Kramer Baretta FR404S

Purchased from Ostrowski shop in Wroclaw, Poland. It's neck-thru, has 24 frets, neck is made from 3 pieces of maple, wings are made from alder. 25 1/2 inch scale

Stock pickups are two passive Quad-rails made by Kramer, 1x volume, 1x tone (with push-pull for coils splitting) and one 3 position pickup selector switch.

Body is assymetrical somewhat strat-style (C'mon, everybody know how does Barettas look), yellow-black colored on high-gloss finish (neck too)

Bridge is original Kramer licensed Floyd Rose, "Jolly Rogers" Gotoh tuners on headstock (kinda cheesy), blocking nut

There are two allen wrench, whammy bar and one spring included in plastic bag.

I play mostly classic hard rock/heavy metal (Judas Priest, Dokken, Whitesnake, bit of Van Halen, Kiss and many more...) This guitar suits my music style well. Unplugged It has rich, bassy unmistakeable neck-thru sound. When I plug it into my Vox AD 60 VT I can get very hot, decent tones. Bridge pickup (on JCM-800 amp simulation) gives famous hard rock tone with lots of harmonics, but quite bassy (Something like on Priest..Live!) with a tonal balance like in Super Distortion, but with Evolution-like punch. Neck pickup gives warm, woody but quite muddy sound useable for blues or long, deep solos (Vai, Santana) Quad rails pickups give great distorted or overdriven sound, but (even after coil-splitting) clean sound IMHO is very flat. I give 9, cause tone of this guitar is very good, but not perfect. It didn't throw me on my knees.

When I got this guitar setup was poor. Bridge was routed ok, but action was too high for me (abt. 4 mm above XII fret), the high E was out of tune and strings were totally toneless and woren.

Hardware seems to be thrustworthy, neck is VERY stiff and stable, bridge haven't dissapointed me (after little set-up). Finish looks really good. I haven't got any oportunity to test this babe onstage, but I think that I wouldn't need any backup (as long as I play heavy/hard music though)

I've got limited lifetime warranty with this guitar, and I haven't got any problems with this guitar, so I haven't checked customer support yet.

If this guitar were stolen or lost I would buy another one of them again. It has few disadvantages such as flat sound on clean, cheesy lookin tuners, but who cares? It's guitar made especially for playing loud, distorted sounds and hell yeah! It does it great. Very good value.

2001, Korean, 24 fret, neck-through construction, volume, 3-way selector, tone control that is pulled up for split coil operation. Pickups are QuadRail passive humbuckers. Maple neck with alder sides.
Metallic red finish.

Basically a strat-style body with a Floyd Rose licensed tremelo, Gotoh tuners, 25-1/2" scale. Bought with TKL hard case.

Pickups are suprisingly good. Wide variety of tone available, from jazz to blues, to hard rock. I found the split coil operation to sound more like lower output humbuckers that real single coils, but they are quiet in all modes. Definitely better pickups than the Korean Steinbergers that Music Yo sells.

Here is where I was most disappointed, since most of the deficiencies could have been corrected very inexpensively.
1. The pickup mounting rings are beveled for mounting on an arch-top style guitar like my Les Paul or ES-335. There was no way to adjust the pickups so that they were parallel to the strings. Considering the correct rings would have cost about the same (about 20 cents), I thought this inexcusable. I bought some gold plated metal rings from Stewart MacDonald for about $10 each (came with gold mounting screws) and some gold height adjustment screws and the problem was solved, not to mention that the already good looking guitar now looks great.
2) While the Floyd Rose lookes like a fairly good unit, the removeable whammy bar itself was terrible. The ferrule that goes under the nut was a split plastic ring. Basically, you could raise and lower the bar rapidly and get this clacking noise due to all the play in it. I bought a replacement bar from Stewart Macdonald (about $13.50) in gold to match the pickup rings and about 90% of the play disappeared.

3. I hate where the controls are located. I would have positioned the volume control closer to the bridge pick-up (like on a strat). The pickup selector switch should be on the upper horn (like a Les Paul) or even the lower horn. With the whammy bar installed, the controls are not easily accessible.

