Brazilian thrash metal band Nervosa are continuing to rise through the ranks, and Prika Amaral, who fronts the band with her relentless chugging, has had the same warhorse guitar every step of the way.

The band, currently supporting their sixth album, Slave Machine, have been a staple at many of the world's biggest metal festivals, and supported Cradle of Filth on tour last year.

Amaral’s electric guitar of choice is a Kramer Nite V. Not only does the pointy shred machine look the part, but it’s also able to withstand the rigors of touring and its owner's propulsive pick attack.

“Kramer is a big part of my guitar life,” she tells Guitar World. “I’ve spent 11 years working with Kramer, with the same model of guitar.

“Some Flying Vs fall because of the body balance. But when I started playing the Nite V, I fell in love, because the shape is very comfortable. The guitar is not falling down.”

Neck dive can be the bane of many guitarists’ lives, and with Flying Vs often sporting rather bulky bodies, it can be easy to fall foul of gravity’s grip. But it’s also built to last, she says.

“The guitar is very resistant. I did probably 40 tours with it, and I never had a problem with the neck or anything,” Amaral reports. “It’s very resistant, and it keeps the tuning insanely well.”

“We do a lot of traveling,” she adds – they played 79 shows last year, according to Setlist.fm, and have broken triple figures on three separate occasions. “When I take my guitar out of its case to play after traveling, it’s still in tune. It’s insane.

“It’s so resistant, and I love the shape because it’s modern but old-school at the same time. It’s my favorite guitar on the planet.”

The blend of vintage grit and modern precision is perfect for a band hellbent on modernizing thrash metal’s tropes while somehow making it even more punishing. It also typifies Kramer’s second coming as a brand.

With Eddie Van Halen, a fervent supporter of its builds throughout the ‘80s super shred era, Kramer guitars were hugely popular.

But by 1991, the firm was bankrupt as its fortunes took a dramatic nose dive (unlike the Nite V) with a lost lawsuit against Floyd Rose, one of the final pushes towards oblivion. Thankfully, Gibson acquired the brand six years later and has helped redefine the shred-happy axes for the modern era. Last year's Voltante Super Strat shows that with aplomb.

That said, if Paul Reed Smith had his way, Kramer could have been making his guitars, too…

Guitar World’s full interview with Nervosa will be published online in the near-future.

Eddie Van Halen’s famed ‘Kramer Ad’ electric guitar has become one of the most expensive guitars to ever be sold at auction, after the hammer went down on a multi-million dollar sale earlier today (October 24).

Owing to its significance, the guitar was given a fairly sizable estimate window, but it eventually exceeded expectations and went for $2,734,000. This makes it the sixth most expensive guitar ever sold publicly.

Back in August, Sotheby’s announced it would be selling one of the highest-profile Van Halen guitars to ever hit the auction circuit. The guitar, which was built in the early 1980s, was one of the very first Kramer guitars that Van Halen built and used, and famously featured on Van Halen’s “It’s very simply the best guitar you can buy today” Kramer ad.

The Kramer was also one of the first builds the brand and Van Halen collaborated on together, and was modeled after Van Halen’s iconic Frankenstein, carrying over the black/red/white striped colorway from the OG six-string.

According to Sotheby’s reports, the guitar was built circa 1982 and was used on stage during a number of occasions across ‘82 and ‘83, in locations such as Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela.

At the time of the auction announcement Chris Gill – EVH expert and author of Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen – corroborated the provenance of the Kramer, confirming it had been played during the time frame.

Gill told Guitar World that the ‘Kramer Ad’ guitar has been used during shows at the Philadelphia Spectrum on October 19 and 20, and for the entire South American leg of Van Halen’s shows in Jan-Feb 1983.

“This guitar is known as the ‘Kramer Ad Guitar’ amongst Van Halen guitar nerds,” says Gill. “It’s an iconic instrument as a symbol of Ed’s blossoming endorsement with Kramer, which propelled the company to incredible success, enabling them to briefly become the best-selling electric guitar manufacturer during the mid ’80s with sales exceeding even those of Fender.”

In the July 1985 issue of Guitar World, a photo of Van Halen working on a guitar – which is presumed to be the first Kramer model – was published, along with an interview with brand founder Dennis Berardi looking back on his partnership with EVH.

“It was really strange, the way I met Edward. I was on my way to the 1982 NAMM show in LA, and on the plane I met one of his equipment managers,” Berardi said. “So, to make a long story short, we got to talking about the different tremolo bars and things about guitar design, and he asked me if I wanted to meet Edward.

“I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ So he made a couple of phone calls and that was it. We went up to his house, and Edward got his guitar out – it looked like something you’d throw in the garbage. But that was the famous guitar. So after he played for a while we talked.

“I told him about the kinds of things Kramer wanted to do, and he was very receptive; we talked for about three hours that day. Anyway, the result was that we established the relationship that we still have today.

“He’ll actually come down to the factory and spend three, four hours on the line assembling or testing guitars, checking out different components to make sure they’re up to the standards he wants maintained.

“I guess the best way to look at it from my perspective is this: Les Paul designed a revolutionary guitar for Gibson that made history. The simplest way to put it is, what Les Paul was for Gibson, Edward Van Halen is for Kramer.”

After using it in the early 1980s, Van Halen eventually gifted the guitar to tech Rudy Leiren. He signed the guitar, “Rude – it’s been a great ten years – let’s do another ten. Eddie Van Halen”. The back of the headstock also reads ‘#1 Edward Van Halen model’.

Leiren later sold it to Mick Mars, who played it while recording Mötley Crüe’s Dr. Feelgood.

Wet Leg have established themselves as heavyweights of the British indie rock scene – and they've done so by slinging some rather unexpected guitars.

After wielding a Player Plus Meteora and an HSS Stratocaster in 2022, their breakout year, lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Rhian Teasdale pushed the boat out and has since been sporting an acrylic B.C. Rich Mockingbird on recent tours and festival appearances in support of their sophomore album, Moisturizer.

Now, lead guitarist Hester Chambers is revealing her go-to guitar, and it's another left-field choice for the genre – a Kramer Jersey Star, originally released as Richie Sambora's signature model in the late ’80s.

“I acquired it maybe a year ago, and if I'm honest, I don't know heaps about it,” Chambers tells Reverb.

“I don't know heaps about Bon Jovi. It's the first time I've ever used a Floyd Rose. It felt very scary for me at the time. Being like, ‘This guitar is not for me, but I can't put it down at the moment.’”

Original features such as the three humbuckers, pointy headstock, gold hardware, star-shaped fingerboard inlays, and, of course, the Floyd Rose locking tremolo were carried over to the more recent reissues, with the “Jersey Star” moniker serving as a nod to Sambora’s – and, by extension, Bon Jovi’s – New Jersey origins.

Reflecting on the release of his signature model with Kramer, Sambora told Vintage Guitar (via Vintage Kramer), “Dennis Berardi [one of Kramer's co-founders] was doing extremely well with Kramer at that point, thanks to Eddie Van Halen. We got to be friends, and he asked me if I wanted to do a model, and I said ‘Sure.’

