Product: Kramer Baretta FR404
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted
07/02/2001
at
06:06pm
by
c c
Email: guitar_cac<at>yahoo dot com
Features
:
7
- 2000 model made in Korea
- 24 fret maple neck, neck through construction, alder body sides
- single volume, single tone controls, 3 way pickup selector
- dual Quad-Rail humbuckers, with push/pull switch for coil tap
- double cutaway in red metallic finish, black hardware
- Gotoh tuners, Floyd Rose tremolo with locking nut
- 25.5" scale, 16" radius, medium frets
- factory strung with light guage (set of 9's) Gibson strings
Sound
:
8
best suited to hard rock music. I play a lot of Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, and other 80's rock. The pickups are beefy, and the neck humbucker sounds better in single coil mode. Quiet controls except for the pickup selector. Bridge humbucker has more of a midrange "scoop" than other pickups. Works great with both modern hi-gain sounds and also with old tube amps, like Marshall's and Laney's. it sounds super thick with a Vox AC30 with the midrange pushed
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
the action was very low and fast, but i had to adjust the setup because i use regular gauge (10's) strings. if you are an agressive picker you might get some buzzing but overall the action was good. the finish was decent, the only flaw being that on the back of the guitar you can see the line where the two body peices are joined.
Reliability/Durability
:
7
this guitar is solid. the strap buttons are big enough to withstand some serious jumping off the drum riser. finish resists dings pretty well, and the hardware has yet to lose its black coating after almost a year. the guitar is dependable, but not so much you wouldn't want the extra insurance of a backup.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
i haven't had any problems, and the only contact with the company was through email
Overall Rating
:
10
i like this guitar better than my stratocaster for hard rock. it's not as versatile as a les paul or strat, but it doesn't pretend to be. i like the tremolo, which has smooth action, and i've had little hardware problems. I replaced the bridge pickup with a DiMarzio Tone Zone humbucker and that greatly improved the tone. I will probably replace the neck humbucker with a P90 type pickup or a brighter sounding neck humbucker. the bridge is blocked for tuning stability, which is something that i i had to learn about given that this was the first guitar i owned with a Floyd Rose whammy. For the money, i'd say that this guitar has no equal. My friend has a Charvel that he bought for hundreds more and likes mine better. it's not on par with any USA made neck-through guitar, but for under $300 you can't beat it
