LP1951

I have owned vintage late 80s Kramers and early 2000s Gibson/Kramers and they are among the best guitars that I have ever owned including my Gibsons and Fenders.

Why do you think Gibson has been unable to revive the brand and get dealers to stock Kramers again?

Here's an excellent article about how Kramer became the best selling guitar brand in the World:

http://www.guitar-list.com/brands/kramer

"Kramer’s artist roster quickly rose to house the biggest, baddest, meanest, loudest, fastest, and best Guitar Stars in the world. The Kramer roster was obviously led by Eddie Van Halen, who took the Kramer and Floyd Rose combination to heights never even conceived by existing guitarists. The story goes like this - Eddie had been interested in finding a tremolo that stayed in tune, which would be more stable and versatile than existing tremolos.

When a meeting between Eddie Van Halen and Kramer execs took place, Eddie was quickly sold on the opportunity and he reportedly quipped that he would help make Kramer the “#1 guitar company in the world.”

Well, that did happen! Kramer became the world’s best selling guitar in the mid-80s, passing the historic and iconic Gibson and Fender brands. Coincidentally 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the merger of an artist, a guitar and a tremolo to give birth to the most recognizable guitar in Rock-n-roll history."

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peskypesky

because Nirvana came along and killed hair metal?

digman50

No-one wants to be in a hiar metal band nowadays?

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Mephaphil

I like the new thread rules

I miss hair metal! Bring back Kramer! (I don't miss hair metal...)

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LP1951

Yes, tis true, but Ibanez, Jackson and ESP continue to get their guitars stocked at Music stores. Why do no dealers stock Kramers? You would think that with all its clout, Gibson could get Kramers stocked. I've never seen a new Kramer in stock anywhere.

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TunerAddict

The Kramer guitars they are putting out are pretty cool, so I'm not quite sure what the problem is.

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JustRooster

As said before, Kramer went bankrupt. Their guitars were made from cheap materials, often is sub-par factories. Why would Gibson produce something for low profit for a niche market?

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TunerAddict

Boom in glam metal coverbands?

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LP1951

True the old company went bankrupt and their low end guitars were junk, but their high end American Series Guitars (Showster, ProAxe & Stagemaster) are top quality, beautifully designed guitars, some of the best I have ever owned.

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MrFlibble

I wasn't aware that Gibson had ''failed'' to bring Kramer back, considering they've been adding more models to the line-up and apparently been selling consistently well, well enough for them to start using name-brand parts and up production.

Seems to me like a bunch of people going "hurrrr my local tiny store doesn't have any Kramers in so lolol big mean evil company must have ****ed up HA HA "

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TunerAddict

Pretty much.


Also, someone at HC scored one of those Striker 211s with the Floyd for like $150 and I was jealous as hell. So they are out there and there are deals to be found.

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LP1951

I have never seen a new Kramer in a music store and Gibson had at least 3 times as many Kramer models in the early 2000s as they do now. There are Sam Ash and Guitar Center mega stores in Nashville, in addition to other large stores and small stores and there are no new Kramers stocked anywhere and Nashville is the hometown of Gibson.

Anybody seen a new Kramer in stock at any music store anywhere in the US. I saw one used Kramer at Guitar Center about 6 months ago.

Other than the reissues, the Kramer FR422 & FR424 got the best reviews, but those models were discontinued. Maybe it was just too expensive to continue making such high quality quitars for resale through dealers. When Gibson had Musicyo.com they could sell high quality guitars at wholesale prices.

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“You’re always learning about this thing every time you pick it up.” Keith Richards

ChucklesMginty

Why would you want a Kramer when you can get a Charvel?

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ihartfood

Yeah, Charvels are pretty sexy man.
but I really like Kramers as well.
I don't even think Guitar Center stocks them, which is kinda frustrating. I want one of the new Striker models but I'm not really willing to buy one sight unseen.

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JustRooster

There's something to be said for that hockey stick headstock.

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T00DEEPBLUE

Imo, the new Kramers are actually very cool guitars. They're selling well too.

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LP1951

Because I like the Kramer necks and bodies better. In fact, I like them better than any other guitar I have owned or played.

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“You’re always learning about this thing every time you pick it up.” Keith Richards

TuningGamer

Wasn't it Hamer that went bankrupt recently? Kramer are still out there, IIRC.

Kramer is cool, it sounds Dutch (although it isn't, but whatever).

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mattrusso

...because the '80s was 30 years ago.