“So I tried to put something together that would give me the dexterity I needed. It had stars on the fretboard, a Floyd Rose, and DiMarzio pickups. I played them every night, too. A guy named Rod Schoepher, who had also made me a few custom instruments, would fix them to my liking when they came out of the factory.”

In 2022, Chambers spoke to Guitar World about the band's unorthodox road to rock stardom – and how her co-guitarist, Rhian Teasdale, didn't know how to play guitar before starting Wet Leg.

[Ed. Update 08/14/2025 – This article was amended to clarify that Eddie Van Halen’s actual ‘Number One’ Kramers were the 5150 and his 1984 back-up guitar. The ‘Kramer Ad’ guitar was instead one of the first Kramers Van Halen had built and used]

Eddie Van Halen's 'Kramer Ad' electric guitar from the early 1980s is expected to sell for up to $3,000,000 when it goes up for auction later this year.

The six-string, which was built in the early 1980s, famously featured during Van Halen’s "It's very simply the best guitar you can buy today" Kramer ad, and – as confirmed to Guitar World by Chris Gill, EVH expert and author of Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen – was played for a handful of shows in 1982 and 1983.

This Kramer – one of the first builds the brand and Van Halen collaborated on together – was modeled after Van Halen’s legendary Frankenstein, with a black/red/white striped colorway that mirrors the OG six-string.

As Sotheby’s reports, this guitar was built circa 1982, and was used on stage on numerous occasions throughout 1982 and 1983, in locations such as Philadelphia, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina.

This, too, has been verified by Gill, who confirmed that Van Halen used this Kramer for shows at the Philadelphia Spectrum on October 19 and 20, and for the entire South American leg of Van Halen’s shows in Jan-Feb 1983.

“Ed had injured his wrist right before this,” Gill says. “In fact the band’s New Jersey shows from Oct 15-18 were cancelled. Ed was in the area, so he dropped by the Kramer factory during at least a few of these dates before the tour resumed in Philadelphia.”

Van Halen’s relationship with Kramer, as well as one of his earliest visits to the firm’s factory, was documented in the July 1985 issue of Guitar World, in which brand founder Dennis Berardi looked back on the pair’s burgeoning partnership.

In that excerpt, a photograph of Van Halen working on what is presumed to be this first Kramer model with an electric drill, can be seen.

“It was really strange, the way I met Edward. I was on my way to the 1982 NAMM show in LA, and on the plane I met one of his equipment managers,” Berardi said. “So, to make a long story short, we got to talking about the different tremolo bars and things about guitar design, and he asked me if I wanted to meet Edward.

“I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ So he made a couple of phone calls and that was it. We went up to his house, and Edward got his guitar out – it looked like something you’d throw in the garbage. But that was the famous guitar. So after he played for a while we talked.

“I told him about the kinds of things Kramer wanted to do, and he was very receptive; we talked for about three hours that day. Anyway, the result was that we established the relationship that we still have today.

“He’ll actually come down to the factory and spend three, four hours on the line assembling or testing guitars, checking out different components to make sure they’re up to the standards he wants maintained.

“I guess the best way to look at it from my perspective is this: Les Paul designed a revolutionary guitar for Gibson that made history. The simplest way to put it is, what Les Paul was for Gibson, Edward Van Halen is for Kramer.”

Van Halen would eventually gift this guitar to tech Rudy Leiren, with an inscription on the guitar reading: “Rude – it’s been a great ten years – let’s do another ten. Eddie Van Halen”. Leiren later sold it to Mick Mars, who would put it to use while recording Mötley Crüe’s Dr. Feelgood.

The significance of this particular model is twofold. Not only is it directly associated with Eddie Van Halen, and was played and designed by the man himself, it also represents a watershed moment in the guitar industry in the 1980s.

“This guitar is known as the 'Kramer Ad Guitar' amongst Van Halen guitar nerds,” says Gill. “It’s an iconic instrument as a symbol of Ed’s blossoming endorsement with Kramer, which propelled the company to incredible success, enabling them to briefly become the best-selling electric guitar manufacturer during the mid ’80s with sales exceeding even those of Fender.”

Owing to that significance, Sotheby’s has assigned this Kramer an eye-watering estimate, expecting it to sell for anywhere between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000.

Importantly, the back of the headstock features an inscription that reads '#1 Edward Van Halen model'. Though this guitar was the first Van Halen Kramer, it wasn't the guitar great's 'Number One' Kramer, per se – that title belongs to his famed 5150, and 1984 back-up guitar.

According to Wolfgang Van Halen, both those models are “in the same spot safe at home”.

That sounds about right: last year, Van Halen’s Hot for Teacher Kramer became one of the most expensive guitars ever sold at auction when it went for nearly $4,000,000.

To find out more, head over to Sotheby’s.

Dweezil Zappa has previously recounted the wild story of how he met Eddie Van Halen at just 12 years old.

It's the stuff of a kid guitar player's dreams – after a sudden phone call, the guitar hero showed up at Zappa's house, and personally showed the young Dweezil the ins and outs of classics like Eruption and Mean Street, and plenty of other tips, some of which Zappa recently shared on his YouTube channel.

Because all that wasn't cool enough, obviously, Van Halen would go on to produce Dweezil's first single, My Mother Is a Space Cadet, and also loaned one of his own guitars to the young Zappa when he performed Runnin’ With the Devil at his middle school talent show, though not before he coached Dweezil through a few mistakes.

Finally, to top it all off, when Zappa phoned Van Halen up to return the guitar – a Kramer from the time before EVH publicly revealed his collaboration with the company – the latter told Dweezil he could keep it.

In a recently re-surfaced clip from Dweezil's episode of Gibson TV's The Collection, the guitarist recounts the whole story of how he met Van Halen, and came into possession of one of his Kramers.

Zappa's middle-school bandmates were sound-checking prior to their talent show slot, and things weren't going terribly well.

“I’m not only playing one chord wrong – but my guitar’s not staying in tune,” Dweezil recounts.

Van Halen, who had somehow, improbably, showed up to witness the soundcheck, ran home to grab one of his own guitars, the Kramer in question and having spotted a mistake or two, helped lead Dweezil in the right direction.

“Originally it was cream-colored with an orange lightning bolt, like Shazam,” Dweezil explains. “He brings that guitar back and he puts it on me and he says, ‘You’re playing it wrong.’ And he stands behind me, he counts it off with the kids, and he does the pick slides, the whole thing. It was the craziest experience.”

The following day, he continues, “I called him and thanked him and said, ‘Hey, if you want to come grab your guitar…’ And he said, ‘No, you can keep that guitar.’

“So I kept the guitar, I painted it, this was my homage to the Schwinn bicycle-style painting of Van Halen-esque guitars. I painted it when I was 13.”

