Seymour Duncans, a JB in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck, with factory chrome covers which look great. The neck is a bit more modern feeling, with a soft feeling satin finish. This contrasts with 80s Kramers which had either a very glossy lacquer or a very not glossy oil finish - it’s in between those in feel which is a really nice compromise. The headstock logo is in a slightly different place and font and sports locking Sperzel tuners. This neck is definitely not a reused Kramer piece, the nut area and wood grain is not consistent with any of the usual beak necks (most of which were made by ESP anyway).

The body on the other hand is almost certainly a spare/NOS Kramer body, or at least it was made on the same tooling or to the same specs, right down to the cavity covers - probably an ESP body. The angular electronics cover is identical in size and shape to the bodies used starting from the end of the beak headstock era (Cxxxx serial number plates and up) and up until the switch to the 7/8 body shape (Fxxxx). The serial plate on this guitar is actually an 80s era chrome Fxxxx plate, and that is as built by Vaccaro in 1995, who likely had access to boxes of unused plates (most plates between F1000 and F3000 were never used on 80s Kramers, there’s a useful collector’s tip for you).

While it’s not the most exciting model or color in the Vaccaro lineup, it is a really sweet guitar to add to my collection, and an intriguing piece of a less known time in Kramer history.

The end of the Vaccaro Kramer story is a sad one, as investors pulled out which resulted in Gibson purchasing the brand in 1997. The high quality USA Kramers we could’ve had were done away with, replaced by Chinese made budget guitars with odd specifications and designs quite unlike past Kramers.

That brings me to the next guitar. By 2005, some renewed interest in the Kramer brand prompted Gibson to build a handful of models in Nashville. This included a USA-made Jersey Star and a Baretta 1985 Reissue. This is actually my second Baretta Reissue, I had a super minty red one which I sold and despite not falling in love with the neck, I do regret selling.

It’s nice to have a second chance to enjoy one of these, and while this one is definitely in a bit rougher condition than my previous one, the neck is unaffected and that’s what really matters to me when it comes to playing.

The body is a heavy, hard maple finished in white, but years in the sun have discolored this into a nice cream color. Features are simple - it’s equipped with a German made Original Floyd Rose bridge, a Kramer JS-91T Zebra pickup (Gibson’s take on a JBJ), and a single volume knob. Sadly a previous owner decked the Floyd, and with the sun damage that has resulted in a paint crack extending from the treble stud, up through the treble side pickup ring screws, all the way to the neck pocket. It’s subtle but quite clear in the right light.

Still, that doesn’t get in the way of a great sounding and playing guitar. The neck is completely bare, with a beautifully figured rosewood fretboard, R2 width nut, and Schaller M6 tuners just like the real ones from 85. My only gripe, same as I said when I got the red one, is that the neck is unfinished. Kramer made hundreds of Barettas in 1985 of which maybe a handful had custom order oil finished necks, the rest all had gloss - which I’d prefer. At least it’s not an R5.

Very minor complaints aside, this is a great playing guitar. Since the floyd is decked already anyway, it’s easy to tune up, change tunings, go to Drop D and so on, so it’s already getting a good amount of play time here.

These USA made Kramers made it until about 2008, when one last model was introduced, a Pacer Imperial Reissue (also with a bare neck, wtf?). These were the last Kramers made in the USA nearly 20 years ago. MSRP was $1849 in the catalog, but the Musicyo website was selling them for $1049 direct (see archive link here).

And sorry to keep complaining, but $1049 in 2006 is about $1700 inflation adjusted for 2025. Gibson has long since done away with USA made Kramers, and instead the top end Baretta is a Japanese made model for $2200. It’s really a shame that Gibson has not come out with a line or at least a model, made in the USA, for under $2000. I don’t know all of the logistical details but it’s hard for me to believe that it couldn’t be done. I very nearly purchased one of the MIJ 83 Barettas, used, which dropped as low as $1100 before selling - that’s the true value of those guitars in my humble opinion.

Okay, old (?) man yells at clouds segment over. I’m super excited to have these two guitars in the collection and put my hands on a piece of Kramer history.

More pictures are in my gallery section if you want to see them up close:

Vaccaro Pacer

White Baretta 06 Reissue

New Show: Winona Fighter at Will's Pub, Orlando FL

I’ve gone back and forth on this idea for a long time now and I’ve finally decided to do it - and that’s talking about concerts or music that I listen to. Just to temper your expectations, I’m not some kind of musical expert, and I’m a little too cheap to go to some of the big fancy concerts, but I really enjoy a small bar show. That means I have to really like an act to go see them live, because I’m perfectly happy to listen to the recorded tracks in the comfort of my home.

I should also mention that my musical taste is both eccentric, outdated, and at times ill-formed. I regularly discover or re-discover songs or bands from my youth, or even as far back as the 1920s or 30s, so I guess I’m the opposite of the “you probably haven’t heard of my favorite band” hipster type. If I say something obvious or stupid to hardcore fans of a given band, sorry in advance.

Okay, introduction to this new category out of the way, I want to talk about a band I saw this past weekend here in Florida: Winona Fighter. The first time I heard them was a few years ago via a YouTube “your mix” playlist - lately a way I’ve actually discovered a lot of cool music. This track was just one of many thrown into a mix of other rock music but it kind of stayed in the background for a little while for me. Here’s that video:

Album/Recorded Music

Then sometime this summer, another music video popped up in my feed by the same band (“I’m In The Market To Please No One”), then another. I was getting pretty into the vibe of the music, so I went ahead and downloaded the whole album “My Apologies To The Chef” which released this year on February 14th, with a Deluxe Version as recently as September 5th 2025. These albums include the 3-year old song I heard first on YouTube, and that’s probably still their most popular song but I could be wrong there. If I had to pick a favorite, I’m really not sure I could - I love the whole album start to finish and they are all roughly the same kind of vibe, which makes for easy listening if you’re in the mood. I guess “Swear To God That I’m (FINE)” is the one that gets stuck in my head the most.

