Kramer Baretta

My Barreta is an '89 neck mated to an '86 body,shes candy blue with a Betty Boop graphic,1 Duncan Distortion pickup,mother of pearl spear inlays with Kramer stamped on 12th fret spear,Floyd trem,made in Neptune,NJ.I bought this guitar as parts and slapped it all together,the neck(new)$25,body(new)$12,pickup(used)$20,Schaller tuners (new)$10,Floyd Rose(had laying around,new).Shes left handed and i call her Betty Blue!

This is one solid ass instrument with alot of tone,alot of sustain,and alot of stories.I usually play her through a Zoom processor going into a Roland 50.Great for all the VH stuff,Motley stuff,Rhoads stuff,etc.etc............

I set this fucker up myself and shes perfect!

I would play this guitar anywhere,anyplace,anytime......without a backup!

My name is Rob Lindbeck,ive been playing for 13 years,totally pro now,i play alot of originals with chart potential as well as classic YES,OZZY,DEEP PURPLE,CRUE,VH,...all the good stuff.....and i really cant say theres anything i dislike about Betty Blue.......well,thats enough of that one!

I have always wanted a Kramer Baretta since High school, but I could never afford one. $900.00 was a bit to much for a high school kid back then(85-86). After all these years, I finally found one on the internet. The Baretta is an 85 model, cream colored, Seymour Duncan zebra hum, and volume knob. Very basic. Eddie VanHalen was and is my NO 1 influence, and this guitar IS the VH feel and look. Wood is unknown. It has a black orifginal Floyd Rose trem, with black Schaller tuners.

I bought the Baretta used, so it had to have some minor work done on it, like readjusting the neck, and the Floyd Rose, but other then that, it plays fine. The hardware has oxidised a little, but this guitar has obviously been played, and for good reason. It plays like butter. Smooth, and responsive.

The Baretta THRIVES in a live situation. Thats what these guitars were desighned to do. THe 80's were all about flash and dynamics, and the Kramers were at the top of their game. Anyway, the finish is still holding up, a little cracking on the hocksy headstock, but nothing major. Like I said, this guitar has been PLAYED. I would def use this guitar in a gig, and have, but its best not to use any guitar live without a backup.

Never dealt with Kramer....

I have been playing off and on for 15 years. I play the Baretta with my other 4 guitars a/b-ed thru a Marshall JTM 45 plexi reissue head, and a Soldano HR 50 + head thru a Marshall 1960B 4/12 straight cab. I use a few effect pedals(stomp boxes) and a Chandler rack mount unit(digital echo). I hope anything never happens to my Bareta, because it would be almost impossible to replace. Its one of my best guitars. I really really like it. I would love to find another one....

This is a late 80's Kramer Baretta, serial # F4922.This of course is an American made Kramer (actually American assembled)It features one of the most beutiful art work graphics I've ever seen. It has a picture of a guitar shaped flying saucer flying through space right at you! The hardware is excellent quality. An original Floyd Rose locking trem that has shown almost no signs of wear- physically or functionally.The tuners say "made in Germany" so I assume they're Grovers or schallers.They also are flawless. The neck is a 22 fret rosewood board that features custom bear claw inlay and I think medium jumbo frets or jumbo. The sound is provided by a single Seymor Duncan "JB" model in a slant position.It also features a single volume control knob and that's it! Another custom featue is neck binding which makes the guitar look better, and is still flawless with no signs of dulling or lifting.This guitar is/was a custom order/top-of-line Kramer in it's day.

This guitar was built for one thing- SHREDD SHREDD SHREDD! With a lack of tone knob(s) and only one Seymour Duncan pickup,this axe was built to play Glam rock or Metal. It pushes my Line 6 Flextone to great heights.It is well suited for my infatuation with Randy Rhoads,Warren Dimartinni,Jake E. Lee and George Lynch. When I select the high gain amps(Rectifier,Marshall,SLo,that's when this Kramer is definately in it's element!The sustain is just incredible.An extremely rich full sound.But once again it is totally limited to one sound.But if you are a shredder, that's a good thing.I really like the way it drived tubes but it's clean soynd is vertually nonexitent.

I bought the guitar used,but this thing plays better than most new ones. I don't think anything was altered and everything is still very tight,and in great functioning order.In this aspect, the guitar is perfect.

