1986 Kramer Pacer Imperial
Details
Used an eBay coupon to BIN this from a particularly communicative seller (much appreciated), who threw in a decent case.
This was my first Kramer with a blocked Floyd Rose, this guitar has a small block of wood glued into the space between the Floyd’s block and the body. This is a fairly permanent solution unlike some others I have acquired more recently, which usually use a screwed in device or simply lowered the bridge down flush with the body. The plus side of this arrangement is that the bridge does not damage or indent the finish on the top, as well as improving the resonance by bringing the strings, bridge, and body wood into direct contact with each other. I am normally skeptical of marketing hype phrases like “improved resonance,” but this guitar does have a particularly strong feeling when strumming the strings and coupled with the Duncan “Custom” pickup, has a very thick and powerful tonal quality.
It’s a great player, with low wide frets and a slim D-shaped neck with comfortable shoulders. The Jazz and Custom are a great pair together. The Jazz has great sparkle in cleaner settings, and the Custom can do a passable PAF impression nicely. The Custom really starts to excel as the gain is turned up though, and with the dive-only Floyd setup, makes this another guitar I regularly tune down for some Drop D riffing.
Matching headstocks for pointy’s only lasted for the 1986 model year.
I wish it weren’t white, but the SH-5 Custom is a nice change of pace from the JB’s I usually use.
Some earlier Kramers came with 90° Gotoh tuners like this. There are no other screw holes in the headstock, so most likely this set of Gotoh’s was laying around the factory and they just threw them on this guitar. Unofficial changes from the catalog like this are common on USA Kramers, with more variability than other makers. I have seen several examples of these tuners being used in the E5xxx range.
The case isn’t original, but it’s the same white piped TKL style that would’ve come with this originally - the blue plush interior is the giveaway that it isn’t factory though.