BDuncan
Member
Have any of you tried those recent Kramers they are putting out for budget prices? Sometimes I'm curious how decent these new ones are.
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JackBootedThug
MURDERATOR
all the youtubers rave about them. you can take their reviews with a grain of salt though....I had a 1984 that was nice. Not worth what they want MSRP but a very solid guitar. I got mine used though.
BDuncan
Member
Just thought I'd ask for first-hand experiences. The local music stores around here aren't the best. Sometimes I think it would be fun to buy one of those cheap guitars to mess around with, and modify, rather than risk it with my more expensive guitars.
Mr.Fun
Member
Destroying an expensive guitars value is the best way to learn how to mod.
C
ClintN667
Well-known member
I tried a couple of them and I think they are pretty solid. All of them had good Fret work and playability. I don't like the cosmetics or that kind of trem. Apart from that they feel better than some brands at twice the price.
ccn
Well-known member
Some are still priced at $179.00, most have raved about them at that price point . The guys on the official Kramer forum are not nearly as positive about them though .
They want Gibson to make a built in USA model .
They want Gibson to make a built in USA model .
Fiesta Red
Well-known member
I've had three of the Barettas -- ones with the Floyd and black hardware. I kept one of the three, not because they weren't good but I preferred the one over the other two.
Juggernaut
Well-known member
I've had 2 of the cheaper ones, for the price, I really don't think you can beat them. An equivalent squier price wise, isn't as good. Imho. Decent mod platform.
GreatRedDragon
Well-known member
I have fun. Stripped the neck and put an EMG 81 in the bridge. Killer thrash guitar.
TotallyRadGuitars
Well-known member
I had a polka dot Nightswan and gave it a decidedly middling review, and got a lot of shit for it tbh
It was a pretty average guitar. It wasn't bad by any means, it stayed in tune, fret work was OK, I didn't have neck alignment issues like a lot of people had. But it also wasn't a great guitar, and I was annoyed by some of the choices they made that differed from a real vintage Swan.
But my perspective is coming from someone who owns quite a few actual 80s era Kramers, so I was expecting something a little nicer. Around the same time I'd gotten a 2018 Ibanez RG550 Genesis and that guitar felt as nice/quality as my 80s Ibanezes and I can tell they made a painstaking effort to stay as faithful as they could to the original models, and I felt that Kramer on the other hand didn't really put in as much effort. I think if I looked at the guitar out of context, as just another $799 Indo guitar, it's probably on par with everything else in that price range.
I also had an indo Jersey Star for a short time but guitar center smashed the living hell out of it before I got it so I didn't get to give it a proper test. I played and liked the Baretta Vintage (the ones with the Floyd) and for the price I thought they were a steal, my local Sam Ash was selling brand new ones on closeout for $549 for a while and that's hard to beat. None of these beat the USA '85 Reissue I had (made in 06) in terms of quality though, I wish they would make a USA series up to those specs again, but now that I've seen what BC Rich and Charvel are pricing their USA models, I'd be out of the running anyway.
It was a pretty average guitar. It wasn't bad by any means, it stayed in tune, fret work was OK, I didn't have neck alignment issues like a lot of people had. But it also wasn't a great guitar, and I was annoyed by some of the choices they made that differed from a real vintage Swan.
But my perspective is coming from someone who owns quite a few actual 80s era Kramers, so I was expecting something a little nicer. Around the same time I'd gotten a 2018 Ibanez RG550 Genesis and that guitar felt as nice/quality as my 80s Ibanezes and I can tell they made a painstaking effort to stay as faithful as they could to the original models, and I felt that Kramer on the other hand didn't really put in as much effort. I think if I looked at the guitar out of context, as just another $799 Indo guitar, it's probably on par with everything else in that price range.
I also had an indo Jersey Star for a short time but guitar center smashed the living hell out of it before I got it so I didn't get to give it a proper test. I played and liked the Baretta Vintage (the ones with the Floyd) and for the price I thought they were a steal, my local Sam Ash was selling brand new ones on closeout for $549 for a while and that's hard to beat. None of these beat the USA '85 Reissue I had (made in 06) in terms of quality though, I wish they would make a USA series up to those specs again, but now that I've seen what BC Rich and Charvel are pricing their USA models, I'd be out of the running anyway.
Little B
Well-known member
Haven't played any new models yet, but ( a few decades ago)I foolishly let a beautiful teal green usa stagemaster custom go down the road.- (they used to call it the soloist killer). Man I miss that guitar.
mcstinger
Well-known member
Copy/Paste
I bought a Baretta Special and sold it right away. Poor HW, poor fretwork. Hardware is cheap, tremolo unusable, no discussion here. Necessary to change trem, tuners, nut. Because that guitar never stayed in tune at least 1 minute. And the fretwork was really bad. Sharp fret edges and uneven height of frets, lot of buzz. I'm not spoiled and I'm a poor guitar player, but that guitar was a piece of junk. Maybe bad piece, I don't know, but I won't try another one..
I bought a Baretta Special and sold it right away. Poor HW, poor fretwork. Hardware is cheap, tremolo unusable, no discussion here. Necessary to change trem, tuners, nut. Because that guitar never stayed in tune at least 1 minute. And the fretwork was really bad. Sharp fret edges and uneven height of frets, lot of buzz. I'm not spoiled and I'm a poor guitar player, but that guitar was a piece of junk. Maybe bad piece, I don't know, but I won't try another one..
Y
Yeahthat
Member
I picked up a baretta vintage maybe 1-2 years ago. It’s cool I like it. I put in a trem stopper because the Floyd is slightly raised up on the body so it floats a little. Now it dive bombs only. My 80’s Kramer Floyd sits right against the body.
I don’t care for Duncan JB’s so I changed it out. I’ve had a couple different pickups in it and currently have a tone zone. I wired it series / parallel with the push / pull volume pot. Overall is a cool guitar. I had to go for it because of the look but it doesn’t feel as good as my 80’s Kramer I can tell you that.