4. This is my first guitar with a tremolo, so take that into account. When I replaced the strings (I know, you're supposed to replace one at a time, but remember I had to change the pickup mounts), I found I simply could not get it back in tune. I tried all sorts of tricks (none correct, I guess), but could not get it in tune (I've been playing and setting up guitars for 37 years). Finally I installed a TremSetter from Stewart MacDonald and now it is sooo much easier to live with. This thing really stays in tune!

5. The setup wasn't too bad, but I had problems lowering the pivot screws with the strings under tension, but when I removed the strings and tremolo, the screws easily adjusted lower. When reassembled, I was able to raise the string height into adjustment.

6. I'll have to admit, this is one of the stiffest necks I've ever played. Very strong. I usually use Dean Markley custom lights (.009 - .046) but found that the extra tension on the bass side produced a excessive bow on the bass side that could not be fully adjusted out without making the treble side go convex. The temporary solution is to have the action slightly higher than perfect (for me), but I think swithing to the standard Light gauge strings will solve the problem. While the neck is very stiff, the truss rod system could be a little better.

The only other gripe is the so-called "heel-less" nect to body connection. The body is so thick (not a bad thing) that there is still a pronounced "heel" where the neck meets the back surface of the guitar. This may sound "nit-picky", but a slight program change in their CNC shaping equipment could make this a much smoother transition. Unfortunately this the only problem not easily rectified without ruining a perfectly nice paint job. Maybe later...

Overall, I believe this to be a very durable guitar. I think it will stay looking great for a very long time.
I wouldn't use any tremolo guitar without a backup.

I tried a Steinberger from Music Yo and had no problems returning it.
It would be nice to talk to a real live person, though.

I've been playing 37 or 38 years. Other main guitars are a vintage Gibson ES-335 and a vintage Aria Pro II Les Paul.

My improvements (total $70) were well worth the time and expense.

I have no regrets in buying and keeping this guitar. You simply would not believe what the gold pickup rings, tremolo bar, and control knobs do for the appearance. Adds about $200 in the visual appraisal of the guitar (in my opinion), and the new tremolo bar and tremsetter make the guitar much better in performance.

If this guitar had a 25" scale, it would be perfect for me.

Overall a very good value as is and a great value if you can perform some simple modifications like I did.

The $50 hard shell case is a great value.

.Okay its got a floyd, coil taps, dead silent pu's, skull and crossbone shaped gotohs, its neck through with solid aler wings....features up the wazzooo...only other thing to add is maybe neck binding.

Whoah nelly i love this thing. The pu's are sooo quiet ,...the sound is so pure. Un tapped they can be a bit dark. They brighten up to more acceptable levels tapped tho. Regardless its still sounds very good, just not pefect(these arent 70 dolar duncans although they may be as quiet, tehy are certainly good pu's). It sustains rather nicely. And it sounds overallyvery somooth. There are also no bad spots on the neck that give weird lil vibrations liek some bolt ons.distorted...this thing is a beast, a thick raw cutting tone. Very heavy. Itll rip your head of. I feel like such a god playing this with my feeble chops.

Mk well first of all it looks liek this kramer was actually set up by a trained monkey instead of a drunk one liek kramers normally are.The floyd is no where near level tho,..at least the sting winds are nice and it is somewhat useable, tho very out of tune. The action was very low...there was some fret buzz on the very straight neck unplugged although it was inaudible plugged in. Ill add more releif. The trus rod was a bit tight, hard to loosen, but i freed it up a bit.its ok now. I made sure the first thing i did wa sloosen , and not tighten. I have yet to check to check inotation, but i doubt thatll be correct. The black finish is pretty good, overall it is beautifyll and mirror like. ButUp close one can slightly make out where the neck is attached to the body wings, its so slight u can only see feignt parallel lines, u cnat even feel it. Also there was .75 mm ish area that was chipped on the headstock. A drop of nail polish fixed that. Aslo there were to very light white buffer looking marks on the inside of a cutaway. But its so hidden i dotn care. Overall pretty nice fiish. Ive seen much worse. Its a very sharp lookin axe. Oh and the neck, is unfortently fished, but its not too slow , and it heel is extremely small, i can reach al 22 frets with ease. The neck is perfectly thick, croos between a strat and a jackson. Strats too fat, and soem jacksons are so thin my hand gets cramps. thsi is perfect. It also feels very solid. It plays it self also , its just easy to play.oh and the frets are very nicely done, no sharp edges to speak of.

