NGD! 1986 Kramer American Pacer Custom I

[Jamvan]

I have a thing for old Kramer guitars. The first instrument I ever bought was a 1987 MIK Kramer ZX30 in gunmetal gray with a black pickguard (...the same guitar that was used as a controller for Guitar Hero.) Anyway, I traded that for an MIK Kramer 610 with a Floyd Rose II bridge and have that guitar to this day. I don't play much guitar anymore and once Kramer went out of business in the early 90's, it wasn't worth selling.

Now that Gibson has resurrected the brand, prices have gone somewhat over the top crazy. That's why I jumped on this 1986 Kramer American Pacer Custom I that popped up on Craigslist yesterday for $150. It is in desperate need of some TLC but the overall bones are good. If worse comes to worse, I could always part it out and make much more than it cost.

Very dirty with surface rust and some gooched toggles that I'll have to fix but the original Floyd Rose bridge is intact and I don't believe the truss has ever been touched with how smooth it moves. A thorough cleaning, some new toggles, strings, and a full set up are underway.

In 1986, these guitars were sourced with parts from the ESP factory in Japan and then assembled and QA'd in Neptune, New Jersey. Note: While it's not uncommon to place the ball end through the tuning pegs on Floyd Rose equipped guitars, it IS unusual to do so without trimming the string to length before doing it! The hardest part so far was untangling this rat's nest of corroded guitar strings to remove them from the pegs!

The tuning pegs are in great condition and turn very smoothly. Comes with a factory mount for a pair of Allen Key wrenches for the Floyd Rose and locking nut. Alas, the Allen Keys were not included.

Neck is nice and clean.

This will add nicely to my existing '87 Kramer 610 and my '87 Forum IV bass.

Thank you for looking.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Good deal. I like those old Kramer. There was a guy back home who had a USA Kramer that always sounded fantastic for whatever kind of music he was playing. In fact, it looked a lot like the black one there. Got to fool with it onece or twice. It played like a well worn in, comfortable pair of shoes.

I will disagree (respectfully) on the strings. I have seen more than a couple of Floyd Rose equipped guitars with the untrimmed ball end of the strings wrapped around the tuners.

 

[Jamvan]

I will disagree (respectfully) on the strings. I have seen more than a couple of Floyd Rose equipped guitars with the untrimmed ball end of the strings wrapped around the tuners.

Thanks. You're probably right in that I've just never had to deal with them before so it may be more common than I thought. It does drive me nuts when I see it as it's really not any easier to install the strings this way versus cutting the ball end and placing it in the bridge.

With that said, Floyd's ARE a P.I.T.A. to replace strings, especially if changing the string gauge.