Kramer Focus 111S

2000 Kramer Focus 111S, basically a strat copy. Mine is a wine red color with black pickguard. The finish looks great and has no flaws- that is the only impressive thing about this guitar. There are three very noisy single coil pickups. The tuners like the pickups are very cheap.

This guitar sounds very bad. I use a Fender Princeton 65 anp. I also have a Fender fat strat that sounds like it is from the other side of the universe compared to this Kribson. The pickups are very noisy. They sound like tin cans being kicked down the street by some snot nose kid who is mad at the world. The only way I can stand to play this guitar is with a ton of distorion. Forget trying to play anything clean.

The set up from Music Yo was pathetic. The action was so high you could run hurdles over each string.

You would have to be stupid for wanting to use this guitar for gigging, unless you wanted a cheap guitar to break onstage.

Music Yo says these guitars are made to rock hard.

I have been playing for ten years. I wanted a cheap guitar I could travel with. I am too embarassed to travel with this guitar. If someone was stupid enough to steal this guitar, they would have to be very hard up for drug money. I would try to sell this guitar on ebay, but I am too ashamed to let anyone know that I own it and I would never forgive myself for pushing this piece of crap off on someone. Gibson should be ashamed of themselves for having a company under their empire that pushes these crappy guitars off on people. AVOID THIS GUITAR!

2002 Kramer VT111S, strat-style nato alder body, medium baseball-bat hard maple neck, medium-width rosewood fretboard, medium-jumbo frets (21) tremolo bridge, s/s/s and strat-style control arrangement, tele-style control knobs, covered tuners (not cast), solid-color dark red with black single-ply pickguard, made in Korea and shipped with cheapo cord, trem bar, and third tremolo spring.

Hot winds for a kid rocker. Pickups sound very good throughout the range. Lows don't get too muddy, but generally a guitar designed for a thrasher.

Most impressive here. Guitar was delivered in flawless condition, action was set low with no fret-buzz, and intonation was dead-on. Had this guitar delivered to me so I could set it up for the son of a friend, and found that nothing was needed. Frets are excellent, though the strings feel cheap and should probably be changed. Tuners are cheap, but they seem to keep things in tune. The neck fits tightly in the pocket. All screws were tight.

The switches and pots feel very good, selector switch has a smooth positive feel and pots turn smoothly and surely.

Ordered online and it was delivered 3 business days later. 90-day return policy for any reason. Defective merchandise deal covers shipping as well.

As a hobby, I buy and sell guitars, hence my being asked to find something for under $100 for a friend. After researching everything, I recommended the Kramer Focus VT 111S. I was astounded by the quality, feel, set-up and playability at this price. I particularly like the neck, the thick slab of un-stained rosewood on the fretboard, the range of the pickups, and the quality of the switches. An unbelievable value that put my hoity-toity guitar opinions to shame. If you are looking for a new guitar under 3 or 4 hundred dollars, I don't think you will do much better. I've been playing for 30 years, have owned dozens of guitars, and I was very impressed by this one. There is better solid-body gear out there, but nothing I've seen anywhere near this price.

i really dont know where to begin because this guitar falls on its ass in every area.

im too lazy to write all the lame featuers here, read the ones from other people's reviews there are plenty to choose from. one note: mine is vintage sunburst

I play bass and this was my first guitar, and I was very excited to get it. once I got the replacement (see below) I thought this was the best guitar since the invention of pickups, but after iplayed it for a while I realize it sounds very thin and nasal, on all modes except the neck position. the neck sounds somewhat decent, earning this guitar a 2 instead of 1. i like jazz and some other random stuff (311, Pink Floyd) and this really didnt suit my styles, but it doesnt really sound good for ANY style anyway. I think the people that wrote those positive reviews were so excited about getting a guitar that they said this thing was good! haha i laugh at them.

it arrived and the neck looked like it had been cut from some weird ass tree because it was all bowed and I adjusted the trussrod but it wouldnt stay for more than 5 minutes so i had it replaced. when the new one came i adjusted the bridge and suprisingly the action wasnt too bad. i didnt like the longer scale for bending or hammers and such for some reason. the finish was horrible. its a yellow area with a very poor excuse for a fade into black around the edges. (its not sunburst, more like orange/yellow with a black stripe around the edge)

the second one i got was suprisingly durable. i throw it around but would NOT use it in a gig.

they replaced it and were very nice about it but i dont like the fact that they dont have a phone number so ill give it a 7

ive been playing guitar for about 2 years now and im ready to move on, actually ive been ready for a while but now i can affort it. im goin for an epiphone dot because it is more specific to my styles. if this was stolen i would laugh at the guy that stole it then i would thank him.

