Well, I’ve done it again. This is now my third “Bent Pipes” graphic Kramer Pacer. This time, a friend and fellow Kramer Forumz member Dave sent me a message because he had tabs on another Bent Pipes (a really sweet custom order with black hardware and a Floyd) and he didn’t need two. I found that funny as I already have two and here comes a third but I really love these guitars and this is a very cool graphic.
And maybe I’m just looking for reasons to justify it, but this is technically different from the other two. This is a two humbucker Imperial model with a Rockinger bridge (the “EVH” tremolo). My other Rockinger-equipped Bent Pipes is a Special (single humbucker). The first Bent Pipes I got is also an Imperial, but with a brass fulcrum trem. Ok, I’m stretching a little bit here.
It originally arrived with a double cream Dimarzio bridge humbucker, probably a Super Distortion, but for some reason one coil seemed to stop working. So in the spirit of all the early 80s “EVH” stuff, I decided to put in a Seymour Duncan SH-5 Custom, wired by Lidia Daniel. For those that aren’t aware, the Duncan Custom was originally called the Van Halen pickup and was used in advertising material circa 1979.
As expected, the guitar is fantastic. Nicely built, great feeling neck. It’s a vintage feel, glossy lacquered and with small frets by modern standards, but plays great especially for classic rock stuff. I’m very partial to these guitars and this is a great example.
One noteworthy detail, later Rockinger systems like this one only have 5 allen screws on the locking mechanism just after the brass nut. The highest two strings share one lock, while earlier Rockingers would have a separate screw for each string which resulted in the high E/B strings breaking more often. Later Rockingers also had saddle height adjustment directly on the saddle, as opposed to earlier models where you had to remove the saddle to adjust the height.