well ive only had it a li while now. But its a neck thru guitar so ill be carefulll or its all over. Fortuently i purchesed this awesome camo gigbag at zzounds.com , its as thick as thoes 50$ levys bags , but it comes with a frickin free hat and detachablebag/pouch....and its only 20 bucks! ive never seen a bag so good for so cheap. Much nicer that thoe scheap20 dollar ones at Guitar center. Like 4 times as thick. Oh and it has a wimpy 30 day warranty. It sux ,..so make sure you look ya guitar up and down before u decide to keep it. AND ALWAYS CHECK THE TRUSS ROD BEFORE KEEPING ANY GUITAR.

Ie delt with musicyo a large number of tims before. They usually reply to your emails within a day. ANd in teh end although they may be a bit slow you end up happy They are very reliable. Tey also pay for shiping of returns, with a label u can print up.But they have no phone supprt ,....so the peice of mind just isnt there.

Been playin a year and some months.Theyve done it agian. I own 2 other lower end kramers. Theyre both great values, but this one tops em all. I mean for the price NOTHING IS EVEN CLOSE. NOTHING ,...dotn giev me any crap abotu kramer is this and that...u cant do better for this price(150 dollars). Shoot teh closest thing is a neck thru squier for 400, and this still sounds better( i tried the squier). Theres no contest. Im so happy i got mine before they sold out, this was the deal of a life time.

Bought new in 2001... current model.. One of those new "Kribson" items.

Neck: 3-pc Canadian Hard Maple
Neck Profile: Elliptical, Slim-Taper
Construction: Neck-Thru
Body Wings: North American Alder
Neck Pickup: Quad-Rail Humbucker (N4S)
Bridge Pickup: Quad-Rail Humbucker (B4S)
Controls: 3-Way Pickup Selector
Master Volume
MasterTone with
Push/Pull "Quad to Dual-Rail" Dual-Tap Mode
- IN: 4 coils x 2 pickups = All 8 coils engaged
- OUT: 2 coils x 2 pickups = 4 coils engaged
(Closest to the neck on both pickups is engaged)
- Hum-canceling in ALL positions
Bridge: Kramer "Floyd Rose" Licensed tremolo
Machine Heads: Gotoh SG/Jolly Roger Keys
Nut: Locking Floyd Rose
Nut Width: 1.625"
Frets: 22 - Jumbo Nickel/Steel
Headstock: 14 degree pitch
Straight String Pull
AllenWrench Tool Holder Included
Fingerboard: 22 fret, Indian Rosewood
F/B Radius: 16"
Scale Length: 25.5"
F/B Inlay: Pearl Dots
Finishes: Black, Metallic Blue, Red, White

All it comes with are the Allen wrenches for adjustment... a really good Gig Bag is availible for 20$ If I could add something to it, I'd like to have a separate volume knob for each pickup.

Here's where the suprise came in... I have several hot hot hot humbucker equiped guitars, and I figured this one would have a sound so thick you could cut it with a knife... the exact opposite! This one really emphasised the attack and picking... It has a "Quack" to it... go figure. Quad rail mode sounds pretty solid, Humbucker mode sounds a bit on the thin side. It doesn't buzz.. that's what was claimed... gotta credit them that. This guitar agrees pretty well with a good tube amp.. Solid state amps wouldn't warm up the tone enough I don't feel. I ran this through a Zoom 3030 multieffects, and really cranked the amp til it hurts... This guitar handles distortions great, and really grinds.. I guess that's what they meant by "Made to rock hard!!"... It's a unique sound.. I won't be changing the pickups soon.

