Thanks for posting...I pretty much had the same exact experience. I ordered this on BF after watching Avg Joe's video. I went into knowing that I was going to work on it. As I said, I couldn't have bought a finished neck, body and FR for that price, so that's how I saw it. Tuners are junk, my high e is skippy, but not as worried with having a locking nut. My fret ends were fine, but touched them up anyway while I was in there. The fret were in terrible need of a good polish, 2500 sand paper, polish with dremel and then hand shined with polishing compound. Now they're mirror smooth. Oiled the front and back of the neck and now my fingers fly over the fretboard. In agreement that they not jumbo frets; not even close. They're cheap, but usable pickups, but I replaced mine with 490R and SD 59' that I had in parts draw. They are dime sized pots, and I'll likely be replacing them with CTS, but as you mentioned, I'll have to spend as much on new knobs. My first Floyd Rose (pretty much why I bought it) and figured it all out, but ordered a special part to do the intonation. The neck had way too much relief, so fixed that. Did yours come with an Alan Wrench for that? My did not. These guitars have been sitting for a long time, my production was DEC 21. All reasons why this guitar was being blown out for $150. Agree, if you can fix this stuff yourself, in a few hours, then you're golden. I feel like almost any guitar under $600, you're going to need to do this things any way.
@@matthewaltomare7629 I intonated mine. Amazingly only 2 strings slightly out. I needed to grab my hex wrench set. It didn’t come with that wrench. Thanks for watching and sharing. That’s why I do this.
@@SearchingForTone I love it ….. now. I put a lot of work into it. Frustrated my CTS pots have been sitting in Binghamton NY for 2,days with no movement. The ones that came in it gotta go.
@@WickedFesterBand Ive never owned a Floyd but thought it would be good to have fr the channel. I may consider it again if it goes on sale again. Pulled the trigger on alot that ill be financing for many many years 🤣
Same experience. Did total go over. Floyd rose to zero pivot. Shaved down the nut on a wide file. Cleaned the neck pocket and removed paper shims. Removed all burrs from holes were neck bolts on. Tightened and oiled the tuners. 9 strings. Made a huge difference. And removing the stupid paper shims from neck pocket... now its full wood on wood.. so can feel much more warm resonance. Got it very playable but agree... frets are too small on these. Wtf is wrong with Kramer for using these tiny fret wire. I've sold this guitar and now buying the new Kramer Pacer Carrera that just came out. Its upgraded higher end for $1000. Has floyd 1000. Duncans ebony board. Maple body. Yes these pacers with the beak are great looking guitars!
@@antilaw9911 I have two Kramer Barettas with the graphics. They were on sale for like $569 and they are normally $1,100. Duncan’s, Floyd Rose1000 …. The whole package and really big frets.
i own a pacer classic .and i love it the bushings on the tuners go real quick so replace them with guyker machine heads ,put a trem stop in the back ,add a d-tuna and these guitars are amazing.
@@kramersurfer5280 Trem stop is already in. Gotoh tuners on the way. CTS pots just arrived. Don’t do drop D but already got 3 guitars with D Tunas I don’t use. lol. This thing grew on me fast. I think it’s the neck and the way it hangs on the strap / sits on the lap. Comfortable to play.
I shove a small chunk of foam insode where the trem arm screws in and that helps keep it in place with less wiggle. The pots aren't 500k either. These are like 350 or 250. I cant remember.
Hey!!! I recently acquired one of them... but it's a older one, because it's (pearl) white and the headstock ain't painted... it gots a "licensed under Floyd", and the pickups are Epiphone (I dunno what model)...
my pacer classic just needed a good setup and i put gotoh locking tuners on it and now it stays in tune and plays great,i’ll probably be putting in some seymour duncan’s in it,im happy with it and i’ve been wanting a Kramer but they never offered any in a left handed version when i started playing in the early 80’s and i also don’t like the control layout you don’t need a volume for each pickup and i wish the selector switch was better and a regular 3 way blade switch other than that the guitar 🎸 is a great mod project and worth it if you can get it for under $300
I bought the blue one when guitar center discontinued not a fan of the white pickups the pickups had electrical tape instead of the cloth I replaced tremolo arm with the push in shocking these are more money then the striker
@@adam5744 They got cheaper than the Striker in a hurry though. lol I’m happy for the $149. Saw another video with the electrical tape, a blue one as well. Mine have the cloth tape. Hmmm Either way I have a whole roll of the cloth tape. Got a Seymour Duncan that the tape was ragged on so I fixed it. Had to buy a whole roll.
