Metal Guitarist Forums banner

Kramer is bringing back the Nightswan.

4K views 27 replies 15 participants last post by  Joe 
#1 ·
See less See more
1
#11 ·
I am 100% cool with Kramer making a comeback.
Before you say that you should consider that Kramer is currently owned by Gibson.

And Gibson is run by douchebags.



Gibson also has a history of seriously pissing off the fans of companies it buys. So hopefully they don't blow it. Not that Kramer didn't make a ton of shitty guitars before they were bought by Gibson.

What Gibson did to the Tobias bass brand is still the kind of thing that is only talked about in hushed whispers. :lol: Don't ever refer to a Gibson era Tobias as a real Tobias, I almost got stabbed for that once. People have objections about how Fender handles the brands thy buy, but historically everyone agrees Gibson has been worse.
 
#8 ·
Me too. It's another one of those kicks in the balls for being old in my case. You know how all your life you want a super fancy sports car, and then once you can afford one you're too old/and or responsible for it? That's me. I can afford all sorts of sick crackles and warlocks and neon colored fiddles that I dreamed about as a kid, but I look absolutely ridiculous playing them. :(

 
#19 ·
Between the Nightswan and HM Strat reissues, it's like an Indian Summer for those of us who can't do the full Holdsworth 7-fret stretch on regular shred guitars. Now I can pretend on my scrunched-up fretboard! :woot:

Gibson has been fucking up Kramer and Steinberger for over 20 years. Garrett, where ya been?

Some of the recent Kramer reissues have been pretty nice, actually.
 
#20 ·
TBH, Kramer announced the re-introduction of the Nightswan at last year's Winter NAMM and they started filling pre-orders for them back in October or so. I've read two reviews from users who bought one and one review wasn't good (lots of flaws in his copy) and the second person had nothing but great things to say about their copy. Both descriptions are here.

Seems like they're really having problems building and getting them out to stores.

UK Buy link: Andertons
US Buy link: Musician's Friend
 
#21 ·
Yeah the Swan was announced a year ago. Some have gotten out already, but not many. The SM1 have been available for a few months as have the Jersey Stars. The thing being announced this NAMM that really excites me is that Dave Sabo finally got a sig model.

 
#23 ·
I've been unable to bring myself to follow Skid Row since Baz left/got thrown out. Is that guitar based on one Snake has played before? He never had a #1 back in the day, and I liked the variety of sounds they got by doing lots of guitar changes when I saw them on the Subhuman Race tour and on vids from back then.
 
#26 ·
[background]
I bought a Baretta 84 Bullseye reissue from a seller on the Kramer forum a few years ago. Since then, it has been the first guitar that I grab. It has a maple body, and it plays and sounds fantastic.
[/background]

Saturday I went to Music Zoo on Long Island, NY. It was about 10 minutes from my cousin's house, so I just happened to add a stop before the family visit. The place is really nice. Some very nice people work there, and even the other customers were very friendly, and I had some nice conversations about gear.

I asked one of the workers where the Kramers were. I knew their website said they have everything in stock, except for the NightSwan, which was by pre-order only. He showed me to one of several glassed in areas, and there was only one Kramer Baretta 84 reissue out ( https://www.themusiczoo.com/products/kramer-the-84-blue-metallic ). He asked me which one I was interested in, and I told him I wanted to check out the SM-1 ( https://www.themusiczoo.com/products/kramer-sm-1-maximum-steel ).

He said he would get it from the warehouse, which was stunning to me. They would go out of their way to pull something from the warehouse. I guess all these years of Sam Ash and Guitar Center have jaded me.

While he was gone, I picked up the Kramer Baretta 84 reissue. I was stunned at how differently it felt to mine. It wasn't even close. The neck felt thicker, the fret ends were slightly sharp, it just was nowhere near the Baretta I own. I was actually thinking of getting a backup, and playing it made me realize that the new reissues are not the same. I hated it so much that I never plugged it in.

He still wasn't back, so I played the Charvel that was next to the Baretta ( https://www.themusiczoo.com/product...satin-frost-seafoam-green-music-zoo-exclusive ). This blew the doors off the Baretta in every way. Then I looked at the price tag and realized why :)

The salesman came back with the exact guitar I said I was interested in, fresh out of the box. It was the Black SM-1. Let me say that the photos do not do this guitar justice. The guitar is beautiful, and a much deeper black than the photos, which must shine on the metal flake and make it look lighter grey. The guitar felt great. It obviously needed a setup, but the feel was really nice. The neck was done really well. I'm just not a huge fan of a finished neck. Even with the finished neck, I was seriously thinking of just buying it....it was that nice. Then I plugged it in..... I fucking hated it.

I tried it in 4 different amps, a Victory, PRS, Marshall, and 5150, and hated the sound in every single one of them. It sounded lifeless. It's supposed to have Seymour Duncan pickups, but if they were actual Duncans, it must be the way they don't fit the body wood. I really don't know. But this guitar went from a "I'm ready to buy this now" to a "this guitar is a piece of crap". I tried everything. I figured I needed to adjust the amp settings, or I had the single coil switch on. The pickups actually sounded better in single coil mode than humbucker mode.

After trying to like it, after 15 minutes, I gave up and handed back to the salesman. He said I'm not the first person to comment on the sound. He said he thinks they use Duncan Designed instead of real Duncans. That's kind of weird since it's a $1000+ guitar. I thanked him for taking the time to get me the guitar. I had never seen that before in any guitar store.

If you're in Long Island, stop into The Music Zoo. It's the anti-Guitar Center. They do it right. Glassed in areas where you can play, and not have to compete with every Saturday afternoon kid, who wants to be discovered. This was a huge step above. I can't wait for their next show. The last one that I attended, I had the pleasure of meeting Richie Faulkner(Judas Priest) and Andy Aledort, but that was at their old location. Definitely check The Music Zoo out.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top