It’s hard for me to say this (because I’m 48), but remember the (now) “vintage” 84 Kramer Baretta guitar? The Kramer Baretta was the famed hockey stick neck one pickup, one volume pot Floyd Rose masterpiece played by Eddie Van Halen.
Remember the guitar magazine ads with EVH holding the Baretta like this?
There were actually a whole series of Kramer ads like that, there’s another one with him holding a Kramer Pacer like this:
So you’re probably wondering already why I’m lamenting about Kramer guitars of years gone by? Recently my wife picked me up a Kramer Focus 3000 from 1983-4 at a yard sale for a ridiculous price with OHSC and stock pickups and floyd rose (and working coil tap). I’ll blog about that in another post.
What surprised me in a few google searches was the fact that Gibson now owns the Kramer name and has been reissuing various guitars, like the Kramer 84 Baretta, and the Kramer Pacer (among others). I can’t believe they did the reissue with the hockey stick necks (also AWESOME!). Note in the EVH pics above that one with Ed has the hockey stick neck, but the Pacer has the pointy headstock.
Check out this fabulous Kramer 84 Baretta reissue:
Thanks to the beauty of Amazon, you can have it in your hands in just a few days (with free shipping).
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They also have the Vintage Kramer Pacer model for sale too with dual humbuckers:
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They also have the Kramer Pacer there too, which comes in a both a cool burst or “Tiger Stripe” version (AWESOME!). I like this Baretta because it has the maple fingerboard, and I prefer that to the rosewood. What version would you get?
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You can also still find quite a few Kramer Baretta guitars on ebay now as well:
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