As the owner of Skip's Music, a renowned music store in Sacramento, California, the late entrepreneur and local music legend Arthur “Skip” Maggiora amassed a treasure trove of vintage guitars, including countless instruments played by top-tier talents such as Eddie Van Halen and Gene Simmons.

Now, his extensive guitar collection – tallying up to around 150 instruments – will be sold in a live charity auction beginning December 17. Maggiora passed away last year after a long battle with kidney disease. In alignment with his vision, all proceeds from the auction will benefit music and youth charities.

The collection includes several bona fide rare guitars, such as a 1954 Fender Stratocaster Sunburst, dating back to the first year of the instrument’s production, and a 1955 Fender Strat in a rare metallic green finish.

Also included in the collection are also some Van Halen gems, such as a Kramer EVH Prototype from the 1980s, signed and smashed by Eddie Van Halen, and a late ’80s Kramer Monsters of Rock Baretta guitar, signed by Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and Sammy Hagar.

There’s also an early ’80s Kramer Gene Simmons Axe bass, signed and dated by Simmons himself, and an early Mosrite Ventures model, believed to be either a 1963 prototype or one of the first 80 produced in 1964.

Maggiora's son, Creed, expressed hope that these prized instruments will go to actual guitar players, honoring his father’s wishes, stating, “A lot of them need to be played. They have souls.”

Aaron Piscopo, from Heritage Auctions – the auction house in charge of selling this collection – commented, “Skip was a legend in Northern California and across the country, with Skip’s Music standing as a landmark in Sacramento.

“Cataloging and showcasing these guitars has been a true pleasure. This treasure trove of vintage guitars is truly a dream come true for collectors and enthusiasts.”

Anyone keen to get their hands on one of these guitars are encouraged to bid through the start of the auction on December 17, at 12pm PT/3PM EST.

For more information, visit Heritage Auctions.

Kramer Guitars is declaring single-pickup rock legends have been “reborn” with the two newest additions to its Custom Graphics Collection. 

Comprising a Kramer 84 with an unmissable Red Bullseye design, and a Kramer Pacer with a safari-ready Wild Zebra graphic, the new drop looks as loud as these guitars have been built to be. 

Kramer is well known for its eye-catching, glam-metal-focused electric guitars, and the Custom Graphics Collection has already given us a martial arts-inspired yellow snake graphic and a hot dog guitar, because... well, why not.

While these two new '80s shred machines slightly dial down the ridiculousness in one sense, they've cranked it to 11 in another; these guitars scream glam metal extravagance. 

The Kramer 84 is labeled as a “true homage to the golden age of shred,” as it pays tribute to an era defined by loud aesthetics and burning solos. 

Specs-wise, beneath the bullseye is a lightweight alder body, a single Kramer 84-T humbucker in the bridge position, a push/pull Volume control, and a Floyd Rose R2 1000 series locking nut and 1000 series Floyd Rose bridge.  

The Kramer Pacer, meanwhile, doffs its cap to the 1982 Pacer, which it believes “revolutionized the guitar world.” 

While the claim is bold, so too is the design, which boasts a double cutaway alder body for easy access to the high frets, a Kramer 85-T humbucker, and the same push/pull pot and Floyd Rose trem setup as the 84. 

Both guitars offer bolt-on Kramer K-Speed SlimTaper C-profile necks, as well as a 25.5" scale length and a 12.6" fingerboard radius. They also come with a premium gig bag. 

Prices have yet to be confirmed, but previous Custom Graphics models have weighed in at around the $1k mark, so expect to find the same here. It's also worth noting these are exclusive to Kramer.

Head to Kramer for more information about the delightfully outrageous Custom Graphics Collection. 

Living Colour bassist Doug Wimbish has collaborated with Spector's USA Custom Shop to create two new Doug Wimbish USA Custom Series basses, inspired by the bass models that have accompanied him throughout his career.

According to Spector, these signature basses "faithfully replicate Wimbish's originals, down to the smallest details like neck contours and nut widths."

In addition to the design, the two models, DW-4 and DW-5, come fully equipped with customized EMG pickups, wound to match Wimbish's 1987 Spector to capture his distinct tone.

“Spector took the time to get every little nuance right, and that to me is dedication and being thoughtful enough to know ‘I want to nail it,’ and they did,” remarks Wimbish. “I’m able to pick these instruments up for the first time and play them like I’ve already had them for years.”

The basses feature a maple body with quilted maple top, paired with a three-piece hard rock maple neck and 24-fret pau ferro fretboard.

Two EMG DW Signature pickups are adjusted by controls for master volume, pickup blend, bass cut/boost and treble cut/boost.

Other specs include a brass nut and bridge, plus Spector-branded Gotoh tuners.

In an interview with Spector, Wimbish recalls the moment he adopted Spector basses as his go-to instruments. “I was with Jeff Beck, we were recording with Mick Jagger what was to be his Primitive Cool record. 

“It just so happens that Kramer [Guitars] was there to show some instruments to Jeff and I, and I was fortunate enough to be able to have my tech Pierre mention to the folks at Kramer that Doug is really interested in checking out Spector basses. Fortunately I got the bass, I was able to record the album, and everybody loved the sound.” 

Wimbish's 1987 5-string Spector bass was the ninth five-string bass Spector ever made. Therefore, in addition to the standard four-string version, the signature model pays homage to this piece of history through a five-string version that replicates the original’s slightly unrefined headstock design.

Priced at $6,339.99 and $6,639.99 respectively, the DW-4 comes in Amber Stain Gloss and Black Stain Gloss finish, while the DW-5 is offered in Dark Blue Stain Gloss and Faded Natural Gloss. Every bass purchase comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by Doug Wimbish himself.

For more information about the new Doug Wimbish USA Custom Series basses, head over to Spector. 

Kramer is no stranger to eye-catchingly loud guitar finishes, and its latest videogame-inspired Pixel Hearts Classic is continuing that tradition with aplomb.

Picking up where last year’s Hot Dogger left off, the Pixel Hearts is an exclusive run of its Superstrat-like NightSwan model. Born in the ‘80s during an era defined by pixelated video games and warp-speed guitar acrobatics, it’s a build that pays homage to both.

The NightSwan's double-cutaway mahogany body features a deep-cut lower horn for easy access to its upper frets so players can sweep to their heart’s content. To those ends, its ebony fretboard is a 16” radius, 24 jumbo fretted shred playground, iced with ‘ping pong’ pearloid inlays.

Being a Kramer, its neck is built with a need for speed. The back of the slim, three-piece maple neck, which sports a C-shaped profile, is satin-finished to accommodate effortless shred wizardry.

While many NightSwans offer bridge and middle humbuckers in a double trouble pairing, the Pixel Hearts is rocking just a bridge ‘bucker. A Kramer 85-T is the choice there, which can also be found on its signature Baretta for Skid Row’s Snake Sabo.

Designed by Gibson Master Luthier Jim DeCola, it’s a double coil humbucker that Sabo describes as “ridiculously fierce.” It’s paired with a single, nickel-knurled control knob for volume. Its armed with a push/pull feature too, for swapping between rounded ‘bucker bursts and cutting single coil tones.  

