Kramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

s and basses. Kramer produced

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

-necked

s and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

and heavy metal musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of

Gibson Guitar Corporation Gibson Brands, Inc. (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation) is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was forme ...

Formation

There is some dispute over the company's early history but it begins with

Travis Bean Clifford Travis Bean (21 August 1947 – 10 July 2011, aged 63) was an American luthier and machinist from California. In 1974, he partnered with Marc McElwee and Gary Kramer to start Travis Bean Guitars, which made high-end electric guitars and ...

, a California luthier who was building guitars with aluminum necks. Bean and Gary Kramer started the Travis Bean guitar company in 1974, in Sun Valley, and while their guitars did well, Bean lost interest and left most of the business aspects to Kramer and so the two parted ways. Kramer then founded the company that still bears his name, improving on the Bean design—Bean's necks were heavy and the material felt cold to the touch. Kramer's improvement consisted of two wooden inserts in the back of the neck. By 1975 he had hooked up with a friend from New York, Dennis Berardi and the two founded BK International, which engaged luthier Phil Petillo to make prototypes for them. Other involved parties were

Henry Vaccaro Henry V. Vaccaro is an American businessman and author. His primary business was the Henry V. Vaccaro Corporation, located in Neptune, NJ. The construction company, started in 1964, built over $1 Billion in construction projects throughout New Jers ...

, a real estate businessman who invested money in the venture and Peter LaPlaca, who had experience with Norlin, the company that owned

from 1969 to 1986. The rest of the account is murky: Kramer says he was supposed to increase production but was too inexperienced in that area so he wanted to move back to the West Coast. He was to sell back his interests and receive royalties then represent the company out west but none of this seems to have happened.

1970s: aluminum necks

Introduced in 1976, early models featured the trademark "tuning fork head"

-reinforced

necks The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

with a

fretboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating s ...

made of Ebonol—material similar to one used in

bowling ball A bowling ball is a hard spherical ball used to knock down bowling pins in the sport of bowling. Balls used in ten-pin bowling and American nine-pin bowling traditionally have holes for two fingers and the thumb. Balls used in five-pin bowling, ...

production. Other features of the necks included aluminum dots, and a zero fret. Gary Kramer's inserts, set in

epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also coll ...

, were usually

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

. The bodies were usually made of high grade Walnut or Maple, with the earliest instruments made of exotic

tonewood Tonewood refers to specific wood varieties that possess tonal properties that make them good choices for use in woodwind or acoustic stringed instruments. Varieties of tonewood As a rough generalization it can be said that stiff-but-light softwood ...

s including Koa,

Afromosia ''Afromosia barkemeyeri'' is a species of robber fly (family Asilidae The Asilidae are the robber fly family, also called assassin flies. They are powerfully built, bristly flies with a short, stout proboscis enclosing the sharp, sucking hypop ...

Swietenia ''Swietenia'' is a genus of trees in the chinaberry family, Meliaceae. It occurs natively in the Neotropics, from southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America south to Bolivia. The genus is named for Dutch-Austrian physician Ge ...

, Shedua, and

Bubinga ''Guibourtia'' is a flowering plant genus in the family Fabaceae, also known by the common names as Rhodesian copalwood, African Rosewood, Amazique, Bubinga, Kevazingo, and Ovangkol. Scientific Name being Guibourtia spp. Description ''Guibou ...

. The hardware was also from a known quality brand: Schaller tuning keys and

bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

; Schaller and DiMarzio pickups; custom-made strap pins; aluminum cavity covers. Kramer's "alumi-neck" line lasted roughly until 1982. Generally, the ratio of basses to guitars produced was about 4:1, primarily because bass players were more willing to experiment. By 1981, Kramer had the tools, and the experience, to take guitar mass production to a new level. Switching to wooden-necked instruments both held the promise of keeping production costs low as well as being able to appeal to traditionally-minded guitar players.

Wooden neck period

Kramer first released wooden-necked guitars in late 1981, following

Charvel Charvel is a brand of electric guitars founded in the 1970s by Wayne Charvel in Azusa, California and originally headquartered in Glendora, California. Since 2002, Charvel has been under the ownership of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. ...

's lead on producing instruments that essentially copied the

Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

headstock shape from Fender, in violation of Fender's US

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

and

design patent In the United States, a design patent is a form of legal protection granted to the ornamental design of an article of manufacture. Design patents are a type of industrial design right. Ornamental designs of jewelry, furniture, beverage containers ...

