New Guitar: 1982 Kramer Pacer Imperial "Rootbeer"

I’ve recently been much more focused on collecting amps, and have been downsizing my guitar collection. When I ask myself which guitars are worth keeping - and which ones I still want to try out someday - early brass trem Kramers are always at the top of the list. A forum friend of mine was selling this, so I had to jump on it.

While most Kramers are known for their Floyd Rose bridges, early strat-head and beak Kramers could be had with a traditional brass trem like this one, as well as a schaller fixed bridge or a Rockinger tremolo. I’m a big fan of these brass bridges, I like the way they look and feel - similar to a classic stratocaster - but on a guitar with two humbuckers.

The neck is fully glossed, with vintage style frets with a high polish. The bends are effortless and the tone from the Schaller humbuckers thick and full without being too heavy in any frequency, and really let the character of the guitar’s wood shine through. Speaking of which, it’s not very common to see burst Kramers in any era. Transparent finishes are uncommon already, but they usually came in solid colors - blue, red, etc. so this brown color with a dark burst effect is one of the more unique Kramers I’ve seen.

It’s a beautiful guitar and the impeccable playability and tone backs it up. This will be a keeper for a long time.

New Guitar: Kramer Stagemaster Arch top

This one is truly special - an arched top, 7/8 “mach 2” style Stagemaster Deluxe in a stunning metallic blue finish. It’s a rare occasion that I truly splurge on something I have to have - most guitars I buy I collect with my mind squarely on whether or not it is a good deal, so when this one popped up on Reverb a day or two after Christmas, it was very out of character for me to buy it.

I have been looking for a Stagemaster with dot inlays for some time, and had some cash set aside for that purpose - this doesn’t quite meet that criteria but at the moment I have 3 other Stagemasters, two in transparent Rose and another in Champagne, and the idea of adding one with a nice cool blue color ultimately was impossible to resist.

It arrived in good shape but without a case, something I will remedy immediately as a guitar this nice certainly deserves a case! It plays incredibly, and while some may not like the swapped pickups, it works out nicely since two of my other Stagemasters have factory Duncans. I already have one with EMG’s, and this one with Dimarzios means I have all of the common pickup brands covered too. This is definitely a keeper for me and I’m very pleased - what a great guitar to end the year on. Now hopefully I can work up the willpower to sell some in 2023! Happy new year!

New Guitar: Kramer "Pacer Deluxe" - but it's actually a Focus 3000 mutt

You know, it’s tough these days to find good information on Kramer guitars if you aren’t already involved in collecting them. There are really great resources like vintagekramer but with so many parts mutts and sometimes intentionally misleading information (ex. Strikers with “Pacer” truss rod covers), it’s hard to fault people from getting it wrong occasionally.

On the other hand, when a “Kramer Pacer Deluxe Magenta” is listed on Guitar Center’s used listings without a picture, it’s worth the risk sometimes - and many times I’ll buy something like that sight unseen as quickly as possible to get a good deal before someone else snags it. This time though, I had some self control, and even waited until the store opened to call and confirm the guitar’s condition.

Does it say “American” on the headstock? Yes. Maple or Rosewood fretboard? It’s maple! Floyd rose bridge? Yep!

Well imagine my surprise upon unboxing this guitar to find that not only is it not an American neck, but not a Pacer body either. In fact, this is an early Focus body, which is easily identifiable as it has a heel truss rod adjustment notch (and sharp angled lower horn to neck pocket curve) , but it’s paired with a later Thousand series, tilted back headstock. Of course, the headstock also appears to have been re-logoed, or at least re-painted. To make matters worse, the Original Floyd Rose is long gone, replaced with a Musicyo era, low quality Floyd copy, and the input jack plate has been spray painted black (the paint even flakes off at the lightest touch). The serial number plate is also an odd one, a 4 digit Neptune plate with no letter prefix - this likely would’ve been on a Ferrington but possibly a spare or firesale plate too, intended for some other Korean made instrument.

