Kramer Focus 111S

Strat Copy - Same features as the rest of the reviews here

It has a nice "strat" sound that's great for blues. I mainly play it through a Peavey Classic 30 (nice little tube amp). The pickups are fairly noisy (as one would expect from your average low end single coil pickup). The pickups sound better then mexi-strats I've played. I'll probably replace the pickups eventually (probably lace sensors). Very nice unplugged sound also. The stock strings sound terrible, change them immediately. Mine is strung up with fender ss bullets (11s).

Worthless setup from factory. I had to do a complete setup (I expected I would). Some of the body paint found it's way onto the back of the neck (very light, small spot). It's purely a cosmetic flaw, if the guitar were $800 it would bother me, for $69 it doesn't.
The finish on the body is perfect, looks great. The neck joint fits perfect. The rest of the guitar seems routed, and aligned very well also. The pickguard is pretty crappy. The tuners are very low end, but they work fine. The guitar seems to hold it's tune as well as any I've had. I blocked the trem.

I don't gig, so I'm pretty easy on my guitars, but it seems as sturdy as any fender I've picked up.

email only, no warranty that I know of

My scale (ignoring price considerations)
squire strat = 4
average mexi strat = 6
kramer focus = 7
average american strat = 8
average custom shop strat = 9-10

If I consider price, the kramer wins hands down. Buy the kramer, replace the pickups, you've got custom shop sound at a mexican standard price.

Strat copy

I had read all the reviews of this guitar at harmony central and decided for 69 bucks what the heck. I have a Heritage 140cm witch is a beautiful guitar in both sight and sound. But you just can't get a Strat sound from it. When I first pluged the focus in and started tuning it I thought this sounds like crap. I imeditatly restrung it with Dean Markleys lt top hvy botom. World of difference. I was pluged into a tech21 trademarc 10 witch IMHO is one great amp. The sounds I was able to dial in pleased me a lot. This guitar sounds damn good. I then tried it with my Fender SF champ with the torres tweed mod and jensen alinco 5 speaker nice sound. I then tried it with my Fender 59 bassman RI no complants. This guitar will make a great sound pallete to contrast with my Heritage in my home recordings.

The action fit and finish was all more than acceptiable. I only had to set intonation. I allso rebent the trem bar to come close to an old fender bar I had lying around that wouldn't fit because of the thread dia. This made the trem bar more comfortable to me. I would prefer a thicker neck. But I like the width and radius.

I've gigged with worse guitars. Only time will tell on this one. Thats the reason for the 7.

who cares at 69$

I been playing the guitar close to 40 years and have owned and played scores of guitars. The last Strat I had was a 1980 standard strat and that didn't turn me on. This quitar gives me as much or more joy than in the 60's when you could find a good sounding and playing guitar in a pawn shop for 75 bucks. I know 75$ in 1960 was lot more money than 69$ in 2k. I plan on buying another 111s just to keep in The 1/2 step low tuning of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Great value and good sound.

Ok I just got my Focus and I love it for the price. It's a 21 fret semi-solid top, and has 3 pickups and a whammy bar. The only thigs I dislike is it needed adjustment right out of the box.

Well the pickups suck but they work. I guess for the price they are great but they do buzz.

This Rox it is a beautiful guitar, Perfect finish, great Rosewood fretboard.

Well I wouldn't use this live but it look durable and the only thing I see that could go out are the Machine Heads.

They are great MUSICYO.COM ROX

Great... For what I paid!

Let me start of by saying this... BEWARE. The guitar has 3 single coil pickups and is a semi-hallow body electric. It has an adjustable truss rod and a 5 tone switch and 2 tone adjustment knobs. I got it in sunburst color. Its the cheapest guitar you can buy at $69.00 and you get what you pay for. Its some form of strat body style with a 21 fret neck. Only place you can get it is musicyo.com, which I dont recommend anyone ever visiting (but if you must, go ahead).