Naturally, a Kramer guitar wouldn’t be complete without a dive bomb-primed Floyd Rose, and the Pixel Hearts NightSwan is no different. Kramer has gone for a 1000 Series model here, with an R2 locking nut sitting at the base of its hockey stick headstock. Handily, there’s a holder for two Allen keys on its back, making it nigh-on impossible to lose the L-shaped escape artists.  

The news follows on from Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale become its first female signature artist. Her custom-spec Voyager represents a fistful of firsts for Kramer, with its custom shape, finish, and lightning bolt inlays all helping mark the collaboration in style.

Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine is among the brand's other signature artists. His signature dropped last year after a three-year wait.

The Kramer NightSwan Pixel Hearts comes loaded with 09-42 gauge strings and includes a premium Kramer gigbag. However, there is no price listed at the time of writing.

For more information, head to Kramer.

At one point, Kramer was the most in-demand guitar brand in the world. That accomplishment was due in no small part to Eddie Van Halen’s 1981 endorsement of the firm, and a few years later, its super-sleek Baretta build.

The Baretta was itself partly inspired by Van Halen’s custom-made Kramer 5150, and early builds were produced in the US at Kramer’s New Jersey base, using predominantly Japanese parts. 

The brand really hit its stride in 1983, when it began equipping the Baretta with a Floyd Rose tremolo – making it the first to issue the revolutionary vibrato system as standard.

That year was also the first time Kramer (now owned by Gibson Brands) switched to its iconic banana-style headstock and, as such, that year’s model has become sought after as ‘the Holy Grail‘ by the new wave of ’80s-obsessed collectors that have emerged over the last decade or so.

Now Kramer has seen fit to create a historic reissue of that early-’80s US model, dubbed, simply, the 1983 Baretta Reissue. 

The firm is promising a slavish recreation of the ‘holy grail’ of Kramers and has pulled-out the stops here, going so far as to use 3D imaging to accurately recreate the original body and neck profiles. 

As with the original 1983 Baretta, you can expect to find a bright, punchy maple body and a speedy, unfinished maple neck with a 16” radius, rosewood fretboard and 22 frets.

Then, of course, there’s the oversized headstock (equipped with Gotoh SG360 Right-Angle tuners) and, at the other end of the scale, a Floyd Rose Original double-locking tremolo system.

Finish-wise, it’s available in Ebony or Classic White, which seems in keeping with its no-nonsense aesthetic.

It’s a pretty uncompromising build, but there are a few key clarifications. 

Firstly, the pickup is a Seymour Duncan ‘59, which featured in the models from 1985 onwards, as opposed to the Schaller Golden 50 humbucker found in the originals. 

This, we assume, is simply down to availability of the original units, but it’s interesting that Kramer is favoring the Seymour Duncan over its own recent PAF-like Eruption humbucker, particularly as the latter was created in conjunction with Van Halen’s former luthier Jim DeCola and specifically designed to nail those early-’80s Kramer tones.  

Regardless, whether it’s simply trying to be more faithful to the original Baretta spec, or keen not to sail too close to the EVH wind, we think most Baretta obsessives will find the Seymour Duncan ‘59 more than acceptable.

Finally, fans have been calling for the reintroduction of US-made Kramers since Gibson’s 2018 takeover – and, particularly, after Gibson CEO Cesar Guiekian told Guitar World in 2021 he wanted to have “both USA-made collections and overseas-made collections.” 

However, despite the fact this model painstakingly recreates a USA Kramer, it is actually a Japanese build, which has a certain poetry, given the amount of Japanese parts that went into the originals, but nonetheless, sadly, does not hail the return of Kramer USA.

The (made in Japan) Kramer 1983 Baretta reissue costs $2,199 and is available now. For more information, head to Kramer.

For now, when it comes to hopes of a Kramer USA model, keep your eye on Dave Mustaine’s guitar collection.

While the Prophecy is undoubtedly the most sonically updated of Dave Mustaine’s new signature guitars, it still has more of a vintage aesthetic in line with the rounded edges of the original Flying Vs of the late ’50s. The Kramer Vanguard, on the other hand, is less retro and more futuristic thanks to its sharper contours and knifelike edges. 

In that regard, it bears kinship with the Megadeth founder’s previous signatures through ESP and Dean – pointy metal machines that wouldn’t look out of place in an executioner’s hands. 

Spec-wise, this signature is almost identical to the Epiphone Custom, with a pair of Thrash Factor humbuckers on an all-mahogany body and neck, as well as the ebony fingerboard and string-through tailpiece. The only discernible difference is the longer scale length that’s typical of most Strats and Superstrats, Kramer included. 

At just over seven pounds, with the others sitting in the upper sixes, it’s also marginally heavier – though the differences are negligible. It’s another thing to be aware of if you’re the kind of player that needs to try before you buy.

There are also more options in terms of colour scheme, with finishes in Ebony and Silver Metallic, as well as a limited edition Rust In Peace model in Alien Tech Green.

Plugged into a high-gain amp, our review model sounds just as menacing as it looks, churning out the classic riffs and leads to Tornado of Souls with little need for tweaking.

The Vanguard is arguably the most visually striking of Mustaine's new signature Vs, though despite sharing the same pickups and neck-through design, it doesn’t quite keep up with his Epiphone Custom in terms of brightness, sustain and playability. But if shredding is your business… then business is good.

Specs

• PRICE: $1,299 / £1,399
• BODY: Mahogany 
• SCALE: 648mm (25.5”)
• PICKUPS: Seymour Duncan Dave Mustaine Signature Thrash Factor Set
• HARDWARE: LockTone Tune-O-Matic bridge, String-Thru Flying V tailpiece, Grover Mini Rotomatic tuners, Graph Tech nut
• FINISH: Ebony, Silver Metallic or Alien Tech Green 
• CONTACT: Kramer

Kramer has unveiled the SM-1 H, a new, stripped-down version of its SM-1 electric guitar. 

The SM-1 H boasts the same double-cut mahogany body and ebony fingerboard, for instance, as the SM-1 – which itself is a 21st century take on Kramer's '80s-era Stagemaster model. 

However, the newer model features only a single pickup – a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge – and a single volume knob with push/pull series/parallel switching, as opposed to its predecessor's trio of pickups (a pair of Seymour Duncan Cool Rails in the neck and middle, in addition to the JB in the bridge.)

Otherwise, the SM-1 H boasts largely the same spec sheet as its predecessor, with a shred-friendly 24-fret fingerboard, Floyd Rose 1000 series tremolo and R2 1000 series locking nut.

The guitar is also outfitted with Kramer black die cast tuners, and its hardware is finished in black chrome.

The Kramer SM-1 H is available now – in sleek Buzzsaw Gold, Shockwave Purple and Tronius Silver finishes – for $999. 

For more info on the model, visit Kramer.

The reveal of the SM-1 H comes a month or so after the most recent addition to Kramer's Original collection of guitars, the similarly no-frills, humbucker-powered Pacer Classic. 

