Out of all the guitars out right now, for the money, this cannot be beat! A few mods, and if you know what you're doing. this thing will play as well as anything of the top tier. Hands down the greatest thing to come out in years for gearheads.
What this thing needs: 1. A Janky as fuck floyd rose route and floyd rose (or if you really wanna go crazy a kahler) 2. A DiMarzio super distortion (because 80s) 3. Fret polishing and a setup
@@MilianMalivukMusic Okay, I agree with everything Midnight Mix said so far, except for one thing, please don't make a routing for the Floyd, just a surface mount like the old Barettas from the 80's had, and don't forget to add an EVH D-Tuna!
@@TVoltG the best solution is drill out two holes and put a Wilkinson VSII50, it will do everything the Floyd can for next to nothing. The Floyd’s on this style guitar are not top routed. If you decide to top route a Wilkinson of course it will pull up as well it is not a function of the tremolo like people imagine it is a function of the body routing. Be careful as a guitarist, people and media easily mislead guitarist . Anyone with eyes to see can tell that any 2 point trem can be pulled up if you float it or top route the body or both.
@@bluwng I have a white one. I polished the frets. I upgraded the pot to a CTS 500K low friction, added a kill switch, a custom wound pickup (9.3k A2) by my buddy at Tone Volt and an added boost by TV. Floating bridge, and a graphite nut. locking tuners. This guitar is a monster now.
I just bought one of these a few weeks ago , absolutely amazing quality for the money imo . Mahogany body rings even unplugged . Neck is super quick , even quicker and easier to play than a wizard . Everyone saying to change the pickup are talking krap , it's modelled after the JB you idiots .
Hey man, sounds great! I have the exact same but upgraded to locking tuners, new nut, and SD Screaming Demon pickup, now its a monster! If your going to dump more money and time than that, then just get a Kramer Baretta Vintage. Those are awesome, I've got a couple of the previous Korean models (now indonesia) Vintage White and Metallic Blue, both keepers! Thanks!
I have the same guitar and I love it I put a Vega trem on mine and a Tusq nut it stays in tune so well now even after heavy whammy usage such a amazing budget guitar🤘🏻
I have this guitar as well. I replaced the tuners with locking tuners and the bridge with a Vega-Trem. I suggest when you change your strings that you wrap your g, b and e strings (smallest strings) around the tuner the other way. It helps with string alignment with the nut. Of course when you are tuning you will have to remember those 3 tuners will have to be turned the opposite direction but its easy to get used to.
Yeah, an upgrade project would be awesome! Some people already suggested a Floyd Rose upgrade; I wouldn't go that route (no pun intended). Keep it modest in terms of upgrades. There's already the "Baretta Vintage" for around 650-700 EUR. If you'd go all out on this Baretta Special you'll probably end up in the same price range. Like you've said, change the tuners and maybe some new, black saddles. The volume pot might be worth an upgrade, too. It's not that great. Polish the frets and you're good. I wouldn't even replace the pickup. It sounds fairly decent.
I have a white one. I polished the frets. I upgraded the pot to a CTS 500K low friction, added a kill switch, a custom wound pickup (9.3k A2) by my buddy at Tone Volt and an added boost by TV. Floating bridge, and a graphite nut. locking tuners. This guitar is a monster now.
I have that exact guitar in the same colour for about a year now. It's a fantastic guitar for the money and the pick-up is actually quite decent for such an affordable guitar. Such a nice neck as well. Nice demo and review 👍. I've been meaning to do a Tones Demo for quite some time myself on RU-vid channel however I'm so flatout.🍻🤘
i paid more for mine especially after shipping, but my plans for it are gonna be an EVH style shredder with all the bells and whistles, and it's a good starting point to build your own actual 80s shredder. if you are getting it for 160 good for you. I did not, but not upset with my purchase. if you use to a lightweight guitar with thinner neck, you might be disappointed, but even though i am used to that it will actually become slightly lighter with all the routing i'll be doing.
Cut the resister off the volume pot to get rid of that treble bleed. It makes it sound so much better. Also, take the middle spring out the back. It has too much tension.
I've had mine for over a year now and with a floating bridge I've had absolutely no tuning problems doing dimebag squeals and what-not... just broke that whammy today actually so I've gotta get a new trem 😂😂😂
Back when I started playing in the late '70s , you'd never find a guitar as nice as the ones today at that price range. My 1st guitar cost about the same and it was barely playable. Felt as though it was made of plywood and had cheap microphonic pickups, which would pickup near by C.B. & radio signals all the time.
You could swap the bridge saddles for brass or stainless steel to help keep costs down. Also I saw this same guitar modded into a yellow Sammy Hagar OU812 replica
I have one in the same color. Few minor mods helped it become a reliable player. I wish I had this guitar back in the 80s when I was just starting out as a beginner. This would have fit right in.
If you know how to set up, few upgrades, this thing is rocking. Great neck, Great body, rest is up to you.. Solid guitar for a couple hours wage. HAPPYHAPPYHAPPY
A cool appetizer - just what this guitar is! Best thing would be to use parts from our bins, and make it better. Black Gotoh vintage trem, black sperzel mini tuners - Duncan Custom or JB. Fun! And, I have owned several vintage Kramers back in the day. They were pretty junky compared to Charvel and Ibanez! This guitar is probably relatively just as good!
