


A labor strike in Korea left the company unable to keep up with orders, a lawsuit with Floyd D.
#Left handed guitar series
Kramer also had several cheaper guitar ranges made in Korea.Īt this time, a series of unfortunate events led to the company running into financial difficulties. Kramer’s “American Series” were merely assembled in Neptune, New Jersey using Japanese parts. Also during this period, Kramer expanded their business and acquired Spector Bass.īy 1987 Kramer had moved all guitar neck and body manufacturing to ESP Guitars in Japan. Kramer Guitars enjoyed much success over the next few years, outselling both Fender and Gibson two years in a row in 19. At that time, Kramer was the only guitar company that offered Original Floyd Rose tremolos stock on their production guitars, making them even more popular. Eddie was looking for a tremolo system that stayed in tune, which Kramer guitars offered, so Eddie met up with Kramer and later began endorsing their guitars.īy 1983, Kramer switched to the Floyd Rose system, which proved to be a wise move. The early ’80s also saw a chance meeting between Berardi and Eddie Van Halen‘s manager on an airplane flight. By 1982, Kramer stopped producing their “Alumi-neck” guitars. Kramer Guitars became known for producing instruments using high-quality, fancy materials and hardware, and by 1981 switched to producing guitars with wooden necks, keeping production costs down and appealing to more traditional players. Gary Kramer claims this never happened and things didn’t work out as planned, with no royalties being paid and the agreement falling apart.įrom this point, Gary Kramer no longer had any connection to the company, other than by name. Kramer said that LaPlaca and Berardi came up with an offer to buy the company from him, allowing him to collect royalties and be Kramer Guitars’ West Coast artist public relations representative. Gary Kramer claims that LaPlaca placed all responsibility on him to sort out the mass production of these guitars, and having little knowledge of this process, he decided to move back to California. Together they opened a manufacturing plant in Neptune, New Jersey.ĭuring a successful showing at NAMM, Kramer Guitars took a large number of guitar orders and it was then time to start production. Berardi also brought in Peter LaPlaca (Vice-President at Norlin, the company that owned Gibson at the time), and businessman Henry Vaccaro. Gary Kramer partnered with friend Dennis Berardi, who introduced Kramer to luthier Phil Petillo who would then make prototype guitars for Kramer.

Kramer used this design, but also added wooden inserts in the necks to cut down on weight and to get around the Travis Bean patent and file his own. Kramer took the Travis Bean guitar design, which used aluminum necks running through to the guitar’s body and had the pickups mounted within the aluminum. They had started Travis Bean Guitars together in 1974. Kramer Guitars was founded in the late 1970s when Gary Kramer parted ways with his friend and business partner Travis Bean. If you bought your guitar from an alternate source it would cost you at least £50 to have it play to the standard that we set our guitars AS standard.After writing about left handed Epiphone guitars, I thought I’d check out what left handed Kramer guitars are available, as they’re also part of the Gibson Brands Family. We purchase especially strengthened outer cartons and pack each guitar in a way that guarantees the guitar will come out the box as it went in - perfect. To ensure anyone can benefit from this highly personalized service we subsidize the delivery costs from our pocket - not yours, resulting in the following delivery charges*Įvery guitar is packed personally by Richard. Online support most hours via chat (provided by Richard who has specialised in guitar consultancy for 21 years) Richard play tests your guitar pre delivery to ensure it meets the specification Personalised setup service by our highly experienced guitar tech who has worked with Richard for over 15 years We welcome players from all over the World to consult with Richard directly via live help, allowing Richard to help you find the right guitar and ensure it is set up to your personal playing specification.
