1986 Kramer Pacer Imperial

Unique features

• Recessed back and control cavity plates

• Seymour Duncan SH-6 DDJ Distortion wound by Maricella Juarez in the bridge

• Seymour Duncan SH-7 “Seymourizer II” wound by Maricella Juarez in the neck

Take

Snagged this one from Guitar Center’s online listings. The body is fairly rough, with a number of light colored nicks scratches in the finish. Interestingly, they mostly look like small impact rock chips, and there are very few scratches present.

I was pleased to find a pickup combination that I had not tried yet in this, with a Duncan Distortion in the bridge (same wind as a JB, but with a ceramic magnet), and a Seymourizer II in the neck. The Seymourizer II was later renamed the “Distortion Neck,” and for good reason. It measures around 12k ohms, has a ceramic magnet, and has output similar to something like the Dimarzio PAF Pro (my go-to high output neck pickup). Resistance is not an indicator of output, but it does have a lot more oomph than the usual ‘59 or Jazz models used in the neck position of other Kramers. The Distortion is just what I expected, a slightly hairier, angrier JB with high output. I find it great for heavy chording and while it lacks some bass, it stays very tight and excels through an amp like my Mesa Mk IV, using the graphic EQ to bring the lows back in. Depsite the Floyd Rose set up to float, this guitar is currently set up permanently in Drop D to make the best use of the Distortion pickup.