They have also done a great job on the music videos, in fact most of the songs on the album have a video which is really cool. Much like the music, they all have a similar filming and story style. I suppose that’s risky, but if you’re into it like I am it’s a huge win because I can enjoy a long sitting of just WF songs/videos. On the other hand, if you listen to one or two and you don’t like it, there probably isn’t anything else here for you, and that’s fine. Still, I’d keep an eye on this band’s next album because even from their first “album” (or EP? Demo?) there’s a pretty noticeable uptick in cool guitar parts, catchy lyrics, and production quality. That’s not to say the stuff on “Father Figure” isn’t excellent, songs like “Wlbrn St Tvrn” are still regulars on my playlist and are included in the newest full album release.

Just take a look at the quality difference between that first video and their more recent ones - not just the cinematography and lighting, but the acting, lip syncing, the movment, and the charm that holds it all together.

Live Review

I arrived at Will’s late Saturday night, pretty close to show time to meet up with some friends, and we staked out a corner just off the wall between the stage and the bar. The opening act was a DJ playing some emo/screamo music, of which I recognized a handful of songs but I’ll be honest it wasn’t all that thrilling and the vibe was totally off for what the band was going to play. You’d think we were there to see a metal show based on the opener, but to be fair this was the same weekend as Warped Tour so there was probably some crossover in interests there (and WF also played a set at Warped Tour the day after this show).

The vibe definitely skyrocketed when WF took the stage, and right from the moment she stepped on stage, Coco (our lead vocalist and primary songwriter) was a huge for hyping up the small crowd which was maybe 50 people or less. Her energy was infectious really, once they got the gear hooked up she’d throw a shoulder check at the guitarist and bass player and you could tell she really wanted to be there. They started right off with “You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers,” and the movement from the band was great and got everybody right into it, and she carried that energy straight through until the end of the show with only a few breaks in between to talk to the audience. They basically played the whole standard version of the album, plus their cover of “Sabotage” (Beastie Boys), didn’t skip any songs, and played for over an hour - awesome. They did play them out of order and it’s been a long time since I’ve been to a show where I can’t just check setlist.fm to see what they played, so sorry I don’t remember other than they ended with “Wlbrn St Tvrn.”

I also hate people who spend a whole concert filming instead of enjoying themselves, but I forced myself to snag about a minute of “I’m In The Market To Please No One” for you all:

All in all, it was a pretty down to roots, plain old rock concert. Just what I wanted. And perhaps I’ll sound like a bit uncool here, but they were loud enough to have a great time but no piercing loud noises that made me want to put in my earplugs (which I take to every concert now after a few bad experiences).

Technical Stuff

This wouldn’t be Totally Rad Guitars if I didn’t talk about some of the technical stuff of course. The guitar player played a EVH 5150 Standard Series with a maple fretboard and hot pink finish, which of course is right up my alley in terms of guitar style. At other times he played a Gibson Flying V, and if I had to guess these are the same guitars shown in the various music videos. I’m not a bass player, but I’m pretty sure he was playing a Duff McKagan Deluxe Precision Bass with super cool block inlays and a black painted neck. Our front woman didn’t play guitar on every song, but she did on quite a few and used a Squier Sonic Esquire H in Lime Green finish, which I’m pretty certain I heard her say during the show that she had bought either that day or the day before.

In terms of amps… well, there was a Marshall 2525C but I’m almost positive that was the backup/house amp, but to be fair I didn’t get a great look at Coco’s pedalboard before they wrapped up so she may have been using that amp. The lead guitar player Dan played the entire show with his primary amp being a Universal Audio Lion floor pedal. I have to say, it sounded absolutely fantastic and I have no complaints about the tone at all, and that’s coming from a guy sitting in a room with 70 amps. Sure I’m a tube amp purist at times, but I bet being able to pack up two guitars and a handful of pedals to play a whole rock show must be awesome. Even if you brought a backup and power supply, it’d still be less stuff than even one amp head. It’s not the kind of music that needs a lot of pedals - I should’ve taken a picture of the board - but I’m pretty sure all I saw was a tuner and a delay, maybe there was a boost in there but I don’t think I saw more than 4 pedals on the whole board. I had the chance to talk to him after the show but I missed him, oops - this won’t be the last time I see this band though I’ll say that for sure.

I don’t know much about the other gear here, but I will say, that Coco used a wired mic the entire time which was pretty wild considering how active she was on stage. She even lifted the cord up over her shoulder and went down into the crowd for a little bit on one song and there were no equipment issues, trips, or malfunctions at least that I noticed. All in all I thought it was a really professional and great sounding show and considering the equipment that’s really impressive - maybe it sounds hypocritical of me to say but this is just more proof that you don’t need a bunch of fancy expensive equipment to write great songs, sound good, and entertain a crowd.

Final Thoughts

Look, even for bands I really like, I don’t buy merch, I don’t buy CD’s, I don’t even drink or if I do it’s a rare occasion. Despite my amp/guitar collection obsession, I’m painfully frugal. What I’m trying to say is, I bought a $60 sweatshirt and their CD at this show, that’s how good it was. Go see them next time they are near you, I paid a minuscule $25 for the ticket, and that has to be one of the best price to fun ratios I’ve ever had, at any concert.

