Kramer Baretta Special Guitar - Candy Blue

Product Information

After a few month of owning this, and you know, learning about the instrument I own, I have come to realize that a binding nut was the issue. I took a pencil and applied graphite to each nut slot and I no longer have massive tuning issues. This latest collection is certainly worthy of the brand’s heritage, with wild finishes and no options for fixed bridges. It is, after all, what Kramer were famous for – and they still are, looking how much the American-made originals go for secondhand. This Kramer guitar has a vintage-style tremolo bridge plus a whammy bar, which is similar to what Eddie Van Halen used to have. Some would say a whammy is essential for ‘80s metal playing. The Baretta Looks like a barebones Stratocaster guitar. It’s a minimalist style, nothing shiny or eye-catching. While the other instruments in this round-up have a flat 14” fingerboard radius, this particular model is even flatter still at 16”– which makes it incredibly playable. The addition of gold hardware also works especially well against this Alpine White finish.

If you let down the snobery, its a great guitar. Not a great guitar for this price, a great guitar whatever the price. It certainly is – and even comes in a finish called Maximum Steel. The tremolo is recessed which means you can pull more in pitch – you can get close by tilting the bridge on a non-recessed guitar, but having less physical space to play with will always result in less range. And while we’re on the subject of range, you might have noticed 24 frets instead of 22. When it comes to choosing your first electric guitar, you want to aim for something that is relatively easy to play, sounds great, and will help you really develop your playing technique - which is exactly what we have here. Make Your First Guitar A Good One! However, the hardware is not very solid, and so the guitar’s performance doesn’t stay on point. Hardware Don’t expect much else from what it can but, for its limited range, it’s the most awesome, face-melting sound you can get on a budget. And it does rival much pricier guitars.Being the Kramer Baretta Special such an affordable guitar, there had to be some cheapened features. And, unfortunately, Karmer saved the money by using sub-par hardware. As any seasoned Pro will tell you: the easier a guitar is to play, the more you'll want to play it, especially when you're in the early days of your guitar-playing journey.

I will try this again. I was wondering how it could stay in tune with the angle of the strings beyond the nut being what it is. Did you do any work to the nut, and did it help? Accessory Coverage: Any peripheral devices or accessories that come with your product (i.e. foot pedal, case) are also covered. The Kramer Baretta Special became famous in 1984, but Gibson stopped the production of the guitar many years ago.The simple style of the guitar correlates to the sound, but that’s not to say it’s not good. It’s simply raw, straightforward, exactly what you’d expect out of an EVH-inspired guitar.

The Jersey Star is the most expensive offering in this line-up. Is it worth the extra money? In this case, very much so. Overall, the Kramer Baretta Special has awesome metal sounds, with a hot output capable of giving presence to your solos, taps, slides, and similar.String height and intonation out of the box, in retrospect, were not great, but the action was pretty solid. The quality of the bridge is sub par. one of the length screws has filled threads on the upper 1/8th on an inch of the screw, so I'm not super sure how the convinced the screw into the saddle in the first place, but the saddles threads are now nearly stripped because of this. The chrome comes off the bridge very easily and there is something copper coloured underneath, probably copper or some alloy thereof, probably not red gold unfortunately. It is most obvious under the string height screws. This could be a function of me setting string height while tuned, but it is a little disappointing. It seems like the chrome should stand up to that. Aswe expected, it is also considerably lighter – maple is a much denser and harder tonewood by comparison. Its deep warmth is offset by thesnappiness of the ebony fingerboard. Kramer Guitars is the lesser-known Gibson subsidiary. They create electric guitar and basses, and although their name doesn’t harness the greatest popularity, the Kramer Baretta Special has a well-deserved cult following.

Sub-par tunning pegs won’t ensure your guitar stays on tune as you play songs live or record songs at the studio. Downside & AlternativesSolid Mahogany body, with a stylish Purple finish, and a dual-cutaway shape for easy access to the guitars upper frets The fretboard has no binding around it, which doesn't actually bother me. Aesthetically, it fits the guitar. But the slots they cut in it to put the frets in are filled kind of poorly. This is very minor and not a playablitiy issue at all, and given some of the QC topics I've seen here on some really expensive Gibson's, I really have nothing to complain about. The fretwork itself seems quite good. Nothing sharp or paper cutty. That said, it’s still capable of pulling nice clean tones, with natural warmth and resonance thanks to the mahogany. Through a good tubular amplifier, for example, you can crank up the clean channel and see the guitar shine as it gains power. Sadly, the Kramer Baretta Special is not the iconic model Eddie Van Halen used to play. We’re instead looking at a budget and IndonesianMostmade reissue of the New Jersey custom-shop model.