Members Mikeman75 Posted September 11, 2008 Members Share Posted September 11, 2008 I'm specifically looking at the Kramer Imperial S-404S. Generalized question. Is Kramer any good? Or is it one of the "cheap" branches of Gibson's family tree? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stingxnj Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 http://vintagekramer.com The new Kramers are Kramers in name only. There are some USA re-issues of the original Pacer series, which I happen to own a fine specimen of from '83, coming out in late fall but in general the musicyo Kramers are just your average overseas player at a cheap price no where close to comparable to the originals. They don't even use the correct model names, geez... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drawdeep Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 I have 3 MusicYo Kramers (2 Customs and a Standard) and they are nice guitars. I have considered the Imperial for my son, but the persistent opinions about the muddiness of the Quad Rails have kept me from jumping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeman75 Posted September 12, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Yeah, I read reviews on the quad-rails. Apparently, they're a bit of a let down. Sort of dirty and muddy sounding. However, the body IS made of alder, so I suppose you could always install better pickups or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 I had a Striker FR-424 several years ago, and it was a decent guitar. Pups were quadrails, and they were 100% teh suck.. Body was the thin edged one, which I didn't fit me very well. Hardware was decent. Not great, not horrible. With a pup change, it would have been a cool shredder guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dave L Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 The Yo-Kramers are mostly pretty decent koreans, no more no less, but what I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A_Gitarman Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 RE: the Quad-rails. I have one in the neck position of one of my main guitars; paired up with a custom-wound Duncan Distortion. Once you drop the height enough, it's actually not a bad pickup (though it's not exactly what I'd consider 'articulate'). Also, it can get somewhat single-coil like sounds when split without any hum. I didn't care for it in the bridge position, though. P.S. a lot of the MusicYo kramers are Indonesian-made these days and can be hit or miss. I managed to snag one of the Korean-made Nightriders when they went on sale for stupid cheap and found it to be an outstanding guitar: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dave L Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Indonesia now, eh? I never knew that... guess I haven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ESchmidt Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Im not too familiar with the new Kramers but I have owned about half a dozen original USA ones (all made before 1985) and they were top notch players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LucianoFigallo Posted September 12, 2008 Members Share Posted September 12, 2008 Yeah, I also know only the 80's Kramers when Eddie Van Halen put the name of that company in the map. I've seen that is a reissue - Kramer 1985 USA Baretta for more than $1000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MCB67 Posted November 29, 2008 Members Share Posted November 29, 2008 This is my first post here, but I'd just like to say that I like my Kramer Striker more and more each day. Sure, it's definitely not comparable to my old USA Baretta...may God rest her soul...but it plays very nice and suits me just fine. I've had mine for about 9 months and for the $242.10 I paid for it new, I couldn't be happier. I do intend on upgrading the pickups, they're not all that horrid, its just that I like Super Distortions and PAF's the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scottop1972 Posted November 29, 2008 Members Share Posted November 29, 2008 here is my JK 100? kramer (along with a couple of ibanez radius guitars) i bought this for 100 bucks from a guy locally. its got a baretta neck on the MIJ body. its HS config. Hate the rails single coil they have and will be changing it. the bridge bucker is nice dont know if its original or not. thinking of changing it too. any way i like the old kramers. the neck is nice and broke in and plays so easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hendrixstrat Posted November 30, 2008 Members Share Posted November 30, 2008 Love that last kramer...$100! I would normally say though....either buy one of the american made kramer baretta reissues, or go with a jackson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scottop1972 Posted November 30, 2008 Members Share Posted November 30, 2008 the mij ones are sweet if you can find them. and cheap too. if you can find an old one with an OFR you could part the guitar out and make back your money. anyway a new set of pups is on the way. I am thinkin a JB for the bridge and a dimarzio chopper for the bridge or an evo2 for the bridge i dont know yet.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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