Back in 2020, as part of its Original Collection, Kramer – then-newly revitalized by Gibson – unveiled the Pacer Vintage, a $759 take on the original Kramer Pacer that was, notably, available in a loud Orange Tiger finish.

Now, the company has added another Pacer model to its Original Collection, the more affordable Pacer Classic.

Built with an alder body, the no-frills, shred-friendly Pacer Classic features a 25.5" scale maple neck with a Kramer K-Speed SlimTaper C profile and 22 medium jumbo frets. 

Sounds on the guitar come by way of a pair of double white Alnico 5 Classic humbuckers, controlled by two volume knobs, a master tone knob, and a three-way mini-toggle switch.

Elsewhere, the guitar is outfitted with chrome hardware, die cast tuning machines and a licensed Floyd Rose tremolo bridge and R2 locking nut.

The pricier Pacer Vintage, in comparison, features Seymour Duncan JB and JN humbuckers, rather than the Alnico 5s found here, and a proper Floyd Rose 1000 Series trem unit. 

The Kramer Pacer Classic guitar is available now – in relatively subdued (by Kramer standards) Purple Passion Metallic, Scarlet Red Metallic and Radio Blue Metallic finishes – for $379. Left-handed versions of the model are also available.

For more info on the guitar, point your browser on over to Kramer.

Dave “Snake” Sabo’s history with Kramer stretches back decades, to when the company was based in Neptune, New Jersey, in the 1980s, and Sabo’s band, Skid Row, was still a few years away from achieving multi-platinum success with their self-titled debut and hard-rock anthems like Youth Gone Wild and 18 and Life.

At the time, Sabo was holding down a day job at Garden State Music, a guitar shop roughly a half hour south of Neptune in Toms River, New Jersey, and playing with an early version of the Skids. “We started working with Kramer and they were so receptive of us,” Sabo recalls. “Skid Row didn’t have a record deal or anything. We were just a band from the neighborhood.”

Sabo’s first Kramer was actually a parts guitar that the company fitted with a Kramer neck. It featured, per Sabo’s preferences, a Floyd Rose trem and a single humbucker, as well as original artwork by Kramer artist Dennis Kline.

“I said to Dennis, ‘How about something like a snake coming out of a grave, with my birth date on there?’” Sabo recalls. “And what he came up with was so amazing. Kramer really fine-tuned that guitar and did their handiwork, and I played all the early Skid Row gigs with it.”

As Skid Row shot to stardom, that Kramer was used to record the band’s smash 1989 debut and the follow-up, 1991’s chart-topping Slave to the Grind, as well as to rock arena and stadium stages alongside the likes of Aerosmith and Bon Jovi.

Fast forward to a few years ago, and Sabo and Skid Row co-guitarist Scotti Hill, who are also big Gibson players – “it’s part of our DNA,” Sabo says – paid a visit to the Gibson factory to meet CMO Cesar Gueikian.

They immediately hit it off. Recalls Sabo, “After a couple of conversations, Cesar said to me, ‘We’re relaunching Kramer and we want to do the Snake guitar.’ I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ It was so humbling.”

The guitar they came up with, the Snake Sabo Baretta, pays tribute to Sabo’s original model with a single humbucker, a Floyd Rose (in this case a 1000 Series tremolo fitted with an EVH D-Tuna), a reverse headstock and the original Dennis Kline Snake artwork. “The green finish, it just stands out so well – it’s almost fluorescent,” Sabo says.

Other features include an alder body, a fast-playing three-piece maple neck and a 22-fret Indian laurel fingerboard.

As far as the new guitar’s tone, Sabo points to the addition of a Kramer 85-T Double Black Open Coil Humbucker as a particular sonic upgrade; his original model was loaded, at various times, with a Seymour Duncan and an EMG. But after hearing the Kramer 85-T, designed by Gibson Master Luthier Jim DeCola, Sabo fell in love.

“You hit the gas on that thing and it’s full-on,” he says, noting that his signature model is also the first production Kramer to feature DeCola’s creation. The result is “a guitar that, you plug it in, and it’s ridiculously fierce,” Sabo says. “The original guitar played great, and this plays just as great. But I’ve gotta be honest – I think this Kramer sounds even better.”

Peruvian metal sensation Charlie Parra may be a rising guitar hero on these shores, but in his homeland he’s already a bona fide star – so much so that in 2016 he became the first South American guitarist to earn a Kramer signature guitar, with the release of the Candy Apple Red-finished Charlie Parra Nite-V Plus.  

Now, the 35-year-old shred master and YouTube star – he leads the punk/metal act Difonia as well as his own solo band, has supported artists like Slash and the Cult on tour and runs a YouTube channel with more than 160 million views – has collaborated with the brand on a second signature design, the new Charlie Parra Vanguard.

Like Parra’s previous guitar, the Vanguard is a V-shaped model, and it also comes in the same striking Candy Apple Red finish. “We wanted to bring back the Vanguard shape, which is like a ‘spaceship’ Flying V,” Parra says of the model that Kramer first introduced with offset wings in the '80s. 

As for why he favors the Candy Apple Red color? “I’m a big fan of [late Ratt guitarist] Robbin Crosby,” he explains, “and I remember he was always using V-shaped guitars in bright red and other super-flamboyant colors.” 

Beyond that, the Charlie Parra Vanguard, which boasts a mahogany body, three-piece Slim C maple neck, 24-fret ebony fingerboard, a LockTone Tune-O-Matic bridge and Stop Bar tailpiece and a powerful and versatile EMG 66/57 humbucker set, is very much its own beast. 

“We wanted to make it a shred guitar,” Parra says simply, “so it was important to me to have the 24 frets and a body design where it’s easy to get all the way up the fretboard. Also, it’s a great tapping guitar. I love tapping so much, and the main reason I use a V is because there’s basically no wood between my tapping hand and the fretboard.” 

At the same time, he continues, “I wanted to make sure this was a guitar that was comfy to play whether you’re standing up onstage, sitting down in a recording studio or just practicing in a bedroom. And it is – it feels great.” 

The Vanguard looks great, too. In addition to the sleek offset wings and Candy Apple Red finish, the guitar sports eye-catching visuals like a 12th fret Day of the Dead Owl fingerboard inlay, a satin aluminum pickguard and chrome pickup covers, as well as a classic “pointy” Kramer headstock. 

As for the sound? Well, you can hear the Charlie Parra Vanguard in action on the new Difonia album, as well as in recent YouTube videos like Parra’s blazing Dimebag Darrell/Pantera and Eddie Van Halen tributes, in which he performs an instrumental medley comprised of a range of Pantera songs.

“The great thing about doing instrumental music is that it’s understood everywhere,” Parra says. “It’s not in Spanish, it’s not in English… it’s just straight guitar playing that everyone can enjoy the same.” Similarly, he sees the Charlie Parra Vanguard as a guitar that shredders of every stripe can dig into.