At the time of writing, they are headed west and stopping at a few places along the way, but they’ll be back in Florida in May 2026 for the Rockville festival. I’m not a big festival guy but I’ll be watching closely to see if they play any bars around that date next year.

Check out their official website here: https://winonafighter.com/

New Guitars: Gorgeous Pair of late 80s Carvin DC400's

I occasionally look for old pointy headstock Carvins but they seem to rarely come up for sale, so when I spotted a green 1990 DC400 one evening I was thrilled. I looked through the pictures to check the condition but I was already pretty sure I was going to buy it, but then I got to the last picture in the listing. Next to the green one was another, very similarly optioned blue DC400 - not yet listed for sale. Luckily, the shop that had these was located near me here in Florida so I set an alarm and called them immediately when they opened the next morning to ask about it.

Lucky for me, they still had both of them and I worked out a cash deal over the phone. Later the same afternoon, I took a long afternoon drive down to DB Music where I picked up both guitars.

These two were clearly well cared for, both kept in cases with no major blemishes to speak of. That’s quite a feat considering how fragile these pointy headstocks can be. Much of the original paperwork is intact, along with (slightly dryrotted) Carvin straps and nice condition hard cases. Modifications are minimal, but more on that later.

I should also add some context for those unfamiliar with Carvins at this time. These were made to order instruments from a list of available options. These options changed over time and some builds take longer than others, much like any other guitar custom shop. However, they were priced very aggressively, comparable to standard production line USA made guitars of the time. It’s a great value prospect and I’m always surprised they didn’t sell a lot more of them, but part of the factory direct style means you wouldn’t see these in a store unless you lived near the Carvin showroom in California. Without budget models and a thinner artist roster than others, I really just think people didn’t know about them or were afraid to risk mailing a thousand dollar check across the country in an era that long predates common internet sales.

From a modern standpoint as a collector, the biggest drawback for me besides the difficulty in finding these instruments is simply that a lot of options someone else might’ve chosen are ones that I find mediocre, or at worst actively dislike. For example, a relatively common option I’ve seen is to have the back of the neck tung oiled - I hate this on an otherwise glossy neck through guitar. I know this trend has had a popular resurgence recently but I think it looks cheap to simply tape off a line at the neck heel and headstock and leave a big chunk of the guitar unfinished or with a different finish. Example in the below catalog picture, which also gives a sampling of some options available on any guitar model (some options were also model specific).

So of course, finding two DC400’s, the top of the line model, with pointy headstocks (a rarity already), and most importantly without any bad option choices is very exciting for me.

Let’s run through them in detail now. First, a few things that both of them have in common. Since they are both DC400’s, they have highly flamed maple tops with a nice transparent gloss finish that really shows off the wood grain. Both have real abalone block inlays on an ebony fretboard with a 14” radius, black hardware, weigh a ton, and have push-tab style locking nuts. They both have the “1990+” headstock shape, which replaced the previous “Jackson style” pointy. However there is a transition period here, likely depending on order or build time, because both of these guitars have 1990 style headstocks but options like the Kahler Killer which was only available in 1989. My more standard model DC125 has a serial number in between these two DC400’s but has the old Jackson-style pointy headstock. That guitar was probably built and shipped a lot faster than these because it didn’t have custom woods, bridges, or a figured top.

Both of these guitars are neck-through construction and feature 24.75” scale necks. This scale was only available from 1979-1992, and if you wanted a pointy headstock on that scale length it was only 1988-1991.

The most unique option that they both share is the bridge choice, which is a Kahler 2710 Killer. This was Kahler’s absolute top of the line bridge for 1989 and was only made for one or two years before being discontinued. It’s technically part of the 2700 series alongside the 2760 Steeler, which is roughly equivalent to a real OFR, and the 2720 Spyder, which is a more budget oriented model. These were all made in the USA too, though that means your 6mm whammy bars won’t fit (these use Imperial sized arms). The Killer also has a unique feature called the “autolatch” which can set the bridge to a fixed state by simply turning the trem arm, so the Killer trem arms also have a piece at the bottom of the threading that is flat which turns a mechanism related to this. Usually neat little gimmicks like this get forgotten, parts lost, and then you pay through the nose if you even want to try it (I see that $189 autolatch on whammyparts), so it’s also really lucky that both of these guitars had the correct whammy bars AND autolatch pieces, plus paperwork and screws, in the cases. Really awesome find and another sign that somebody really cared about these instruments.

Okay, now for the differences, starting with the green one. This guitar has a few really special options, and it has a later serial number so it’s probably a bit further into 1990 than the blue. Easily noticeable is the reversed headstock, but it also has a color matched flame maple cap on the headstock to match the body top. The black Carvin logo is a little hard to read but looks great in the right light.

In addition, the body and neck is made from Koa, which was a $100 option for 1989 but standard on the DC400 by 1990, so it’s hard to know if this was ordered specifically or not. Either way, it looks great up close but it’s a bit darker than alder or maple would be especially in a color like green which naturally shifts a bit darker. The neck is also a very odd 2-piece design, which I’ve only seen on other Carvins of this same era. Usually multi-piece necks are 3 pieces or some other odd number so that each piece flexes against the other and that adds stability to prevent twisting, or at least that’s the idea. I’m not sure how much worse a 2-piece neck might be but there is no sign of twisting or warping and this guitar is at least 35 years old now so it seems stable enough to me.

