Kramer Porn

[adoxtater]

Well, she's finally completely assembled!! Thanks to Mitchel at Axcessories/Mean Street Customs for the last bit of parts I needed. I got the Floyd from him among other things and let me tell you there is NO difference between this Ping Floyd and an OFR. NONE. It even has a brass block. I was impressed to say the least.

The only thing that I need to do now is wire her up. I started to today, but got sidetracked and ran into a slight snag. I'm colorblind so this type of thing is a bit tedious for me. I also wanna get some RSGuitarworks capacitors for this, as suggested to me by RacerX and Straycat. They're a bit pricey, but if they sound as good as I've heard then I'm game. Here's the guitar specs for those interested:

• Kramer American Pacer Custom II (Alder)
  
• Reverse NOS bound Kramer American neck with claw inlays. Rosewood fretboard
  
• Pickups:
  • Bridge: Seymour Duncan Distortion (old school DDJ model)
    
  • Middle: Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails (new)
    
  • Neck: Seymour Duncan Cool Rails (new)
    
• Controls:
  • 1 volume controls
  • 2 tone controls
  • 1 master kill (on/off) switch

Well, without further delay... here she is folks! Anyone else have some good Kramer porn? Post it here so I can drool over it

[Gitarguy]

Very Nice!!!!

[RacerX]

I started to today, but got sidetracked and ran into a slight snag. I'm colorblind so this type of thing is a bit tedious for me.

How will you complete this then? Just curious.

[UFORocks]

Awesome Git!

[adoxtater]

How will you complete this then? Just curious.

With the help of my 5 year old daughter. She knows her colors better than dad :ROTF: Sad but true LOL

[tortfeaser]

Here you go...

My Barettas



My NightSwans

[markD]

my baretta:

[CharvelRocker]

That thing is sweet man. Looks very well done. Congrats.

[Mikernaut2]

Very nice looking Kramer. I dig some of those old Kramers, Holoflashes , Nightswans etc. but always found the necks to be too meaty for my hands.

I'm curious has the Duncan distortion changed much? I keep seeing the "older DDJ " model mentioned. I just pulled one of these out of a project guitar I'm working on. I also have a Duncan distortion in another guitar but I'm not sure what version it is but they sounded the same to my ears.

[charvelguy]

Probably not, but I guess it is a period correct thing when putting together a guitar or maybe a tone thing to some ppl.
There are camps on the 'older vs newer' Duncans.
The backplate now says "made in america" and has said that for about at least 15 years if I recall. The older ones from the late 70'-early 80's do not.
Logo'd vs non logo'd, defines the presence of an SD sticker on the bobbin.
I personally seem to shoot for an older one. If anything, the magnets would have probably mellowed a bit in a 20yr old pickup.
In the label, I think 'J' is the winder?
In some circles, an older Fender pickup with a label that designates wound by this particular person that has been there for decades is often deemed more valueable.. that type of thinking seems to have carried over to the Duncan crowd.

I'm also not real sure, but I think older Duncans were hand wound?
Newer ones unless they are a custom shop or a specialized item are not.

[adoxtater]

Very nice looking Kramer. I dig some of those old Kramers, Holoflashes , Nightswans etc. but always found the necks to be too meaty for my hands.

I'm curious has the Duncan distortion changed much? I keep seeing the "older DDJ " model mentioned. I just pulled one of these out of a project guitar I'm working on. I also have a Duncan distortion in another guitar but I'm not sure what version it is but they sounded the same to my ears.

Funny thing about Kramers is that the necks were all over the map in terms of shape/size/meatiness (is that even a word??). The "claw" neck variety like you see in the pic I posted is one of my favorites. It's a D profile and not too thin, not too fat. I have typical shredder type hands so fat necks just don't work for me. The smaller the better. The claw necks were some great necks. Just enough meat but not too much. I also own a maple board Kramer pointy neck that is wizard thin. It's TINY... A very flat D. that being said, I could probably go out and buy another neck from the same period and it would be a totally different size. Kramer was a pain in the ass in this respect I suppose. But I will say this, some of their neck profiles are to die for. Others... well.. not so much.

As far as the pickup goes, I dig how (as Charvelguy said) they kinda mellow with age. It's still got it's edge, but a bit warmer in my opinion. I just love the tone. It's a very minor difference in the grand scheme of things, but I really do prefer the tone of the vintage pickups over the new ones. Charvelguy also had the "J" part correct. It is the person who wound it (a SHE in this case). If I am not mistaken, she now works in the SD custom shop. Her pickups were considered by many (including me) to be some of Duncan's finest examples of pickups. The new pickups are great to, so don't get me wrong, I'm just partial to the vintage tone than the newer I suppose. I am also known to be irrational about things like this so who knows So if you ever wanna sell that DDJ, just say the word heheh.

I'm not so much shooting for a "period correct" axe. I used to do that when building out these old guitars, but as I get older I find that the stock setups don't always have the sound I have taken a preference to, so now I just build them the way I want them. For instance, the guitar I'm showing off here should have a Seymour JB in the bridge and Vintage Staggered singles in the neck and mid. I also used a Ping Floyd over a vintage OFR and Gotoh tuners over Schallers. Just personal preference I guess. I've got one more of these style bodies I'm going to be finishing soon and will probably equip it with a Sustainer system of some sort

I'm also not real sure, but I think older Duncans were hand wound?
Newer ones unless they are a custom shop or a specialized item are not.

I'm with you on this bro. I think they were hand wound back in the day. The new pickups are great too. I'm just a Seymour Duncan whore I guess haha. I also prefer the tone of the old school Jackson pickups. I snag up J90C models whenever I see them, and am still in search of the elusive J92C. Damn I want one of those bad! :ROTF:

[SRD86]

Great looking guitar, but if you say you are colorblind, do you know it's a pink/purple tiger stripe?
(not that there is anything wrong with that)

[Cory]

Ya gotta love them old Kramers! My main axe is a lightning Swan.

[Jack71]

my baretta:

Mark, is that the orginal neck? I thought the Barettas had ebony fingerboards. Looks awesome!

[adoxtater]

Great looking guitar, but if you say you are colorblind, do you know it's a pink/purple tiger stripe?
(not that there is anything wrong with that)

I'm colorblind dude... not gullible hehehe :ROTF: