Mean Street Kramer replica for sale local.....are they good?

[RedPlated]

One of these Kramer replicas just popped up on my local CL. I've never been into the striped replicas but it's got cool features and I love the banana head stock. This one has a Frankenstein pickup installed and includes a Duncan 78 as well. I've been talking to the seller about it.

Is the price reasonable on this, or way high? I'm having a hard time figuring that out. I also want to make sure it's a good quality build. The buyer is about an hour away so I'd like to do my homework.

https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/msg/d/foothill-ranch-mean-street-evh-kramer/7296019632.html

This is the best video of one that I could find:

 

[harddriver]

I bought a mean street many years ago and the body was thinner and the shape was just off than my actual Kramers and it felt cheap. The front bevel cut was off and the back contour cut was also not correct on the one I had. The body wood was pretty dead no matter what pickup I tried in it the guitar had no resonance. I promptly moved it on as quickly as possible.

It was not on the level of Warmoth, Musikraft or KNE bodies. IMHO they are reasonable because they aren't high quality pieces but I imagine some are looking for reasonable wallhangers and not players. My Musikraft Franky and Warmoth Jake guitars are on par with my vintage Kramers.

If it's pretty local it might be worth your inspection, maybe his quality improved since the one I had circa 2004.

At least it has a Poplar body that's a plus... the shape looks better than the one I had as well. Both my number one 83 Kramer are poplar bodies and they are really resonant and have nice warmth. If it plays well I would think 800 but as with everything Ed this years people think they have collectors items.

 

[RedPlated]

Thanks so much for the info. It makes me a little more hesitant to pick this one up. It may be a good one, I just need to gather some more intel on it.

From the limited research I’ve been able to do, it seems like the earlier ones were lower quality and lower price. I’ve seen old posts where people reference a new build at $650 or so. Currently, they are $1800 new.

The seller doesn’t know the build date. But he did say he will check for it under the neck plate.

edit - seller just sent pics. Build date was Jan 2012. Not sure if that’s a good “era” for these or not.

 

[MrDowntown]

I bought one new around 2011 from Mitchel. Its the 78 legend model. W/B stripes, poplar body. Heavy as hell..probably in the 10 lb range. It’s a “good” guitar. Not great but not bad. I’d put it on par with some of the MIM EVH stuff.
Because he’s not a licensed EVH builder or whatever none of the parts are EVH stuff.
I put a DSD in mine and it really sounds and plays good. The pot was cheap so I swapped it out for an EVH 500k. Other than that it’s still stock.
I think his paint jobs are what runs the cost up but IMO the asking price for the one you linked seems crazy high for a used MS, considering there's probably tons of used charvel mim's for less money... unless you just got to have a striped evh like that.

 

[RedPlated]

That’s a good perspective, thanks. I’m not super impressed if they compare to MIM guitars.

I emailed Mean Street with pics and info on this one.

Mitchel said it’s a “Tour Model” and made with, “...the best of everything.”

So I’m still somewhat interested. I need to figure out what a fair price would be on it.

 

[MrDowntown]

That’s a good perspective, thanks. I’m not super impressed if they compare to MIM guitars.

I emailed Mean Street with pics and info on this one.

Mitchel said it’s a “Tour Model” and made with, “...the best of everything.”

So I’m still somewhat interested. I need to figure out what a fair price would be on it.

"the best of everything"... i'm not sure what he's saying there... the best of everything available to him? and i don't mean that to be snarky....mitchel is a GOOD DUDE and very approachable, and super responsive. can't say enough about his character. and he may, in that "tour model" offer higher end hardware, pups, pots, etc... i know a lot of that stuff is listed on his web page, or at least it used to be.

If you'll allow me to back-track a little...in comparing to the MIM Charvels...i would offer this... my comparison may have come off as not completely fair...
The MS guitar is not a USA made Charvel, or Wolfgang from Peavey or Fender/EVH. But it is a good guitar, to me. i think the basic "bones" are there, at least on my guitar, to be a really good guitar. it's a very solid piece of lumber that has a lot of tone. the neck, on mine is nice hard maple as is the board (they are separate pieces of lumber). if it says anything, i still have my MS, and play it quite often, the MIM got sent packing. it lacked a little bit of the resonance and girth the MS had so away it went. i payed more for my MS in 2011 than i payed for the brand new MIM Charvel in 2013 by a lot of $$. Mitchel puts a lot time in his paint schemes, and while the components/hardware may be from CHina or wherever, it is assembled and "fine-tuned" in the USA. i remember when i got it from Mitchel, he shipped it from Florida, im' in NC, it was cold AF here at that time...i took it out of the box, let it acclimate, tuned it up and other than the occasional string change and setting the trem, it's been solid.

