New Guitar: 1986 Kramer Pacer Deluxe

Lucked out and was the only bidder on this beautiful guitar - in pristine condition. The seller even had towels underneath of it when taking pictures - that’s usually a sign it was well cared for!

Interestingly, this has a transition era neck - a one piece instead of the usual 3-piece ESP made pointy neck. The story goes that these were originally banana headstock necks, but when ‘86 came, they were fitted with the new pointy shape. Compared directly with my 3-piece neck pointies, this one is a very slightly different shape as well - and is also somewhat unique that it has the “American” script as many transition necks only had the Kramer block logo. There are also transition necks with the rosewood “skunk stripe” down the middle in the back - I haven’t had one of those yet but I’ve heard they are excellent.

This neck is a thin C shape, a bit more rounded than most of my other pointies which tend towards a more “D” shape, although Kramer was notorious for wild variations through the run so I’ve had 3-piece necks with all sorts of varied back shapes.