Gibson launches a revitalized Kramer lineup for 2021.

BY ART THOMPSON

IN LATE 2020, Gibson announced the relaunch of the Kramer brand with the Original and Modern Collections that re-create the specs of the legendary models from the ’80s. The Original Collection consists of the Baretta, Focus, Icon, Pacer and SM-1 guitars, while the Modern Collection includes the Assault, Striker, Nite-V bass and three new signature models: the Charlie Parra Vanguard, Tracii Guns Gunstar Voyager and the Snake-Baretta, named for Dave “Snake” Sabo. Promising more to come in 2021, Kramer says the collections will feature everything from “entry-level and intermediate guitars to professional offerings across our entire line, including the USA-assembled Custom Graphic Collection, hand-painted by legendary Kramer graphic artists.”

Kramer was founded in the late ’70s by Dennis Berardi and Gary Kramer, a friend and associate of Travis Bean. The company started out building aluminum-neck guitars that featured a distinctive pitchfork-style headstock and differed from Bean’s creations by having strips of mahogany, maple or koa embedded along the entire length of neck to give it a more woody feel. Berardi and Kramer were joined by Peter LaPlaca (a vice president of Norlin, the parent company of Gibson in the mid ’70s) and an investor named Henry Vaccaro to open a factory in Neptune, New Jersey. Gary Kramer subsequently moved to Southern California, thus ending his association with the brand.