Kramer Classic

A bit different Perspective. I own a Candy Apple Red, Original 1986 USA made Kramer Classic. It was an enherited instrument. The fit and finish is comparible to a well made USA Fender Stratocaster.

The neck pocket is tight, the body is well made and substantial in weight. It has been modified in the past by unknown parties. It now carries 3 Fender Lace Sensors which give it a unique and 60 cycle free tone.

The neck is a very shallow c shape which is almost too small for me, the frets are vintage small, which can be a chore at times for chording more intricate chords. It is a low serial number original from Neptune NJ. What ever collectable value it had is gone with the change and loss of the original pickups. However, shes a tone monster of the first order.

Original Fender style tremolo bridge, arm, and all knobs and switches, saddles, appear original. As is so desirable, everything white is turning or has turned yellow and the neck has gone a deep dark amber, very attractive. It came to me with Shaller Strap locks already mounted, but I know this wasn't original equipment.

If lost or stolen, I obviously would not get it replaced, or couldn't with a comparible contemporary Kramer Model.

This is a substantially different guitar than the others reviewed. It is not an import, and it is reflected in the quality of the parts and finish and fit. The tuners are original Shallers with the Shaller markings on the back, it's a 21 fret guitar which is also a bit unusual. Solid body of at least 2 pieces, a very very well applied and cured Candy apple red gloss finish, The neck appears to be hard rock maple, with a very nice rosewood fretboard, Standard strat scale length, it came with a nice tweed case with the Kramer logo screwed into the lower part of the case, a nice touch. The headstock is the classic "Beak" or sometimes called the "Modified Fender".

It is definately not my most favorite guitar, but it's a player and I have played it, and gigged it in the past numerous times. As she ages, she displays a trait of quality guitars, she ages gracefully and doesn't look tired or cheap, which happens with less expensive and poorly made guitars.

As stated, I couldn't replace her if I wanted to, she is not the favorite in my stable but definately would do the work if called upon.

The guitar is good for blues, rock and probably anything. I have an advanced knowledge of jazz chords and shapes and I find them a little hard to make and hold on this guitar due to the very small frets. Normally at home, I use a couple of different VOX modelers to tinker around on and practice. When playing out, I use a Hod Rod Deluxe with a Route 66 and a Delay and it sounds very good, articulate, clear, sensational clean, not really great distorted. It is very quiet due to the Fender Lace Sensors installed, however, in original form with the three singles and a dummy coil for hum cancelling, it is still a quiet guitar.

All guitars contain flaws, this one has been altered with a graphite nut, graphite string tree, which suggests tuning problems in the past. It holds tune very well even for a floating trem guitar. Everything is tight, and on spot for a guitar of it's age. Nothing appears to have been cheaply made or applied to this particular guitar. I do get a bit of scratch from the pots, but from disuse. Once played for about an hour and with knob movement, the scratchy goes away.

I have played it out numerous occasions and with the exception of the bad perception because it is a Kramer, I would play it against any Strat.

The finish is standard poly over 23 yrs. old and shows no sign of fading, wear through, or flaking, it has checked in several places, but more due to weather than anything else. The hardware is for the most part original and is not rusted nor tarnished. It came to me with non standard Shaller Strap locks that have always been rock solid on it.

In it's present incarnation, I wouldn't hesitate to step on stage with it. I live in Hawaii, and Hawaii is not kind to guitars that are not well made, this one is fine.

Too old, too original, and no documentation, so no, no support on this one, but if other USA Kramers were made to this level, perhaps no one really needed much from them in the first place.

Personally, I always find this area a bit self agrandizing, but I am 61 yrs. old and have played since I was 8. I care for two other Original Fender strats, A Hamer Studio archtop, a Gibson ES-175, and a PRS McCarty. I could not replace the reviewed guitar if I wanted to. I love the color, Candy Apple Red is either horrible, or beautiful, this one was applied beautifully, and aside from the usage dings, it has no buckle rash, and has held up beautifully.

Kramer Classic.
I think it's been covered so I'll get to what I like.
Mine came with grovers.
Nice bright bridge position.
Hefty ash body.
Transparent White. Nice..
I installed a 3 ply white pickguard that I like much better than the black one that came on it.

