Kramer Baretta Special

[Sunburnstudios]

I picked up a black one years back when they were released, $179 new. Swapped the trem for a Floyd with a locking nut, kept everything else original. Plenty gritty, dropped the tuning a whole step as I like to play Motley and it roars through a Marshall. Great backup axe for $200

 

[Derek S]

I used to hate the odd body shape of these things (and I have an '83 model) but over time grown to love them!

 

[Dave_11]

I’ve owned two of the Indonesian-made ones. I ended up selling one, but only because I’m at the “one arrives, one must go” stage of my marriage. They’re great guitars for the money- very nice necks, good sounding pickups. The only negative is tuning stability, due to a cheap plastic nut and tuners, but a $15 GraphTech TusqXL nut solves that. The PT-6060-00 (made for Epiphone) fits almost perfectly, with very little thickness filing (height/width are perfect as-is).

Supposedly the newer Chinese-made Baretta Specials don’t have as good of wood or pickup, but I haven’t personally compared. You can easily spot the Indonesian ones because the cream coil of the pickup is closer to the bridge. Last I looked, the Indonesian ones were still available on sale at Sweetwater.

Thanks so much for all of that useful information. I just pulled the trigger on a hot pink one from Sweetwater. It's backordered but the pic shows the Indonesian pickup configuration and my sales rep said the country of origin is listed as Indonesia on the sales order.

 

[Edgar Frog]

Thanks so much for all of that useful information. I just pulled the trigger on a hot pink one from Sweetwater. It's backordered but the pic shows the Indonesian pickup configuration and my sales rep said the country of origin is listed as Indonesia on the sales order.

Hot Pink? The only model I know of them making in that color is the Focus VT-211S. A hot pink Baretta would be awesome IMHO.

 

[Dave_11]

Hot Pink? The only model I know of them making in that color is the Focus VT-211S. A hot pink Baretta would be awesome IMHO.

The official color is "ruby red", but everyone on the internet says it's pink. OK, maybe I was pushing it calling it hot pink, but it's more pink than red.

 

[Edgar Frog]

The official color is "ruby red", but everyone on the internet says it's pink. OK, maybe I was pushing it calling it hot pink, but it's more pink than red.

From certain pics it does look kind of like a ruby red grapefruit or pink grapefruit. It must be one of those tricky colors to photograph. Cool color either way.

 

[Charvel1975]

So from what I've researched online so far on the Kramer Baretta Special:

Just remove center trem spring, make sure strap buttons and tuning key wash nuts are snug, clip the little resistor from volume potentiometer and Lube the nut and trem saddles. There are very few complaints for the $0 upgrades. What if it plays and sounds fantastic ?

 

[Charvel1975]

Yea and my other guitarist and I just missed the 24 month special financing they had on these at $10 a month!

 

[crossroadsnyc]

Was just having a little fun with my black one ... through a Marshall CODE 50. Yep, about as cheap of a rig as you can get. Did the same thing last night, and the night before. Having some fun.

 

[Dave_11]

Still waiting for the $179 hot pink ones to arrive at Sweetwater. The rep said mid/late April, but looking more late than mid...

 

[MantraSlider]

Been REALLY wanting to try one because a super strat for that cheap is something else, + it's a Kramer. Though no retailers near me have the cheap ones, only the custom graphics series.

 

[guitarbilly74]

I had one. I changed the hardware to black and added a JB I already had in my parts drawer. Great guitar regardless of price. I sold to one of my students and he's still playing it after a few years.