Kramer Striker 700 ST

Kramer Striker 700st bass #4: Early 80's USA made (Neptune, N.J.), standard scale/length/frets, 4 string bass, plywood body w/ clear coat maple neck, skunk stripe, Fender clover leaf style tuners, early s/n on neck plate (S C3588), white body w/ white painted headstock, all chrome hardware, patented Kramer bridge, stock p/j pickups w/ 3 way toggle (j, p/j, p), rear routed of course, 3 knobs (vol/tone/tone), pickups look just like stock Fenders, poly finish I'm sure, thick clearcoat over the paint, makes the neck a little sticky, p style body w/ p/j style neck, sort of a tele style headstock, non-locking tuners, Kramer stamped into them, as well as the bridge & neck plate, neck is right between a p & a j as far as thickness goes...

Sounds just like a Fender P to a Fender jazz, depending on where you put the toggle, nice full, deep sound to a thin trebly sound, I use an old Kustom 200 watt head into a hartke 4x10 cab & it sounds great, I also have a Fender sidekick, that sounds good too, pickups are very quiet when I'm not palying through them, I can use it for all styles that I play (punk, rock, metal, surf, country, rockabilly, etc), you can use these things live or in the studio, I like how solid these things are, but the action on them is a little high (2 of the 4 that I own had shims in the neck pocket when I got them), they definately need to be tweaked when you get them to make them play better, for how cheap they are I'd buy one of these over an sx any day...

The action sits a little high, needs an adjustment; another one I got is the same way. Not very slapplable imho. Pickups seem fine. The ploy on these is very thick, makes them a bit sticky. Good solid basses though. Best used with a pick. I think they were meant for rock/metal.

Solid as a rock. I beat the heck out of one live for 20 years. Good, solid hardware. Nice chrome finish. No rust to speak of (these were made in the early-mid 80's, so it's had time to rust). Solid strap buttons, very dependable bass. A good, cheap bass. Truss rod needs a small turn every once in a while. I would (and have) play this bass live w/out a backup...

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Been playing 20 years, seen lots of gear, I like these basses for what they are, a cheap workhorse. Bring this to the gig & leave your vintage Fender at home, worry free. This particular one seems a bit heavier than the other 3 that I own, but I like 'em heavy. Yes, I'd be mad if it got stolen, you don't see the ones w/ the painted headstocks very often, but when I do see them they are pretty cheap (I got this one for $150). Definately not a collector's item, just a good cheap bass, which is what I like. I wish the action was a bit lower, I need to tweak this thing later on. If you stumble across one in a pawn shop, give it a try...

Holy mother of pearl, Batman! It may not seem like much to some, but I just purchased a mint condition example of this bass for a mere $100 (yes, craigslist). Same features as below, except this one is metallic red, w/ the matching red headstock. Maple neck (no yellow varninsh; that must've been later in production). Low s/n (S 07144), made in Neptune, N.J. USA. I have wanted a clean, all stock example of this bass for quite some time, & now my search is over. Did I mention these basses are rear-cavity (no pick guard)? Now I have. Kramer Striker logo in gold lettering on top of the red paint. There are only two very small dings on the body of this bass that I can find, & the neck is perfect. Hardware is like the blue one below, w/ the logo stamped into all of it.

Sounds like the blue one below, but I had to do a review, since it had the matching headstock, & it's in such nice shape for an 80's bass. I wish it came w/ the original case.

Hardware has tarnished a bit over the years, but mostly looks great. I haven't seen many of these in red metallic, much less w/ the matching headstock. I think this is a real early example of this bass. Sounds/plays/feels great. Action could be a little lower, but I just need to tweak the bridge saddles.

As previously stated, this thing is a tank.

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Get one of these if you can.

Made in USA early/mid 80's, I think they went overseas later on, but the early ones were made in Neptune New Jersey. I got this bass for $50 off a guy (aint craigslist great?!) who just wanted to get rid of it; at first I was gonna pass, but it looked pretty forlorn & I thought I could save it. See my first review below for features; basically standard scale/length/frets, P style body w/ jazz style neck, P/J pup config, Fender style tuners have "KRAMER" stamped into them, this one, unlike my first one, is all stock, clear coated maple neck (no yellow varnish like my first one), but otherwise just like my previous review. Neck plate has Kramer logo w/ serial # on it (very low s/n: S A 1759), w/ "Neptune, N.J., USA" also on it as well. Blue metallic paint, plywood body (I know this because of the deep gouges in the back of the body from what looks like a belt sander), skunk stripe, etc. Original Kramer bridge (has logo on it), still works well, sheilding in cavity, older Kramer logo on headstock.

