Kramer Aerostar

Strat style copy aparently it is made out of plywood strangely its creates a really nice tone, s/s/h configuration pickups are really good quality i dont know if the shop where i got it did any mod on it but they are very diverse, bridge is a standard strat bridge i never used the the bar but i can tell it falls out of tune very often so i am probably better off. the neck is maple with a nice color. tuners are kramer (i have no idea what type but i have no problem. there is a 5 way switch that has no popping. 2 tone knobs which are really sensitive in a good way. the volume knob is a problem because when i play sometimes i knock the volume down.. my solution was to take it off and just is the metal stub to avoid any problems.

i play all types of styles from smooth jazz, to death and black metal, to straight southern blues... i must say this guitar can do anything i need it to. sometimes i use a boss metal zone and that gives me real good pinches, clean i can get natural harmonics like its nothing. I use a marshall combo, a peavey roadmaster, and a roland jazz chorus and it really pulls through whatever the amps lack. this guitar is like a goddamn pocket knife, anything i need it to do it can pull off, the people i play with all either play gibsons or fenders and they all try and switch with me at practice so they can play this thing. even when im not plugged in and im just noodleing the thing sounds real good... sometimes i wish the bridge had a bit more output but thats not really an issue

well i got this guitar second hand in a shop out in missouri, i was told it onced belonged to the guitarist from head east... i didnt really buy the story but the guitar played well and i couldnt resist the mystery of the old dirty unkept faded guitar sitting behind all the new flashy fenders and ibanez's something just caught my eye. everything was set up well considering the guitar was older that me i was surprised everything was still in its orignal shape. the action is amazing great ease of play the frets feel nice both 9's and 10's work great. the thing does go strangley out of tune every once in a while.

this guitar spends its life in the back of my car and is taken out every day to be played it gets knocked around stepped on, goes through all temperatures and still no problem looks good and plays great. this guitar is great onstage, everytime i have been afraid of it going out of tune on stage but it never really falls that far just turn on my tuner and adjust with little change.

lol.... the guitar is older than me and from what i assume the customer support is dead

well i got all types of guitars, 3 ibanez's (120,250,st50), 2 fenders (standard american,highway one), a gibson (les paul standard), there all great but i still prefer this guy.. i just feel so close to it. if it was stolen or lost i dont know what i would do... cant really come by these too often, plus this one has that feeling of home in it. I had bought this guitar because all my others were really expensive and i just wanted something i could knock around when i was practicing or take with me on vacations. i must say i am in love with the fretboard and the neck, its just so damn comfortable... honestly if you ever see this thing pick it up and noodle on it, you will see what i am talking about. i do wish it had a better paint job.. like a burst or something but when i think about it plywood probably dosent look to good lol... anyways if you see one of these try it out dont listen to the reviews from people who have played modified or broken ones, this thing is pretty sick

ya im fixing one up now, its an ike guitar. it went under water for 3 days but ecery thing but the bridg and electronics arte perfict.

Mid 80's s/s/h strat style with small frets and droopy 80's headstock

Apparently PLYWOOD BODY!

Neck plate says Kramer, Neptune N.J., but vintagekramer.com says Korea

Only reason to write this review is to forwarn other scavengers that its NOT US Kramer

Have not changed the two Pawn shop strings yet.

The neck is still straight, 5 way switch is rusty. Not bad for 20 years.

I have never liked this catagory.

There is no point in seeking this guitar out. I has hoping to score a solid body and some parts, and just guessed it was solid because of USA neckplate.

the humbucking pickup is great but i bought it used and it looks like it was switched so i dont think it was the original pickup.the tremolo is pretty much useless cus every time i use it the guitar goes out of tune.i like the one volume knob because you dont have to deal with much.

i play mostly 80s through 90s rock and metal like van halen motley crue and ozzy. i get great harmonics out of this thing and the fretboard is very easy to get around because it is slimmer than a strat or les paul.

the action isnt great, the tremolo sounds like it is a floyd rose bridge but it isnt and it puts my guitar out of tune every time i use it so i just took the whammy bar out. the input jack had to be rewired because if the cord was moved even the least bit i would stop getting the guitar through the amp just a loud hum.

yeah this guitar would withstand live playing, but not for much longer than a half hour to an hour.i would probably have one of my other kramers or my les paul for a backup guitar but i could probably depend on this

ive been playing for about 4 years and ive chosen this guitar over my jackson dinky i like the light weight of this guitar and the sound you get from it.
if i had lost or had it stolen yeah i would probably look for another, but i have two other kramers so it wouldnt be much of a big deal if i couldnt find one.

Cheap strat body. 22 frets, rosewood board. I think it had a strat style trem on it too. It's been a long time. I know there was a humbucker in the bridge spot. Straight headstock.

Well, let's just say it could have been better. It was not a strat or a real Kramer in this department. Better pickups would have solved that a bit.

When my buddy bought it, the strings were like an inch of the board at the neck's bottom. I adjusted things for him, but it was never right. It was used.

I suppose it would stand up as well as anything else. Parts never fell of of it.

Out of business 1990 R.I.P.

So, basically if you wanted a Kramer back in the 80s, but were on a budget, you could buy one of these. I consider them to be on the low end of all the Kramers. As I see it, it goes Aerostar, Striker, Focus, and then the American built guitars. They were cheap guitars for beginners who wanted Eddie's guitar. Not junk, but you got what you paid for.

