KramerBaretta Special, Ebony

The Kramer Baretta Special is noteworthy for it's extra LOUD tone (it turns out several step louder than my Fender Tele) and has a good deal of crunch which is great for playing hard Rock! Finish is beautiful, worthy of guitars costing hundreds more and the pickups are extra responsive. This was almost ready to play right out of the box!

5/5 guitar. If you are looking for a really good early EVH-style guitar that won't break the bank, this is your best bet. I needed to make a few small adjustments, but it sounds and plays perfectly. The neck feels great to play, and the tremolo stays in tune well, so feel free to dive bomb away. It's A perfect Christmas gift for any guitarist.

Let me just start by saying whatever level of a musician you are, this should be in your arsenal. This guitar has been made from quality components at a very affordable price. There is no guitar on the market that can compare, in terms of entry level that is...Body:The body of this Guitar is made from a nice rich piece of mahagony. It is suprisingly light weight and has terrific ressonation. The body was very well rounded and the double cutaway was made just right to comfortable play the higher frets. Also the finish is very nice. It's not a cheap one coat and hope it works kinda deal.Neck:The neck is bolt on.., I really wish is was set, but unless you just have a really picky ear, you won't notice the difference it makes in terms of the depth of the sound. It's D shape and thin profile makes it very comfortable for extended play and very agile for fast fretwork. I love the vintage Kramer logo, and the classic Hockey Stick headstock looks killer. Only thing I would really change is the nut, and it is plastic. However the plastic nut is very thick and the grooves are well cut for the strings so noo slippage should occur.Hardware:The only negative thing to say about the hardware is it has a vintage trem...A floyd would have been nice, but it does make this guitar alot easier to maintain. The Zebra Alnico humbucker is pretty good on it's own. I play alot of 80's style metal and it does it well so I probably won't change it. However if you are a modern metal guy you probably want something with a little more depth. I love the single volume knob, though it is a bit loose in terms of it's output...basically 1-4 the guitar is silent, but after that it picks up quite well. Nothing to really concern yourself with and if it is you can always change the volume pot. Tuners are pretty solid and seems to hold very well, even with temperature changes.Overall Opinion:I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. You should have no problem doing anything with this guitar from practice to recording to gigs, it'll do it all. However please note this guitar was designed as a one trick pony...metal. Pure and simple it's a metal guitar. That's not to say it won't do cleans, or your favorite emo alternative crap, I'm just saying that this area is where it shines. Hope this helps for anyone who has questions.

I will start with I probably should have just returned it, but I am happy. This guitar felt like it was thrown together in 3 minutes. "made in china" not Indonesia, don't get your hopes upProblems:all tuner hardware was loose, tremolo screws were not all the way screwed in, some where quite far out!, trem not decked with supplied 3 springs, scratches\just ok paint job... and of course it wasn't setup up at all.Luckily everything screwed and bolted down nicely, I thought for sure the tuners were stripped, but nope they tightened down dine. I had to order more tension springs for 8$, I hope that decks the bridge. If not I will upgrade the bridge or go lower gauge strings. I was able to lower the action with the saddles and the truss rod didnt need any adjustment. This guitar feels good to me after all the work I put into it.After setup, action is perfect, as well as intonation. I bought this for my punk band, my band really missed me having a whammy bar for the beginning of one of our songs, so I got this guitar.. I got white, but I might have to get a purple one too (band voted white)..The pickup is totally fine/ amazing.. I was planning on putting in a emg81 before it arrived and try to do some stacked pot config, but I probably wont: I like how hot it sounds, great for my harmonics and very good sustain too!!!! UPDATE: I did have to back out the screw under the high e string a 3/4 turn to match volume of other strings when finger tapping.The frets are nothing special, but they were not sharp on mine like some complained about.Tuners seem fine, I wonder if people know to leave tuners in the tuned up state or there will be slack in the cheapo gears...again tuners are fine.. and if you deck the bridge even finer.I also got an upgraded bone nut coming in the mail since I will be using my whammy bar often..To make this guitar amazing it didn't cost much:bone nut 8-12$more springs 8$setup 0$, your a guitarist you should know how to setup your guitar.pickup 0$, no upgrade needed, its a great pickupOptional:neck? 200$ down the road after you do everything else.. might as well :)upgrade tremolo/bridge 25$ 50$ for nice one.Pro's:after all the BS, its a very good deal and perfect for my needs in my punk band, but also love pop like the eagles to primus ;).

Ok lets start with the bad. Packaging was unacceptable, just thrown in box no bubble wrap or foam at all. Volume knob looks like it was taken off of a 25 year old hondo guitar. Nut so poorly cut the strings came out of the grooves. Action high, neck thicker than I expected.Having said that thankfully it arrived undamaged. After spending an hour getting it right ive got a pretty nice guitar at a good price. Its not exceptional anywhere but the pickups are pretty hot, the neck is good and ive enjoyed it so far. Its $229 and a solid deal for that but within that price range my concerns could have been addressed by kramer instead of me.***another issue, the paint job chips and dents super easy***