Electronics are all stock on this one, with M22 humbucking pickups and the stock active electronics circuit intact. The controls have a good effect on the sound without being unusable at the extremes, so it’s nicely balanced. I did have occasional noise issues with it through certain amps and pedals though, so there is probably an impedance mismatch that doesn’t play nice with certain equipment. This also changes the controls a bit from what I normally expect when I see this arrangement. There is one master volume knob, then a “pan” knob that can be used with the stereo output jacks to separate which pickup output goes to which, or combine them together… not sure how to use that feature effectively but it’s interesting. The bottom two knobs are bass and treble, which can both boost and cut those frequencies, and there is a very nice feeling tactile detent in the middle position to let you know when you are at flat EQ. It has a 3-way toggle switch for the pickups, and 3 additional mini-toggle switches which can take the pickups out of phase or split the coils of the neck and bridge humbuckers respectively. Confusingly, the coil tap controls are called “Bright” for the bridge and “Deep” for the neck, but it’s clear listening to the amp that it’s simply a single coil mode.

Now for the blue one. This guitar has a black painted, non-reversed headstock, with the large white Carvin logo. This look was actually pretty cool and there’s a reason they brought this option back nearly two decades later (the “large” logo wasn’t available for some time).

The body and neck are both maple, with the neck being very highly flamed which looks fantastic. It’s a little more flamed on one side than the other, but it happens to the side facing you when playing so I really can’t complain. Unlike the other one, this is a one piece neck although the headstock does have a second piece glued on to make the pointy shape. The light color of the maple also means the blue comes out very bright and contrasty which looks great.

This one has been modified a bit in the electronics area. The active electronics have been discarded and the Carvin M22’s it originally would’ve come with are also gone. Instead there is a pair of Seymour Duncan PATB-3 Blues Saraceno pickups, the same pickup in both bridge and neck positions. I’ve used this pickup before and really loved in the neck position, but not as much in the bridge, and I still feel that way here. I just like the standard PATB-1 a lot, which I have a spare of, so I’ll probably swap that in at some point. I do love the idea of an H-H guitar with both pickups being PATB’s. With the active electronics gone, it has a more traditional control scheme much like the DC200 model of the same era. That’s two volumes, two tones, and a 3-way selector switch. For the moment, one mini toggle is a phase switch, one coil splits both pickups, and the third is disconnected. I’ll probably rewire it so that each pickup can be split separately by their own mini-switch, the same way my Koa DC200 is set up.

That’s about it. Really awesome guitars that play and sound great. I’ve played older Carvins before, in fact one of my first ever experiences with guitars in general was when I was just starting out in high school and my computer science teacher brought in a 1985 Carvin DC200, white with gold hardware, and a Tom Sholz Rockman for me to play a few times during class. I feel that if Kramer, Jackson, Charvel, etc took Fender as their source DNA to built into super-strats, Carvin came at it with a bit more of a “Gibson” influence. Basically, instead of taking a lightweight SSS bolt-on and putting humbuckers and big frets on it, they took a heavy Les Paul and trimmed it down a bit. When the Carvin DC200 launched in 1981, it was a 24.75” scale set-necked guitar, which evolved from the earlier DC150/160 and CM series (which was a single-cut LP style), so that backs up my thoughts there.

One last picture I found while doing some research - the catalog photo for the DC400 in 1992 features two guitars - one blue, one green with a reversed headstock. There are lots of differences (scale length, bridge, headstock shape, quilted tops, gold hardware) but I thought it was cool how similar this catalog page is to this pair.

More pictures and information available on each guitar’s collection page, links below:

Blue Carvin DC400

Green Carvin DC400

New Guitar: White 82 Pacer Custom + Finally finished a project

I watched this on Reverb for a little while and finally decided to make an offer. Lately, I’ve really been gathering up the earlier Kramers and I have a soft spot for these non-Floyd models. They have a certain appeal, not too different from some of the recent Charvels like the DK24 or the just released Kramer Pacer Deluxe GT. Of course, I still love a Floyd Rose (feels like home to me), but it’s nice to have something I can pick up easily and change tunings on the fly when I’m just messing around.

The white finish is original and looks quite clean from a distance, but up close you can tell this is a 43+ year old guitar with some small dings and scratches. Still, it’s impressive how bright it is, with not much yellowing of the clear coat. Even the brass traditional tremolo is still relatively bright and not too tarnished like some of my more played examples get.

It arrived with the original Schaller pickups installed, but sadly the bridge humbucker had a short between the coils. I’m fairly technical but I’ve never attempted a pickup repair, and my understanding is that many times they need to be rewound on a machine to properly repair shorts like this. I see some services online that offer this, now that I have two vintage Schallers with shorts, it may be worth getting them repaired. In the past, I’ve just bought replacements, as 80s Schaller pickups used to be 40 bucks each but a quick skim of other Reverb listings and it’s hard to find one under $100 now.

For the time being, I looked through my spare parts drawer and decided to install a Seymour Duncan SH-12 Screamin’ Demon. I originally got this pickup in a black Pacer Imperial and hardly got to enjoy it, so it’s nice to hear it again. It’s probably a hair higher output than the stock Schaller would be but not as intense as a JB (and I have so many other Kramers with JB’s in them). I also like the wiring on these earlier ones, with two volume controls and a master tone control, which lets me set my neck pickup to a quieter volume (or off) for some unique mixing or easy crunch-to-clean at the flick of a switch.

The maple neck is glossy and clean, with vintage sized frets and a fairly curved fretboard radius that makes it very comfortable to play. I just love these necks, made by ESP (yes, even this early). The original case rounds out the package, with the original manual and warranty form, although the serial number written on the tag is not the same as this guitar (seller mistake maybe?). Either way, a great addition.