I totally dig the tone of this guitar. I don't gig with and just play with friends, or with my multi tracker's rythm section. The neck position was a little dull or muddy sounding. I found a 1997 U.S. Fender Tele neck pickup on ebay for $20.00. What an improvement! It gave the neck position much needed clearity and string to string definition. I'm pretty happy with the bidge pickup for now.
Neck position is smooth and clean, a little deeper sounding on the bass side.
Bridge position is edgy and sharp, great when you want a little bite!
Middle position is very funky, lot's of a midrangy/treble quality that's hard for me too describe. Very cool for certain styles!
I would buy this guitar again, no question.
I've played it through a Vox AD60, A Fender Blues Jr and a Fender Pro Jr. I love it through all amps so far. Twangy....

Action was better than alright for a less expensive guitar. I did end up smoothing the frets, setting the truss and saddles. I adjusted the pickup heights and the forementioned pickup swap. Intonation was very close but I did change it a little after setup.
Everything was very tight and fit well! Great, tight fitting neck joint! [I've had the neck off already]
Finish was level and shiny!
One tiny little drop of dried urethane was found on the back of the neck. Only flaw on the whole guitar. When I changed the neck pickup I found all connections and wiring to be very secure and solid. All soldered jounts were well done, unlike the wiring someone else previously wrote about here. Guess mine wasn't made on a Monday.
She's a keeper!

Solid as a rock...Everything!
I don't worry about this one.....

Havn't had too deal with music yo, but a freind had good dealings with them.

I love this guitar! By far one of the best less expensive guitars I've ever seen! If destroyed or lost I would absolutely buy another just like it!!! I may amyway just for the heck of it...

I won't repeat the features stated by the previous reviewers.
Mine has the white-stained finish, otherwise everything is the same: bullet truss rod like a classic Tele, and heavy body! I would have preferred the natural finish, except that by the time I made up my mind to order it during Musicyo's sale, the natural finish was no longer available. For the price - great features you would not get with any other guitar. The feature I would change - the neck radius to 10" or 12". And throw away the cheap cord that came with it.

Bright, jangly sound with the bridge pickup. Muddy rhythm sound with the neck pickup and acceptable Tele sounds in the mid-position. Does not quack at all. Very noisy in either bridge or neck positions. Nice harmonics with volume turned up, and even fatter LP like sounds with my old Peavey Triumph in Crunch at 3. Nice clean Tele sounds on solid state practice amps - Laney or Crate. Versatile sounds, though less "range" than the other Kramer I have which is the Focus dlx. One thing I do not like - the wood is so heavy and dense that it adds nothing to the sound, no resonance at all. It feels like a slab of concrete, and perhaps that's why the sound is jangly because the wood adds no color to the sound.
The high E and low E strings are 'dead' probably because of too tight nut gaps and the 1st string volume is much lower than the other strings. I will probably replace the neck pickup with something that will have more single string definition, and a better high E volume. The guitar suits what I play, simple rock.

Great polyurethane finish, no scratches that I could find. I don't like the flat fretboard supposedly with a radius of 14". The too sharp edges hurt my small fingers. I wish the radius was a little bit rounder, but most Kramers seem to be built this way. The neck came bowed, which I easily and quickly adjusted. The nut is too short, having very little clearance over the frets. The action was set too low, buzzing on the 1st and 2nd frets, so I raised the saddles a bit. Checked for intonation which was not too bad. The neck pickup was too near the strings which was easily lowered. A nice surprise when I took the pickguard off to adjust the pickup height - the lack of routing for wires. If only there were no holes for the pickguard screws - I might have preferred the bare wood showing! Like I said the nut is too low and the 1st and 6th strings sound like they are too narrow for the strings. I will have to change the nut, probably to a cheap white/cream plastic one that is high enough that I can file down to the perfect height.

For less than $200 - this guitar is built like a tank! Take it anywhere, play it anywhere I don't think it's going to break easily!

Who knows, neither of my Kramers have broken yet.

I'm an honest amateur - I can't and won't ever play gigs. I only play for myself in the basement. But I still like a range of sounds, so this guitar is a nice addition to a small collection. It does the Tele sound adequately, and actually does a passable imitation of hot Teles like Danny Gatton's Fralin-powered favorite. My other guitars: Fender Squire Affinity Strat made in China, Yamaha SBG500 (2HBs)made in Taiwan, Yamaha Pacifica super Strat clone made in Taiwan, Kramer Focus deluxe made in China give me the other sounds I look for. These are all cheap guitars that I would recommend to any dad who is considering buying a first guitar for his aspiring rock star. This is not the guitar for a lead player, more like the guy who does chunky rhythm chords like Keith Richard. If you buy this guitar for yourself, might as well get the TKL case and a nice Musicyo leather strap to go with it.

