Dano wrote:Kramer DMZ 2000...Aluminium neck guitars.......

Does anybody know how these guitars compare to a Travis Bean?
I've seen these guitars around, and I'm thinking of getting one.
I'd like to know if anybody has any opinions about them, good or bad.

Excellent site!!!! An invaluable source of knowledge for like minded people.

I had a kramer bass for a while. didn't like it. The neck is just way too off balance. I'm sure the guitars aren't as bad. You may want to check out Vacarros. One of the founders of Kramer (Henry Vacarro), started a new company a few years ago that has similar neck designs to the old kramers. The Headstock is almost identical, though I think it may be a little more of a V shape than a U. The Necks are designed slightly differently, Instead of having a "T" shaped Crosscut like the Kramers, The aluminum neck is completely enclosed in wood. They have a synthetic "ebonite" fretboard. I have one of the embarrasingly named "Generator X's" And I like it quite a bit. It's got a bigsby type tremolo, and best of all, they make em for southpaws. The balancing is much better than the Kramer, The neck isn't heavy, it it sounds good too. They're cheap too. I paid like 300$ for mine new. Its one of the Korean imports, not the handbuilt Americans (I think those run between 700-1300). They have a few different models. They probably have a website.

I bought one of the first Kramer basses back in I believe 1978. It was at some Chicago-area piano and organ type music store, they were selling them very cheaply. I think I paid $300 for it with a flight case.
Mine was made from Bubinga wood, had a single chrome single-coil pickup in the middle-ish area. It sounded and played great, but was terribly neck-heavy. Nevertheless, it wasn't the most uncomfortable bass I had ever played, and it looked pretty cool.
I don't like any of the Kramer guitars I've played though, well-made yes, but a weak and dry sound. Besides, the guitars are hideously ugly.
Wasn't there a Kramer played in the original Breaking Circus lineup?

Tom wrote:You may want to check out Vacarros.... They probably have a website.

I just came over from the SKWM board. Nice site, very useful info in the forum here.

In the interests of making myself useful, I'll point out that the Vaccaro guitars site lives at http://www.vaccaroguitars.com/cat_page_temp.html, although their index page seems to be dead. I'm not sure how active they are, but there's contact info on the site, so you might try looking them up.

HTH,
Maurice

Maurice wrote:

Tom wrote:You may want to check out Vacarros.... They probably have a website.

In the interests of making myself useful, I'll point out that the Vaccaro guitars site lives at http://www.vaccaroguitars.com/cat_page_temp.html, although their index page seems to be dead. I'm not sure how active they are, but there's contact info on the site, so you might try looking them up.

Maurice

Yeah, I dunno how active they are either. Based on what I've seen, They've spent a lot of money on flashy bullshit, rather than getting any noticable showroom space in guitar stores. I only found out about them by a chance search on ebay for the ever elusive left handed guitar. I wouldn't be too suprised if they've gone under. This of course is all speculation by someone who hasn't checkup up on 'em in 2 years.

I second the praise of vacarro guitars. these guitar feel great and sound good too. If you're really looking for a metal neck, check them out.

ben adrian
ric 360, standard tele, re-issue jaguar...

The names are cheesy, the site concentrates on flash over substance and they are endorsed by all manner of musicians that make my skin crawl just mentioning their names.

But those guitars are pretty damn nice I must say. I never cared for the Kramer metal necked guitars at all, i've played a few but they just seemed to kind of take the worst aspects of a Travis Bean (weight) and not really have any of the good aspects.

The Vacarro's are really nice and, i've got to say that even though I came into it expecting the worst (wait... kid rock plays one? check please!), they are really quite nice, very comfortable and sound awesome.

Kind of troubling about the index page on their site, but you can find them in music stores randomly. I actually played my first one while I was on tour.

-C.

cneutron wrote:The names are cheesy, the site concentrates on flash over substance and they are endorsed by all manner of musicians that make my skin crawl just mentioning their names.

But those guitars are pretty damn nice I must say. I never cared for the Kramer metal necked guitars at all, i've played a few but they just seemed to kind of take the worst aspects of a Travis Bean (weight) and not really have any of the good aspects.

The Vacarro's are really nice and, i've got to say that even though I came into it expecting the worst (wait... kid rock plays one? check please!), they are really quite nice, very comfortable and sound awesome.

Kind of troubling about the index page on their site, but you can find them in music stores randomly. I actually played my first one while I was on tour.




-C.

Yup. thats sorta how I feel about 'em. But really, all the dumb things about them are dumb.Sure, they actually thought Generator X was a cool name, but its not like it says it anywhere on the guitar. Besides, there are literally billions upon billions of things that have stupid names that work ok. Kid Rock plays on one? heh.. that's funny. But he probably plays a Les Paul too.

The only quasi valid arguement I have against Vacarros's is that its kind of a pain to change strings on the bigsby tremolo. No biggie though. Oh yeah, my bridge pickup sounds a little weak to. I should probably replace that.

I have a 70's Kramer geetar that I LOVE.. I got it for 20 bucks.. And it's Mint.. aluminum neck and all.. I hope you find one.. I think you will be happy .. they are very cool guitars..