“I think that the legacy that Kramer represents is something that shred lovers go for,” he says. “And I believe the Vanguard – with the body style, the cutaway, the 24 frets, the pickups – has what these players will like.” Parra continues, “You know, when people talk about shredding, they say ‘more is better,’ right? So the Vanguard to me feels like the total package. And I feel humbled and honored to be part of the Kramer shredding family.”

Ever since Gibson went under new management in 2018, the company has been on a major hot streak. But while the Gibson and Epiphone lines have garnered much of the attention from players (as well as most of the splashy headlines from the press), it’s worth noting that these aren’t the only guitar brands in the company’s stable.

In 2020, Gibson officially announced the relaunch of Kramer Guitars, and true to that brand’s bold, flashy and, in every sense of the word, loud history, Gibson is bringing it back in a big way.

Late last year, the company unveiled the new Original and Modern Collections, which, respectively, reintroduce classic-but-updated models from Kramer’s '80s heyday, and also add in new creations designed with the 21st-century player in mind.

Which means that, once again, you can pick up streamlined, shred-ready guitars like the Baretta Special (equipped with a single humbucker and “banana” headstock) and a Pacer finished in iconic throwback Orange Tiger, but also the thoroughly modern Assault Plus (a progressive take on the Les Paul) and the radically contoured Nite-V. 

What’s more, the company has extended that mix of classic and current to its line of new signature models, collaborating with Skid Row guitarist Dave “Snake” Sabo to bring his famous custom Snake Sabo Baretta to market for the first time ever; L.A. Guns/Sunbomb maestro Tracii Guns on the Gunstar Voyager, an updated take on the company’s early '80s star-shaped Voyager; and Peruvian shredder Charlie Parra on a razor-sharp offset-V Vanguard design. 

The result is a range sure to thrill devoted Kramer diehards who grew up loving not only the unique look and sound of these instruments, but also the players – among them Eddie Van Halen, Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora, the Cars’ Elliot Easton and Mötley Crüe’s Mick Mars – who used them.  And for those who have never experienced a Kramer before? Get ready.

“There are big plans for Kramer, and we’re just getting started,” Gibson Brand President Cesar Gueikian says. Expanding on the focus of the Original and Modern Collections, he explains, “the Originals are the guitars that ignited hair-sprayed hard rock and metal heads all over the world in the '80s. And it’s a bit of a passion project for me because I love all of that. 

“So it’s about going back and recreating those models, but with upgraded appointments. We’re not necessarily saying, ‘Okay, what was the exact volume pot that was used in 1984?,’ but more like, ‘How was that guitar built? What was it meant to do and how can we recreate that vibe?’” The Modern Collection, meanwhile, “is us saying, ‘Okay, we have the classics down. How can we put more gas to that fire and bring ultra-modern and innovative appointments and designs to the hands of players today?’ ”

Adds Epiphone and Kramer Brand Director Krista Gilley, “We’re making Kramer flexible to a player in 2021, but without straying too far from its own rich history.” And what a rich – and unique – history it is. The Kramer story begins in the late '70s, when Gary Kramer, an associate of Travis Bean, teamed up with Dennis Berardi and began building, much as he had with Bean, aluminum-necked guitars with a “pitchfork” headstock.

Unlike Bean, Kramer added wooden inserts, set in epoxy, to his necks to give them a warmer, more traditional feel. That said, these instruments were still far from conventional, boasting Ebanol fretboards and tonewoods like curly maple, walnut and koa.

Early on, Kramer and Berardi joined up with Peter LaPlaca – a vice president at Norlin, then Gibson’s parent company – and investor Henry Vaccaro to open a plant in Neptune, New Jersey; soon after, Kramer moved to Los Angeles, essentially ending his day-to-day connection with the company that bore his name, years before the brand caught fire with the guitar-playing public.

The first step toward that fiery future came in 1981, when Kramer transitioned to making wooden-necked instruments – a move that served to lower production costs (some offshore production in East Asia and parts from Japan helped as well) while making the brand more appealing to traditionally minded players. The company also hooked up with a German inventor named Helmut Rockinger and began installing his Rockinger tremolo systems, a precursor to the Floyd Rose, on its instruments.

This tremolo system eventually caught the eye of Eddie Van Halen, who signed on as a Kramer endorsee and famously vowed that he would help make Kramer the “number one guitar company in the world.”

Within a few years, Kramer was. By 1983, the Rockinger system (or as it came to be known, the “EVH trem”) was out, and Kramer was offering its guitars stock with Floyd Rose tremolos. They also introduced what would become their flagship model, the single-hum Baretta, based on Van Halen’s Frankenstrat (despite Eddie’s close association with the company, Kramer never actually produced an EVH signature model).

That sleek, streamlined guitar, built for speed and massive amounts of gain, helped to kick off the superstrat era. By 1985, Kramer swapped out Schaller pickups for hotter and more modern Seymour Duncans, and soon after added in eye-catching appointments like custom graphics options and pointy headstocks (following forays with “strathead,” “beak” and “banana” headstock designs).

At this point, Kramer’s status as the shredder’s instrument of choice was indisputable. And indeed, for several years in the mid-'80s Kramer was the overall best-selling guitar brand, with a list of players and endorsers that included Vivian Campbell, Sambora, Joe Satriani and others. Those glory days, Gueikian recalls, “were when I started playing guitar, and Kramer was what everybody was playing. It’s the authentic brand of that '80s shred revolution.”

Kramer’s reign, however, eventually came to an end, and through mismanagement and financial problems the company effectively ceased to exist in 1991. Six years later, however, it was sold out of bankruptcy to Gibson. 

And while Kramer’s new owner didn’t do much with the brand over the subsequent two decades, with the resuscitation of Gibson in 2018 and the arrival of Gueikian and new CEO and President James “JC” Curleigh, Kramer, like all Gibson brands, has been experiencing a renaissance.

“Our objective is to reestablish Kramer as the leading guitar for this type of playing,” Gueikian says. “Our brand statement is ‘Made to Rock Hard,’ and that’s not something we just came up with. I was looking at old marketing materials from back in the day and it was right there. So that’s what Kramer was, and that’s what Kramer still is. We don’t need to reinvent what the brand is all about.”

As Gueikian and Gilley are quick to point out, another thing that Kramer “is all about” is an adventurous approach to guitar design. These are guitars that were originally built to appeal to players on the more extreme end of the six-string spectrum, and with that history comes a certain freedom.

“Whereas Gibson has more of a cherished classic legacy, Kramer has its own unique personality that’s a little more wild,” Gilley says. “And we can take that into the finishes, into the body shapes, into the components. I know that’s something that’s such a joy for our product-development team – they can ask things like, ‘What are some of the custom graphic wraps that are iconic from the '80s that we can make into cherished models today?’ We can bring that into the modern era and have fun with it.”

Adds Gueikian, “Suddenly you’re saying, ‘what we can do with this brand is unbelievable.’ And that is the mission – to make it unbelievable. So the plan is to have a nice balance between Original and Modern collection guitars, and eventually between both USA-made collections and overseas-made collections, so that we can touch every price point for every type of player, from the ones who loved Kramer back in the '80s to the kids today that want to learn more about the history and the legacy of these instruments.