This one came set up great... sometimes I really worry, but this one was down right awesome... action is low, it doesn't rattle and buzz, the tremolo feels great, stays in tune... take it out and play... AMEN. Sounds like I was a bit luckier than the other chaps who got one.

Build quality is nice... I have a Baretta 522 Bass, and the fit and finish is the same... gloss black.. looks good, a few slightly crooked lines, and a few barely visible seams, but that's getting pretty darn picky. Fretwork is good.. nothing sharp, all parts fitting tight, and I don't need to lubricate anything for a change. Nice going!
Only things I can gripe about is the the pickup switch is a bit crooked, and the volume knob is a bit crooked. Nothing anyone would notice, and It isn't anything that effects performance.

At this price, simply amazing

This unit is built quite well... The last Baretta I've had was great too... the necks on these are quite strong, and the bodies are made tough. If I were to take this one out on a gig, I'd take my steinberger, or a hardtail guitar just because of the string breaking risk. Floyd Rose's aren't made for quick string changes.

The warranty stinks... 30 days... the support is ok... 30 days satisfaction. They help you if you carefully ask questions, but they are too busy to tutor a beginner... at this price, what do you expect. I've done a return with them before, and it went well, so they get a 5...

Memorial Day sales are awesome... The price what made me had to have it... and I'm glad I got it. I'm in the MusicYo affiliate program, so I'm a big customer there. I really like the trem, better than the steinberger... and the tuners kick butt... a solid guitar that screams play me... for chump change.. Gotta love the value.

MAde in Korea, Eppiphone Factory Neck-Thru, Solid Wood Construction Licensed Floyd Rose Tremolo Designed in the USA Quad-Rail Pickups Neck: 3-pc Canadian Hard Maple Neck Profile: Elliptical, Slim-Taper Construction: Neck-Thru Body Wings: North American Alder Neck Pickup: Quad-Rail Humbucker (N4S) Bridge Pickup: Quad-Rail Humbucker (B4S) Controls: 3-Way Pickup Selector Master Volume MasterTone with Push/Pull "Quad to Dual-Rail" Dual-Tap Mode Bridge: Kramer "Floyd Rose" Licensed tremolo Machine Heads: Gotoh SG/Jolly Roger Keys Nut: Locking Floyd Rose Nut Width: 1.625" Frets: 22 - Jumbo Nickel/Steel Headstock: 14 degree pitch Straight String Pull AllenWrench Tool Holder Included Fingerboard: 22 fret, Indian Rosewood F/B Radius: 16" Scale Length: 25.5" F/B Inlay: Pearl Dots Finishes: Black, Metallic Blue, Red, White

THe pickups wail nicely thorough a good tube amp. Through my Subway it sounds real sweet. And it also sounds good through my Solid State Peavey. Pickups are quite quiet, and it has real nice tone, for the short money.

Here is where I can get real critical. The biggest drawback I can see is the setup. I had to get down and nasty, and setup the whole Axxe. I recommend that if you purchase and don't have the setup ability, it is still worth the purchase, and have it set up by a proffesional. From neck pitch to the Floyd Rose. This guitar needed a complete setup. This is a big drawback if you are a beginner, or have no expierience with Floyd Rose setups. Also the pickup closest to the neck had fallen into the cavity, and I needed to reposition it. Once the neck was set, and the Floyd adjusted, I had to set the height of the pickups.

THe Axxe looks good, is solid, and plays real well. Cannot comment on the durability, but so far I have given it the torture test. And nothing has gone wrong. And yes I would use it on a gig without a backup. And hope I don't pop a string.

Cannot say haven't needed them !