More pictures here

I also finally got around to completing an old project. When I realized the bridge pickup was shorted on this guitar, I started looking through my stuff to see if I had any spare Schaller humbuckers, or Schallers installed in a guitar that doesn’t normally have them. I got out a handful of guitars including this well worn Red Pacer Deluxe. The Schaller I had in it was wrong for the white Pacer Custom (it was a 2-in-1 and dated ‘84, too new for ~‘82), but realized I never finished this project.

Originally, I had gotten it with a mirrored red pickguard, with a pair of 80s era Seymour Duncan Customs installed, a single volume, and tone "switches.” The previous owner had routed the body under the pickguard to fit the humbucker at the neck, and the entire cavity is completely coated in copper film - a very nice job. Here is that configuration below:

It was definitely a unique look, and I did keep this pickguard intact exactly as it was installed if I ever want to restore this. However, I really like the stock black pickguard look so I bought two pickguards from Warmoth, both single ply matte black, without any controls routed. One of these was HSS and the other HH. I can’t remember exactly why, but somehow I ended up installing a Schaller 2-in-1 in the bridge position and a 90s PATB-3 in the neck, with a 5-way blade switch with two dead spots, and no pots. It was technically “playable” but not ideal, although I do like the super clean look - it’d be even cooler with black covered pickups (like EMG’s or similar). I will say the PATB-3 made a fantastic neck pickup though, it sounds great in that position. This is what that looked like:

Ultimately though, I wanted to add a traditional volume knob and replace the unnecessary 5-way blade switch with a 3-way switch. I could’ve gone with an enhanced 5-way to add coil splitting options but I really just wanted something more simple… and I didn’t want to buy more parts, just use what I already have on hand. A while back I also picked up a set of Dimarzio D-Activator X’s, which I tested out briefly but didn’t really get to enjoy. I’d prefer this Schaller 2-in-1 be saved for later (or installed in the HSS pickguard, as it would’ve been stock in a Pacer Deluxe), and I also have a spare PATB-1 so I wanted the PATB-3 to be freed up for some other guitar later. So I drilled a hole for a volume pot and wired up the D-Activator X’s and sent the others to the parts bin for later use. Here’s what that looks like:

Still pretty clean, a little flair with the cream coils, and I had a nice orphaned chrome volume knob to complete the look. I’m really impressed with these pickups too, obviously super high output but the neck position is still bright and cutting. I’ve had an X2N before, which on paper should be similar to the DA-X, but I didn’t quite get along with it. The slightly mismatched coils on the DA-X (“Dual Resonance”) make a noticeable difference in the high end and there’s a lot more air in the highs while still being super high output.

Both the X2N and the DA-X have a bit of a “boosted” feel, compared to a lower output pickup (like the SH-12 on the white Pacer above, which I played through the same amp on the same day). The difference is that the X2N’s boost is broader, therefore lower frequencies a little muddier, but in its defense maybe a bit more “natural” sounding. The DA-X is still very saturated but it feels like the focus is shifted higher up into the mids. It's sort of like the difference between boosting an amp with a Klon/Klone or a Tubescreamer. The Tubescreamer has a hump in the mid frequencies that adds a lot of bite and makes palm mutes really stand out, while the Klone style circuit is flatter and just feels like the amp itself with the gain turned up a bit more. Same thing here with these pickups. In short, I no longer own an X2N (and while I have a Klone, I rarely use it).

The cooper shielding in the cavity also means that this guitar is incredibly quiet, even plugged into a high-gain amp. In fact, it’s opened my eyes to this a little bit, I don’t think I live somewhere with particularly difficult electrical or radio interference but I have to wonder if copper tape could help some of my other guitars that are a little less protected. I don’t plan on doing any drastic mods, and as a collector I do intentionally appreciate things “as they were” including flaws/noise, but still something I’ll be keeping in mind for future projects.

I’ll get to work on wiring up the HSS version of the pickguard for this guitar, but I’m quite pleased with how this turned out. This guitar is tuned to Drop C by default so now it has the pickups to match for the heavier stuff. I’m getting out of building “projects” in general, slowly selling off my spare necks/bodies/parts, so it especially feels good to have this complete instead of in limbo.

More pictures here

New Guitar: 2025 Kramer Pacer Deluxe 87 EMG Flip Flop Blue

I never buy new guitars. There just isn’t very much out there these days that appeals to me, and there are so many really fantastic guitars on the used market. So I was quite surprised to see this guitar come out under the radar last week. In fact, I only found out it existed because I saw a couple of new Pacer Deluxes in my reverb feed and looked those up. I’m not chronically online but they didn’t post about it on Instagram or anywhere else I could find for that matter.

Presenting only the second brand new guitar I’ve ever bought:

I’ve said multiple times in the past that if the current Kramer company, owned by Gibson, ever came out with a true 80s style model, especially a Pacer Deluxe (my favorite model), I’d buy one. The caveat to that was that I expected it to be made in the USA, in the same way that Gibson made reissues in the past. The 2005-2008 Baretta 85 RI wasn’t quite the model I wanted, but it clearly had a lot of attention paid in its production, they borrowed/bought real 1985 Barettas for sampling, and meticulously measured and built those as close to spec as possible with only very minor changes. Same goes for the 2008 Pacer Imperials. This isn’t exactly how I imagined a Pacer Deluxe Reissue but I want to support building this type of guitar and I want to see more, so I felt a little bit obligated to buy one. I ordered mine the day it came out, and it was sold out in less than 3 days. I guess there’s a lot more Reb Beach fans out there than I realized.