The only positive I suppose, is the pickups - a Seymour Duncan SH-13 Dimebucker and a hex-pole Dimarzio of some kind… I’m not even going to bother checking to see what it is. The body has of course been routed for the neck humbucker, as well as an amateurish cutting of the original black pickguard to fit it. The wiring in positions 2 and 4 is completely out of whack, since the middle single coil appears to be the stock Focus pickup, and whoever threw this together didn’t care enough to check if the wiring was in or out of phase in those positions.

The neck seems almost salvageable, but the frets are worn so low, and leveled, that it’s basically unplayable. The strings have the tell-tale pop of dead frets, and when bending on the high strings between 5-10 or on the low strings anywhere above the 10th fret, the string buzzes then goes dead. Perhaps raising the bridge a little could save it - but nope, the bridge is completely locked in place and can’t be adjusted up or down, or even used to dive somehow.

If I sound a bit frustrated, I apologize. This is the second time in a row I have paid a hair over a grand for a maple fretboard Kramer and had a problem so severe it must be returned. This guitar was listed as a “Vintage” instrument as well, so I only have a 3-day return period on it, but don’t worry, I won’t even own this guitar for more than 24 hours. Here are some pictures of the monstrosity - pretty colors aside, what a disappointment for that price!

New Guitar: Warped-Neck 1988 Kramer Pacer Imperial

I picked up this guitar when I saw it pop up on Guitar Center’s used listings. Sadly, when it arrived, the action was ludicrously high - nearly 1/2 inch off the fretboard around the 9th fret. After lowering the bridge, it was clear a truss rod adjustment was needed, however the truss nut only had a half turn available before reaching the limit. Even after that turn and adjustment, the neck has a considerable forward bow on the bass side of the neck, however the treble side is nearly flat… classic signs of a severely twisted neck. I have read some processes for potentially recovering this issue and restoring the neck, but since it is considered a “Vintage Instrument” according to guitar center, it is only eligible for return for 3 days, and I will not know if I am able to repair it within that period of time.

The most interesting feature, and the reason why I wanted to hold onto it, is the maple fretboard pointy neck, with a bound headstock but dot inlays on the 12th fret. I have seen this type of neck with a rosewood board, but I have only seen maple necks three ways in the pointy era:

• Pointy headstock with block or pyramid logo, no binding, dot inlays.

• Pointy headstock with pyramid logo, bound headstock, 12th fret “kramer” inlay

• Pointy headstock with pyramid logo, fully bound, dot inlays (extremely rare)

I have never seen this specific combination and for a while, I wasn’t sure it even existed. It’s a very early black F serial number plate, F5412, and while serial number doesn’t exactly identify the year or features of vintage Kramers (since they were used out of order quite often), it still provides a general guideline. It’s not too far off my black Baretta F4821, which has the same neck configuration except with the rosewood fretboard. On the other hand, I have another Pacer F6463 which has the 12th fret “Kramer” inlay instead of dots - this guitar lands right between those two so I think I can reasonably say sometime around this period is when those inlays started to appear at the 12th fret on most models.

Otherwise, I can’t really report much else on it - the pickups sound good as expected, with a JBJ in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck. The 7/8 body shape is comfortable and cool to play as always, and the floyd rose feels as solid as ever. It’s really a shame about the twisted neck because this would be a very nice instrument otherwise, and I hope someone who is able to repair or repurpose this is able to get their hands on it next.

New Guitar: Transition-neck Kramer Pacer Imperial

I saw this one on ebay and was surprised when there was very little bidding action - I won it for a price I would consider to be far less than expected in this era of Kramer collecting. It’s an authentic Pacer Imperial with the original case and hardware, and while the body does have some minor dents and scratches it is in overall good condition aesthetically and extremely good condition in terms of playability.

The neck is the unique draw here, with a rosewood skunk stipe unlike most pointy headstock Kramers which had the 3-piece maple. This neck was still made by ESP, of course, but it has a more classic rounded shape and is thicker than later pointy necks. The story goes that these necks were originally banana headstock necks (there are quite a few skunk stripe banana necks out there) but had their headstocks shaved down from the factory (either ESP or on arrival to Neptune NJ) to match the new pointy shape the company was going with moving forward. I think this must be true - holding this headstock up very closely to a later pointy and there is a tiny bit of a shape difference, but other later pointies are all very uniform in shape. I have seen these transitional necks both with and without the “American” script after the Kramer logo - this one does not have the script and instead looks more like a standard banana neck logo job. My best guess is that the ones that have the “American” script were re-logoed for varying reasons in Neptune.