A 2002 Korea made guitar. Features have been described below. I especially like the upgrade features of the graphite nut and Grover Locking Tuners. 3 piece solid Swamp Ash that is matched very well on the front. It is a Telecaster design. 14 Degree fretboard radius along with a slim rock & roll neck makes for some nice playing. A great looking guitar.

When I got this guitar I was not sure I would like it. It was bright to the point of being brittle. I found that the tone pot was cracked and that I basically had NO TONE CONTROL. However during the troubleshooting I found that Kramer has installed 500K pots for Tone and Volume. Classic Telecaster has 250K pots. I read that the 250K pots give a warmer tone. I purchased a Telecaster wiring kit from Stewart-MacDonald (Part Number #0138) and rewired it to a classic Telecaster schematic. WOW what an improvement...If anyone has this guitar consider paying $23.00 and spend some time installing new electronics. As is the guitar gets a 5 re-wired it rates a 9. New Rio Grande pickups will make the perfect 10. As stated before this guitar is a diamond in the rough.....

The factory setup was not the best. The action was too high and intonation was off. The frets were very rough. I always have a setup in mind when I purchase a guitar. As stated before the finish and the matching of the guitar top was 1st rate. As I mentioned the tone pot was cracked and not working. As it turned out this was a blessing in disquise. As I was rewiring it, I noticed that the wiring on the original installation was not too good. Several of the connections had just a few strands of the wire connected to the solder joint. Cracked tone knob and poor wiring brought down the rating of this category.

This guitar is a tank. It easily outweighs my Les Paul...If someone is breaking into my house I will grab this guitar for protection before I grab a gun. I think it would hurt more being hit by this thing than being shot. I think it will last forever. i don't play out so I can't rate it's ability to withstand gigging. But it is solid.

I have two other guitars from Music Yo. They have always treated me fine. I had a stripped screw on my Barretta and they sent a replacement right away. Emails and questions are always answered promptly. Guitars are packed to withstand shipping. I am glad they started using FedEx. No phone contact, just Email.

I have been playing for 30 years off and on (more off than on). I own two other Kramers, a Samick Les Paul, a Raven RMS1000Q, and a Hohner Acoustic Electric (Hey I like inexpensive guitars). I started to lust after a Telecaster this summer and when I saw this Kramer with the Grover Locking Tuners and Graphite nut, I bought it. If this guitar was stolen I would purchase another one. I really love it. I don't hate anything about this guitar now. I wish it had a multi-ply pickguard (I have one that I am going to install when I get new pickups). Like I have said before this is a diamond in the rough, with a little work this is one fantastic deal. New electronics and a setup have given me a nice guitar.

This is just a correction to my prior post. The bridge unit is *not* of vintage design (3 dual saddles) as previously stated, but is a more traditional design with 6 individual saddles. Sorry for the confusion.

2002 made in Korea Tele copy: 22 frets; single volume and tone control and 3-way p/u selector switch; 2 single coil Kramer p/us. The body is made of solid swamp ash (three piece) finished in an antique natural (high gloss) finsh that I would describe as honey colored with a black pick guard. The neck/fretboard is a single piece of hard maple with a natural finish (lighter than the body). The bridge is a chrome vintage style with individually adjustable saddles. It was advertised as having locking Gotoh tuners, but mine came with locking Grovers. A cheap cable and allen wrentches for adjusting the truss rod and saddles were included. It has all the features of a standard Tele and then some, but I'm sure there are some other desired things (like maybe locking strap buttons for this ~15 pound guitar!!) so minus 1.

I have been playing almost exclusively acoustic for 3.5 years, so I'm not real qualified for this one, but will give it my best shot. This is how I would say it sounds through my son's less than sophisticated 10 watt practice amp (guitar tone and amp equalizer knobs set at mid-point and clean input): the neck p/u is a little "thin" as far as gain goes and has a mellow, bassy sound. The bridge p/u is not at all lacking in gain and has a bright sound with plenty of "quack" and "twang" for me. The combination of the two is quite nice. By the way, both p/us were extremely quiet. If your dream is to be a heavy metal shredder, then this guitar is probably not for you. It does appear to be quite adequate for rock and roll and country. I'm sure with high end p/us, the sound would be better (the high end version of this, the Duo Pro, is equiped with Seymour Duncans) so I'm going to take 2 away for that and another for the somewhat lame neck p/u.