My first guitar had major electrical feedback. I unwrapped it, tweaked the settings to what I discovered sounded best, and found taht it buzzed like the dickens. It was so annoying that I sent it back and swore the electronics werent installed right. My second guitar didnt even make it as far as removing the plastic scratch protection stickers... read on.

It does not come set up at all. Both times I had to perform major adjustments to the truss rod. In the case of my second guitar, the truss rod adjustment was broken and I had to send it back also (I gave up after #2). Action was surprisingly good for the 1st one, it just sounded like shiznit.

HAHA, no. These are about as durable as,well, anything that comes out of my anus. Both were not functioning properly right out of the box. The finish was good but what does that matter if you cant play it. Switch was flimsy. Hardware will most definitely fail. If anything, use it for fire fuel. I'd rate it a 0 but harmony-central doesnt go that low. I'm giving it a 1 because its the lowest I can go.

Company excelled in getting back to me quickly and listening to me rant about their terrible product. They paid for return shipping and replacement shipping of my guitars, but it shouldnt have been that way in the first place. I would give them a 7 or 8 for customer support but I dont want it to bring up the average score of this guitar.

Like I said... Monkey Excrement

This is a update to my other reveiw.I can't beleive it!I went in a local hock shop and they had one of these guitars for $35.00!!I got them down to $20.00!!!!LOL!!!I got it,It's is the same as my other one with the stuck pig pickups.But,some dummy put a SD distortion in the bridge position!!The pickup was worth the price of the whole guitar!!LOL!!!It was a steal!!These things sell so cheap u can get them used for nothing!I took the pickup out,put a cheesy one in, and now I will sell this crapo guitar to someone and make some CASHO!!!LOL!!!Ohh yea,My buddy still has the one I sold him for $50.00 that he burned.It still plays!!Now it just sounds better!!LOL!!

The stock pickups on this one squeal like a stuck pig too!LOL!!!

It Looks great!!

If you play this live your stupid!The pickup don't take distortion well like they claim to.Play good trusty guitars live,not $20.00 ones!

I practicly stole this guitar for $20.00!You can't go wrong that CHEAP!

This is a Strat. Actually, it's even an upgraded Strat, depending on your point of view -- this has higher output pickups than a Mexi Fender Standard and many other $300 Strats, flatter radius (12" versus 9.5" on the moderns and 7.25" on the reissues), taller (medium jumbo) frets, a thicker Tele-type neck profile, comes in at least one cooler color than the current Fender line (Lake Placid Blue) and includes black, not white, plastic parts. Three single coils, five position switch, master volume, tone-neck and tone-middle. A Strat. And the best deal in a new guitar on the planet by miles and miles, provided you want a Strat. Does the whole gamut except thrash/hard rock for which Strats tend to be too weak and noisy. This $69 guitar actually does a better Zakk Wylde impression (through a Boss compressor and Metal Zone) than any of my four Fenders except the Blackmore model. The pickups in a couple of those Fenders cost more than double this whole guitar including shipping!

I play all kinds of stuff (Zeppelin, Who, Beatles, Iron Maiden, Hendrix) and any good Strat covers 85-90% of it. A semi-hollow guitar has a fundamentally different tone and so does a Les Paul. But if I could only have one electric it would be some sort of Strat...and, shockingly, this thing for $69 compares favorably with guitars costing literally ten times as much. At $200 this guitar would be a little less perfect, at $500 still less so. At $69 it goes to 11.

Astounding for the price. Then again, Samick (or whoever in Korea) is capable of really first-rate work, and Gibson/Musicyo spec'd these things right: zero options, make them very well. Little features like felt washers on the strap buttons compare with Fenders etc costing upwards of $300, which is the price point our friends at Musicyo claim they are competing with. They are! Several $350+ Fender use the same crappy but functional tuners as on this. My only personal complaint is the Tele-type knobs (which are actually more expensive, sourcing wise, than Strat knobs). They look nice but get in my way and I want Tele knobs on a Tele and Strat knobs on a Strat. I have tons of parts sitting around so I put on Fender black knobs, which you can buy for $6 at Sam Ash or Guitar Center if you want them. No finish/construction flaws at all, although the action was high and the strings were crap. Not a problem. Within ten minutes I put on Boomers (9-42), tweaked the neck a little, lowered the saddles a little and I've been happy since, about four months now. There are Les Pauls, US Fenders, and a superb Fender ProTone with upgrades right next to my Focus, and I play the Focus more than half of the time now. Again, for the money, about a 20.

