Wanna real giggle?

[picker]

I can't find the ad right now, but there is a guy in Amarillo on Facebook Marketplace who is asking $2,150 for a 1986 Kramer Baretta in Metallic Orange, and wants an added $115 for shipping.

 

I gotta wonder if he fell asleep back then and is just now waking up...

[KuruPrionz]

The absurdly high price appears to be a marketing strategy of some sort. Maybe if worked, once, for somebody.

 

Notable observations: I saw a truly hideous guitar that was made entirely out of matchsticks a few years ago, listed on eBay for Buy It Now $10,000. To the seller's credit, they offered free shipping in the lower 48 states.

However, there was no indication that it could actually be played or any mention of the tone (probably chimey, like 20 pounds of wet toilet paper).

 

I never followed up on the aftermath.

 

Recently there has been a guy on eBay who is claiming the his Grace Design Model 101 mic preamps are these magical, mystery devices that were made entirely by hand by the finest techs at Grace Design and he wants in the $5k range for one. Research shows that his units are identical to the Model 101 that was made before they changed the name to M101 and should fetch in the $400 range used. If fact, after sitting on his items for quite some time, he listed one starting at well under a dollar in an auction format. He still made the same claims but his item closed in the $400 range.

 

Because real is real.

[Sharkman]

It's possible that he genuinely believes that his guitar is worth $2,150. It's not, and sooner or later reality will make him aware of that fact. This reminds me of some guy who used to play guitar for Rod Stewart (not Ron Wood or Jeff Beck) who was selling his guitar for $100,000. I do not believe he got that lofty amount for his guitar. As far as this guy, God bless him if he can find a sucker that will pay that ridiculous amount of money, including the absurdly high shipping cost.

[Larryz]

I don't know...I found this '86 Kramer Baretta on Reverb for $2,800 in surf green???

 

https://reverb.com/item/35906099-kramer-baretta-1986-surf-green

 

[KuruPrionz]

It's an attempt to monetize the passing of Eddie Van Halen.

The one Larryz linked is pretty much the type of guitar EVH would have played.

 

https://newjersey.news12.com/jersey-legend-eddie-van-halen-s-unique-connection-to-the-garden-state

 

EVH did endorse Kramer guitars for a while and had a signature model.

 

Here is a Peavey EVH Wolfgang Special at an "interesting" price.

https://reverb.com/item/38082544-peavey-wolfgang-flame-special-usa

 

I would guess that the Peavey 5150 amps are really high right now too.

[Larryz]

Yeah +1 Kuru, they had another '86 black one on Reverb with a price tag of $2,800. Probably a throw back to the time EVH endorsed Kramer in the 80's. Here's a little bit more of the story from Kramer:

 

https://www.kramerguitars.com/Blog/Remembering-Eddie-Van-Halen

 

[KuruPrionz]

Larryz, I was the first (and only that I know of) authorized Floyd Rose installer in the Central Valley of California.

This was back when Floyd Rose (I met him at NAMM) was trying to get a guitar company to build a guitar with his whammy bar.

Warmoth had a booth at NAMM with a Floyd equipped guitar. I was trying it out and they said "Go ahead and give it a beating" so I did. It stayed in tune despite serious thrashing.

But, Warmoth sold parts, they didn't sell completed guitars.

 

I did quite a few installations and then Kramer started selling guitars with Floyd Rose whammys installed. EVH endorsed them, Van Halen had hit hard and they were too busy touring to have time to dink around with guitars.

I still got a bit of installation business but lots of setups, if you don't know how to set up a Floyd (and most players didn't) then you needed somebody who did and that was me in my area.

 

Somewhere in all that, the fine tuner models appeared, probably something Eddie needed for live work since they were top stars at that point. I remember there was an import model made in Japan - Kramer Focus - it had the original non-fine tuner Floyd which is now highly sought after for the solid tone. I've saved one of those for decades, have a hot rod Tele that I made from lumber (body and neck) that needs to be slapped together and played - hopefully soon.

 

So there is an "out here in the street" perspective on the whole EVH-Kramer connection. It was much later that Eddie went to Peavey to get an amp and a guitar made. He left Peavey, went to Music Man - who no longer made amps and I believe the EVH company he started used Fender to build both amps and guitars.

