1989 Kramer Pacer Custom I

Details

I acquired this body along with some other parts, and with a completely wrong neck attached. These red crackle bodies came out very late in 1989 or even early 1990, and I’m not sure if any actually made it onto production models. At the time, the 7/8 sized bodies were being used for most Pacers, Sustainers, and soon to become Proaxes. However, some leftover “large” soloist style bodies like this one were specifically chosen for their larger front surface area for graphics, holoflash, and other unique coloring jobs.

This claw neck is one I rescued, partially damaged, from another guitar that was being split into parts. I had it cleaned up, refretted, and figured it was the perfect candidate for this body. I think this combination looks great, even if Stranger Things has saturated the market on red crackle guitars, it’s still a great look. The correct era black German Floyd Rose is present, along with W. German made Schaller M6 tuners, Schaller strap buttons, and a black F series neck plate that should be about right for this time period. The only piece not quite period correct is the Schaller 2-in-1 bridge humbucker and a pair of Schaller single coils, which were likely lifted from a much earlier Pacer. However, I love the way these sound so I kept them in. It’s set up with 12-56 strings and tuned low to drop A#, and even at that extreme tuning this pickup combo sounds great even for the heavy styles I play with it.