I’m not really a big fan of blocked Floyds, but this one is set up dive only, and with the great feeling neck with good frets, it’s quickly become one of my most played guitars since it allows me to quickly swap tunings or use Drop D tunings, and I absolutely adore this color.

New Guitar: Kramer Condor all the way from the UK

Picked up this very nice, white Kramer Condor from the kramerforumz classifieds. Shipping from the UK was pricey, and the box was a little damp upon arrival, but luckily there was no permanent damage and the guitar arrived in good condition.

Very desirable to me is the banana headstock with an R2 width neck - as opposed to the seemingly more common, wider, R5’s. This neck is well worth the purchase right on its own, I love the feel and playability, the frets are in great shape, and the R2 width fits my hand very comfortably. The body has a good amount of small dings and scratches and is definitely in player’s condition, but after handling this neck I can see why!

One of the more unique things about this particular guitar is that it is a Condor drilled from factory for a wider spaced “E” serial number plate. This was during the transition era where the banana headstock shape was about to be phased out for the pointy shape, but some early E plates like this one still had the old shape. Due to the position of the lettering on the newer style plates, the old method of drilling the strap button hole directly through the plate was not used on this guitar - instead the strap button was added just above it, and it’s a later black Schaller straplock style.

New Guitar: (Project finished) 1985-6 Kramer Condor

I’m a little behind posting this, but I’ve finally finished assembling and setting up my Kramer Condor. A while back, I traded some parts around with a friend over on the kramerforumz. I ended up with a transparent blue Condor body, D-series serial number plate (roughly correct for the body), and a case for it (which is HUGE by the way).

The hard part was finding the correct neck for a guitar like this - it should have an angled banana headstock neck - but those are just so hard to locate. Perhaps someday I’ll find one and swap the neck, but for now I went with an early ‘86 neck I had extra with a pointy headstock. I think the pointy look of the neck works really well with the pointy Condor body and with the black hardware gives it a really awesome look. Here are some pictures of the completed project:

New Guitar: 1988 Carvin DC200 Koa

I am always paying attention to used Carvin listings, specifically hoping to see some from 1988-89 with the “jackson” style pointy headstock, so when this popped up for sale I just had to have it.

It’s a DC200, which means it has the usual DC series features of this era (neck through body construction, ebony fingerboard, mother-of-pearl inlays, Carvin M22 pickups) but with a few special additions like standard block inlays, and a unique control layout. The default configuration has both volume and tone for each pickup (like a Les Paul), a 3-way pickup selector switch, and a separate coil tap switch per pickup. The last switch closest to the input jacks, which are stereo outputs, is a phase switch. The phase switch is only really noticeable when both pickups are in use, but it gives some really unique tones especially when combined with the coil splitting of either one or both pickups.

This particular DC200 Koa was ordered with gold hardware (an additional $40) and with the Kahler Pro tremolo. Since I currently have another DC125 with an Original Floyd Rose, it’s pretty cool to have both of the tremolo bridge options (a fixed bridge was also available). This would’ve been priced at $819 back in ‘88 and the most amazing thing I noticed out of all of this is that the UPS Shipment cost for this guitar, in a case, was $10. Wow!

Of course, the highlight feature is the Koa wood body wings on either side of the one-piece maple neck through design. Even better, the beautiful, glossy clear finish really showcases the fine grain of these woods and the unplugged tone is exceptional. Here are some pictures, and of course many more on this guitar’s page over in the collection gallery here:

New Video: "New Gear Episode 1: Kramer Baretta, Mesa Mark IV, Peavey XXX"

A few things lined up recently and several things I purchased all happened to arrive on the exact same day - so I took this opportunity to start a new series of videos. They will probably be a bit inconsistent since it depends on when/how often I get new gear, but I think it’ll be cool to do a more casual video whenever I get some cool new piece of gear and talk about it briefly before doing a comparison video or deep dive review.

Of course, this is a lot at once this time as I got both a guitar and two amps all at once. Here’s the video, but keep scrolling for some pictures and some other thoughts on the gear.

