Comments on: Beware of Substitutions (Vintage 1983 Kramer Focus K4000 Electric Guitar)

By: Vince de la Pena

Vince de la Pena — Sat, 15 Jun 2019 23:34:51 +0000

Judging by the non-fine-tuner Floyd Rose and the long distance between the locknut and the string retainer, this was built at the Matumoku factory in Japan. There will be a Kramer neckplate with no serial number. The Matsumoku Focus had the black decal on the headstock. The ESP made Focus had gold decals. If you removed the pickups, they should have MMK 45 underneath.
From my research, this is the second run of the beak heads Focus. The first and third run beak-head Focus were made by ESP.

By: dylan

dylan — Thu, 31 May 2018 00:10:46 +0000

I have this same guitar, with the same shaped headstock. Mine is in black, with cream-colored pickup covers. It has a Floyd Rose, with fine-tuners. Does anybody know how many of these were made? It’s been a great guitar for me, my main rig for nearly 30 years..

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 17:07:51 +0000

I had the exact one like that, unfortunately I had to sell it when I was broke in college back in 1985. Do you know of any for sale like this?
Thanks for bringing back a memory.

By: Shaun A

Shaun A — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 19:49:43 +0000

I had one of those back in the 80’s. The Floyd Rose on mine didn’t yet have the fine tuning screws on the bridge so it was hard to tune once you screwed down the nut.

By: Tez

Tez — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 16:09:19 +0000

1985 Kramer Striker 400st Flying V… had this since I was 9yrs old..

By: Susie Martin

Susie Martin — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 20:51:25 +0000

I have an ’83 Bel Aire — tried to sell it and people don’t even understand what it is…

By: Cristian

Cristian — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 05:26:03 +0000

I have one!

By: Kevin B

Kevin B — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:36:01 +0000

IMHO the 3 best deals out there for vintage guitars and basses right now are the Kramer, the Aria, and the Washburn. Those 3 brands cranked out a ton of REALLY cool designs in the 70s and 80s and can be found sitting in the corner of many a pawnshop waiting to be picked up for a song. While you can get lucky occasionally and score a sweet Korean Squire or a great sounding Epiphone those 3 brands i just named had the most consistent quality for the longest time while staying low enough on most radars to not have the prices jacked up just because they are old.

By: jay

jay — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 23:21:39 +0000

Orginal Kramers are crazy cool and becoming once again collectable. At one time, you could pick up just about an Kramer for 50 bucks. I have two, a Kramer Classic strat clone, and a Night Swan, both stellar guitars.

THe fact you could get them so cheaply after the demise of Kramer meant that lots of collections are out there. I still pull mine down from time to time and have gigged them as recently as a few months ago for grins. Still loud and proud and I don’t even belong to the Kramer cult…