You can play most anything with this bass; It goes from a full/muddy sound to a thin/trebly sound w/ the flick of the toggle. I like it best in the middle (P/J both on). I have played everything from punk to country with the previous one that I reviewed, & this one is no different. It was nice to find a stock one, but I'll have to sand down the back & refinish it. I play through an old Kustom B200 head, a Hartke 2000, & a Crate B150 head, into a Hartke 4x10 cab. I swap heads depending on which one I feel like playing through at the time. The stock Kramer pickups sound great. A nice growl. Very slappable (is that a word? LOL) basses as well. Lots of tonal variety w/ this bass. Definately a stage bass, but would sound good in the studio as well. I like the way these basses sound/feel/play. I don't like the (very) thin paint, but I guess it kept costs down.

When I got this, the neck was bowed. Someone had shimmed it w/ a bass pick & a razor blade. I took it apart, cleaned it up, and tightened up the truss rod. It took like 2 full turns, but it plays/sounds great now. Nice low action. Fast neck. These basses just feel good to me, but I guess I have been playing one off & on for like 20 years, so I'm real used to the necks, etc. Wiring is real neat, nice 3 way toggle. The stock tuners are not as nice as the Grovers that came on my first one, but they hold this bass in tune well. They cut alot of corners when they made these overseas, such as the sticker serial number (I hate that), as well as a few other things.

Built like a tank. Harware, etc has lasted since the 80's. This one had been very abused before I saved it, & now it sings. The finish is thin, but it's poly, so it won't wear off easily. I beat on my black one (see below) for 20 years & it never wore through. Just be careful when you're peeling stickers off, LOL! I haven't owned this one very long, so I'll keep my eye on the truss rod; this thing was in sad shape! I never bring a backup to a gig... just an extra set of strings, LOL...

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See below for all this; I've recently bought alot more stuff lately; I've been getting back into it after a long love affair w/ cars. I love these Kramer Striker basses; I never liked the Focus, but I like these alot. The only problem was, that I played one of these for so long, when I finally bought a real Fender precision, it took me a while to get used to the (wider) neck (of the P bass). I recommend the Striker to anyone on a budget, because you can pick them up cheap & they are a great value.

1980's made in Japan (I think) Kramer Striker 700 ST bass, bought from a friend in '88 for $100 (no case). I wasn't going to other with a review, but since almost no one else has done one, here goes. Standard scale/length, 21 standard frets, black (very thin paint, looks like no clear coat), bolt-on maple neck, black dot inlays, skunk stripe, standard 4 string bass, yellow varnish on neck, a guy I had work on it in the early 90's said it looked like it had been dipped in piss (thanks, dork), sticker on back of headstock w/ 7 digit serial number (I hate it when they can't put the s/n under the varnish), grover tuners (look original), the headstock is kinda shaped like a tele bass, it came w/ the orig (passive) pups but I put emgs in it (j/p configuration), I wish I woulda kept the originals in it, the emgs are great but the originals sounded good too, chrome neck plate says "striker" on it, 3 knobs (tone/vol/vol) & a 3 way toggle (j/jp/p), orig bridge was similar to a badass, but it was messed-up so I put a bad-ass 2 on it. Neck is right between a P & a jazz, bullet type truss rod at the top of the neck, jazz type nut was broken so I had a brass nut installed, rear-routed w/ sheilding, standard strap buttons, the paint is real thin guys, so be careful when your taking stickers off, I had a couple stickers on mine & went to pull one off & a bunch of the paint came off! It just had the bare wood underneath. Weird. I put a bigger sticker over the part where the paint was missing. Punk rock!

Not sure what type of wood the body is, but it's pretty heavy (which I like), very versitile sounds with the 3 way toggle, good for punk & metal, I'm sure you could play almost any type of music with it, the jazz pick up at the bridge kind of freaks me out, I usually play it in the middle (p/j together) for a full sound. Pretty quick neck for having alot of varnish on it, body is shaped like a fender precision with the knobs in the same place, I played it through a Sunn Concert Bass amp (200 watt) for years with a 2x15 cab, thunderous sound, it sounds just a good through my hartke 4x10 cab, I don't really use effects but I've dabbled with chorus & a compression pedal & both sounded good with this bass. The original pick ups had a nice growl to them but the emg's just scream. It's weird, the j pup always seemed too thin & the p pups always seemed to bassy, so I've just always used that middle setting (both pick-ups) for a great tone. It must be the emg's (I wish I woulda kept the orig pups!). Both sets of pups were always real quiet when not playing through them though. It's always been a live bass (I record with fenders) & punches through the guitars & drums.

