Kramer Imperial Pickups

[eakinj]

Ok, let the pointing and laughing begin.

I own a Kramer Imperial, I am planning on having it re-finished.

Does anyone else have one of these?

Did you change out the pickups?

What pickups did you put in?

I am thinking about putting an SD SH6 in it but don't know what to put into the neck position. Any suggestions? I don't use it for normal playing, if I go to the neck pick up it'll be entirely for clean playing, so I want something that's suited for that in the neck.

The thing is a beast, very heavy.

[guitarzan2]

Since you say it's very heavy, are you talking about the early 80's Kramer Imperials which were the predecessors to the Baretta? If so, many are solid maple. The original high output Schaller pickups are actually quite good, very similar to the Duncan SH6 Distortion.

[Frigo89]

I think you are Talking Explorer imperial, as opposed to Pacer Imperial (strat shape)

they are made of Alder IIRC, so a SH6 should be good in there

[eakinj]

I think you are Talking Explorer imperial, as opposed to Pacer Imperial (strat shape)

they are made of Alder IIRC, so a SH6 should be good in there

Yeah it's one of the new explorer ones.

[guitarzan2]

Yeah it's one of the new explorer ones.

Did it come with a Quad-Rail or a generic Chinese POS pickup? The quad-rails rock pretty hard but are very bassy. With the SH6 you'll get a similar output pickup but with a lot more mids and highs.

[toejam]

I've got an Imperial. The Quad Rail pickups are actually very good, with a pretty smooth tone. They are warm sounding, but I don't think they're too bassy.

[Frigo89]

it depends on how you run your rig, that will affect the tone more than the guitar itself. But I would say as a general updrade, do the SH6 (or TB6 in a floyd situation)

[guitarzan2]

I've got an Imperial. The Quad Rail pickups are actually very good, with a pretty smooth tone. They are warm sounding, but I don't think they're too bassy.

Yeah, I like them too. A lot of people complain about them but I like them for being high output. I just EQ up the highs a bit on the amp and I'm good to go.