I bought the Kramer Striker black with maple neck and changed the tuning keys and electronics and the Jack and plate from that stupid barrel jack that constantly shorted out. I have about $450US into it now and sanded the neck down from being so fat. Easy to do by taping off your paint on the body and just going back and forth with different grades of paper. I also filed away that horrible heel that was square to shaping it right up to the body. It now plays and sounds like and easy $1,000 guitar. But i agree with you. If you don't know how to repair and do proper wood working. They can be junk.
I have this guitar but i swapped the white accents for black and put a chrome eng 81 in the bridge and locking tuners. Its a decent guitar but the neck had a weird back bow from the store, guitar center. Turd was the right description lol. The stock pickups aren't bad i just disliked the white that much. The white looks out of place for some reason. The trem is good as long as you know how it should be treated.
@@Zombie_13x33 The white is actually growing on me, but I have 50 some guitars so plenty to look correct. lol I liked it enough I’m replacing the tuners with my go to Gotoh. Pun? Maybe. Thanks for watching and not bashing my playing.
@@bluwng That was the case on my Baretta Specials but those also had full sized pots. I discovered that on my own a few years ago. (I’m the one that mentioned that to Steve From Boston) These are crappy little pots and feel awful. It’s getting the CTS as I may use this a lot.
@ I’m surprised how well the Baretta Specials were made but not the more expensive models. Bald Shredder hated his and it had a fat neck but he got the white one….might be made somewhere else. I have the Metallic Blue and it is immense, powerful full pickup, the best flat U shaped neck. Filing the nut properly made a world of difference and I mean world….looked OK but really wasn’t. Once I discovered this secret went back to update the nuts on all my guitars ( I’m pretty sure people are missing out). Yes I know the silly third fret with finger gauging but we need more precision than that.
@ The new ones are made in a factory in China, as are these mid ranged models. The original Baretta Specials are made in Indonesia like the $800 - $1100 range ones. I have a couple of those and they have great necks. I have a Kramer Nite V that is a $399 guitar but made in Indonesia and the neck is amazing. Country may not matter but the factory does. lol
They are pretty good they are worth about 350$ in really good shape good riffs you were playing there when it says licensed under Floyd Rose Pat pend its not a real Floyd Rose it has to say that to avoid copyright infringement because it's so similar to a real Floyd Rose.
@@slide8570 I thought the Pacer body shape was a bit ugly, but when you strap the thing on you find it is very comfortable to play. Looks only matter to people watching you play while you are playing or enticing you to pick it up from the stand. I’m good no matter what color. Besides, I have a guitar in just about every color anyhow. lol
@@slide8570first off I'm not a kid I'm probably older than you and what does my ego have to do with this guys inability to play the guitar a and here's a news flash for ya I don't care how much money or effort he puts in to it that guitar or any other is gonna sound like crap as long as he's the one playing it
Thanks for the shout out brother. Nice job with the review. Informative and enjoyable video. Great playing!
@@AJgeartalk Thanks Joe! Community is why I do TH-cam
Thanks for posting...I pretty much had the same exact experience. I ordered this on BF after watching Avg Joe's video. I went into knowing that I was going to work on it. As I said, I couldn't have bought a finished neck, body and FR for that price, so that's how I saw it. Tuners are junk, my high e is skippy, but not as worried with having a locking nut. My fret ends were fine, but touched them up anyway while I was in there. The fret were in terrible need of a good polish, 2500 sand paper, polish with dremel and then hand shined with polishing compound. Now they're mirror smooth. Oiled the front and back of the neck and now my fingers fly over the fretboard. In agreement that they not jumbo frets; not even close. They're cheap, but usable pickups, but I replaced mine with 490R and SD 59' that I had in parts draw. They are dime sized pots, and I'll likely be replacing them with CTS, but as you mentioned, I'll have to spend as much on new knobs. My first Floyd Rose (pretty much why I bought it) and figured it all out, but ordered a special part to do the intonation. The neck had way too much relief, so fixed that. Did yours come with an Alan Wrench for that? My did not. These guitars have been sitting for a long time, my production was DEC 21. All reasons why this guitar was being blown out for $150. Agree, if you can fix this stuff yourself, in a few hours, then you're golden. I feel like almost any guitar under $600, you're going to need to do this things any way.