I had to raise the pick ups when I got thing, I got it used so who knows, the bridge had super glue on the saddles in weird positions, hence the badass 2, I never even adjusted the badass, it's great, the paint is a real flaw (only if you into removing stickers you put on it, be careful!), maybe I got a bad one. Good action on this thing, the jack has always given me problems, it's a sunken-in type at the lower rear edge of the body & drives me crazy. If I don't use a certain type of cord it crackles. I had someone try to fix it to no avail...

This is a solid bass; it's survived 20 years of live punk type shows with lots of abuse (I F***** this thing up back in the 90's...). I threw it down on a concrete floor when I was drunk (forgot about the concrete) & got a crack in the back of the head along the tuners. I don't have a case for this & it still stays in tune. The grover tuners have held up well over the years & theres no need to replace them. This thing has been (literally) soaked in beer, sweat & grime & has withstood horrible abuse. It traveled to shows in the back of my truck (no case) & drug (I know, what a dork) from the truck to the clubs by the neck along the ground (for the "relic" look, haha). Played w/out a back up (I never bring a back up; c'mon it's a bass! Just bring an extra set of trings) a million times no prob. Every blue moon I give the truss rod a tiny turn. Strap buttons are very solid, I use a couple of rubber Grolsh beer grommets (the type on the old-style beer bottles w/ the ceramic flip top) & they work great as cheap strap locks.

I think Kramer was defunct shortly after I bought this, but it was used (as all my gear is), so it wouldn't matter too much anyway. I tend to make most repairs myself; neck cracks & stuff like that are best left to the luthiers. The crack I mentioned earlier has never gotten worse in the last 10 years, & it's too cheap of a bass to bother fixing that anyway.

I've been playing since '85 & I've owned alot of guitars & amps, and I've kept this over other stuff, so I guess it's a keeper. Mostly Fenders, I had a '74 Rickenbacker 4001, and a couple of odd balls (washburn, vantage, etc). My buddy sold it to me cheap, but I see them on craigslist (as well as ebay) for around the same price (you can pick these up cheap & they are great basses!). I'm going to buy another one if I come across one cheap. No one would steal this bass, it's beat! LOL, if it got stolen I'd definately buy another. I love the logo on the headstock, it has the same type as the ac/dc "powerage" lp (the "lightning" letters). I love the weight of this bass, but don't like head headstock shape. I like the p/j pup configuration, but hate the sunken jack (it sucks). The grover tuners are really nice as well. I would recommend this bass to a beginner or someone without lots of dough; look around, I bet you can get one cheap, & they are great stock (as I said earlier). I didn't need to change the stock pick ups, they sounded great, I was just bored. I'll never get rid of this bass; it's been with me for 20 years. There were times when I didn't even own an amp, I'd just sit on the couch & strum this thing. I hope some other people do a review of this bass; there's got to be more than just 2 of us out there! Matt

Made in Korea between 1985-1989; basically a Fender P/J copy bass. 34??? scale, P pup in the neck, J in the bridge, passive, 21 medium frets, clear-coated maple neck/FB (there is no separate fretboard; the frets are pressed into the surface of the neck), body wood (???) painted white, volume/tone/tone and pickup selector switch, and it came with the OHSC. The latches were starting to break off so I bought a used gig bag for hauling it around. The tuners are those huge, open Fender-style tuners but are of low quality. I got them to polish up nicely, but while reassembling them I twisted one of the heads off the screw that mates the gear with the post. If I find a better used set some day I may replace them as they don???t work smoothly at all. Oh well, they???ll work for now.

The bridge is good; it looks similar to a Badass bridge but has the Kramer name molded into the top. Each saddle has adjustments for height and string spacing. Intonation was a breeze. In fact, I can get every string intonated spot-on up and down the neck. I only wish it had slots instead of holes for easier string removal.

The previous owner installed Schaller strap locks. Although I???ve always been a Dunlop fan, these are starting to grow on me. I definitely don???t have to worry about the strap coming off either end, however.