. After only a thousand or so instruments were built, in May 1981, Kramer received a cease and desist order from Fender to halt the production of strathead guitars. Instead, Kramer opted for a "beak" headstock reminiscent of 1960s

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

guitar headstocks. The earliest beak guitars were in fact stratheads with a lopped off headstock; these can be identified by prominent sanding marks on the curve of the headstock. Later and most common beak guitars were manufactured with a beak headstock from the factory. Wooden-necked instruments represented Kramer's first foray into

offshoring Offshoring is the relocation of a business process from one country to another—typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting. Usually this refers to a company business, although state gover ...

the production of guitar components to

Eastern Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

. Tuning keys and vintage fulcrum tremolos were made by Gotoh in Japan, while the necks were made by Japan's

ESP Guitars is a Japanese guitar manufacturer, primarily focused on the production of electric guitars and Bass guitar, basses. They are based in both Tokyo and Los Angeles, with distinct product lines for each market. ESP Company manufactures instruments ...

and shipped to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

for fretting and finishing. Kramer executives saw that the guitar techniques of the early 1980s demanded a high-performance tremolo system. Kramer partnered with a German inventor named Helmut Rockinger, and installed his bulky tremolos, precursors to

Floyd Rose The Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo, or simply Floyd Rose, is a type of locking vibrato arm for a guitar. Floyd D. Rose invented the locking vibrato in 1976, the first of its kind, and it is now manufactured by a company of the same name. The Floyd R ...

systems, on its instruments.

Early to mid-1980s

A chance encounter between Dennis Berardi and Eddie Van Halen's managers on an airplane flight set the foundation for Kramer's meteoric rise in the 1980s. Eddie was interested in a tremolo that stayed in tune, which the Rockinger system offered. A meeting between Eddie Van Halen and Kramer execs took place, and Eddie was sold. At the meeting, he reportedly quipped that he would help make Kramer the "#1 guitar company in the world." By 1983, the Rockinger tremolo (sometimes dubbed "The Eddie Van Halen tremolo") had been widely replaced by the

system. In addition, Kramer once again offered Schaller tuners on their guitars, tapping Schaller to produce Floyd Rose tremolos as well. Kramer was the only guitar company offering Original Floyd Rose tremolos stock on their production guitars, a

competitive advantage In business, a competitive advantage is an attribute that allows an organization to outperform its competitors. A competitive advantage may include access to natural resources, such as high-grade ores or a low-cost power source, highly skilled ...

of Kramer over other guitar manufacturers of the period. In late 1983, Kramer switched from the "beak" headstock design to the Gibson Explorer-like "hockey stick" headstock design. This distinctive look also helped rank Kramer highly with guitar enthusiasts. One notable Kramer guitar was the Baretta model, which was a single-

humbucker A humbucking pickup, humbucker, or double coil, is a type of guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out the noisy interference picked up by coil pickups. In addition to electric guitar pickups, humbucking coils are sometimes used in d ...

instrument similar to guitars Eddie Van Halen used on stage. The Kramer Baretta was the flagship of the Kramer line and helped popularize the single-pickup 1980s superstrat guitar design. By late 1985, Kramer began installing

Seymour Duncan Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and bass pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in America. Guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and Cathy Carter Duncan found ...

pickups in its guitars, in preference to the more vintage-sounding Schaller pickups. When the sales figures came in, Kramer was the best-selling guitar brand of 1985. In 1986, Kramer switched to the radically drooped "pointy headstock" design. Schaller tuners, Floyd Rose tremolos, Seymour Duncan pickups and exciting graphics by talented factory artists such as Dennis Kline helped propel Kramer to become the best-selling guitar brand of 1986.

Late 1980s

Kramer continued its success into the late 1980s, promoting

and

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam r ...

artists from Mötley Crüe's Mick Mars to Whitesnake's

Vivian Campbell Vivian Patrick Campbell (born 25 August 1962) is a Northern Irish guitarist. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as a member of Dio (band), Dio, and has been a member of Def Leppard since 1992 (replacing Steve Clark after his death). Camp ...

as major endorsees. By 1987, Kramer was using

exclusively for manufacturing its necks and bodies. The "American Series" of instruments were ESP parts, assembled in Neptune, New Jersey. The Aerostar series were made completely in Korea, while the Focus series was made and assembled by

. Some early Focus guitars were also made in Japan by the

Matsumoku Matsumoku Industrial was a Japanese manufacturing company based in Matsumoto, Nagano, between 1951 and 1987. Established in 1951 as a woodworking and cabinetry firm, Matsumoku is remembered as a manufacturer of guitars and bass guitars, includ ...