@@matthewaltomare7629 I intonated mine. Amazingly only 2 strings slightly out. I needed to grab my hex wrench set. It didn’t come with that wrench. Thanks for watching and sharing. That’s why I do this.
Great review and playing. Ave Joe brought me to you and looking forward to seeing more of your videos.
@@BuckB3420 Well thank you!
Thanks for the info. Keep Rockin
Loved Kramers, but that's a lot of work. Great video, man!
@@jessesguitars6316 Thanks!
I thought about getting this when I saw Avg Joe put us on it
@@SearchingForTone I love it ….. now. I put a lot of work into it. Frustrated my CTS pots have been sitting in Binghamton NY for 2,days with no movement. The ones that came in it gotta go.
@@WickedFesterBand Ive never owned a Floyd but thought it would be good to have fr the channel. I may consider it again if it goes on sale again. Pulled the trigger on alot that ill be financing for many many years 🤣
Same experience. Did total go over. Floyd rose to zero pivot. Shaved down the nut on a wide file. Cleaned the neck pocket and removed paper shims. Removed all burrs from holes were neck bolts on. Tightened and oiled the tuners. 9 strings. Made a huge difference. And removing the stupid paper shims from neck pocket... now its full wood on wood.. so can feel much more warm resonance. Got it very playable but agree... frets are too small on these. Wtf is wrong with Kramer for using these tiny fret wire. I've sold this guitar and now buying the new Kramer Pacer Carrera that just came out. Its upgraded higher end for $1000. Has floyd 1000. Duncans ebony board. Maple body. Yes these pacers with the beak are great looking guitars!
@@antilaw9911 I have two Kramer Barettas with the graphics. They were on sale for like $569 and they are normally $1,100. Duncan’s, Floyd Rose1000 …. The whole package and really big frets.
i own a pacer classic .and i love it the bushings on the tuners go real quick so replace them with guyker machine heads ,put a trem stop in the back ,add a d-tuna and these guitars are amazing.
@@kramersurfer5280 Trem stop is already in. Gotoh tuners on the way. CTS pots just arrived. Don’t do drop D but already got 3 guitars with D Tunas I don’t use. lol. This thing grew on me fast. I think it’s the neck and the way it hangs on the strap / sits on the lap. Comfortable to play.
I shove a small chunk of foam insode where the trem arm screws in and that helps keep it in place with less wiggle. The pots aren't 500k either. These are like 350 or 250. I cant remember.
@@Zombie_13x33 Good to know. If FedEx ever finds my 500K pots I’ll let you know how they sound. lol
Hey, great video. I’m stuck between this and upgrading it, or a JS32 from jackson. Thoughts?
@@vicn.15 JS32 has a nice neck with big frets.
nice playing. good review. I followed AJ here..
@@charliedanoele Thank you!
Hey!!! I recently acquired one of them... but it's a older one, because it's (pearl) white and the headstock ain't painted... it gots a "licensed under Floyd", and the pickups are Epiphone (I dunno what model)...
I’m a sucker for a cheap guitar.
my pacer classic just needed a good setup and i put gotoh locking tuners on it and now it stays in tune and plays great,i’ll probably be putting in some seymour duncan’s in it,im happy with it and i’ve been wanting a Kramer but they never offered any in a left handed version when i started playing in the early 80’s and i also don’t like the control layout you don’t need a volume for each pickup and i wish the selector switch was better and a regular 3 way blade switch other than that the guitar 🎸 is a great mod project and worth it if you can get it for under $300
@@michaelmetal71 Agreed
Turd
The pups sound good to me, I usually change the pots before changing the pups unless they are completely trash then I throw them in the garbage 🗑️
@@davidkastin4240 I ordered pots. Day 3 of them being “out for delivery”. I think it’s a lie. lol Thanks for watching!
