Just got my 84 kramer.

  • Thread starter Thread starter capnkid
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capnkid

capnkid

Optimus Prime
I traded a fender tex mex for it and it arrived today.
I am happy with the trade as I wanted to get away from SRV and get a little trem bar happy (floyd rose).

The neck back contour is fatter than I expected which is a pleasant surprize.
like a baseball bat, I was expecting a thin one.

Can I weld some metal to the bridge block to give it more weight? It seems to be half the size of the one on the fender.

Also, there are two EMG's in there now, can I keep one and put a Dimarzio I have laying around in the neck position?
 
That's why I never liked my floyded kramer. The block is really small compared to the fender. Maybe now they have an off the shelf upgrade.

They are loads of fun. Don't wimp out. Learn how to set it up and keep it in adjustment. It's a pain, but the thing works way better when you have it set just right. It seemed like mine wouldn't stay in tune as well if I didn't have it absolutely parallel to the top of he guitar. Like the fulcrums needed to be straight on for it to return to the right place after you make robot noises and thunder. I used to love slacking the strings down so the wound ones just flopped against the pickups. It's sounded like indigestion.

I'm gonna put mine back together, dammit. I miss Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.
 
I think it needs a shim in the neck pocket as the action is to high.

Is there a link to properly setting up a floyd?
 
capnkid said:
I think it needs a shim in the neck pocket as the action is to high.
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A friend of mine has one that he's been working on. It needed a shim too. The neck rout wasn't aligned very well either. I'm not bagging on kramer. I liked the one that I had.
 
Hey that's great you finally hooked up with one. Which model is it?

:)
 
Bill Furnett said:
Hey that's great you finally hooked up with one. Which model is it?

:)
Click to expand...

It's a Focus 2000. Made in Japan, but Japan did just as good of work somtimes better on guitars in the 80's.
Before I traded I looked to see what they were going for on Ebay, and it was more than I had invested in the Mexican Fender, so I went for it. Hopefully the other guy is happy with the Tex Mex. It has American P'ups in it and it cavities were all lined for noise reduction. I even did the SRV thing on the bridge saddles with some mesh so the heavy guage string wouldn't break there.
 
My Kramer was a Focus 3000. It was like a strat with an HB at the bridge. I had a duncan invader in mine, baby. It was white when I bought it (kinda greeney white after not too long), then I had a buddy paint it red when he shot is IROC Z28. I had the rockinest mullet and not a single pair of jeans that didn't look like I was attacked by piranna.

I harvested the neck for my jambolin. I'd show you a picture but evidently blogspot doesn't want me to link directly to photos there anymore. It is a great feeling neck, I think. The frets are nice and big and the neck is pretty chunky. I have played that neck ALOT. All those years back then when it was on the kramer and over the last 5 years on the jambolin. There is still some life left in the frets except for the accidental cymbal notch in the 7th fret right under the goddamned A string.
 
cephus said:
There is still some life left in the frets except for the accidental cymbal notch in the 7th fret right under the goddamned A string.
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that sounds like a freak accident but it's happened to me twice. the first time a cymbal scalloped the fretboard of strat that i had just bought. the second time i got a notched fret on the big e. damn drummers and their cheap cymbal stands.
 
That's funny. My Pacer (made in Neptune) has the exact same cymbal ding. The Kramers must be cymbal magnets. I love mine. Got it in '86 from a guy who didn't like it because he is a Les Paul fan. Cost me $150.00. They listed for $1300 back then. I've got a PAF Pro in the bridge, a mini '59 in the neck and an SD cool rails in the middle. Also wired it for single/series/parallel in the bridge and middle pu's. I removed the Floyd and replaced it with a Kahler pro. Doesn't respond as dramatically as the Floyd but MUCH more stable. The guitar has a great 'dark' quality that is well suited for Alice In Chains etc.
 
Mine was a shitty Focus 3000. It didn't have the strat-style output jack like the ones on google. It had the jack mounted on the pickguard.

It got run over by a car the first gig after I had it painted. I took a load out to the bass player's Z28 (the painter) and he was putting stuff in the back. I went in for another load and when I came out, he was aiming theheadlights on the side wall of the bar. I said "Did you get my guitar?" "What guitar?". He ran it over. right across the part that your picking arm rests on. Pushed the floyd off the pegs flat against the body. The case - a shitty particle board piece of crap - disintegrated. I flipped the top "open" and pulled the bridge back on the pegs and it was still in tune.

I bought it new in 1985 for maybe $300 or so. Maybe it was $500. I played a bunch of strats and schecters (back when they were really cool) and picked the Kramer. Probably mostly due to the real honest to God floyd on it. I was the only guy with a floyd in the valley back then. And k-swiss tennis shoes and piranna attack jeans.

I stopped playing top-40 and got more into SRV than EVH so the Kramer got cast aside for several years. I know where the neck is and I swear that body is in the garage. The floyd is in a tuperware container under my desk. I bet I still have that invader somewhere, too.......

<thinking.........>
 
If only I could get my KnightSwan back............you guys talking Kramer is bringing back the bad mojo when I sold mine. Now I gotta get on Ebay and find another "Swan"! That KnightSwan I had.....it had a bottom end that made Satan quiver!
 
I believe they are back. They have an awsome semi-hollow called the Condor. For the most part, their line-up has changed dramatically. It's Kramer but really Gibson owns them.
 
i can only hope that kramers and mullets never make a come back. :D
 
Lets see some pics of everyone's Kramer. (I'll try to get one of mine if i can hit my camera in a way which will realign the lense!! :rolleyes: )

The Focuses were cool, i liked the Strikers too. My "American" Pacer was made in Japan at ESP, but assembled and fretted here (Well, in N.J. I guess.)

:)
 
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