Kramer Guitars - Late 1980s

Late 1980s

Kramer continued its success into the late 1980s, with the majority of hard rock and glam metal artists from Mötley Crüe's Mick Mars to Whitesnakes' Vivian Campbell being major endorsees. Almost every rock guitarist in the late 80's had at least one Kramer in their arsenal.

By 1987, Kramer was using ESP Guitars exclusively for manufacturing its necks and bodies. The "American Series" of instruments were ESP parts, assembled in Neptune, New Jersey. The Striker and Aerostar series were made completely in Korea, while the Focus series was made and assembled by ESP Guitars. Some early Focus guitars were also made in Japan by the Matsumoku company.

During 1987, Kramer also commissioned guitarist Rich Excellente, designer of the "1957 Chevy Tail-fin" guitar, to create a series of guitars based on the patented features Excellente developed on his "Chevy Tail-Fin" guitar. Kramer, under license from Excellente, manufactured a line of guitars which were marketed as "The Kramer American Showster Series". These guitars were sleeker versions of the more traditional shapes of the day, and utilized Excellente's patented "tear-drop" body taper and "metal loading" insert feature to increase tone and sustain.(U.S.Pat.4,635,522). Fewer than 1,000 of these guitars were produced between 1988-1990, and the line was discontinued during 1990 due to manufacturing problems which began to plague Kramer during that time.

The first sign of trouble came in 1987, when a massive strike hit Korea. At this time, Kramer was starting to fall behind on its orders to guitar stores. Kramer was also becoming overextended financially due to artist endorsement deals, advertising, and royalties to Floyd D. Rose.

In addition, Kramer embraced the excess of the late 1980s—producing slick and fluorescent guitars, losing its thought leadership in the guitar manufacturing arena, and damaging the image of the brand. Similarly, the image of the Kramer brand was being tarnished by an influx of Striker and Aerostar guitars—made cheaply and with cheap components.

By 1989, Dennis Berardi had started Berardi/Thomas Entertainment, Inc—an artist management company. Seeing promise in a young band out of the Soviet Union, Gorky Park, BTE started managing the group. To help promote the band, the infamous "Gorky Park" guitars were made, reportedly to be given to guitar dealers as promotional pieces. BTE banked on the Gorky Park guitars to help promote the group. When the Russian band achieved only a mild measure of success, this was a significant, and final blow to the first incarnation of the Kramer company.