I bought the blue one when guitar center discontinued not a fan of the white pickups the pickups had electrical tape instead of the cloth I replaced tremolo arm with the push in shocking these are more money then the striker
@@adam5744 They got cheaper than the Striker in a hurry though. lol I’m happy for the $149. Saw another video with the electrical tape, a blue one as well. Mine have the cloth tape. Hmmm Either way I have a whole roll of the cloth tape. Got a Seymour Duncan that the tape was ragged on so I fixed it. Had to buy a whole roll.
I bought the Kramer Striker black with maple neck and changed the tuning keys and electronics and the Jack and plate from that stupid barrel jack that constantly shorted out. I have about $450US into it now and sanded the neck down from being so fat. Easy to do by taping off your paint on the body and just going back and forth with different grades of paper. I also filed away that horrible heel that was square to shaping it right up to the body. It now plays and sounds like and easy $1,000 guitar. But i agree with you. If you don't know how to repair and do proper wood working. They can be junk.
@@DreidMusicalX Got about $450 in my Striker too. Been contemplating sanding that neck a little thinner.
I have this guitar but i swapped the white accents for black and put a chrome eng 81 in the bridge and locking tuners. Its a decent guitar but the neck had a weird back bow from the store, guitar center. Turd was the right description lol. The stock pickups aren't bad i just disliked the white that much. The white looks out of place for some reason. The trem is good as long as you know how it should be treated.
@@Zombie_13x33 The white is actually growing on me, but I have 50 some guitars so plenty to look correct. lol I liked it enough I’m replacing the tuners with my go to Gotoh. Pun? Maybe. Thanks for watching and not bashing my playing.
Volume control is a known issue….remove the treble bleed cap…..trust me. No soldering needed just cut it off.
@@bluwng That was the case on my Baretta Specials but those also had full sized pots. I discovered that on my own a few years ago. (I’m the one that mentioned that to Steve From Boston) These are crappy little pots and feel awful. It’s getting the CTS as I may use this a lot.
@ I’m surprised how well the Baretta Specials were made but not the more expensive models. Bald Shredder hated his and it had a fat neck but he got the white one….might be made somewhere else. I have the Metallic Blue and it is immense, powerful full pickup, the best flat U shaped neck. Filing the nut properly made a world of difference and I mean world….looked OK but really wasn’t. Once I discovered this secret went back to update the nuts on all my guitars ( I’m pretty sure people are missing out). Yes I know the silly third fret with finger gauging but we need more precision than that.
@ The new ones are made in a factory in China, as are these mid ranged models. The original Baretta Specials are made in Indonesia like the $800 - $1100 range ones. I have a couple of those and they have great necks. I have a Kramer Nite V that is a $399 guitar but made in Indonesia and the neck is amazing. Country may not matter but the factory does. lol
They are pretty good they are worth about 350$ in really good shape good riffs you were playing there when it says licensed under Floyd Rose Pat pend its not a real Floyd Rose it has to say that to avoid copyright infringement because it's so similar to a real Floyd Rose.
I think for $149 got you did ok. You already know you're going to go all over it anyway...
@@EdDanaGuitar The neck is nice. Wish the frets were jumbo though.
At least it's the correct color. Red guitars are the best guitars.
@@mykneeshurt8393 Wasn’t sure about the white plastics but they are growing on me.
Purple and blue…red is for fire trucks.
@@bluwng Fire trucks and Corvettes... and guitars. :D
@@slide8570 I thought the Pacer body shape was a bit ugly, but when you strap the thing on you find it is very comfortable to play. Looks only matter to people watching you play while you are playing or enticing you to pick it up from the stand. I’m good no matter what color. Besides, I have a guitar in just about every color anyhow. lol
@@slide8570 you read way to much into his comment.
That's a lot of guitars for zero technique
Where's your video?
when are people going to stop putting stuff on youtube documenting how they can't play something
I guess your Grampa plays bingo.
@@dirtypool7973 no my granpa plays with your granma
@@dirtypool7973he sure does have a lot of guitars in this video for not being able to play at all
@@slide8570first off I'm not a kid I'm probably older than you and what does my ego have to do with this guys inability to play the guitar a and here's a news flash for ya I don't care how much money or effort he puts in to it that guitar or any other is gonna sound like crap as long as he's the one playing it