company. During 1987, Kramer also commissioned guitarist Rich Excellente, designer of the "1957 Chevy Tail-fin" guitar, to create a series of guitars based on the patented features Excellente developed on his "Chevy Tail-Fin" guitar. Kramer, under license from Excellente, manufactured a line of guitars which were marketed as "The Kramer American Showster Series". These guitars were sleeker versions of the more traditional shapes of the day, and utilized Excellente's patented "tear-drop" body taper and "metal loading" insert feature to increase tone and sustain.(U.S.Pat.4,635,522). Fewer than 1,000 of these guitars were produced between 1988–1990, and the line was discontinued during 1990 due to manufacturing problems which began to plague Kramer during that time. In addition, Kramer embraced the excess of the late 1980s—producing slick and

fluorescent Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, tha ...

guitars, losing its thought leadership in the guitar manufacturing arena, and damaging the image of the

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

. Similarly, the image of the Kramer brand was being tarnished by an influx of Aerostar guitars, lower in quality and made with cheap parts. By 1989, Dennis Berardi had started Berardi/Thomas Entertainment, Inc—an

artist management A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of entertainer, artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee t ...

company. Seeing promise in a young band out of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, Gorky Park, BTE started managing the group. To help promote the band, the infamous "Gorky Park" guitars were made, reportedly to be given to guitar dealers as promotional pieces. BTE banked on the Gorky Park guitars to help promote the group. When the Russian band achieved only a mild measure of success, this was a significant, and final blow to the first incarnation of the Kramer company.

1990–present

The original Kramer company effectively came to an end in January 1991, mostly due to financial problems. The company had been spending huge amounts on advertising and endorsements, and then lost a lawsuit with

Floyd D. Rose Floyd D. Rose (born 1948) is an American musician and engineer who invented the ''Floyd Rose Locking Vibrato systems for guitar, Tremolo'' System in the late 1970s, eventually founding a company of the same name to manufacture and license his pr ...

over royalties. A notorious

firesale A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices. The term originated in reference to the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage. It may or may not be defined as a closeout, the final sale of goods to zero inventor ...

of surplus necks, bodies and hardware was held out of New Jersey. In the early '90s, Artist Relations manager Billy "Falcon" Connolly left New Jersey and moved to Princeton, West Virginia and started a small guitar company called Falcon Custom Guitars. Billy made beautiful hand made acoustic and electric guitars that are cherished by his Kramer fans. Falcon Custom Guitars met its untimely end late summer of 1999 when Billy died. By 1995, Henry Vaccaro Sr. owned the Kramer brand; in addition, he was the only one of the original partners interested in continuing in the guitar business. He tried one last time to produce Kramer guitars from surplus parts, in the Neptune plant, but only a few hundred were made. Henry Vaccaro Sr. started making aluminum-necked guitars under the name Vaccaro Guitars, but that, too, was short-lived. In 2005, the original founder and namesake of Kramer Guitars, Gary Kramer, started his own guitar company: Gary Kramer Guitars. In 2007, the original service manager of Kramer Guitars, legendary

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

Paul Unkert started his own guitar company, featuring designs reminiscent of aluminum-era Kramers: Unk Guitars. The Kramer brand was sold out of bankruptcy to

. Gibson's

Epiphone Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his f ...

division has produced guitars and basses under the Kramer brand since the late 1990s, mostly factory-direct through the now-defunct MusicYo.com website. Encouraged by the resurgence of interest in the Kramer brand, Epiphone has been reissuing classic Kramer models, including the "1984 Model;" (a homage to Eddie Van Halen's famous "5150" guitar used from 1984-1991) the "Jersey Star;" (a homage to the

Richie Sambora Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwri ...

signature 1980s Kramer) and most recently, the "1985 Baretta Reissue (A standard slant-pickup Baretta)". These high-end instruments are assembled in the USA from American components. In January 2009, Gibson shut down the MusicYo.com website, instead promising that Kramers would be available through dealers and in music stores by the end of 2009. But supply was not consistent and promised new models were either seriously delayed or never produced. More recently however under guidance from a dedicated Kramer team at Gibson, new models have made it to stores, and now includes the budget priced Baretta Special (a model touted on the MusicYo pages but never released until now) plus designs never seen before including the Pariah & Assault (including FR tremolo models) ranges brought out to bring the Kramer name to a new generation of rock musicians, while homages to vintage models like the Stagemaster in the form of the SM-1 and Classic Pacer Imperial now simply called the Pacer Vintage are also still produced. In 2007, a Kramer Striker

controller Controller may refer to: Occupations * Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position * Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage * Air traffic controller, a person ...

was created for ''

Guitar Hero III ''Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock'' (initially referred to as ''Guitar Hero 3'') is a music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the third main installment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series, following ''Gui ...

