New Guitar: 1982 Kramer "The Pacer"

I have wanted a Kramer with the Rockinger bridge for a while. I know it’s an objectively inferior tremolo to a Floyd Rose, but since it was the original “Edward Van Halen Tremolo,” it has a certain value from a historical/collector’s standpoint - and that’s me.

I watched this one sit unsold for over a month, wondering when and if it would sell and at what price. Eventually it came down and I had to consider it - so I made a deal on it.

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Not only is this my first guitar with a Rockinger, but it’s also the first guitar I’ve owned with the traditional strat configuration of three single coil pickups. Most of the music I play calls for a humbucker in the bridge position, so this guitar won’t be the most versatile, but after playing it I have sorely been missing the positions 2 and 4 “quack” - and a split humbucker does not have the same snap that a true single coil has in this position for sure. Coupled with a clean amp, and occasionally switching on a light overdrive, there are so many great tones in this guitar.

The condition is excellent with only a couple of small dings - sadly the largest of which came from a loose screw inside the case during shipping. It also included the original warranty card, case keys, and inspection tag - very cool. Despite collecting tons of Kramers over the years, I’ve yet to get a set of these so that’s really cool to have.