[King Loudness]

A long backstory turned short: when I was 13 or 14 I got really into 80s Kramer guitars and managed to luck my way into a 1987 Focus 6000 HSS (sort of like a Pacer Custom) but my dream guitar was always the Viv Campbell signature Nightswan. They were unobtainable even then, and as tastes changed and time went by the dream got shelved, but not forgotten...

Circa late 2021, I was browsing Kijiji here locally to see what looked like a modified black Kramer Nightswan. By this time, Kramer had done re-issues of the guitar and I wasn't sure if this was original; the seller had one crummy picture and not much else, but the price was too good to refuse. I sent an email off, but the guitar had already sold, even after only a few minutes live! Thankfully for me, the buyer was my friend David who is the guitar tech at the local L&M here. He got the guitar in a bit of a sorry state, with the added green DiMarzio stacked neck pickup, changed pickups in the middle/bridge position, heavy strings, and a guitar that seriously needed a bunch of fretwork and electronic touch up. He knew my story about them and promised me first dibs when the time came to let it go. He proceeded to trick it out with new pickups, rewiring of the extra switches to get some wild out of phase and series/parallel options, get a bunch of fretwork done, and get it playing perfectly. Then last week he got ahold of me to let me know that he decided to move it on in favour of something new. We worked out a deal quickly enough, and I got the guitar that 14 year old me wanted more than anything short of a femme fatale...

Here's a video of the guitar from a couple months back, when David lent it to me to check out while he was on vacation:

W.

 

[gtrguy]

Saw and missed that- jealous but enjoy!!

 

[Budda]

Love nightswan inlays. Enjoy!

 

[GeorgeMich]

Sickkkkk

 

[Hendo]

So rad!!

 

[mrmatt1972]

You need spandex and hairspray now!

 

[Burgrluv]

What a beast.

 

[Dru Edwards]

I'm mesmerized by your playing!

Great story on the Kramer... it's never too late to find that special guitar.

 

[AJ6stringsting]

A long backstory turned short: when I was 13 or 14 I got really into 80s Kramer guitars and managed to luck my way into a 1987 Focus 6000 HSS (sort of like a Pacer Custom) but my dream guitar was always the Viv Campbell signature Nightswan. They were unobtainable even then, and as tastes changed and time went by the dream got shelved, but not forgotten...

Circa late 2021, I was browsing Kijiji here locally to see what looked like a modified black Kramer Nightswan. By this time, Kramer had done re-issues of the guitar and I wasn't sure if this was original; the seller had one crummy picture and not much else, but the price was too good to refuse. I sent an email off, but the guitar had already sold, even after only a few minutes live! Thankfully for me, the buyer was my friend David who is the guitar tech at the local L&M here. He got the guitar in a bit of a sorry state, with the added green DiMarzio stacked neck pickup, changed pickups in the middle/bridge position, heavy strings, and a guitar that seriously needed a bunch of fretwork and electronic touch up. He knew my story about them and promised me first dibs when the time came to let it go. He proceeded to trick it out with new pickups, rewiring of the extra switches to get some wild out of phase and series/parallel options, get a bunch of fretwork done, and get it playing perfectly. Then last week he got ahold of me to let me know that he decided to move it on in favour of something new. We worked out a deal quickly enough, and I got the guitar that 14 year old me wanted more than anything short of a femme fatale...

Here's a video of the guitar from a couple months back, when David lent it to me to check out while he was on vacation:

W.

Is that Knight Swan, an older 1980's Kramer or a Gibson reissue ?
The S, H, H pickup configured Knight Swan is very very rare and is so sought after by collectors m

Great playing, you play with great taste, blended with great technique !!!!
Back in 1997, a music store in Maryland , USA , had lots of Kramer necks and bodies for sale.
Necks for as low as $ 35.00 USD bodies from $ 40.00 to $ 50.00.
Some had the Kramer logo on the headstocks, some with finish / non finish, 22 or 24 frets, some were rosewood or maple. Good quality parts too.
The Store was called Victor Liz.
They went to Neptune, New Jersey and bought up all they could get ; good quality Floyd Roses, tuning keys with the Kramer logo, bodies and necks.