Here's a project for you put in a Seymour Duncan SH-4 (JB) or a Schaller. Schaller for early 80s - Duncan's for late 80s ESP made Kramer. If your brave, route it for a Floyd Rose. Floyd Rose with non fine tuners that for the striker/focus vibe or original rose with locking nut for the made in usa style. Don't forget to undo the factory treble bleed cause it doesn't work.
Hi, is the guitar heavy? I know these are budget models but I'm like upgrading to a 3rd guitar and Baretta Special is like the perfect guitar for me. It looks like Jerry Cantrell's guitar, has a nice tone too. It's upgradable and customizable but only thing I don't know is the weight because I'll be playing on stage
i will say i bought the white one, and put a graphtech nut and a JB in it and man it plays and feels like a 1000$ baretta - the floyd... with a proper set up espcially
Nissssssssssssssssssce 🍻 Great mod project guitar! Black trem , nut & locking tuners a must! What would be epic if u put some black tiger stripes on it!🔥
Back when Kramer came out with this style guitar. Eddie Van Halen had something or input on them. I remember the black models, I think they were called carerra, being Kramer Carrerra, they even had their own black coated strings for the guitar. If you see any ads from the early 80's for Kramer and Eddie is photographed, you will see he changed the neck on his Frankencaster to one of those hockey stick kramer ones.
maybe you need a string tree on the high strings. or a retaining bar. apart from that, whack a wilkinson tremolo on it and add a coil split if you're so inclined.
I'm really curious about this purple color... I actually like the pale purple look but you mentioned it doesn't look like that in person. And in other videos or photos I've seen it looks more fuchsia than anything... which I don't quite like. I don't mind a neon/vivid color... but I like the in-between purple and violet color, not in-between purple and fuchsia.
i had to lower the saddle heights super low to get the action i like, did i just set up improperly?? to the point where the saddle height screws are sticking way out
What about string tension considering the weird headstock (light gauge strings have longer distance from bridge): does it affect playability or is it just my paranoia?
I've seen other ppl upgrading this one. I remember one guy putting a VegaTrem on it which was quite funny .... since it costs more than the guitar itself LOL
yeah thing is if you want to build a partscaster this thing is as cheap as a body of a strat so you have a lot of things done with this guitar and you can start modding it the way you like
Could anyone help me with figuring out what's the difference between the Kramer 84 and the Kramer Baretta Special? I'm also looking into putting a Floyd Rose FT300 Classic on the Baretta Special to get that '80s sound on the whammy's, but the Kramer 84 already is installed with a Floyd Rose FT1000. Again, can anyone help me with this dilemma?? Wich one should I buy?
This costs less than 200€, the 84 is 750€. The difference is build quality (at least I'd expect that) and better hardware like the FR system and a genuine Seymour Duncan pickup. If you can do the mods yourself, you might stay under the price of the 84 but I guess I'd that right away if I was looking for a guitar that I'm actually going to play.
Another thing that might be important to you, or maybe not, is the weight. Ive bought 2 spacials so far and tested a third, and each one was fairly light. The 84 however has a maple body, and they tend to go in the heavier direction. Ive had a maple strat once and it was beyond heavy for me. This might not be true for all maple bodies, depending on the wood selection at Kramer.
Did Kramers never had a volute or does Gibson not wanted a 180€ to have more quality than a 6000€ Les Paul?!!!! It’s the only thing where I’m quite skeptical, I would never buy a Gibson because of the possibility for easy headstock breaks… in point of project guitar it seems worth it in my eyes, I would love to add a fixed bridge instead of the tremolo at some point but a hipshot 6 string hardtail guitar bridge needs a string trough setup, any ideas?
They dont have a volute but a scarf joint in the headstock area, if you look closely. That construction method helps to prevent breaks, in addition to a harder neck wood like maple
It would LOOK INCREDIBLE with Black Hardware, just cough up the extra muhla and have yourself a truly sick AXE! I would also add a locking nut properly. -All the Best
Cool, but why is it unfortunate that it has 'only' 22 frets? I wished it had 21 frets. Why? It sounds MUCH better! And yes, I agree with @Midnight Mix below, it needs an original Floyd Rose bridge, a locking nut and a super distortion or a Seymour Duncan JB.
Love this guitar. I have one in ruby red but let's be real the tremelo bar is absolutely the worst. Unplayable. If get rid of that as soon as possible if you're planning on using the tremelo bar
@@biohazard8295 if you don't plan on using the tremelo it's not a bad guitar. Mine doesn't go out of tune that much so you'll be fine without modifications but I'd still replace the bridge and upgrade the tuners. Get yourself some locking tuners and a cheap Wilkinson Bridge if you don't want to spend a lot. Great guitar for the money.
@@djandrewification I know but there is no middle ground on this one.it's either a whammy and lack of tuning stability or evertune and tuning stability
I purchased one of these thinking I would geta maple fretboard. I gota cheap rosewood fretboard. Don't trust this company. They change specs, but their site still says maple fretboard. No more kramers for me.
Hey dingle berry, that's a bone but , and all you gotta do is get a screw driver unscrew back plate take out the 2nd and fourth spring then going by half turns only to each back screw set the balance of your trem, them go around front and get out your Vaseline that you hide under your bed ,and a tooth pick and put the smallest dabon each string alot then do the same at the saddle for each string and tune up checking your bridge to see how much pull up you get them go around back and now with quarter turns set the trem and then work those strings and I'll garauntee it will stay in tune