These are my "out-of-the-box observations)The neck had a very slight amount of relief, which it should for a properly adjusted truss rod. No buzzing anywhere on the fretboard, but the action was a little high. I like it that way, but it could be easily lowered with saddle adjustments. The intonation is almost perfect. The neck is slim-tapered eliptical in shape and is smooth and very fast except for a rough spot near the headstock. A little fine sandpaper and some polish cured this in nothing flat. The body was extremely well finished with no noted flaws in it, or anywhere else on the guitar for that matter except as previously noted. 1 point off for high action and 1 point off for the rough spot on the neck.

This guitar is built to take (and possibly give out) a beating. All the hardware is heavy duty and firmly attached to the guitar. The guitar weighs in at about 15 pounds, so it's a heavy one. This is due primarily to the thick, solid, swamp ash body. This weight will definitely put some strees on your shoulder and the strap buttons, adding locking buttons might be a good idea (if it falls on your toe, you're in trouble). I would definitely use this without a backup at a gig, and this 15 pound "bad boy" will certainly come in handy as a weapon if the gig goes south. No points off on this one.

With MusicYo.com you can only deal with customer support via email. I did have to deal with them a few times. First, I had accidentally erased an email from them that gave me $10 off any purchase over $100. Not only had I deleted it, but it had expired. I emailed customer service and they immediately sent me a code I could use for $10 off. For others interested in shopping MusicYo, you might give this a shot as well. It gave me an additional $10 off the already sale price of $199.99. I had to return the first guitar I got from them (not included in the ratings above). It had a damaged saddle spring and a dinged p/u cover. Since I could replace the spring myself, I asked them for a replacement. First they said they would send one, then they said to return the guitar, and then they said they would send one, but one never arrived (their website says they do not stock any replacement parts, so this does not surprise me). After noticing the ding, I just decided to return it. Getting an RMA number was instantaneous using their website. It cost me $8.50 to send it back, but they did not charge me any shipping for the replacement guitar. It did take them a week to process the RMA after the return was received at their warehouse. 1 point off for the spring runaround and 1 point off for the slowness in processing the RMA.

I have been playing acoustic for about 3.5 years. I have a Seagull S6+, a Guild DCE-1; and a Taylor 310KCE (oh, that GAS is bad!!). I got this guitar to "play around on" and jam with my son. This guitar looks and feels like the $1260 Fender American Vintage '52 Telecaster except the Kramer's neck is not stained the same color as the body. I'm sorry to say I did not play the Fender, so I can't compare sounds, but I would hope the Fender would be better. In any case, if you are looking for a very good value in a solidly built guitar that sounds above average for R&R and country, then you just might want to check this one out (assumming you're willing to buy over the internet - they do have a 90 day return for credit or replace policy; and you think you can sling 15 pounds around without hurting your shoulder). 1 point off 'cause nothing's perfect.

Made in Korea ,basically a Tele copy via Kramer , and quite pricey -
but solid ash , locking quality tuners and thru-body stringing with choice of bridge anchoring suggest a bit of thought. My finish is just stained and varnished wood , and very nice too.

Some fret scratch at first - more polishing would have helped before ship ! This is not a Tele for country twang (Les Paul Tele ?) ; but suits me fine .Bright ,but growls ; all the Tele harmonics are there though. I tend to play anything as you would expect from someone who was 16 in 1966.

Apart from scratchy frets , very impressed. Intonation was good ; and action right for me . Individual string volume pretty good ; no criticisms of anything else. Final comment can't be given ; but pretty good for an 'out of box' guitar which I assume has flown Korea/USA/UK - though it might have gone direct to Germany It still needs a while to acclimatise before I start fiddling.

The interesting thing was that the tuning was playable as shipped - and was drop D !

Built like a tank ; and as heavy. Like a Broadcaster a useful weapon if needed for those difficult gigs.

Only dealt on buying. They did the business.

I usually play a Les Paul Standard (circa 1970) , Fender Eric Clapton Strat (1990) and a few other older guitars through an early Twin. I also have things like '62 Squier JV strats and Kramers that are often as good or better than the named stuff.

This one I'd hate to lose ; but I've been playing for 40 years now as a hobby , which is a different perspective from stardom !