It really pains me to put the gallery page for this guitar into the “Kramer Other” section of my site instead of the “Kramer American” page. It’s not just where it is made though - I have no problem with guitars made in China like this one. I’m well aware that even the American series from the 80s were mostly parts made in Japan by ESP. There’s no avoiding this discussion and it’s such a shame that any review is going to be colored by the most notable part of the guitar: the price. It’s $1499 and available exclusively from the official Kramer website. Adjusted for inflation, that’s nearly the same as the USA-made 2008 Reissue (which was $1099 at the time).

That’s a lot of money for a MIC instrument, but I could deal with that if that price premium meant it was a top quality piece made to an exacting standard. It’s not a bad guitar by any means, but there are a lot of misses compared to a real 1987 Pacer, and many of them are relatively easy to fix. If Fender can make Stratocasters in the USA for $1300 (current Sweetwater price at time of writing), and Ibanez can make RG Genesis guitars at Fujigen in Japan, I’m not sure I understand why the price is so high. Yeah, I know with inflation my 80s Pacers (which were $1119 in 1987) would be $3000 new today, but there are USA made Charvels for $2500 and I’d happily buy a USA Kramer at that price too.

You could argue that it’s not a true reissue. I get that, it’s clearly a tribute to Reb Beach’s Pacer Deluxe from the Winger days. I’ll call it “reissue adjacent,” because it’s not like they put “87” in the model name because it was someone’s favorite number. The thing is, they got a lot wrong either way when it comes to the small details. And even if I ignore the reissue/Winger connection, and just treat it as a any regular new guitar, why would I pay $1500+ for a guitar that is not built as nicely as a Mexican Charvel, USA Strat, or MIJ Ibanez which cost the same or less?

I have a lot of minor complaints but they all add to something more when factoring in the price. It’s not a terrible guitar, the finish while not even close to real 80s flip flop blue is still a great looking chromashift color. Honestly, it looks like the guitar from the Seventeen music video so they nailed that - Reb Beach’s guitar wasn’t ff blue anyway. It had an awful setup out of the box with super high action, but after lowering the Floyd it feels a lot better. The Floyd recess is so shallow that you can hardly pull up on the bar which is such an odd design decision for an 80s shred guitar. The EMG’s… sound like EMG’s, you either love or hate them. They are USA made EMG’s, and the body has a “swimming pool” pickup route so you could do whatever combo of pickups you please if you wanted to modify it. From a purely functional perspective it’s a nice, average quality guitar.

I have a lot more thoughts about it, so I made a video. As an added bonus, I do a deep dive on Reb Beach’s Pacer Deluxe which this is clearly inspired by.

New Guitar: Early Kramer Pacer Custom

Lately, believe it or not, I have been trying to downsize my collection. It’s hard to turn off my “jump on a good deal” impulse, but I’ve really been trying to really think about what guitars I want to keep. I don’t own everything on this site anymore, but I do still have a lot of guitars and sometimes I feel like I spend more time shopping, researching, and writing about guitars than I do actually playing them and I’m a worse musician for it.

Part of that soul-searching process has led me to identify that I have a real soft spot for the earliest wood necked Kramer guitars. There’s something about them that is just special, a sense of occasion to getting one out to play it and being immersed in it. The smell of the old leather in the case reminds me of my Members Only jacket, the weight of the substantial maple body pulling on my shoulder, the feel of the old brass fittings and small frets (what we’d describe as “vintage” frets today). It’s just endlessly fascinating to me to play an instrument that was groundbreaking and modern for the time, nearly 45 years after it was built.

That brings me to today’s guitar, which is a 1982 (or perhaps late ‘81) Kramer Pacer Custom in a gorgeous “blue burst” finish.

There are a few noteworthy features of this very early serial number (B0392). For context, wood necked Kramers started around A7000 and rolled over into “B” after A9999. Within that rough range, many were still aluminum necks like the “Duke,” and quite a few were basses, so this is definitely one of the earliest guitars with the “beak” headstock shape.

The first thing I want to point out is the bridge, which ties in to the name of this model. This is a Pacer “Custom,” which at this time in Kramer history means it has two humbucker pickups and a brass 6-screw standard tremolo. The better known Pacer “Imperial” in these early days had the same HH configuration but with the ESP Flicker tremolo. By 1982, the Imperial was upgraded to the “Edward Van Halen Tremolo” which was the Rockinger bridge, but the Pacer Custom kept the standard tremolo. Then of course by 1983 you’d start to see Floyd Rose bridges replacing the Rockingers on Imperial models and the Custom model with its standard bridge was dropped entirely by then. Technically you could still order the Flicker bridge throughout this time but it was no longer on the standard catalog models.

The “Custom” moniker did return in mid-1986 but this was an entirely different guitar, using a different body shape, floyd rose bridge, and HSS pickup configuration. This model quickly became the “Pacer Custom I” because a similar model “Pacer Custom II” came out not long after with the same basic features but a different control scheme. These have their own history to dive into but I’ll save that for a future article.

Back to this guitar, it sports an interesting brass trem with a much thicker plate where the saddle screws are located and larger base plate. I have seen this bridge on a handful of other examples and it is on the 1981 catalog page, but I’ve had guitars with lower and higher serial numbers than this with a more normal looking bridge (similar to early Charvel San Dimas brass trems), so I’m not sure what these bridges are exactly. The sharp eyed amongst you may have already noticed that the trem arm screw slot has the broken off end of a trem arm inside… blame that one on Guitar Center, who stupidly shipped this guitar to me with the trem arm installed inside the case. It arrived with the case partially open and the trem arm bent beyond use, and as I carefully tried to unscrew it, it snapped off. Really a shame as 1981 brass trem arms aren’t exactly common, but the good news is that after taking these photos I was able to carefully unscrew the broken piece.