I call this beastie, That 80s Guitar. For those of us who long for the days when metal ruled you remember these type guitars. Strat-style body, one humbucker and a giggle stick (whammy bar). Granted, this isn't the Pacer, Barreta or Ripley that all the Kramer folks laud. This is a cheaper entry level Kramer. This one has the pointy/droopy headstocks a dotted rosewood dotted fretboards. The body appears to be a laminate or plywood. The bridge is Strat-styled. It has one EMG Select pickups mounted on a slant and black hardware. Thanks to the good folks at vintagekramer.com I discovered this is the ZX10.

Okay lets face it. I avoided getting that humbucker loaded Strat body that everybody else had in the 80's. I stuck to my Les Pauls. I saw this in a pawn shop and couldn't let it stay when I saw the price. I admit I got it more as a novelty thing (you should see the paint job the previous owner put on it). It doesn't have that full Les Paul sound, but it's fun to play. I like to grab this one and wail through 80s metal.

It's a pawn shop rescue. The previous set up was fine with me, I haven't done anything other than installing a couple more springs to stabilize the tuning. Oh yeah, I did install Dunlop strap locks.

From what I've read, these were only made from 1986 to 1989. This one has stood up pretty good over the years. I picked mine up in 2003, and everything seems to be pretty solid. Would I play this live without a backup? I doubt it. Popping a string on a spring loaded bridge isn't a good thing live. I'd have my Les Pauls as a back up. But it's a fun to play guitar for those who want to relive their youth.

Customer support and warranty from a pawn shop. You've gotta be kidding. Don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out of the shop. But seriously, picking up a second hand guitar you've gotta expect some things to go sour. No big deal, you didn't plop down a thick wad of cash for it. No bust, right?

Overall I'm glad I rescued this puppy from the shop. It's fun to play. Sometimes you just gotta put down that Les Paul and grab a lighter weight guitar (getting older is a bitch). Would I have to track down another one if it got stolen or busted up? Maybe. I'd probably have to get another single humbucker Strat style just to keep for 80s metal songs. I probably wouldn't actively seek out another Kramer Aerostar. I'd hunt through the local pawn shops and see what other 80s guitar I could rescue next.

- Bought new in '87 or '88
- HSS pickup config w/ 5-way selector.
- Black glossy superstrat plyboard body with white pickguard
- Fender-style trem
- 22 fret
- maple neck
- Pickups that would squeal with the *worst* kind of feedback!
- *really* hard to change strings on it. Bridge had this bone-stupid system where the strings would snag getting them through the bridge - was like threading needles

Did I mention the feedback? Horrible, horrible low-output pickups in it, and the plyboard body didn't help much, either. BUT, it had one saving grace. With the pup selector set in position 4 (bridge + middle), it could manage a pretty sweet clean sound. I remember discovering that shimmery sound for the first time, and I really haven't found a strat that lives up to that memory. B string from heaven! Was good for chicken-pickin'

Overall, though, the sound quality was poor. Given enough time w/ any guitar, you'll get some reasonable sound (i.e. my other guitar, a $25 Sears EVH look-alike, could imitate Nuno decently!)

Oh yeah, I used it for Metallica, mostly (must of played "One" thousands of times on it), but towards the end of it's life I started writing a lot of my own weird music on it.

Guitar looked fine, no visual flaws. Neck was crappy, couldn't set the action very low, but I never did get it adjusted.

I played it so much there were grooves in all the frets.

Never had a problem with it! Gigged w/ it a lot - school band, garage bands, parties. Took the abuse very well.

This is mostly a nostalgia trip, I don't think there are any of these crappy guitars left, so the rating is mostly moot. The guitar was mostly junk, but there was a very high sentimental attachment I had to it as my first "real" guitar, which is why it earns a 4.

I think I might be describing the XLT series or something similiar. Anyway, this guitar I once owned resembled a Barretta, or Ed V.H.'s model, what with the off strat style body, 1 slanted humbucker, 1 volume knob, yada... it was white, std. Fender type tremelo bridge, Schaller like pegs, enclosed w./ Kramer insignia. THe bouts were longer than a strat. That's what I meant. Rosewood fretboard. Maple neck, plywood body. Liked it at the time; to me, I liked the E.V.H. appeal, I was young. No variety at all. I just played this one LOUD. Skinny neck made it tough to fret chords what with my big hands...

One dimensional sound. Not real noisy, but the humbucker wasn't of the greatest quality, either. Factory issued.

Sometimes the neck would bow real bad, and then it became a tug of war with the truss rod... but playable overall. I could play power chords and riff all day on this thing, but to play open chords, intricate frettings, forget it...not happening.q

I played at a party with my " band". We did ok, and I just banged away on it. It held up well, so that's my experience. Don't know how it would hold up for others. Basic cheap guitar really; 80's metal wannabe. Bulletboys, Warrant, Winger style guitar. Whatever happened to these guys? Had to cut their hair and get real jobs?

Nooooooooooooo..........

It was a novelty thing for me. One sound, for rocking and nothin' else. Got pix of it, so I remember it. I liked it when I 1st got it. But I was 18, didn't know any better. I liked it then; if I found one now, might buy it for nostalgia and play it once in a while. Whatever happened to dis kinda music? 90's grunge was ok, but I like the good time, party 80's stuff for relaxation purposes. Might be a good guitar for a vocalist who plays background rhythm guitar.