'' for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

, under a licensing agreement with

. A Kramer Focus was also available as an in-game guitar, as was one of the earlier aluminum neck model Kramers. The Kramer Fatboy has been featured in '' Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock'' and '' Guitar Hero: Aerosmith''. Original Kramer guitars are now highly collectable, after being considered undesirable in the early-mid-1990s. They regularly fetch high prices on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

and other auction sites. Kramer collectors held
Kramer Expo
every year in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, near the Gibson plant, from 2003-2008. More recently, expos have been held annually in locations around Europe including the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

in 2006 & 2007, and

Liverpool, UK Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

in 2010 & 2012, to showcase and celebrate Kramer guitars., there are plans to once again hold a Kramer Expo in Nashville in July 2021, however this will be dependant on the ability for fans from other nations being able to attend.

Kramer Models

Kramer Aluminum Neck Guitars

* Kramer 250 * Kramer 335 (Hollowbody) * Kramer 350 * Kramer 450 * Kramer 650 * Kramer DMZ series * Kramer XL series * Kramer XK series * Kramer Duke series * Kramer

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...

axe guitar and bass * Kramer Challenger

Kramer USA and American

(Please Note: Kramers listed below were not built in USA post 1986. Only Assembled.) * Kramer Baretta I, II, and III * Kramer Stagemaster * Kramer Classic * Kramer Condor * Kramer Liberty * Kramer Pacer * Kramer Pacer Custom I & II * Kramer Pioneer Bass * Kramer Forum I & II Basses * Kramer Proaxe * Kramer Triax * Kramer Enterprize * Kramer Invader * Kramer Vanguard * Kramer Voyager * Kramer Sustainer * Kramer Telecaster

Kramer USA and American – signature models

* Kramer

Model * Kramer

Elliot Easton Elliot Easton (born Elliot Steinberg, December 18, 1953) is an American guitarist. He played lead guitar and sang backing vocals for The Cars, and his guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. Easton has also recorded music as a so ...

Model * Kramer NightSwan (

Model) * Kramer Sambora (aka "Jersey Star") (

Model) * Kramer Ripley (

Steve Ripley Paul Steven Ripley (January 1, 1950 – January 3, 2019) was an American recording artist, record producer, songwriter, studio engineer, guitarist, and inventor. He entered the music industry in 1977. He was also the leader/producer of country rock ...

Model) * Kramer Gorky Park model * Kramer Paul Dean model

Kramer Overseas – made in Czech Republic

* Kramer Pacer (S Serial Number, No "American" on headstock) ** NOTE*** These guitars may have been produced after the 1990 closure of Neptune, NJ Kramer.

Kramer Overseas – made in Japan

* Kramer Focus Series * Kramer Forum III & IV Basses * Kramer JK, LK, MK Series * Kramer Glide * Kramer Grace (Made for Japanese market)

Kramer Overseas – made in Korea

** NEPTUNE ERA*** * Kramer Aerostar (ZX) * Kramer Ferrington * Kramer Gorky Park Model * Kramer KS-400, KS400 * Kramer Metallist * Kramer Regent * Kramer Savant * Kramer Showster * Kramer Starfighter * Kramer Striker Series * Kramer Hundred Series * Kramer XL series

Kramer by Gibson – USA-made Models

* Kramer 1985 Baretta Reissue * Kramer The 84 * Kramer Baretta Special * Kramer Focus * Kramer Jersey Star * Kramer Nightswan * Kramer Pacer * Kramer SM-1

Kramer by Gibson '98–'08 – Korean Made Models (1998–2005)

** also known as "The Yo Era Guitars"** * Kramer Pacer (2xx) * Kramer Striker (fr/s 4xx) * Kramer Baretta Neck-Thru * Kramer Baretta bolt on * Kramer Vanguard (fr/s 4xx) * Kramer Assault (2xx) * Kramer Imperial

References

External links

*
NAMM Oral History Interview with Gary Kramer
September 10, 2009 * Kramer Guitars History (Interview with Gary Kramer
PT1

PT2

Kramer Korner Interview with former Kramer Guitars President, Dennis Berardi

Kramer Korner Interview with Henry Vaccaro Sr
{{Guitar brands Guitar manufacturing companies of the United States Bass guitar manufacturing companies American companies established in 1976 1976 establishments in New Jersey Gibson Guitar Corporation Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018