Kramer Guitars - Wooden Neck Period

Wooden Neck Period

Kramer first released wooden-necked guitars in late 1981, following Charvel's lead on producing instruments that essentially copied the stratocaster headstock shape from Fender, in violation of Fender's US trademark and design patent. After only a thousand or so instruments were built, in May 1981, Kramer received a cease and desist order from Fender to halt the production of strathead guitars. Instead, Kramer opted for a "beak" or "circumcised Fender" headstock reminiscent of 1960s Kent guitar headstocks. The earliest beak guitars were in fact stratheads with a lobbed off headstock; these can be identified by prominent sanding marks on the curve of the headstock. Later, and most common beak guitars, were manufactured with a beak headstock from the factory.

Wooden-necked instruments represented Kramer's first foray into offshoring the production of guitar components to Eastern Asia. Tuning keys and vintage fulcrum tremolos were made by Gotoh in Japan, while the necks were made by Japan's ESP Guitars and shipped to New Jersey for fretting and finishing.

Kramer executives saw that the guitar techniques of the early 1980s demanded a high-performance tremolo system. Kramer partnered with a German inventor named Helmut Rockinger, and installed his bulky tremolos, precursors to Floyd Rose systems, on its instruments.