Kramer Focus 1000

[BK]

Re: Kramer Focus 1000

Thans for the info guys. I was actually thinking about have someone build me my own "Frankenstein guitar", but don't really know if it's worth it.

[ January 29, 2003, 03:41 AM: Message edited by: BK ]

[PowerTube]

Re: Kramer Focus 1000

Originally posted by khabibissell:
Wow dude! That focus looks exactly like the one I had, except for the pickup. Way cool!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thanks. Yeah, that red pickup is a DiMarzio Double Whammy from around 88-89. It was designed to overcome the brittle sound of guitars with locking trems (my Focus never sounded brittle, anyway). The original Schaller wasn't bad at all, but this was an improvement.

[Greg Crowe]

Re: Kramer Focus 1000

Man is there some wrong information in here. The Focus guitars started in 1983 and were made entirely by ESP in Japan. The bodies were real wood, not plywood. They had excellent electronics, real OFR Floyds, Gotoh tuners and cheap crappy no-name pickups. The Striker series guitars were made in Korea and were plywood junk.

I remember buying a Focus 1000 in 1984. All it needed was a good pickup.

[PowerTube]

Re: Kramer Focus 1000

Originally posted by Greg Crowe:
Man is there some wrong information in here. The Focus guitars started in 1983 and were made entirely by ESP in Japan. The bodies were real wood, not plywood. They had excellent electronics, real OFR Floyds, Gotoh tuners and cheap crappy no-name pickups. The Striker series guitars were made in Korea and were plywood junk.

I remember buying a Focus 1000 in 1984. All it needed was a good pickup.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">My points exactly. It's sad that the Focus guitars always get lumped in with the Strikers.

[Accept2]

Re: Kramer Focus 1000

I once had a late model Focus 1000, and it looked like it was made from scrap wood. The neck was made from about 8 different pieces of **** wood, and it blew big time. I've seen the early Focus 1000s and they were much better guitars. My late model F1000 came stock with a Seymour Duncan pickup........

[BK]

Re: Kramer Focus 1000

OK, here are some (crappy) pictures of the guitar:






Hopefully somebody knows some more about the guitar. The seller didn't know much about it

And I don't really know what it is worth. Some of you guys said it cost $500 new and somebody else says $200. What do you think this is worth? The seller claims it's in mint condition, but since I've only seen the pictures I'm not really sure

[2Loud2Old]

Re: Kramer Focus 1000

Well, its not a banana headstock.

It's the "pointy" style of the American series.

I'm no expert, but judging that and the neckplate, the round edge body style and logo on the headstock. I'd say it was a 1986 model.

Notice it looks like a Pacer Special. Thats because it was designed as a cheaper version.

It is a fine guitar., Not junk at all.

Personaly I'd pay $250 - $300 for a mint one, but thats because I love old Kramers.

[ January 29, 2003, 02:35 PM: Message edited by: 2Loud2Old ]

[Greg Crowe]

Re: Kramer Focus 1000

Yes, that's an 86 model and what I consider the last of the good ones. 83 and early 84's have the old "classic" headstock. mid-84-85 have the banana headstocks. 86's have the pointy headstock but with the smaller "Kramer" lettering. 87-90 have pointy headstocks with the larger diminishing size KRAMER lettering.

83-86 have the smaller thinner necks with the 1 5/8" nuts. In 87 they went to a thicker wider neck with 1 11/16" nuts.

[nor]

Re: Kramer Focus 1000

It sounds like there was a major quality shift at some point. Or maybe more than one.

I thought I was the only one who had a crappy one, but it appears I'm not alone. I thought they were all crap, as a result. I wasn't dissapointed - It only cost me $200 new, lol...