I have been playing and collecting for 29 years. I own a Fender Strat, a Dean Caddilac Standard,a Hamer Archtop Sunburst, an Ovation Celebrity Classic, and a Custom Made Strat Clone Hardtail. Here is where I step onto my soapbox. This is a Great Guitar for the money. IF YOU CAN COMPLETE YOUR OWN SETUP, ESPECIALLY WITH A FLOYD ROSE. A well-built guitar, with a Floyd Rose, Licensed or otherwise, would run you around $299.00. A well-built guitar, with a Floyd Rose, Licensed or otherwise, and has a NECK THROUGH CONSTRUCTION would run you around $599.00 easily! In addition, that $599.00 implies doing your homework by searching out the best buy. The electronics, pickups, and tuners, that are on this guitar are more than adequate. And at the cost of $279.00, with a plush gigbag, shipped to my door, this is the best buy going in guitars today.

1999 Kramer Baretta FR404S. This is one of the new Gibson/Kramer's that are manufactured in Korea. Features 24 frets, neck-through design, 2 quad-coil pickups with push/pull tone knob that acts as a coil tap between pickups, Kramer Floyd Rose Liscensed tremelo with factory install EVH D-tuna device that allows quickie drop-D tuning, reverse Gibson Explorer style headstock. The tuning keys are skull and crossbone shaped Gotoh's. This is a true neck-through guitar, as opposed to a set-in neck like a Jackson soloist. The neck is maple and the body sides are alder. This new Baretta is completely unfaithful to the 80's Kramer Baretta as far a design and features....which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I held this new Baretta up to my Jackson soloist and the Baretta is basically an exact copy of the Solist as far as the body/neck design. Came in a box without case. Only accessories where various wrenches for the Floyd Rose. A case would have been nice but what do you expect for $239?

I've read quite a few reviews on these new Kramers. Both the Baretta and Striker models have the same pickups and I've read quite a few negative comments on the pickups. I just don't understand that. I currently own approx. 20 guitars with almost every pickup known to mankind. From the reviews I had read, I expected to plug this thing in and be completely underwhelmed by weak pickups. That's just not the case, these pickups are really quite good. In fact, I'd say these pickups are just as good or better than anything out there right now that comes stock on any guitar under $700. I kept going back and forth from various Jackson, Charvel, old Kramer, and Dean guitars and comparing the pickups(stockers, Seymour Duncans, DiMarzios, Schallers, Active Jacksons). These things are really great for what they are designed for.....ROCK! They give a very good heavy low end bite with a nice top end that's not "muddied" over. I'm quite surprised and pleased with them. Between the two pickups and the push/pull tone knob that acts as a coil tap between the pickups, you can get a semi-decent variety of sounds but you can forget about sounding like a single-coil strat. As has been mentioned before in other reviews, the electronics are dead quite, maybe the best I've ever seen. I give it an 8 because you can't get a single coil sound.