 

It's not a stretch to say that Eddie Van Halen changed the way electric guitar was played forever.

[Larryz]

I saw this drop D tuna on a Floyd on another thread when EVH was giving one of his guitars to a friend in a wheel chair. I had not seen one before. Did you have any requests for one back when you were doing installations? Any experience on how well they work? +1 on EVH changing the ways guitars are played (to include his stripped down Fender Frankenstrat with the Floyd)...

 

https://www.zzounds.com/item--EVHDTUNA

 

[KuruPrionz]

I saw this drop D tuna on a Floyd on another thread when EVH was giving one of his guitars to a friend in a wheel chair. I had not seen one before. Did you have any requests for one back when you were doing installations? Any experience on how well they work? +1 on EVH changing the ways guitars are played (to include his stripped down Fender Frankenstrat with the Floyd)...

 

https://www.zzounds.com/item--EVHDTUNA

 

 

The D-Tuna came later, nearly all the installations I did were the standard fine tuner Floyd Rose system. Since you can't easily retune a guitar when both ends of the string are locked down and Eddie wanted to do Drop D,

somebody figured it out for him.

 

The most completely insane one I installed came from the girlfriend of one of my best customers. She custom ordered a candy apple red Gibson Les Paul Custom and a gold plated Floyd Rose setup to be installed on it.

It was a birthday present that she wanted to give him.

 

The Les Paul is much deeper from the high point of the arched top to the back. I had to make a custom jig for the top route and cut the cavity in the back for the springs and claw much deeper since the spring block

for a Strat is not as long as needed. I think it needs to be at the current length anyway or the leverage of the springs becomes too strong.

 

I probably should have charged triple what I did, I spent a lot of time making sure everything would go well and still nearly pooped myself when I started in with the router.

I'd love to see that guitar now, I hope he kept it and even more important, I hope he kept her!!!!

[Larryz]

WOW! routing out a brand new LP for a Floyd, now that takes real guts!

[KuruPrionz]

WOW! routing out a brand new LP for a Floyd, now that takes real guts!

 

Could be a large measure of "dumbass" in there too!!!!

[Dannyalcatraz]

 

The most completely insane one I installed came from the girlfriend of one of my best customers. She custom ordered a candy apple red Gibson Les Paul Custom and a gold plated Floyd Rose setup to be installed on it.

It was a birthday present that she wanted to give him.

 

The Les Paul is much deeper from the high point of the arched top to the back. I had to make a custom jig for the top route and cut the cavity in the back for the springs and claw much deeper since the spring block

for a Strat is not as long as needed. I think it needs to be at the current length anyway or the leverage of the springs becomes too strong.

 

I probably should have charged triple what I did, I spent a lot of time making sure everything would go well and still nearly pooped myself when I started in with the router.

I'd love to see that guitar now, I hope he kept it and even more important, I hope he kept her!!!!

Wow!

 

I"d just have found a LPclone that comes with a Floyd (or other trem) already installed.

 

But of course, she might not have known that was an option. Or her beau might not like LPs from non-Gibson sources.

[KuruPrionz]

 

The most completely insane one I installed came from the girlfriend of one of my best customers. She custom ordered a candy apple red Gibson Les Paul Custom and a gold plated Floyd Rose setup to be installed on it.

It was a birthday present that she wanted to give him.

 

The Les Paul is much deeper from the high point of the arched top to the back. I had to make a custom jig for the top route and cut the cavity in the back for the springs and claw much deeper since the spring block

for a Strat is not as long as needed. I think it needs to be at the current length anyway or the leverage of the springs becomes too strong.

 

I probably should have charged triple what I did, I spent a lot of time making sure everything would go well and still nearly pooped myself when I started in with the router.

I'd love to see that guitar now, I hope he kept it and even more important, I hope he kept her!!!!

Wow!

 

I"d just have found a LPclone that comes with a Floyd (or other trem) already installed.

 

But of course, she might not have known that was an option. Or her beau might not like LPs from non-Gibson sources.

 

 

This was in the mid 80's more or less. It was a gorgeous guitar both before and after. The choices for Les Paul clones were more limited then and the only guitars I know of from that era that came with a Floyd were super Strats.

Gibson makes an Alex Lifeson Les Paul (or did recently) with a Floyd Rose from the factory. I've never seen one in person.