As said before, this is a very straightforward strat copy. The only things which are different are the metal tone/vol knobs and the slightly different headstock. Otherwise a strat.

Just you fairly typically unlistenable shriek in the bridge pickups, but then again sometimes I like a nice bit of unlistenable shriek. Neck and bridge are okay, but they tend to go from okay to muddy as hell at a turn of the knob without much warning. Not a patch on my the Rezomatics in my Burns, but then this is a very cheap guitar. For the price, the sound is okay. I was looking for that cheap sound when I bought this guitar, however, so it's great for that!

The action was fine, not a low as I'd like it for fretting, but I've set this up for slide. The finish was a nice metallic blue with no flaws. The fretboard and neck feel kinda horrible, not at all smooth but I guess they're wear in. No buzzing or anything like that. For the price, a very good job.

It seems pretty solid, although I'm not sure about the trem system.

The customer service people responded to my email within a few hours, and answered my query; but that was before a sale, not after!

For this price, I can't help but recommend this guitar to someone looking for a cheap guitar for whatever reason. It's as good as a cheap Ibanez or Yamaha and a damn site better than the crap Fender put out these days. They may have been hit and miss in the past, but it looks to me like they're building everything in Korea now, so I'd hope the quality should be reliable!

2001, plywood, Chinese, Strat wannabe.
3 cheesy pickups and junk hardware. Very poor quality tuners.

Very noisy on all settings except one. Very brittle sounding p/ups.

This guitar was set-up? HA!
Very poor fretwork too.

Faggiddaboutit!

Musicyo is the absolute worst for customer service. I learned my lesson not once or twice, but three times! I know, shame on me...

2001 model, made in CHINA, plywood body strat type guitar. came with mismatched whammy bar.

very noisy and cheap single coil pickups. bright like glass breaking.

the action was VERY high right outta the box. the guitar was damaged from being loose in the packing box, and the body was dented near the lower side. the strings buzzed when played open, and i read that that is because of low nut slots (probably). that is probably why the action was adjusted so high by Musicyo.

live playing? i don't think this guitar will be taken out of the house, or even played! i will take parts from it and try them on a decent $100 strat copy i have.

Musicyo.com has horrible customer service, ask anyone. they only have an email address, no phone or anything. i wrote them 3 emails, complaining about the action, and the damage to the guitar, and got no response. i guess once they get your money, you can go straight to hell, until you're ready to buy again, then maybe they will talk to you. what warranty? if they don't respond to email, what can you do? they have no address or phone number, so you're out of luck. i am going to try to file a better business bureau report on them, if i can figure out which state to file it with!

i've been playing for 7 years and have owned about 10 guitars before buying this nightmare. do yourself a favor and avoid Musicyo and these strat copies like the plague!
spend a little less and get a 'shredder', i'm sure they play better!

2001 model. BEWARE, these are all made in CHINA now, and I'm not sure what we did to piss them off so bad, but they are trying to destroy America with crappy guitars.
Strat clone, same features as all the others, crappy covered tuners on these MUSICYO ones though.

The sound wouldn't be bad if you could here the strings through all the fretting out and buzzing. The nut slots were not filed well, and when I received the guitar the action was set about 1/4" above the fretboard.
Nice Paul Bunyon set up. The Chinese really hate us.

This has a nice paint job, makes a pretty wall hanging.
The only nice thing was the fret ends didn't shred skin, everything else was screwy.

Chinese junk!

MUSICYO.COM absolutely will not answer emails. No phone #, so you are screwed.

I have bought many Kramers in the past, Focus, Baretta, etc. The quality has gone down sharply, and setup from the factory isn't being done. MUSICYO refuses to package the guitars securely in the inner boxes, so they are almost always scuffed or damaged on receipt.
Do not do business with them, they don't really care about you, just your credit card. Don't bother them either, they don't have time for your problems.

Korean-made, 2000 Model ubiquitous Strat clone, S/S/S, lake placid metallic blue finish - very nicely done, vintage strat trem, 5 position switch. Body wood? Beats me. Big chrome Tele knobs. Cheap but usable tuners.

I have a pretty ugly, noisy, amp with a 12" speaker that has a hole punched through it. It sounds bad but I'll bet the guitar would sound fine through a decent amp.

