what is this guitar?

[NightWinder]

I am looking into a Kramer Prototype that was built for Kirk HAmmet of metallica. It has a Neck thru maple/walnut stripe 24 fret/ebony board, and is colbalt blue. Dot inlays . The headstock is reversed, and the EMGS are Colbalt Blue As well. I guess EMG made these shells for the cover especially for him. The guitar does have a serial #, and Kramer offers no info......Possum, you worked for EMg? Ever remember the colbalt blue covers.......Schwab, you can find anything.....Help me out. The guy I am getting it from toured with ricky medlock, and some other national acts as well. Really nice cat, and plays the meanest bass I ever heard. I need some info on this guitar befor I buy It. Any Info is a godsend

[kevinT]

vintage kramer site

I was a Kramer man back in the day. You either love them or hate them. I still have my 80s pacer and vangard both made in US.

Try this site: http://www.vintagekramer.com/

[David Schwab]

Wow, that sounds like an interesting find. I never heard of it, and wasn't able to find any info. I didn't even know Kirk played Kramers! Must have been done before he got the ESP signature models.

There was a lot of stuff going on right before they folded, so who knows. I have yet to actually see a Kramer American Showster guitar in person...

You can try asking Gary Kramer...

[NightWinder]

Dude....YOU can't find any info!!!!.......Im buying it!!!LOL. It was just befor the he signed on to esp,literally days from what Im told. I also found out that there were only 4 made, and kirk has the other 3. It has a serial #, but Im told Kramer has no info, but can verify that it is there guitar? WOW. Late friday......Give me a few, I'll take some pictures. Whats really interesting is the colbalt blue emgs. They are from the factory, cause you can clearly see the emg logo in gold plain as day...........Schwab.......I can't believe it, you could'nt dig some dirt on this!! Just getting a laugh....Love ya man!!!!!You rock!!!!!

[David Schwab]

Drop an email to Gary Kramer... he'd know about it if he was still with the company at that point.

Sounds like a cool guitar... The blue EMG's alone are quite interesting.

EMG's don't seem to be collectable yet.. I have a really early Overlend EMG mini humbucker. I tried to sell it on eBay once and no a single person was interested in it! I'll just keep it then!

[NightWinder]

The Serial # S99095944. I got the guitar today. I really must say, The fret Job is unspeakable......Just fantastic. The Emgs kill the tone. I give them credit, for what it is (EMG) they are always very consistant. 2X4 and some strings is all you need. Any Info is desperate......

[David Schwab]

I used EMG's in all my instruments for a while. I got into them when I worked at Showster. The guitar humbuckers are very nice, but they have a very compressed tone.

The bass pickups are too exaggerated sounding, and after a while they sound kind of plasticy.

[Possum]

EMG....

EMG pickups have a reputation for dying and they are impossible to repair. I had those guys as clients for about 12 year straight, know them well. I helped put them on the map taking them out of the garage and into coolness with all the ads and trade show booth design work I did for them. They are kinda weird guys but amazingly they are still around, I guess bass players like them....

[David Schwab]

EMG pickups have a reputation for dying and they are impossible to repair. I had those guys as clients for about 12 year straight, know them well. I helped put them on the map taking them out of the garage and into coolness with all the ads and trade show booth design work I did for them.

I remember those ads. Nice work (from one graphics guy to another).

They are kinda weird guys but amazingly they are still around, I guess bass players like them....

I met them in '96 at the A.S.I.A. (Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans) Symposium. I was talking to the head engineer of EMG (who's name escapes me at the moment) and was telling him the pickups sounded better with 100K volumes pots... I made a switching box and did A/B tests. He just looked at me and shrugged... "that doesn't make sense... that shouldn't happen". Then I told him the DC was to "chirpy" in the top end when installed in the bridge position, and he said "oh, it's not supposed to be installed there..."

On the other hand the Duncan Basslines guys were very responsive and offered to make one-off custom pickups! The Duncan active bass pickups sound wonderful.

Bass players do seem to like EMG's. I used to like them... but I always had reservations. I remember trying a Guild Pilot bass, which was the first time I heard them, and thinking the 2 EMG J's sounded too much alike. And I always wanted more bottom out of the J's and more mids out of the P's. Then there was the harsh top end in the DC. Finally I started to realize they sound a certain way, and that's it! You really can't even EQ them... it has very little effect. You have to do drastic moves to get a little midrange burp for instance.

They are very quiet pickups though... but eventually I removed them from every guitar I had them in and started winding my own.

I never had any fail, so I guess I'm lucky.