Well, here's where the ice cream turns to doodoo. When I pulled this thing out of the box I was immediately shocked by how nice it was and the quality of it's construction. This sucker is solid! I can't find the seams where the alder body sides were attached to the maple neck. The metallic blue paint is beautiful. The skull and crossbone Gotoh tuning keys that looked kind of cheesy in the ads actually looked kind of cool and have very nice smooth action unlike the crappy normal Gotoh's on the Striker models. If I had never plugged this thing in, I would have sworn it was a $1000+ guitar.
The setup could have been better. The pickups were adjusted too low, the Floyd Rose wasn't level, the action was little high,the neck needed a very slight truss rod adjustment because I'm a stickler for perfect adjustments and the Floyd Rose locking nut is mounted a little too high. One thing that I think is a problem on all these new Kramer's is the EVH D-tuna device. It sticks out behind the bridge on the low E string. It "rides" way too close to the body on all the new Kramer models. It is too easy for the D-tuna to come into contact with the body and scratch it up. Personally, I think the D-tuna is a cheesy gimmick that Eddie Van Halen is milking for money. It does a good job dropping the low E string down to D but when you put it back up to E, it never goes back in tune. I took it off for fear of scratching up what is really a beautiful guitar. Kramer supplies you with the regular Floyd saddle screw to replace the D-tuna if you want to take it off.
The neck and fretwork are quite good. The neck feels exactly like my late 80's Charvel neck-through Model 5, a tiny bit thicker than my Solist but still quite thin. I adjusted the action down a bit, raised the pickups, adjusted the truss rod, leveled the Floyd Rose and plugged this sucker in for it's virgin run. A few chords and runs up and down the neck and Hey!, this things sounds pretty good! Personally, I don't care for the really heavy gauge strings that come on it but I can fix that. Everything was great until I hit the Floyd Rose. One whack of the Floyd and *BOOM*!!! totally out of tune! What the hell is going on here? Further inspection of the Floyd found that it was binding on something. I determined that the binding was under the bridge so a little surgery was in order. After removing the strings, taking the springs off the back of the Floyd and removing the Floyd from the guitar I found the culprit. What the hell is this thing??? The mounting posts that the Floyd Rose "floats" on are part of an assembly that consists of a big metal bar with the two female ends that the mounting posts screw into. The two female ends are pressed into 2 holes and you have this stupid bar that holds these female ends and runs underneath the bridge. In addition to being pressed into the 2 holes, the bar is also held down by 2 screws between the mounting posts. When the Floyd floated forward, going down in tune, the front edge of the tremlo was catching on one of those 2 screws and hanging up. No problem I thought, this thing is pressed in the 2 holes and appears pretty solidly held down, I don't need these 2 stinking screws.....they're outta here. I removed the 2 screws and put the thing back together. Ready, set, Rock N' Roll.....*BOOM*!!! Floyd Rose binding again!. After a few choice cuss words, back apart it came. Now the front corner of the brige by the little E string is hitting that stupid bar/mounting post assembly!. I determine that this is no easy fix and the only thing that can possibly fix this binding would be to remove the bar(which you can't do because it holds the female ends for the mounting posts) or to file a little off the bottom front corner of the Floyd. I filed a little metal off the front corner of the Floyd Rose and added a drop of black touch-up paint, nice job.....you'll never notice it. I put it all back together, ready, set, Rock N' Roll....*BOOM*!!!...You mother F&%#ing piece

I've had it for a total of 12 hours now. Will it last?....time will tell. The finish and hardware appear to be pretty solid. The strap buttons look just like what comes on Jackson's. Actually, this Baretta is a total copy of a Jackson soloist with a reverse Gibson Explorer headstock(which actually looks like an old Kramer Nightswan headstock). How they can sell it this cheap just blows my mind!

The only support is from MusicYo.com who is the exclusive dealer for the new Gibson Kramer line. I've read in other reviews that there is no warranty but MusicYo.com is pretty good about helping you out with problems. I returned a Striker that had problems and had them send me this Baretta instead. The customer service was a total e-mail deal but seems to work quite well. MusicYo's shipping through UPS is tied into an email system which emails you when your guitar is shipped, gives you a UPS tracking number and tells you when your guitar will arrive. All in all, MusicYo.com seems like a pretty good operation.

Overall, this new Baretta is a nice a guitar with a couple of serious design flaws. I give it a "7" mainly for being a lot of guitar for a little bit of money. If you have the ability to fix the Floyd Rose problems and make a few adjustments you will end up with a very nice guitar that looks fantastic, plays well and sounds great. For $239, I can treat it as a project and make it work. For the $900 list price, I would have sent it back and got something else. Now that I've fixed the problems, this thing is pretty nice. There is nothing else out there for twice or maybe even 3 times the money that can touch this guitar now. I think I'll still need to pull the Floyd Rose locking nut off and file the mounting area down a little bit to lower the string height at the nut but that's pretty easy to do.
My problem is that I play a bunch of $1000+ custom USA Jackson's and Dean's and I'm used to perfection right out of the box. I'm pretty anal about everything being setup perfect and if I can't get it perfect, I'll sell it and go on to something else. I'll keep this one, it reminds me a lot of my Charvel neck-through Model 5 and actually sounds better(both have stock pickups). For $239, you can't beat it, even with the problems. I've had to rework some of these new lowend Jackson guitars and they have even more problems right out of the box.