First item: a 1987 Kramer Baretta. This one sat on Reverb for a long time and had a few price drops, and I have to give the seller a lot of credit for an accurate representation of the guitar. It is playable, but the frets have been leveled and it is probably due for a refret job very soon. The body has some surface scratches made very clear by the black finish but no major damage, and the neck is really sharp. Sadly, the original JB is missing and replaced with a very cheap pickup from Amazon or similar, and the original floyd rose is missing too - but luckily it was just replaced with a more recent German made OFR. The pickup was wired very strangely - sounded like a single coil or like it had a short - so I swapped that out for a black/white SH-10 Full Shred that I’ve had waiting for a guitar just like this for a while now and it sounds fantastic.

Second: Mesa Mark IV… again. I’ve been really missing my Mk IV head, so I’ve been on the prowl for another. This was listed on Guitar Center used as a head, but sadly it is a combo on arrival - I’m a bit disappointed by that but in a rare act of customer service, the person shipping the amp at GC actually called me and let me know that it was a combo in advance and asked if I wanted to cancel the order! I really appreciate that but I went through with it anyway, since it was described to be in excellent condition.

And wow! That was not a lie either - it is in truly impeccable shape with the original cover too. Sadly the footswitch is missing - that’s very disappointing because they are pretty expensive to replace but we’ll see what I can do about that. This is the “short” combo which means some controls are on the rear panel (like the mid gain/harmonic mode switch) and the factory speaker is a Celestion Black Shadow. I’ve heard lots of praise for this speaker but never tried one - my initial impressions are very positive though. This particular amp also has a very high serial number, much newer than the head that I had, and puts the date closer to the 2008 end of things (likely this was made 2006-2007 or so). Mark IV production ended in 2008 so it’s nice to have one that is a full decade newer than the one I had before, as far as component life goes.

Last: I’ve been looking for a Peavey Triple X or JSX for a little while but waiting for the right deal to come up - these amps were regularly available for 250-350 bucks or so for years so I found it hard to justify paying the current prices of 500+ for them. Luckily, I spotted this one online for only $299, which is about as good as it is going to get amp shopping in 2022, especially for a USA made tube amp like this. I’ve only played it a little bit, but it is super gainy and sounds really great so far. Bang for the buck, this is hard to beat, and I’d argue that in the right hands a skilled player with an amp like this could sound just as good as any expensive boutique amp (within the limitations of what the amp is designed to do of course - high gain). The active EQ really broadens the range of the amp as well, and even though it’s super cheesey, the front panel “girls” grille has grown on me in more of an ironic/nostalgia kind of way (these amps were all over the place when I was first learning to play guitar).

New Guitar: 1987 Robin Medley

I picked up this early Robin recently for a great deal. I’ve been on the lookout for some early Robins - I really have the hots for an RH-1 or RH-2 right now (early Tokai made models) but for now, this ESP-made Medley will have to do. The body shape is a bit smaller than USA made Medleys that came later, but this has the same cool reversed-pointy headstock as those, painted black as was the style of the time, with a bold white logo.

Despite the body having a rear trem spring route, these guitars came stock with a Kahler 2700 series tremolo mounted on the top, similar to ‘86 Charvel model series guitars. It’s quite strange to have the trem route and see the underside of that Kahler bridge but it doesn’t get in the way at all - just unique. This is my first 2700 bridge and I like the ease of adjustment to saddle height and even string spacing it allows without too much effort, unlike a double locking bridge.

The pickups sound great, although the bridge humbucker appears to be wired in parallel instead of series - and attached to a push-pull coil tap on the tone pot (probably not factory). After moving around a few wires, it’s back in action and sounding as full as ever. The pickups are Japanese made OEM pickups - not any familiar Dimarzios or Duncans to compare to, but it’s very middy and high output as expected for a more “shred” oriented guitar like this one.

The neck also shares the same 3-piece maple configuration as Kramer necks of the time (also made by ESP) but this one is well worn in and not as glossy - but it’s hard to say if there was any difference since I don’t have any other Robins from this era to compare to. Either way, a great feeling neck with a familiar shape to me as a Kramer collector and a great change of pace with the Kahler bridge. I hope to find a few more to add to the collection!