Kramer guitar project

I’ve wanted a maple fretboard Kramer for a long time, but they are few and far between in the “pointy” era (86-90). After I happened across a nice sustainer body on reverb for too low of a price to pass up, I had visions of a chance to do a graphic finish and a maple board.

I lucked out and snagged a fairly beaten maple neck from Craigslist (thanks Joe!). Someone had tried to lacquer the neck and didn’t do the best job, but structurally it is in perfect shape. I personally like lacquered necks as opposed to satin or oil finishes, but this one looks to be lightly brushed on and has a few bumps along the back. I think when I have the time, I’ll do some sanding and apply some more lacquer to smooth it out, then it will be perfect.

Since I don’t have the sustainer circuitry, I picked up a GFS Modboard that’s a switchable wah or midboost. I haven’t heard it yet, but with so many free holes for switches I wanted to put something in. I’m hoping I can get a similar sound to my Charvel Spectrum’s JE-1500.

At the moment, the bridge pickup is a Gibson Dirty Fingers, which I’ve never had before - and it sounds fantastic. My neck pickup is eventually going to be a Dimarzio PAF Pro, but the one I bought used has larger holes than I have screws for right now so I just left it empty for now. 

Stay tuned as I add the rest of the parts and get to work on the finish. Really excited about how this is going to turn out!

New Guitar: Charvel Model 4 Cobalt Blue

I grabbed this one online from Guitar Center’s used section, and it did not come with the pictured case - sadly it was very poorly packed, basically the guitar in a cardboard box with no bubble wrap or any protection whatsoever. When it arrived, the edge of the body where your elbow would was cracked through the finish and causing the thick paint to life off in a big chunk. The bridge had also slipped off its studs, but luckily the knife edges didn’t take too much damage. So, another great guitar marred by yet another terrible GC packing job - I can’t even blame UPS for this one as there’s not much they could’ve done. In fact, I’d have to commend UPS for not breaking the headstock or even chipping it - besides the damage from the body moving side to side, once I repaired the bridge and cleaned it up, there were no other issues to speak of and I was able to start playing immediately. For the time being, I’ll put a tiny line of clear nail polish over the edge of the paint so it doesn’t lift any further but I’ll have to contact GC and see if they can cover some of the repair cost… or perhaps this one will get returned, at this price.

Sour notes about shipping aside, this is a beautiful deep blue color and has the same features as my grey Model 4 I picked up last year. The JT-6 trem and JE-1200 mid boost circuit offer great tones, and I really love the inlays on this neck. There’s something special about this neck, it’s just really well put together and a great player.

New Guitar: Charvel Model 4 Platinum Grey

I spotted this online at Guitar Center Ocala which is only about an hour drive from me. I got off work early and headed over there to check it out and after sitting down with it for a few minutes, I ended up taking it home. I worked out a nice deal for a case to be included at a reasonable discount, and even got my hands on the trem bar.

This color is very unique and I’ve only seen one other in the same hue. This Model 4 dates from 1987 and has the JT-6 trem and an active JE-1200 mid boost circuit powered by a 9v battery. The pickups are passive, a J50BC in the bridge and two J200 stacked single coils. I’m not sure how I feel about the J50BC, it’s a bit thin and bright sounding without the mid boost turned up, but the two J200’s sound great at any position. The mid boost circuitry really makes them shine, with it turned down or off they feel like authentic single coil tones, snappy and low output. The mid boost is centered on 650 Hz, so turned up they really start to feel more like humbuckers and have a little bit more output, and lose the classic single coil rasp under distortion - very nice to have both options at the turn of the knob. This would be a great candidate for a bridge pickup swap, but I’ll probably leave it alone for now.

New Guitar: 1992 ESP Maverick Deluxe - Blue

Somehow found another one of these - this time in transparent blue. It’s just like my red one, but this one has the factory pickups instead of EMG’s and a rosewood fretboard instead of maple. This was listed on Guitar Center’s used listings, and arrived with the original case all in excellent condition.

I’ve since converted this one to EMG’s, equipped with an 85-SA-SA combination to add a little variation from my red one, and tuned down to D standard with the floyd still floating.

New Guitar: 1985 Ibanez XV500

I’ve known about this model for a while, and it was my go-to when someone would ask something like “what’s the most ridiculous guitar you’ve seen?” While working for Colorvision, I happened to see an ad on my local craigslist at a very reasonable price. Generally, I only use craigslist when searching for something specific across all of craigslist, not just local postings, so this was a lucky find. After some quick scrambling, I spoke with the owner who was very amicable and we decided on a public meeting place and agreed on cash as the payment method. After having dinner, I came to a horrible realization: I had no ATM card. I called my brother, who I had intended to bring along anyway so I wasn’t alone, and he was nice enough to withdraw some cash for me and I returned the amount to him via paypal. My brother and I met the owner in the parking lot of a gas station along I-4. He had brought a tiny battery powered amp and a pick and let me play the guitar sitting in the back of his SUV for a moment - above and beyond what I would expect from any craigslist meetup. We both had a nice chat about cool guitars from the 80s, I paid him and took it home.