It's a Strat, meaning hard to destroy, and a well-made one at that. I dropped it a few times on purpose. I banged the headstock into a shelf while doing Townshend-esque jumps to amuse myself, not on purpose. So far, so good. And the beautiful thing is, if I really f*ck this axe up, I can just do the full monty Pete Townshend on it and then set the pieces on fire like Jimi Hendrix, and order another one. This thing cost less than dinner with my fiancee did the other night, know what I mean? On a certain level, knowing you can destroy your instrument without it impacting your life frees you to be more creative or expressive. I definitely play this guitar with more abandon than ones which cost $800.

No phone number -- meaning no frustrating long waits to talk to morons who won't help you. No physical address (c/o Gibson). Email response is good, and the shopping/order system on the site is absolutely first rate. Warranty schwarranty, there probably is one, but do you care. See my comments above.

The whole MusicYo concept is fantastic, and even better, it works. Gibson has done a lot of exceptionally stupid things in the last few years, but going into a j.v. with these guys to sell new and reissued Kramer and Steinberger gear at shockingly low prices direct, was a stroke of genius. They're expanding their line. They do have guitars for $400 (even if someone else would charge $750 or $900 for them). But the Focus 111S was the "concept" that launched the company -- a solid guitar for beginners, tinkerers, and even experienced players looking for a backup axe, beach axe, or axe to smash on the pavement in their new video. Whatever, at this price point there is simply not enough that can be said about the value prop here. I may buy a couple more of these things just to make sure they keep making them, and keep selling them at $69. The only option, by the way, is color -- currently there are four. I got blue. With the black parts on it it looks a lot like the Ernie Ball Steve Morse model. My suggestion to "Doc Yo" is to offer the guitar as a Focus 222S -- with Duncan or Kramer hot rails humbuckers in all three positions instead (and a master tap switch). Make that one $99 just like the Pacer and you'll sell a billion of them. Including one or two to me. That's what I'd like to play today...

Inexpensive "Strat" Copy. $69!!!!!
Laminated Nato Poplar body. Sunburst Finish. Cheap tuners are the instrument's worst feature. Nice rosewood fretboard with very good fret work, as good as my Fender Squier. Pickups sound awesome with a compressor and my Marshall Valvestate 2x12 amp. I will replace them with Fender Tex-Mex's because I play SRV stuff alot. However, the stock pickups do an ok job as is.

As noted above I play SRV Texas Blues. The Focus does ok with this style if you replace the thin stock strings with some heavy wire. I use the heaviest GHS BOOMERS available. They are probably too much for the cheap tuners to deal with for long, but they sound great.

Action was very high as shipped. It comes with wrenches for adjusting action, and in 5 minutes I had it perfectly low for the heavy strings I use. No buzzes. Aside from the cheap tuners the materials and hardware are unbelievably good for this price. The pickguard is a little dull (even with the protective plastic removed). I will probably replace it with a black pearl Fender pickguard if it fits.

The Tuners will probably be the first things to go. Other than that it looks very sturdy, and should last fowever. Finish is great.

N/A They have that?

THIS IS THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY. Even if you end up putting new tuners and pickups on it, you'll end up with a superior "STRAT" for under $300. Can't beat that.

Copy of a fender strat,made in korea for gibson and sold direct by musicyo.It has a plywood body with 3 sc pickups and wang bar.and a maple neck with jumbo frets.Its has a sunburst finish.It was just a cheap srat knock off but its supposed to be a great hard rock guitar.

