Kramer Striker FR422S/D by Simon Bradley Reposted with permission from Total Guitar KRAMER STRIKER FR422S/D A hot-rodded, Floyd-equipped metal machine with eight pickup rails... Kramer: isn’t that an old name? Indeed. Kramer were the belle of the 80s Metal/Glam ball, and produced all manner of sleek, mean rock machines that, in turn, transformed the company into major players. Of course, in those days, they were so expensive that no-one over this side of the pond could afford One.       They did bring out some cheaper models, but they were so poor that the name soon disappeared off the face of the earth. So what’s this new Striker about, then? The name was resurrected by no less a luminary than Gibson, and the entire range is now available on a revolutionary new on-line store, Musicyo.com. The site offers the whole range of Kramer electrics - along with many other household names, such as Steinberger, Shadow and Tobias - at ‘factory-direct’ prices, hence the almost unbelievable cost of this particular Striker. Yes, does it feel cheap? Absolutely not; the thin yet contoured alder body and Super- speedy maple neck would be worthy of instruments in the E600-E700 bracket. The reverse headstock might not appeal to everybody, but it certainly echoes the 80’s feel of the guitar, as well as offering a slightly more comfortable string tension that’s perfect for all manner of widdlesome antics. Is it all about heavy styles? Well, the double-locking Floyd Rose bridge and huge pickups- the Quad-Rail at the bridge does indeed offer a full four coils for one of the highest outputs you can currently get from a Production guitar- certainly do scream ‘spank me, I’m yours’, But there are a few tonal surprises in store.       For example, the tone-push/pull pot allows you to split the Quad pickup, while the five-way blade switch lets you pull off some interesting selections. In fact, the pickups are so hot that you get a whole lot of tone through both a practice amp and a full-on gigging rig - believe it or not, even jazz isn’t out of the question… C’mon, what does it actually sound like? There’s a danger that super-hot pickups such as these can mush your sound up too far but, with a careful eye on the gain pot of your amp, this can - for the most part - be avoided.       Of course, if ‘Denim & Leather’ is the soundtrack of your life, then the Striker will suit you down to the ground. Searing highs or solos and full-on bottom-end for some serious riffage all adds up to a virtually complete tonal picture. What about the Floyd? There’s no doubt that there’s a real trick to Floyd Rose tremolos, even on instruments that cost ten times the price of this Striker. Put simply, if your guitar is well set-up and you’ve stretched your strings out, you should be OK.       Here, the unit works well enough. It stays in tune reasonable enough during all the abuse we could put it through at TG towers - Vai bouncing reverse bends, Van Halen bombs et al - and we’re confident that it will stand up to quite a few gigs: just keep and eye on it, that’s all. ...And the neck? With 24 frets and a slim elliptical taper, the Striker’s neck certainly lends itself to the lead merchants amongst us. Such is the body design that you can get to each fret on both sides of the board, and this example was well set-up. Sounds too good to be true. To be honest, it is. 209.99 Euros - that’s around £153.91 at the time of writing ­- for a guitar of this standard is beyond the dreams of most players on a budget and the fact that you can get it from one of the most secure on-line stores we’ve come across… well, there can be no losers. Conclusion Forget all your fears of buying over the web; get to www.musicyo.com and save yourself £100s with this amazing guitar. Fact File Body: Alder Neck: Bolt-on maple Fingerboard: Rosewood Frets: 24 Pickups: 1 x Quad-Rail, 2 x Dual-Rail Humbuckers Bridge: Floyd Rose licensed whammy Finish: Red (as reviews), black, black metallic, blue Metallic, purple metallic, nuclear yellow, cracked Yellow, cracked white, white Hardware: Black Left-hand: No Case: No Contact: www.musicyo.com Alternatively Ibanez RG270 - £299 BC Rich OT-5T Outlaw - £169 RATING:      g g g g g Electric Guitars Basses Packages Acoustic Guitars Amps/PA Cases Accessories Bluegrass Band Instr. Electronics Books DVD Video Left-Handed Pickups © 2008 MusicYo.com, A part of the Gibson family of brands.