Kramer guys? NightSwan basket case

[cardinal]

Ugh I already wish I hadn't bought this. So.. this thing. I think it's an OG NightSwan? F serial number plate, but who knows where it might have come from.

Aztec:

I think a Knap signature? The reissues don't have this?

Also, neck has a through-mount nut and truss rod adjusts with a Gibson-style tool (I assume the reissues use a 4mm key?)

Some weird things. Has a Kahler nut and Steeler bridge. Both adjust with Imperial wrenches. And the Steeler is mounted with bushings. All the old NightSwans I can see used the Floyd Rose and direct mount screws. I assume the Kahler stuff here was modifications.

Also, someone obviously painted over the headstock, and the back and sides of the guitar were obviously and badly repainted. There's white paint on the output jack and the tremolo claw for crying out loud. Also the output jack is like a Tele, not the usual football plate. Has Schaller tuners, which I assume maybe the OG Kramer's used?

The strangest thing might be that it almost looks like the Aztec paint was done over a Lightning Sky? I think I see some lightning bolts in there?

The neck is straight and frets look good. Electronics are a mess. Has a Full Shred in the bridge and the other is some generic unlabeled POS. Wiring looks terrifying and just needs to be completely redone.

No markings on the neck heel or body.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

This is the sort of project stuff I love.

Honestly, I'm stoked for you. This is going to be an adventure, but a mostly fun one.

 

[narad]

Huhh, very interesting. I don't know too much about the originals - was Knap the painter guy there?

 

[cardinal]

Huhh, very interesting. I don't know too much about the originals - was Knap the painter guy there?

Yeah, I think Kline and Knapp were the two common Kramer graphic painters.

 

[cardinal]

Took off the locking nut. Says R1 Made In Germany. So I assume a Floyd/Schaller nut. Someone had put imperial bolts in it for the locking pads, and the through-neck mounting bolts are imperial too.

Oddly, I have a spare Floyd nut and it's metric through-neck mounting bolts do not fit this nut. They don't thread in.

Radius of the frets appears to be straight 16" from some gauges that I have.

I'll probably order a new Gotoh nut. They have a 41 mm wide, 360 mm radius through-neck mount locking nut that I think will fit. Mounting specs seem the same. String spread seems about right. Gotoh says 34 mm. I measure this R1 around 33 mm.

 

[groverj3]

Ugh I already wish I hadn't bought this. So.. this thing. I think it's an OG NightSwan? F serial number plate, but who knows where it might have come from.

Aztec:

I think a Knap signature? The reissues don't have this?

Also, neck has a through-mount nut and truss rod adjusts with a Gibson-style tool (I assume the reissues use a 4mm key?)

Some weird things. Has a Kahler nut and Steeler bridge. Both adjust with Imperial wrenches. And the Steeler is mounted with bushings. All the old NightSwans I can see used the Floyd Rose and direct mount screws. I assume the Kahler stuff here was modifications.

Also, someone obviously painted over the headstock, and the back and sides of the guitar were obviously and badly repainted. There's white paint on the output jack and the tremolo claw for crying out loud. Also the output jack is like a Tele, not the usual football plate. Has Schaller tuners, which I assume maybe the OG Kramer's used?

The strangest thing might be that it almost looks like the Aztec paint was done over a Lightning Sky? I think I see some lightning bolts in there?

The neck is straight and frets look good. Electronics are a mess. Has a Full Shred in the bridge and the other is some generic unlabeled POS. Wiring looks terrifying and just needs to be completely redone.

No markings on the neck heel or body.

Rescued from a lifetime of neglect, I'd say! Enjoy!

 

[cardinal]

Fret radius

 

[USMarine75]

 

[Yul Brynner]

That neck definitely looks like it was made by Esp.

 

[73647k]

Ugh I already wish I hadn't bought this.

 

[cardinal]

I quickly wired up the Full Shred and threw some strings on. Seems to set up well except the radius of the bridge and nut are far tighter than the fretboard. I'll try to shim up the outer strings of the bridge saddles and see where that gets me. Not sure what to do about the nut.

 

[manu80]

The more I look at it the more I like it....

 

[cardinal]

I didn't get a picture, but I was able to remove pretty much all of the "refinished" white paint from the backs and sides of the guitar. I was expecting to find some sort of damage, but it was all fine except a few small dings.

The only real damage to the original paint looks like it was caused by sanding down the original paint before "refinishing" it (so I'll do what I can to polish it back up). But... wtf did this guy paint over it in the first place? Seems really weird.

At least he didn't touch the top/graphic. I should be happy about that.

Also was disappointed not to find an Original Kramer logo on the headstock. Not sure what the story is there, either. Just a weird guitar.

 

[cardinal]

Here it is with the spray paint all over the back

Now it's mostly off, though I should get it out of the spring cavity I guess:

Seems like the original paint was roughly sanded before it was painted over:

The sanding marks are too deep to just buff out unfortunately.