Fit and finish are fine. It is surprising how a guitar could be made for such a price. Finish on body is flawless. Neck has a very fine satin finish. Fret ends well done: looks like the work was done on some kind of machine. Bridge and string placement are spot on.Neck was adjusted about right with correct relief. String height a bit high, was lowered, acceptable buzz (my opinion.) Intonation was a bit off, was adjusted. Problems: Nut was made for specific string gauge and was cut too deep which will cause problems with string binding which will result in an out of tune condition when using tremolo. It Will be replaced. Frets do have a bit of roughness on the higher positions, Needs a bit more finishing. Major design problem with big chrome tele knobs: the vibrato arm hits the knobs, fixed by replacing with strat style knobs.

The guitar seems solid. I think the finish on the back of the neck may wear fast.

No need.

I wanted a guitar that would be a learning tool in guitar set-up and adjustment, with a major goal of making a vintage strat tremolo stay in tune. I have read that it can be done! I have an extra neck for this guitar so the plan is to scallop the fretboard. Well give it a try, anyway. This guitar will fit my requirement perfectly as it is well made with standard strat parts at great price. Pick one of these up if you are interested in learning about working on strats. The rating for this category is for guitars costing about 2 to 3 times the price of this Kramer's 80 bucks as I shudder to think what any other new $80 guitar would be like...

Made in china 2001 strat style guitar 3 single coil pickups metallic red body with a maple neck and a 21 fret rosewood fretboard,cheap tuners(no problems yet)came with a cable and tools very well packed

I got this thing as a cheap guitar to drag around and beat up on instead of hurting my gibson lp and fender strats now i play it more than the fenders this is a unbelievably great beginners guitar and will hold its own with seasoned guitarists(like myself)as well

This cheapo guitar sounds as good as if not better than my 2 much more expensive fender standard strats no matter which amp i play it thru it sounds good.i play it thru a marshall vs65 ,a rogue 30r,and a dod grunge 15w somtimes i use my digital rp200 effects box as well the sound varies from bright to fairly thick for a strat the pickups are louder/hotter than my fenders i play everything from jazz to all out screaming deth metal/punk and everything in between this guitar does exceptionally well

Action was a little high but quite playable out of the box(after tune up)but i as with all my guitars conditioned the fretboard,changed strings,reset the neck and adjusted the bridge to my liking(very low action)without fret buzz.there is no noticable flaws in this guitar however the fretboard was very dry upon arrival i conditioned it with lemon oil and it is very nice(not gibson quality)but as nice as a fender standard the neck is very fast and feels good,it has very good hardware for an 80.00 guitar no need to change anything except the 0.9 strings the neck woodgrain and fretboard quality are exceptional for a guitar this price but the tuners are really cheap but have give no problem it stays in tune fairly well unless you use the tremolo bar a lot

This guitar is rock solid from the ground up to the hardware i would not hesitate to use it live without a backup the sound doesnt break up like my fenders when being played loud!Kramers are indeed made to rock hard i will be buying all of the kramer line eventually one at a time these are great guitars at low prices=about time!

they have always responded to my emails be it a day or two later

I have been playing over 20 yrs i own way to much gear to type it all in here
if it were stolen i would buy another one within an hour

I do highly reccomend this guitar as a great guitar for newbies but dont be fooled it is also a great guitar for exp players as well it feels good,sounds good and is priced good compares easily and easily outperforms 300 to 400 dollar strats,epi,jacksons and ibanez guitars believe me i have them all! try one yourself for 70 buck you have nothin 2 lose!:)

Already mentioned. I won't mention it.

This Focus sonds good. However my friend ordered one, and it sounded like shit. Depends on how it was made I guess. Anyway, I play this through a Peavey Rage 108 and a Fender Stage 100. I've also played on a Fender Roc-Pro 1000. Sound is great, and the hum is tolerable.

Like I said, mine was perfect. My friends looks like it's gonna fall apart.

This will withstand live playin. I take good care of my guitars. The only way i would gig without a back-up would be if i couldn't break strings. I happen to do this often since I play Punk Rock.

It took me a month to get this. I origianlly ordered Lake Placid blue, and they ran out the day I ordered. Long story short, I emailed them and asked to change mine to vintage sunburst, they did, however it took a while for them to ship the guitar. However I ordered strings and got them quickly.

If it wasnt for bad service, this rating would be higher. There's nothing more frustrating then waiting a month to get a guitar.