This guitar is solid as a rock. It is my new number one axe, however I would definately advise another guitar if you play a variety of styles live. I believe this guitar was built to take a beating and would fair very well in that situation.I can't find a loose screw or button or anything anywhere on this axe.

Kramer of course had gone under back in 1990. It's to bad becase this is the second Kramer I owned that I was just blown away by the quality and sound of. i have a feeling these things will be great collectors someday, and right now they are just a steal in the use guitar market considering all the custom quality options that came on them.(I'm speaking of the American models)

I've been playing for 9 years. This is the 33rd guitar I've owned.right now my second guitar is a '94 Foto Flame Strat. I'm playing exclusively through a Line 6 Flextone Duo.I would by another Baretta based on it's great options and playability.I love the quality,playability,and features.I hate it's lack of choices for pickups and tone adjustment.

Made in 1985, Neptune NJ. 22 Frets, Solid alder body, one volume, one slanted humbucker of unknown type, maple neck with rosewood fretboard. It has an nasty pale blue finish. I understand from a local custom shop thet this is a very very toxic to apply tough bullet prof finish. I plan on refinishing the body and am unsure of what type of remover to use?? The body is a strat style body with an original Floy Rose tremolo, Kramer tuners. The neck is nice. Has medium frets and a rosewood fretboard, slanted headstock with large KRAMER logo on it. Truss cover. I gave it a six because it only has one pickup.

This is my only right handed guitar. I am right handed but I play left handed strats. I use the Baretta as a spare, It is nice and comfortable. It has a Duncan '59 in it which MADE IT REEALLY SOUND BETTER THAN THE STOCK PICKUP!!!!

I bought the guitar used and in parts. All set up was done by me. The only flaw is that the Floyd nut is slightly off center. I found out that a lot were made like this and since it did not effect the instruments playablility, Kramer let it slide. Also, the Floyd came with pivot screws instead of pivot posts and inserts which I am replacing soon.

I'm sure the finish will be able to withstand a nuclear fallout and the abuse of playing on the bottom of the ocean.

CMI bought all of the rights to Kramer and I heard that there is a possibility of bringing the Kramer fame back. The original company made the dreaded mistake of going cheap overseas and loosing quality. Too bad.

I paid 95.00 for it. What can I say but YEAH!!! I am a very expirienced musican/ guitar builder and know my stuff well. This is the guitar Eddie VanHalen used. It's a nice piece of history. Buy one for the history value, and if you're into hard rock or metal...this is one to get.

This is Eddie Van Halen's guitar from 1983 to 1990. It was basically a copy of his original "Frankenstein" strat which was assembeled from parts in the 70's. The novel feature of this guitar is its simple layout in the traditional Van Halen tradition. . .one humbucker and one volume knob. The finish is a cremeish white with the hockey puck headstock. The guitar sports the original zebra pickup and it is of high output. The wood is of unknown origion, but it had a denseness which contributes to the tonal qualities and sustain of the instrument. Other features are the original Floyd Rose trem and locking neck.

Sound. . .If you like Van Halen, chances are you've owned this guitar, or wanted one to paint it up like Eddie's. The sound is sustaining due to the selection of the wood. Output overdrives tube amps pretty well although the pickups are slightly prone to microphonic feedback. The Original Floyd trem shows its age due to the development of the trem over the past 10-15 years. Through a 100 watt Plexi (read my review 100 watt plexi), this guitar will be in the ball park for the Van Halen sound. In fact, this was my main Axe for 6 years. Not for anything except Rock/Hard rock..

The action naturally stinks! It is hard to adjust the action across the neck due to the Floyd. Usually, the high E-string sits alittle too high and there are compromises through out the action. The neck itself is wide and comfortable. . an Ibanez wizard neck it's not though. Paint is excellent and the guitar still looks new. I still have the original hang tags from 1985. Given the millions of Kramers produced during the time, not too bad overall.

Well, just 1 volume pot in 10-12 years. . not BAD AT ALL. This guitar will always work.

When I bought this guitar many years ago, it was my pride and joy. . hell. . I HAD EDDIE"S GUITAR. Although a "performance guitar", it is overshadowed by other brands. Tactfully, it is no Sunburst '59 Les Paul. Nowadays, the guitar feels dated. . especially when compared to the EVH Wolfgang (read my review of the wolfgang). In their time, the Kramers were the guitar to own and their collector value is growing. This guitar is still not replaceable. . The prices on these original Barettas are on the rise. . pick one up is you can and own a piece of V.H. history.