I'll bore you with one more thought, if you haven't asked already, maybe Mitchel would be willing to offer his opinion on resale/value...? You're in Calif, and shit is just more expensive out there. In NC you /i /anyone wouldn't get $600 for that guitar right now. Personally if i had 900-999$, and it is in good shape, i'd get it.

sorry for the long post!

 

[RedPlated]

Yeah I thought maybe he was referring to quality of the woods and general build quality of the guitar by saying, "best of everything." I believe quality changed over the years with MS. It appears they started out at a lower level and lower price point and evolved into higher quality materials and higher price points. He said this model I'm looking at currently sells for $1795.

This one seems to have great parts. It has an original Floyd, not a licensed version. EVH Frankenstein pickup, Gotoh tuners. Can't really go wrong with those parts. Also, he's including the original Duncan 78 pickup, which is $100 or so used. So I can recoup some of the purchase price there.

I think you're right on the price. If I can get it for around $900 that seems like a good deal.

 

[harddriver]

At least go have a look at it and actually play it. It may be his top quality/tier guitar as he says and may be worth an offer. You won't know until you actually have it in your hands and evaluate it thoroughly. If it passes your inspection then you can make a fair offer on it.

His quality almost certainly had to have improved from the time I bought from him no one was producing Kramer replica bodies except custom builders like GMW so I was being a cheap ass thinking I would get the same quality as an real Kramer, nope....didn't happen in 2004. Plus at the time and you could still pick up an actual 80's Kramer Pacers reasonable which is what I ended up happily doing.

I do believe that one of the guitar techs close to Ed did confirm that the 5150 Kramer was poplar wood and not basswood, I can't remember exactly where I read it or if it was from a vid interview. I think it was the guy from LA sound and design, (David Phillips?).

I would agree to that assessment owning two poplar Kramer, I also owned two Maple bodied Kramer from 83 and 85 and I preferred the poplar hands down.

I have a poplar KNE H+H Kramer Imperial body that is exact in every way to my OG Kramers, KNE's Sandimas and Franky bodies are great too.

 

[harddriver]

FWIW it's worth I traded a Rivera amp for a striped basswood bodied EVH guitar and I feel it was on par with my 2016 alder bodied Charvel MIM San Dimas (which I also trade for) but surely not as good as the MIJ USA charvels. The EVH and MIM charvels are not horrible guitars but definitely no on par with an original Kramer, GMW builds on those levels of quality.

The basswood was not as resonant as the alder Charvel I had either it was kind of dead like alot of basswood is unless it is capped with maple like EBMM axis and EVH and Peavey does, I believe the maple cap gives those bodies some snap and resonance as I totally enjoyed and played the shit out of my 2000 EBMM axis for many years until I got a great luthier who I trusted to refret my number one original 83 Kramer that I bought new.

The necks on the EVH is ok, I ended up giving it to longtime friend as a wallhanger gift. I did not have any reservation about giving it away as a gift since it did no meet my expectations for player status.

 

[MrDowntown]

Yeah I thought maybe he was referring to quality of the woods and general build quality of the guitar by saying, "best of everything." I believe quality changed over the years with MS. It appears they started out at a lower level and lower price point and evolved into higher quality materials and higher price points. He said this model I'm looking at currently sells for $1795.

This one seems to have great parts. It has on original Floyd, not a licensed version. EVH Frankenstein pickup, Gotoh tuners. Can't really go wrong with those parts. Also, he's including the original Duncan 78 pickup, which is $100 or so used. So I can recoup some of the purchase price there.

I think you're right on the price. If I can get it for around $900 that seems like a good deal.

so yes... confirmed, OFR Frankie PUP and gotoh tuners do push the price up a bit... if you can cut a deal, then test it to make sure its doesn't sound like mud... get that mutha!

GL

 

[RedPlated]

Yeah I agree on that. Setup a meet for this Monday. Hopefully it checks out!

 

[MrDowntown]

Yeah I agree on that. Setup a meet for this Monday. Hopefully it checks out!

Hope it goes well man