New Guitar: 1986 Kramer Pacer Deluxe

Another amazing stroke of luck - the only bidder on this fine piece. This beautiful Pacer is a rare transparent blue finish, with a great neck in amazing condition. The rosewood fretboard has very tight grain and it’s as smooth in appearance as my other Kramers, and the board is very well hydrated looking with rich color. It also has some very interesting light blue control knobs, and an original Kramer case - but not original for a pointy necked one. I’ve since moved another guitar into this case, and now this one resides in a more period correct case.

New Guitar: 1992 ESP Maverick Deluxe

Won this auction on eBay while at work back when I worked somewhere you couldn’t have your phone out while at work. Special thanks to my supervisor for turning his head the other way for 30 seconds at the end of the auction so I could place my bid!

This guitar was my first time owning one with EMG’s, and quickly became one of my favorites. I placed a stop on the floyd to make it dive only, and it became my #1 player for years. The “elastic” sound of the EMG-X pickups, and the great thick tone from the SA-X neck single coils (this was before I’d ever had a guitar with a neck humbucker) made it my favorite for playing all sorts of music. The stopped bridge allowed me to quickly switch to drop or open tunings as well. It’s still a staple of my collection although these days it spends a lot of time in the case as its value has greatly increased since I bought it and I’d like to keep it in excellent condition.

New Guitar: Charvel Spectrum

On a whim, I dropped by my local Sam Ash on the way home the other day and spotted this very strange Charvel on the rack. I didn’t actually know what this was, and they had it listed as a “51 style Charvel.” I did a little research and found out this is a “Spectrum,” and it had acoustic strings on it and I could not get the tone knob or switch to really do anything. Still, the price was pretty tempting and I figured I’d come back and trade my Kramer XL1 for this, to have something a little different from my Kramer Pacer Custom 2.

Upon returning, I was able to get 85 bucks for the XL1, which seems fair especially considering the case that came with this Charvel - a nearly brand new Road Runner ABS case, which is much nicer feeling than the SKB Freedom I traded in with the XL1.

I completely disassembled this guitar, cleaned and polished it, and threw away a very crusty old 9v battery. After adding a new battery and lightly cleaning the contacts, I’m happy to say the electronics work great now - and I’m very surprised just how much I like it! The JE-1500 is a parametric EQ circuit, and the frequency is adjusted by the second tone knob. This circuit can be completely taken out of the circuit when flipping the mini toggle switch, which makes for some really cool ways to play parts - I was enjoying playing some songs by The Cars and then flipping on the JE-1500 for solos or other lead parts. Basically, it can be set in a half-cocked wah type position that sounds really great, and there is a bit more gain when engaged too which makes it perfect for solos. I also think it does a very good Humbucker impression tuned just a little lower, and the factory pickups are three J200 stacked single coils. Overall, I’m very impressed with this guitar even if it took a little love to bring it back to its full potential.

New Guitar: Charvel Spectrum

Spotted this one in my local Sam Ash. The bridge was leaning very far forward - previous owner must’ve gone up a string gauge and not adjusted the bridge to compensate. The electronics didn’t work and it sounded quite strange - but it was labeled as a “Charvel ‘51 style” and priced very low. This was around the time that Fender/Squier had released the very inexpensive “pawnshop” series with a similar 50s bass style pickguard, so I think they priced it in that area not knowing what it was exactly. I took in my Kramer XL1 and traded it and the case + cash for this Charvel and its own (nicer) case. In hindsight I wish I’d kept the XL1 too, but this was a way nicer guitar!

I took it home and dissembled it, removing the large old strings and lifting the pickguard to reveal a mess of dirt and crud. Despite being neglected for some time, I was able to clean up the body very well and the neck was in really great shape. A new battery and some cleaning restored the functionality of the electronics - and this quickly became one of my favorite features. I loved to set the JE-1500 EQ to a nice “vowel” type lead sound, with some gain to boost it up, and then I’d play my rhythm parts with it turned off and kick it on for leads and solos. At the time, I was learning a lot of songs by The Cars and this guitar was as close as I could get to that type of look and sound.

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New Guitar: 1986 Kramer Pacer Deluxe

Lucked out and was the only bidder on this beautiful guitar - in pristine condition. The seller even had towels underneath of it when taking pictures - that’s usually a sign it was well cared for!

Interestingly, this has a transition era neck - a one piece instead of the usual 3-piece ESP made pointy neck. The story goes that these were originally banana headstock necks, but when ‘86 came, they were fitted with the new pointy shape. Compared directly with my 3-piece neck pointies, this one is a very slightly different shape as well - and is also somewhat unique that it has the “American” script as many transition necks only had the Kramer block logo. There are also transition necks with the rosewood “skunk stripe” down the middle in the back - I haven’t had one of those yet but I’ve heard they are excellent.

This neck is a thin C shape, a bit more rounded than most of my other pointies which tend towards a more “D” shape, although Kramer was notorious for wild variations through the run so I’ve had 3-piece necks with all sorts of varied back shapes.