I got an odd ball 22 fret Night Swan neck for $ 25.00.
Something tells me, that I'll never get good deals like that again 😩 .

 

[King Loudness]

Is that Knight Swan, an older 1980's Kramer or a Gibson reissue ?
The S, H, H pickup configured Knight Swan is very very rare and is so sought after by collectors m

Great playing, you play with great taste, blended with great technique !!!!
Back in 1997, a music store in Maryland , USA , had lots of Kramer necks and bodies for sale.
Necks for as low as $ 35.00 USD bodies from $ 40.00 to $ 50.00.
Some had the Kramer logo on the headstocks, some with finish / non finish, 22 or 24 frets, some were rosewood or maple. Good quality parts too.
The Store was called Victor Liz.
They went to Neptune, New Jersey and bought up all they could get ; good quality Floyd Roses, tuning keys with the Kramer logo, bodies and necks.

I got an odd ball 22 fret Night Swan neck for $ 25.00.
Something tells me, that I'll never get good deals like that again 😩 .
View attachment 430547
View attachment 430546

Hey,

The guitar is an original Nightswan, F plate from early to mid '88 I am guessing. The third pickup (a stacked DiMarzio) was added at some point in the guitar's life. I'm at least the fourth owner and don't have history of who originally modified the guitar, although I'm guessing it was a gigging musician back in the '90s. I have played the new reissues and they are a nice guitar when set up well.

W.

 

[satim]

Sold this to L&M for $400 back in the early 2000’s
Currently have 3 Kramer’s left
1 Harvest Yellow Paul Dean
2 Barettas Flip Flop blue and a CAR not shown

Nice score welcome to the 80’s

 

[Roots-Picker]

Dammit Will, is there any style that you don’t excel at?! Great technique, super creative lead work. (And yes, that guitar is pretty cool too!…) 👍🏻

 

[King Loudness]

Sold this to L&M for $400 back in the early 2000’s
Currently have 3 Kramer’s left
1 Harvest Yellow Paul Dean
2 Barettas Flip Flop blue and a CAR not shown

Nice score welcome to the 80’s
View attachment 430639 View attachment 430641 View attachment 430645

Dude, that Aztec Nightswan WAS the exact guitar I wanted. I even named my teenage rock n' roll band Aztec after the guitar. Wow. On another note, it's crazy that you've got one of the Paul Deans. I used to have one of his Hondo signature guitars, and I currently have this '85 Larrivee RS3 (modded to RS4 specs with a bridge HB) that's similar...

Dammit Will, is there any style that you don’t excel at?! Great technique, super creative lead work. (And yes, that guitar is pretty cool too!…) 👍🏻

Thanks Dave. I consider myself sort of a jack of all trades, master of none in particular, but I appreciate the kudos. Re-exploring the shred stuff is a lot of fun.

W.

 

[satim]

The white Baretta is the guitar I wanted because of Helix & Brent Doerner. The band was local and Brent had quit. I had a friend working at a gas station and told me Brent came in for gas & told him he was selling a bunch of guitars. That night I figured out where he lived and put $250 down on that guitar. He was great and let me pay off the other $250 at the end of 2 weeks $500 total. That guitar was toured very hard and had one of the best feeling necks I’ve ever had. Unfortunately I sold the guitar for something else as I didn’t have the funds back then to keep more than 2 guitars at a time. Brent is asked about that guitar all the time. It is one of the few I’ve ever regretted selling. The guitar was repainted neon yellow the next day😵‍💫 not by me. The bullet belt he is wearing in the first picture hacked away at the back of the guitar 😀. Second picture is Paul Hackman (RIP) using Brent’s guitar. Helix did a show for much music back in the day which can be seen on YouTube and this guitar is heavily used throughout the show