Looking for recommendations for someone in the Los Angeles area to work on my Kramer alum Bass- Nut, Frets, & fretboard are all pretty beat- I am not a millionaire -lol- The neckplate is gone, but I believe it to be a early 80's model- Pots & pickups suggest so-
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Kramer Aluminum Luthier
- Thread starter Smokeandroar
- Start date
Give John Wescott a call, he's done nice work on lots of my guitars and basses. I've always been more than satisfied with the results. Plus he's a cool guy.
John Wescott Guitar Repair - Los Angeles and SoCal
John Wescott Guitar Repair - Los Angeles and SoCal
looking for an aluminum luthier is a little like looking for a metal bassist
There's an aluminum neck club here, you might search for them and ask there. I bet they can help you.
I have had several Kramer aluminum basses - mostly DMZ models. Planing the fretboard can be slightly tricky since it is made of Eberol (I probably spelled that incorrectly, but it's the same stuff that is used to construct black bowling balls).
While I'm at it I'll share a crazy luthier story about one of my old Kramer basses. It was a teal DMZ-6000 with a factory whammy bar set up.
The neck had zero relief and I couldn't get it to stop buzzing. I lived in Omaha, Nebraska at the time and took it to a nearby luthier. The guy agreed that the neck needed some relief so he placed it across two chairs, climbed up, and stood on the fretboard!! After a few bounces he measured the neck with his feeler gauge and sure enough, it was perfect. The bass played beautifully from that point on. I still regret having sold that bass. Even though I now live in the Northwest USA I occasionally look for it to come up on Ebay or one of the midwest Craigslists.
While I'm at it I'll share a crazy luthier story about one of my old Kramer basses. It was a teal DMZ-6000 with a factory whammy bar set up.
The neck had zero relief and I couldn't get it to stop buzzing. I lived in Omaha, Nebraska at the time and took it to a nearby luthier. The guy agreed that the neck needed some relief so he placed it across two chairs, climbed up, and stood on the fretboard!! After a few bounces he measured the neck with his feeler gauge and sure enough, it was perfect. The bass played beautifully from that point on. I still regret having sold that bass. Even though I now live in the Northwest USA I occasionally look for it to come up on Ebay or one of the midwest Craigslists.
I can recommend my friend Randy Robinson. His main shop is in North Hollywood, and he has a remote shop here in Fillmore, in the same building as mine. Randy's been a Luthier/repairman for about 25 years, and has worked on about every kind of stringed instrument. I can't say if he has specifically worked on a Kramer before; you'd have to ask him. And I'm right down the hall from him. I have a full machine shop, and I can help him if it needs any actual metalworking. I have a 10 ton hydraulic press!
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Thank you all very much for your replies, and your help-- having the body rewired, PU's are good, but 2 bad pots- Changing out the pots and switches- neck has a bow, so will try to sort that out, prior to "Dressing" frets- Zero fret is actually perfect- may leave the nut alone-
[ QUOTE="Bruce Johnson, post: 24916938, member: 185300"]I can recommend my friend Randy Robinson. His main shop is in North Hollywood, and he has a remote shop here in Fillmore, in the same building as mine. Randy's been a Luthier/repairman for about 25 years, and has worked on about every kind of stringed instrument. I can't say if he has specifically worked on a Kramer before; you'd have to ask him. And I'm right down the hall from him. I have a full machine shop, and I can help him if it needs any actual metalworking. I have a 10 ton hydraulic press!
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I was going to suggest a hydraulic press, and Bruce has one if the relief on your neck needs adjusting (why am I not surprised?). As for the nut, frets, and fretboard?
- The original nut should be aluminum - and pinned to the neck. You might be able to find an original one (try the Kramer Owners club here), but TBH, it would be easy enough to make one. All of my Kramer lumies are lefties, so a replacement nut would be pretty much unobtanium; at least, they have been so far...
- The original frets were just frets, far as I can tell. Kramer called them some kind of special name, but aside from being pretty tough (my '78 450B was gigged hard for 25+ years and they don't show much wear), the only notable thing about them is a kind of odd contour. I doubt replacing them would be a big thing...
- The fretboard. Whale's close - the word he's thinking of is Ebonite. The fretboard on a Kramer lumie, though, is made of the same thing that some modern fretless basses use - Ebanol. And Ebanol is simply the trade name for the black version of a resin composite commonly known as Micarta. Originally created sometime in the 1930s as a heavy duty electrical insulator, micarta is still used for that - as well as pistol grips; knife scales; and fret/fingerboards. It's usually green, but it's available in lots of other colors, too. There are two types; layers of linen impregnated with resin (linen micarta), and paper micarta (instead of the linen). From the wear marks on a spare fretless Kramer lumie neck in my Project Stash, it's pretty obvious that Kramer used the linen type. Any luthier who's worked with a modern Ebanol fingerboard should have no trouble with a Kramer - as long as he doesn't drop the neck on his foot...
Ebonol is a composite material - paper and glue - nice hard and tough stuff, works great for fretless fingerboards. I have a fretless with an Ebonol fingerboard - mwah for days.
Ebonite (which is hard rubberish stuff) is what the Kramer fretboards/fingerboards (and bowling balls) are made of. It was clearly spelled out in their promotional materials, I owned 3 Kramers - 2 fretted, one fretless). That fretless was also a mwah machine. The marks you get on an Ebonite fingerboard do have lines, which maybe makes you think it's Ebonol, but you can wipe them off with a little elbow grease - the lines are from the windings on the strings, not a matrix material like linen or paper.
My guess is your frets are glued into slots in the Ebonite. You may have to replace the fretboard material (with wood) to replace the frets. That would probably make the neck a bit (but not a lot) lighter, which would be a good thing on a Kramer.
Thanks for the correction GIBrat and MicGuy. 
Those old DMZ models often had strange preamps installed. Years ago I drew up a wiring diagram and likely have it buried somewhere in my computer. If you happen to need it just let me know and I'll start digging around. That being said, the Kramer preamps weren't exactly amazing. After getting mine to work as it did from the factory I decided to upgrade to an Audere and was much happier. The Audere matched up very very well with the DiMarzio PJ pickups and gave me a much wider array of sounds.
Those old DMZ models often had strange preamps installed. Years ago I drew up a wiring diagram and likely have it buried somewhere in my computer. If you happen to need it just let me know and I'll start digging around. That being said, the Kramer preamps weren't exactly amazing. After getting mine to work as it did from the factory I decided to upgrade to an Audere and was much happier. The Audere matched up very very well with the DiMarzio PJ pickups and gave me a much wider array of sounds.
Thanks everyone, for contributing to this thread- I have enjoyed it all greatly- I have Jim Foote of Redondo Bch Ca. going through the body now, we will address the neck next month. (perhaps- lol)