It appears at some point that the neck humbucker was replaced as well. Most likely this guitar had two standard Schaller humbuckers like the one in the bridge position (which is now called “Golden 50,” but back then was called the “Ultra Spec”), but the neck pickup is another 80s-era Schaller called the “2-in-1” with hex poles. I like both of these pickups so I can’t really complain, but if I happen across another standard Schaller I may swap that in so the pickups match stock, and the 2-in-1 would be stock on early 80s Pacer Deluxes so it’s always nice to have an extra for the spare parts bin.

It’s also worth mentioning that rosewood fretboards were uncommon at this time, with the rule of thumb being that for every 10 necks Kramer made, 9 of them were maple fretboards during the “strat head” era, and more rosewood being available during the “beak” era. This rule can be reversed for the pointy era, where rosewood became the much more common fretboard material. This makes my 6th Rosewood beak neck out of 18 total that I’ve owned, so my anecdotal evidence suggests roughly 1/3 of beak necks might be Rosewood. None of my Rosewood necks have a skunk stripe, but supposedly some do - I’d be really interested to see one if someone reading this has one like that.

Bringing things back around to where we started, this is the perfect example of a guitar I find myself wanting to hang on to even as I cull the rest of my collection. I know it seems a little disingenuous to say that as I’ve only had it for a few days, but it’s such a great snapshot into history. It’s not the original Kramer case, but you can tell the previous owner really cared about this guitar and was clearly a very big fan of The Who. The case is covered in concert and radio stickers dating from 1982 and it’s such a cool piece that calls back a strange sense of nostalgia for a time that I wasn’t even alive for.

Since I started this site, people occasionally reach out to me via email and share stories of a parent, relative, or friend, and their connection to an instrument I now own. I really appreciate those and it’s nice to draw a connection between people’s experiences and a physical object like a guitar.

More pictures here

New Guitar: Black Kramer Baretta

I’m not the biggest Baretta guy, even though it’s probably Kramer’s most famous model with its ties to Eddie Van Halen. However I am a fan of a good deal so I scooped this one up from - surprise - the Guitar Center used listings.

It’s not the most exciting guitar at first glance, but its simplicity does have a certain appeal. The black finished body is in good condition although it has a lot of polishing swirls and the color really shows any finger prints, scratches, or dirt even after a cleaning. I can tell this was a very well taken care of guitar though, even the case looks nearly brand new with barely a scratch on it, the neck is spotless, and the fretboard very healthy looking (clearly was cleaned/oiled regularly).

The previous owner swapped the hardware over to chrome, but it’s all period correct parts. Personally I’d prefer the black, and I do have a spare black Floyd Rose but I used my last set of black Schaller tuners on that flip flop blue Pacer Deluxe I wrote about a few weeks ago - I’ll see what I can find later but most likely I’ll be converting this back to black hardware. They also swapped the volume knob for an odd gold top hat knob with “tone” on it, so I swapped that for a spare strat-style Volume knob which would’ve been the factory correct knob type. I think I have a pair of black schaller strap buttons too.

Luckily the owner didn’t swap out the important parts, primarily the original Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB pickup, wound by Marcela Juarez, in reverse zebra color. I’m not one to believe some certain pickup or winder is “magic” as far as tone, but it’s just the truth that these pickups sound great and are worth a pretty penny if you can even find one. Out of the six 80s Barettas I’ve owned, half of them had this pickup removed which is a bit of a shame. I do really appreciate originality when it comes to collecting guitars, but with prices on vintage 80s Zebra JBJ’s running $250+, I just can’t possibly justify that kind of cost for what is essentially a $70 pickup with one cream coil. Even all black JBJ’s are running into the $200 range these days according to Reverb which kind of blows my mind. I know, with my attention to detail on collecting, you’d think I’d be into that sort of thing but I’m a bit too pragmatic for that.

I’ll take new photos once I get it moved over to black hardware, but I’m no hurry and the guitar plays great as-is so I’ll enjoy it for a while. I’ve had multiple black on black guitars, even including another Baretta with black/black so the chrome is a nice change of pace to add some pop to an otherwise plain instrument.

More photos here

New Guitar: Kramer "The Pacer" Cream/Tortoiseshell

I don’t often visit the listings on MusicGoRound, but I do check occasionally and happened to spot this one - I’m guessing before anyone else did because it was very fairly priced. It arrived without a case but very safely packed (Guitar Center could use a lesson from these guys) and really great condition. This came from the Kenosha WI location, so top marks to them.

This is a fairly unique and uncommon model that only existed in the early wood-neck Kramer era, only made from 1982-1983. Most of the ones I have seen are similar to this example, although they were technically available in other color combinations almost all of them are cream colored bodies with red tortoise pickguards, and this is the second one like that I’ve had. My first one (an earlier serial number) has a maple fretboard and oil finished neck, but this one has a rosewood board and glossy lacquer - just enough of an excuse to keep both!

The key feature of “The Pacer” models is the pickguard and triple single coil pickup arrangement, and all of these models came with gold/brass hardware and the Rockinger bridge. Very early examples have the Strat style “P” headstock shape, but most of these will have the beak shape as they came out later than the more common Pacer models like the Imperial or Special. There is a late “The Pacer” in the 1983 catalog which sports chrome hardware and an Original Floyd Rose, and by this time the Pacer Deluxe also existed with its black pickguard, many more color options, and H-S-S pickup layout. I have never seen another “The Pacer” equipped with a Floyd besides the one in the catalog. Interestingly, these models also used 11-hole pickguards, while the later Pacer Deluxes used the “vintage” 8-hole guards (which Fender only used from 1954-1959, excepting reissue/signature models).

