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Kramer Vanguard 440S/D
by Pete Shearer
Reposted with permission from Music Gear Review
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| With all the hoopla over the Kramer Focus guitar
for $69, or disbelief in the price, I wasn't that intrigued with checking it
out. Don't get me wrong, if I was just starting out learning the instrument or
wanted to see if I had the discipline to play, no doubt I would buy it. It is a
good guitar for the price. But my sights were set a little bit higher. I have
been in the market for a nice guitar without breaking the bank. Searching
Musiciansfriend.com you can find some great guitars for under $500, which is
right in my market. I really didn't want to go past $500, but was worried about
what I would get for that price. Now I know what most of you are saying, Get
real and Good luck! I have been searching for months and checked out a few,
including the Bronze Series Warlock from B.C. Rich. In fact, I was about to buy
the Platinum series Warlock before coming across Kramer Vanguard FR440S/D at
MusicYo.com and comparing the spec's. I actually came across it by accident.
Just for a goof, I put Kramer Guitars in the search facility and MusicYo.com
popped up. I didn't even know Kramer still made guitars! Well folks, let me tell
you, this guitar will not disappoint!
You see, Kramer
was really big in the 80's because of the likes of Eddie Van Halen and some
others like Paul Dean of Loverboy (boy am I old!). In fact, I still own an '89
Kramer Focus K1000 with a Seymour Duncan double humbucker, so I was quite
pleased to see them still around and owned now by Gibson. After Eddie left
Kramer, I didn't hear much from them and thought they were done. Ok, enough
babbling! Kramer claims that these guitars are "Made to Rock Hard" and are not
built to be used with other styles of music. You want a play like Garth Brooks?
Go buy a Telecaster. So, me being the metal head I am, I put it to the test.
From the moment I pulled the Randy Rhoads-type metallic red "V" out of the case,
I was impressed. It wasn't very heavy, like I expected. I liked the maple neck
and the Rosewood fret board. Call me stubborn, but I would prefer a rosewood
fretboard to anything else because your fingers flow so effortlessly over it. I
started with my standard benchmarks of Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, and a
little Empire from Queensryche. I played it through my Crate GX-30M amp with a
Zoom 505 pedal along for the ride. I then moved on to some Creed and even some
old Def Leppard (the High N Dry days). It gave great sound and I found it very
easy to rip up and down the neck, whether I was at the 5th fret or the 24th.
Lots of 24 fret guitars I have played do not allow real easy access to the 24th
fret when progressing down from the high E-string. I didn't have any problem
here. The reason: the Kramer comes with an elliptical, slim-taper neck which
facilitates fast fingering and very little discomfort. Now, granted, I have
longer fingers than some, so neck size usually isn't a problem for me, but even
if you have short pudgy fingers, (like some reviewers I know!) you should have
no problem blistering through your favorite rock leads with this
puppy.
Why does this model sound so good? The Vanguard comes equipped
with two Quad-Rail Dual Humbucker pick-ups. How are these different? Quad-rail
humbuckers were specially designed to be used with hard rock music. They allow
you to get those real low-crunching sounds some other pickups can't get. In
fact, each pickup actually has two humbuckers or four coils. What does that
mean? Well, when both humbuckers are engaged, you actually have eight coils
working for you instead of four (which sounds really good for Sanitarium or I'm
Broken by Pantera). I found the tone to be very clean without the "hum" you can
get when you find yourself in high-gain situations. I usually found myself
playing the Vanguard with three way switch in the "out" position ( coils closest
to the neck on both pick-ups engaged) because I like a little more of the
"highs" when I play. But it sounds good with four or eight engaged.
What else comes with it? The Vanguard comes standard with a
Floyd Rose locking tremolo system which keeps it all in tune whether you push
the arm to the floor or pull back on it. You can't beat a Floyd when it comes to
tremolos. Kramer has been using them for years and they never disappoint. The
tuning wrenches also store on the back of the upturned headstock so you don't
lose them.
Here are the Spec's:
Model: Vanguard FR440S/D (Floyd Rose, Quad/Quad/Open, Standard, d-Tuna)
- 24 Fret, Elliptical Slim-Taper Neck
- Licensed Floyd Rose Tremolo with EVH D-tuna
- Designed in the USA Quad-Rail Pickups
- Neck: Canadian Hard Maple
- Neck Profile: Elliptical, Slim-Taper
- Construction: Bolt-On
- Body: North American Alder
- Middle Pickup: Quad-Rail Humbucker
- Bridge Pickup: Quad-Rail Humbucker
- Controls: 3-Way Pickup Selector
- Master Volume
- MasterTone with
- Push/Pull "Quad to Dual-Rail" Dual-Tap Mode
- IN: 4 coils x 1 pickups = All 4 coils engaged
- OUT: 2 coils x 1 pickups = 2 coils engaged
(Bridge Pickup only. Coils closest to the neck is engaged)
- Hum-canceling in both positions
- Bridge: Kramer "Floyd Rose" Licensed tremolo with EVH d-Tuna
- Machine Heads: Gotoh SG
- Nut: Locking Floyd Rose
- Nut Width: 1.625"
- Frets: 24 - Jumbo Nickel/Steel
- Headstock: 14 degree pitch
- Reverse
- Fingerboard: 24 fret, Indian Rosewood
- F/B Radius: 16"
- Scale Length: 25.5"
- F/B Inlay: Pearl Dots
- Finishes: Black, Black Metallic, Metallic Blue, Metallic Purple,
Nuclear Yellow, Red, Red Metallic, and White
The other feature that caught my eye was the d-Tuna that comes
standard on the Vanguard. Designed by Eddie Van Halen, the d-Tuna lets you tune
the low E-string to a D with the pull of the lever. It was very easy to install
and keeps everything in tune when going from the E to D and back. You don't have
to fool around with unlocking the neck and tuning strings back and forth. It is
all at your fingertips. The only down side I found to it is that you can't pull
back on the tremelo arm with the d-Tuna installed. Sacrifices must be made,
though.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
I don't know how they can sell this quality-type guitar for
$179.99 when it lists at $699, especialy with the quality hardware that comes
with it. All I can tell you is this is one heck of a guitar for the price. When
you compare the standard equipment on this guitar with others at that price, I
don't see how you can walk away with this beauty and not be thoroughly
satisfied. The choice becomes painfully easy. From it's heavy metal look to its
hard rocking sound, you will enjoy having this axe in the tool shed.
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