“And if those kids decide to try out a Kramer, and they take it home and plug it in and their parents end up telling them to turn it down? Then we know we’ve had success.”

NAMM 2021 isn't taking place in the physical realm this year, but you'll find all the hottest January gear launches in our guide to the biggest guitar, amp and pedal releases of 2021 so far.

Kramer has debuted its new Artist Collection, featuring collaborations with Skid Row’s Dave “Snake” Sabo, LA Guns’ Tracii Guns and Peruvian shredder Charlie Parra. 

First up is the Snake Sabo Baretta, inspired by the Skid Row founder’s favorite road guitar. The Baretta boasts a replica graphic commissioned by Sabo and created by legendary Kramer artist Dennis Kline.

Features include a new Kramer 85-T Double Black Open Coil Humbucker designed by Gibson USA luthier Jim DeCola, a K-SpeedSlimTaper neck with jumbo frets, a Floyd Rose 1000 bridge system and an EVH D-Tuna Drop D Tuning System.

Said Snake, “I’m so proud that the Kramer brand has been resurrected by Gibson and humbled by the fact that they’ve allowed me to be a part of it. The Snake Baretta started out as a simple idea 35 years ago and played such a big part in our formative years. Now Kramer has kindly released it as a limited edition. I hope everyone enjoys this guitar as much as I have since it was first made in 1985.”

The Tracii Guns Gunstar Voyager, meanwhile, features a star-shaped mahogany Voyager body with a black metallic finish and flame graphics, a three-piece set maple neck with a Slim C profile and a classic Kramer pointy headstock with a Kramer Pyramid logo on the front and a chrome wrench holder on the back.

There’s also a pair of Epiphone ProBucker pickups, each with its own volume control and coil-splitting push/pull switch, a Floyd Rose 1000 series tremolo and a top mounted R2 locking nut and chrome string retainer bar.

“I play the guitars my heroes play, and those guitars are Gibsons,” Guns said. “As the future has arrived now, I have designed the ultimate metal guitar with Kramer guitars loudly and proudly called the Kramer Gunstar Voyager for my shredding friends. Made to metal!”

Finally, the Charlie Parra Vanguard, his second Kramer signature model, boasts a mahogany body, three-piece satin-finished maple neck, bound ebony fretboard with 22 jumbo frets, dot inlays with 12th fret Day of the Dead owl, a single chrome knurled master volume control and three-way pickup selector switch mounted on a satin aluminum pickguard.

Pickups are EMG 57 and 66 humbuckers with chrome covers, and there’s also a LockTone Tune-O-Matic bridge and Stop Bar tailpiece and a recessed output jack on the upper horn.

Parra's signature is engraved on the truss rod cover, and the Vanguard is finished in Candy Apple Red Gloss.

"I’m so humbled and honored to be part of the Gibson family as their first South American signature artist thanks to the comeback of Kramer,” said Parra. “This limited-edition Kramer Vanguard honors the classic ‘80s look and vibe with a twist of modern hardware, 24 fret madness and full access cutaway. I hope guitar players everywhere enjoy this instrument that may look tough, and heavy, but plays really smooth!"

In addition to the new Artist Collection, Kramer has also unveiled its back-to-basics Original Collection, designed to capture the look and feel of the “original shredder guitar.”

The new collection includes the classic Baretta Special and Focus VT -211S, as well as the Jersey Star, Pacer, SM-1, NightSwan, The 84, the Baretta and more.

Kramer’s Modern Collection, meanwhile, brings present-day features to classic designs, including neck-to-body joints, contemporary hardware and tremolo options, cutting-edge pickups and electronic options and more.

Modern Collection guitars include the Assault 220, Assault Plus, Nite-V, Nite-V Plus and the D-1 Bass.

“We leveled-up with our Kramer re-birth and new focus, giving hard rock and heavy metal shredders what they wanted,” said Gibson's Cesar Gueikian. 

“This is just the beginning for Kramer, we have big plans for the brand’s future, starting with these exciting collections and collaborations plus a few more we will be announcing throughout 2021.”

Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario and Video Editor Alan Chaput are back with another installment of our video series, Cooking with Sound, and this time the two are heating things up with a pair of hot Kramer Original Collection guitars.

Kramer’s history extends back to the 1970s, but as Paul explains, “Eddie Van Halen kind of put Kramer on the map,” and the brand hit its stride in the '80s with players like Mick Mars, Richie Sambora, Dweezil Zappa and Vivian Campbell.

In this demo, Paul wields a Kramer The 84, while Alan handles an SM-1.

The 84, Paul says, is “certainly an Eddie Van Halen-inspired model,” and features a lightweight alder body with a Radiant Red finish, a classic banana headstock, a hard rock maple neck, a 22-fret maple fingerboard and a Floyd Rose 1000 Series tremolo.

In the pickup category, there’s a single Seymour Duncan JB at the bridge, operated by a lone volume control with coil split.

The SM-1, meanwhile, adds in a Seymour Duncan Cool Rails alongside the JB, and sports a mahogany body and neck and a 24-fret ebony fingerboard with pearloid inlays.

“The SM is geared to the player that needs a little more versatility - having the other pickups, five-way switching and coil tap,” Paul says, while “the 84 has more of that total rocker vibe to it.”

But, he adds, “I say we shut up and start playing these things.”

And play them they do. You can check out the hot licks and tones in the video above.

For more information on the Original Series, head to Kramer Guitars.

NAMM 2020: Kramer has gone all-in to make 2020 the year of late '80s fretboard pyro, with its Made To Rock Hard collection offering a cornucopia of shreddable electric guitars in a variety of retina-troubling finishes.

Hey, no one looks out the Kramer catalogue and demands subtle. These new 2020 models arrive in three collections: the Custom Graphic Collection, the Original Collection and the Modern Collection. A number of artist collaborations will be announced later in the year. 

Already Dave "the Snake" Sabo has collaborated on the Snake-Baretta, a slime-green S-style with a reverse headstock straight out of Mad Max and serpentine graphic. A Tracii Guns collab is in the pipeline, too.

The vibe of these three collections is self-explanatory. The Custom Graphic models will have dial up that hotrodded electric vibe. The Original Collection reprises classic Kramer designs such as the Icon, Baretta, Pacer, Focus, and SM-1, the likes of which might have you experiencing a Ross from Friends moment as you try to squeeze yourself back into your favorite leather pants. 

The Modern Collection comprises newly designed models such as the Assault, Striker, Nite-V and more, and is a little more minimalist but no less aggressively appointed, and it sees Kramer build guitars for today's hard rock and metal player.

The Made To Rock Hard Collection will be fully unveiled at Winter NAMM 2020. Kramer says there will be entry-level, intermediate and professional guitars on offer. 

Of his collaboration on the Snake-Baretta, Sabo says his connection with the Kramer brand and that guitar goes all the way back to 1985.