I replaced the flats that came on it with some cheap nickel GHS roundwounds I bought from Wal-Mart. Actually, the bass sounds darn good with them. I need to work on adjusting the pickups, but the E has a clear, distinct ring. It isn???t as clear or defined overall as say, a Peavey Cirrus, but initially I was impressed at the way it sounded. It has nice, smooth highs, without being excessive. I plan on installing some tapered stainless strings (DR Hi-beams) and they should add a tad more zing to it.

Overall though, I like the tone. I play it through an older Trace Elliot GPX SMS 4x10 combo, and I get pleasing sounds using Trace???s factory preset #1. I need to play around with the EQ on it to see what other sounds I can get.

Pickups are dead quiet despite being single coils, but they start to buzz when I approach my amp because I have a fluorescent black light in front of it to illuminate the face. I like having a selector switch as opposed to a blend knob as I never use it anyway. Both pickups on their own have good sounds; the bridge being much brighter without sounding too nasally or loosing too much bottom and the neck pup sounds much fuller without being too muddy. I guess I would need a really good reason to swap them out with another set as these seem to sound fine for me.

As for styles, I play for my church???s worship service and our alternative/nu-metal rock band. I prefer the sound of the church???s Cirrus, but this one would probably work fine for what we do. In drop-D tuning it sounds pretty meaty, but dropping it down to C seems to be more than it can handle. The Cirrus can go down to C easy on the E string with fantastic tone, but without that extra inch in scale length the Kramer seems to loose a lot of character. Maybe better strings will help in this area. Also, since I am not familiar with how a P or J bass should sound, I can???t compare or contrast this to them in any way.

***UPDATE***

I dropped the action a bit and raised the pickups and wow, what a difference. The neck p/u produces an aggressive sound with lots of body; the bridge p/u is also aggressive but a bit thinner sounding ??? good for slap. Actually, I don???t care that much for the middle position (both pickups) as much as either one on their own. The tone knobs are actually functional. I can roll off a tad to eliminate string-to-fret clack without removing too much highs or attack (at least until I fix my technique!) and I still get a good, clear sound out of it. Overall I???m really impressed with the sound and tone of this bass. Considering the last bass I owned was a Dingwall and the current bass I???m playing is a Cirrus, that is saying a lot about this instrument.

As I stated, the installed flatwounds were dumped in favor of roundwounds. It???s been a long time since I played nickel strings though; they feel pretty slippery. I think I like raw stainless a little better. Action was a snap to adjust; so was string spacing. Each saddle has a threaded roller that the string passes over, so I just adjusted them to my liking. I had to buy some springs from Ace H/W to help lift the pickups a little; with a little more tweaking they will be fine.

For its age, it is in very good shape. The finish is still pretty good, void of any major dings, scrapes or buckle rash. There are fine finish scratches all over it, but nothing that would detract from its general appearance (Some auto wax may fill most of that in). The white body has aged to a nice, vintage-looking off-white color, there was no corrosion on any of the hardware, the fretwork was good, neck was straight as an arrow, and it fits snugly into the neck pocket. The neck finish is still in good condition also, with very little wear if any on the frets. Although it has no fretboard per se, some of the bottom of the neck was machined away allowing the ???fretboard??? to hang over the body slightly. Very nice for being from Korea, eh?

Also, for having one of those thicker, baseball-bat type necks, it has a good feel to it and is easy to play. I think I can drop the action down more, ease up on my harder playing style, and have a real sleeper after that. One of the tone pots is scratchy (some cleaner should fix that) but the others were fine. Overall, this is a solid instrument, especially compared to today???s current crop (or crap) of Korean crud. I???ve picked up some others and they felt like balsa-wood toys compared to this old tug; in general, I prefer older, used instruments to new ones anyway.

With the exception of the tuners, reliability and durability are on par with a Peavey T-40. Need I say more??

I think this area is really n/a. Would Gary Kramer even know what this was if I sent it to him?? Would I ever see it again if I sent it to Music-yo?? No, I think I'm on my own here... :)

I wish I would have done some more research before buying as market value is much less than what I paid for this, but hey, I???ve seen used OLP???s, Jay Tursers, Ibanez G10???s, and - believe it or not, First Act - basses for more than I paid for this one, so who am I to complain that much?? And now, since I???ve done some tweaking, this bass has become quite a gem. If it were lost or stolen I???d feel bad about the $$$ I had into it, and then go buy another bass to cure my blues.

I???ve been playing for nine years, and have owned a small variety of gear from a couple Steinbergers to a no-name LP copy, and even a Dingwall among other things.

So, now that I have invested far too much time into reviewing such an inexpensive and unpopular bass, drop me a line and let me know what you think.