There are a few changes from stock on this one. First, all of the fine tuners on the Rockinger have been replaced, which is too bad - those screws are impossible to find, though it is pretty minor. Next is the removal of the Rockinger locking nut, replaced with a standard string tree. If I happen across a Rockinger string lock I’ll restore it, but they are nearly impossible to find and objectively a downgrade so I’m not too fussed about it. Last, the knobs would’ve been gold or brass metal dome knobs, but this one has more standard strat-style knobs, and it’s been rewired to be volume/tone/tone (it originally would’ve been vol/vol/tone, though with 3 pickups I can see why a master volume makes more sense).

Speaking of wiring, the pickups have also been swapped out for a full set of Adder Plus Corporation single coils, which was a small boutique pickup maker based in Illinois that operated from roughly 1988 until 2009. Here is the archive of the Adder Plus website for some more information on these pickups. The ones in this guitar are called APC “Slicker Blues,” have 1993 date codes, and patent pending text (later ones I’ve seen for sale have patent numbers listed). I will say these are fantastic sounding pickups and I really like them, a little hotter than a standard single but not overly raspy or thin, and the middle is reverse wired for hum cancelling in positions 2 and 4. These were apparently designed by Mel Lace after his brother “half stole” the design for the Lace Sensor pickups which Fender used in the late 80s Strat Plus (first year 1987). Later, Lace separated from Fender and became a whole operation still in business today offering much more than just single coils. I’m sure there is an interesting story to dig up there but I’m just happy with the way they sound and I’ll leave it at that.

Great guitar and very pleased with it - time to find it a nice hard case to live in when it’s not being played.

More pictures here

New Guitar: Kramer Pacer Deluxe Flip Flop Blue

I spotted this one for a fair price, and I’m a sucker for a maple fretboard especially attached to the very cool “flip flop blue” body. Pacer Deluxes are my favorite Kramer model, and I’ve owned more Pacer Deluxes than any other type of 80s Kramer (this is my 18th at the time of writing). There’s something special to me about the more innocuous look of a Stratocaster-type guitar, with a pickguard, but ramped up a notch with the pointy headstock and floyd rose. The black single-ply pickguard seals the look for me, a lot cooler looking than a white guard.

Of course, by modern standards it’s not a “metal” guitar, but it certainly was for the time - 1986 in this case. The finish is very bright, almost sky blue, in most direct light (such as my pictures with camera flash), but has a nice purple sheen at angles and the occasional bit of pink or maybe a pale green depending on how you hold it. This lighter color is accentuated by the maple fretboard, even though this one has aged into a nice deep yellow, and contrasts nicely with the black hardware.

You’re seeing it pictured here after cleaning - every guitar I receive goes through a meticulous disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly. The previous owner of this one must’ve been a heavy cigarette smoker, or spent a lot of time in smoky bars .I just barely made the cutoff for growing up when you could smoke inside restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, so I do have some first hand experience there. I even have some hazy digital point-and-shoot camera photos where you can just make out my face through the smoke to prove it. Anyway, the case had a very strong smell of cigarettes, and the guitar itself was coated completely in a thin translucent brown film. It’s too bad I didn’t take a picture, a before and after comparison would’ve been cool. It really dulled the sparkle and charm of this finish.

I left the case open for over a week to air out, and while it still smells like smoke right up close it’s mostly dissipated. The body on the other hand had to be scrubbed with a wet cloth, and the brown film came off in clumps (gross…). The neck was a bit cleaner from being played, but it does have a more yellow color than I’d expect. That’s likely a combination of the smoke as well as years of sunlight or gigging exposure. Still, after cleaning, it’s in pretty great condition, with some impressions mainly on the rear of the body but otherwise quite nice. The flip flop finishes seem to be “softer” to me, I’m not sure if it is the clear coat they used or whatever the top coat is, but my flip flop pink Pacer Deluxe has a very similar pattern where if viewed from a shallow angle, it has more “bumpiness” especially on the back where belt buckles or shirt buttons make contact.

As for the technical bits, it did arrive with some minor modifications. The first one is that the Floyd Rose wood screws are gone and replaced with more modern studs, as well as a collar type trem arm instead of the screw-in style which would’ve been correct for this year. I’m fine with this change because one of the major flaws of Pacer Deluxes is that the wood between the treble side floyd post and the electronics cavity routed into the body is quite thin, so heavy whammy users have a tendency to crack or elongate the wood there. The fatter studs pressed into the body spread the load out a bit more and resolve this problem nicely, and it’s a good reliability change to make even on a guitar like this one which has no evidence of cracking in that area. In fact, the only reason I don’t do this mod to every Deluxe I own is because I’m still a bit of an originality stickler, and I am not a heavy whammy user anyway so I can maintain them fine with the stock wood screws. I did double check to make sure it was a real German OFR while I was cleaning though.

The next change though I did reverse - it arrived with black Gotoh 135° tuners instead of the correct West German Schaller tuners. The neck is truly an American one, not a relogoed Focus neck, so I’m not sure why this was done - and they aren’t the 90° Gotoh tuners used on some other American series Kramers in various serial number ranges (which this one is very close to, E5xxx). I’m nitpicking a bit here of course but this should’ve had black Schallers, which I conveniently had a spare set of, so I simply swapped those on. Since this required taking the strings off, it let me do a deep cleaning of the neck and headstock as well as get under the bridge area too.

One last note, inevitably FF Blue Deluxes draw some parallels to Reb Beach of Winger fame’s Pacer Deluxe. I want to cover that but as I’m writing this I realize that’s going to be a pretty big can of worms that really deserves its own post. So for now, just know that this guitar is NOT all that similar to his, other than it being a blue Kramer.

More pictures here