"I was working at a music store in Tom’s River, NJ. Rachel Bolan and I were putting Skid Row together, building a following and I was able to get a Kramer factory tour," said Sabo in a statement. "I was blown away at how great the guitars were and how cool the company was. I had an idea for a guitar with a single humbucker in the bridge, one volume and one tone knob, a black Floyd Rose and a killer paint job. 

"There was an artist in the area by the name of Dennis Kline that did incredible air brushing. I got him to come up with the snake rising out of a grave. And I was able to convince the people at Kramer to take this idea and put it on a Kramer Baretta and that’s the story of my Kramer Snake guitar. More than 30 years later, my friend Todd Harapiak – now a Gibson TV producer – reached out to me asking if we could do a run of this guitar. 

"The attention to detail and adherence to the legacy is profound. I’ve never had a signature guitar, so to say I’m humbled would be an understatement. When I put the Snake guitar away 25 years ago, I never thought it would be resurrected, much less through a Kramer (Gibson) partnership! I’m so proud and grateful to be a part of this and the history this represents. I hope it brings the same amount of joy to guitarists out there as it does to me.”

Prices and specs are TBC. See Kramer for more details. 

Check out our NAMM 2020 hub for more gear news.

Guitar World has teamed up with the folks at Kramer Guitars, Disc Makers and Merchly to bring you an awesome new contest. Sign up below between now and January 31, 2019 for your chance to win a Kramer Limited Edition Pacer Vintage in Candy Red Metal Flake finish, an Album Drop Bundle from Disc Makers, and 25 custom-printed t-shirts from Merchly. Contest open to U.S. residents only. 

Bringing the high-octane performance of the '80s to the fastest-riffing players of the 21st century, Kramer's Pacer Vintage is equipped to the hilt for tone and performance, with the looks that set an era alight. It's all crafted with a thin-taper elliptical neck profile and 22 medium-jumbo frets, Seymour Duncan JB/JN humbuckers, a push/pull series/parallel tap, volume bleed mod, and a Floyd Rose tremolo. Price is $1,498 retail/$899 MAP.

Disc Makers' Album Drop Bundle contains CD printing, digital distribution, bar code, and your choice of audio mastering or CD package design — everything needed to successfully release new music. The bundle is priced at $999. 

The prize package rounds out with 25 custom-printed classic concert style t-shirts with 1 color print from Merchly, a $175 value.

Enter right here or use the form below. Contest open to U.S. residents only.

In the Eighties glory days of hair metal and glam rock, Kramer was one of the industry’s leading guitar companies.

But the company slipped out of the limelight during the early Nineties, at about the same time that musicians started swapping their spandex for flannel. Although Kramer didn’t disappear, the company’s guitars mostly flew under the radar after Gibson acquired the brand in the early Nineties and started selling its models direct via mail order.

Lately, however, Kramer guitars have worked their way into public consciousness once again through a growing artist roster and more aggressive distribution through traditional retail channels.

These days you’re much more likely to find a new Kramer guitar on display at your local music store than you were a few years ago, and a growing variety of Kramer models is available from online retailers as well.

Today, the company’s line consists of 15 different guitar and bass models. We took a look at a model that represents Kramer’s past—the Pacer Vintage—as well as an entirely new model, the Assault Plus, which represents the brand’s present and future.

FEATURES The main motivation behind guitar design in the Eighties was the “best of both worlds” combination, with “both worlds” being the Les Paul and the Strat. That spirit is alive in both the Pacer Vintage and the Assault Plus, which present different spins on a combination of classic designs, along with “hot-rodded” enhancements.

The main distinguishing attribute of the Assault Plus is its familiar-shaped single-cutaway body made of solid mahogany. The glued-in set neck is mahogany as well, but it features a maple fingerboard with no fretboard markers, 24 medium-jumbo frets, a 25 1/2–inch scale, a 12-inch radius and a SlimTaper profile. The bridge is a recessed Nashville-style Tune-o-matic, but the strings are anchored through the body instead of a stop tailpiece. Hardware includes Seymour Duncan Alternative 8 (bridge) and 59 Classic (neck) humbuckers, individual volume controls with push/pull series/parallel switching, a master tone knob and locking tuners.

The Pacer Vintage is based on the best-selling flagship Kramer Pacer model of the Eighties, featuring a slimmed-down offset double-cut- away body made of maple. The bolt-on neck is maple as well and includes a maple fingerboard, 22 medium-jumbo frets, a 12-inch radius, a 25 1/2–inch scale and a thin-taper elliptical profile.

The Pacer Vintage features a pair of Seymour Duncan humbuckers as well, with a JB model at the bridge and a JN model at the neck. Controls consist of individual volume knobs for each pickup, with push/pull series/parallel switching and a master tone control. A .002mf capacitor bleed circuit retains treble frequencies as the volume controls are turned down, and a floating genuine Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo completes the shred-approved design.

PERFORMANCE While the original Kramer guitars were very well made (hence the reason why they attracted an impressive list of endorsers), the current models are better than ever, thanks no doubt to Kramer’s current parent company.

The attention to detail in the construction is quite impressive, particularly in the fretwork, which is among the best we’ve seen for guitars in this price range. The finishes are also stunning. Our Pacer Vintage boasted a Pearl White finish on the body and headstock front, while the Assault Plus had a glowing Candy Tangerine finish applied to the entire body as well as the back of the neck.

Both guitars deliver the sparkling treble and tight bass that one would expect from a guitar with a 25 1/2–inch scale, but the Assault Plus is slightly darker and warmer sounding thanks to its mahogany body and neck. The Pacer Vintage’s all-maple construction produces the expected brightness, but unlike many maple guitars, its tone is not piercing but well balanced and articulate, with exceptionally fast attack. The Duncan humbuckers chosen for both models complement the body materials very well, providing exceptional clarity across the entire tonal range and smooth, singing midrange.

The series settings on both provided single-coil-style sparkle but without noise. My only criticism is the mini pickup-selector toggle on the Pacer, which some players may find a little difficult to manipulate while others will appreciate how it stays out of the way.

LIST PRICES Assault Plus, $1,050; Pacer Vintage, $1,267

MANUFACTURER Kramer Guitars, kramerguitars.com

Modeled after the best-selling flagship Kramer Pacer model from the Eighties, the Pacer Vintage features dual humbuckers and a Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo. The Assault Plus has a classic single-cutaway body design but features a neck with a maple fretboard, 24 frets and a 25 1/2–inch scale. Both models offer individual volume controls for each pickup, with push/pull switching for selecting parallel or series pickup- wiring configurations. Premium USA Seymour Duncan humbuckers are installed on both models: JB and JN pickups on the Pacer Vintage, and Alternative 8 and 59 Classic on the Assault Plus.

THE BOTTOM LINE No mere throwbacks to the Eighties, these new Kramer models are certain to please players who love the shred- worthy vibe of the original Kramer guitars but prefer the playability and tonal versatility of a modern guitar.