I play hard rock and some thrash.MusicYo sayed in the ad these guitars would sound great for HARD ROCK,They Don't,the pickups sucked,they sounded tinny and thin and squiel like a stuck pig with heavy distortion.Stock pickups on a squire sound better.A guy that reveiwed it for them sayed the pickups sounded great and had a lot of good range,They must have paid him off to write that.If you want a good hard rock sound the pickups just don't cut it and for the price upgrades are stupid.You get what u pay for in this department.

The guitar looked great when I got it.The finish and looks are the best part of these guitars.I had to work on the action and setup.The tone knob died a month after I got it and the selector was loud.I took it to the shop and had the messed up tone replaced.The tuners kept slipping so I had to put the pair off my old broke cruse on it.I summed The bad electric parts to the price of the guitar.You can't get good stuff on a cheapo.

The guitar is not made for live playing.Its a first/beginnar guitar.It proaboly would not last long under heavy use.I wold not use it for a backup,The pickups cant cut it.

What????

I now have a custom strat with Dimarrzio pickups.I sold it to my buddy for $50.00 and I got the best end of the deal!He did a Hendrix on it with lighter fluid and it was the coolist damn thing i ever saw!!!!If you are a real beginner grt this guitar.But dont waste you money on upgrades!

2000 Kramer focus, Korean built, strat style guitar, sold on musicyo.com for a great price. 21 frets. Laminated nato/alder body. 5 way switch, 1 volume and 2 tones controlls. S/S/S pickup config. Not sure of the make and model of the pickups. Candy Apple Red finish(looks awesome). vintage stly tremolo(don't use it too much.) Tuners seem kind of cheap, but work very well. Came with a cable and some wrenches, and an extra spring. I give it an 8 because it has great featurs, but only as many as strat style guitars, and the tuners seem kind of cheap.

Without pedals the and with the amp I run it through, it has a wide variety of sounds. I play hard rock, clasic rock, alternative, metal, softer stuff, folk rock, and many more style, and I have found I can make this guitar work for most of what I play. I can get some distortion, and very clean sounds, without pedals. The Pickups definatly aren't the best but work, although I think I may replace them for some new ones. But out of the box it's pretty good, and not plugged in it sounds almost as good as my accoustic. I give it an 8, not perfect but not bad.

The guitar I got had pretty good "action." The pickup hieght was ok. The finish was awesome, once my dumb self realized that there was a think protctive plastic cover over the pickguard that looked ugly when it came. Once I figured it out and removed it the pickguard was beutifull. The liner worked! The Candy Apple red was cool, and I am definatley happy I chose that one. Over all it looked and felt beutifull when I got it, and musicyo.com definatly packed it safely and well. I give this one a 10.

The guitar seems to be built extremely solid. The only thing that I can see may not last are the tuners. Other tan that it seems to be well put together. The finish is excelent an, in my opinion, will last. If someone happened to sut the guitar in half with a chainsaw, I would have to buy another, and for the price it can't be beat. I have to give it a 9. There are a couple quetionable points but I will surely use it in a gig, but you never do a gig without a backup.

Customer support seems excelent. I only had one question so far, and the responded immediatly. Don't mind having to use e-mail, I like it better than a phone. I give it a 10, hopefully I won't have to use it, but if I do I belive they will respond quickly. Also the guitar came on time, can't beat that.

Great price, Good features, Great service, Good sound, Great quality, what more can you ask. I would surely buy this guitar again if it were lost of stolen. Definatly a great guitar, at an unbeatable price. Have to give it a 10.

This is an update to my previous recent review...

I played a TexMex Fender Strat (selling for $299, list is is over $400) and guess what? I'm glad I bought the Kramer! It played as well as the Fender. The Fender pickups were smootherm but were totally devoid the "quack" you get with the Kramer on positions 2 and 4. I could not believe my ears, so I tried tweaking the amp in vain. I could not get the characteristic Strat "quack" form the real article (Fender MIM version).

I felt all the more vindicated with my $69 Kramer. Even so, I dropped my kramer Strat off for new SD pickups in the neck and bridge, leaving the middle (very strong and also reverse wound to the SD's) pickup alone. I wanted pickups with bit more punch and volume, though the stock pickups were decent.