A couple of days ago the UPS truck showed up with my Long lost Guitar .
 
Man , I'm really stoked to have my guitar back after 25 years ...
 
Thank You Pat for keeping her safe all those years and giving her back to me 
 
The short story ,
 
In 1986 The president of Kramer guitars Dennis Berardi decided to give me a good will Kramer endorsement guitar as a gift  ...
Dennis had sent his limo to my place in NYC to get me . I wound up in Neptune N J for a one on one Kramer factory tour ...
Before we went to his guitar factory Dennis decided to see if I had the stones to endure some G forces in his Porsche
WOW, That is one ride I will never forget
 
Once we got to the factory , Dennis told me I could have any guitar I wanted in his whole factory with the exception of The Ripley ...
(The Ripley was the single hex pick up w six pan pots ..)
I hung out for a couple of hours , played a bunch of Kramer guitars and picked up a Kramer Pacer American w case ...
The guitar I got spoke to me on a lot of levels and I was very happy to pick the guitar I picked ...
Even by today's standards and with what I have use of guitar wise , this guitar still holds it's own and then some
Thank you for the guitar Dennis
 
Rather than type out the guitars specs , I hope to post a few pics in the next few days ...once the shock of it all has subsided a little bit
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny

There seems to be one, small part of that story missing Kenny...  How did you wind up without the guitar for 25 years?  Did you have to give it back when the endorsement was over?
 
Also, did you try out any of the guitars with the aluminum necks?  It seemed so weird to try a guitar where the neck was heavier than the body!

Merry Christmas Kenny!!
 
Very nice story and what a great way to start off the Christmas season.
 
(Have you posted the song yet (using the Kramer)? )

Very cool Kenny. Look forward to the pics and rest of story.

It's pat!

craigb
There seems to be one, small part of that story missing Kenny...  How did you wind up without the guitar for 25 years?  Did you have to give it back when the endorsement was over?
 
Also, did you try out any of the guitars with the aluminum necks?  It seemed so weird to try a guitar where the neck was heavier than the body!

I left my OP  a little ambiguous to keep the verbiage down  ....
I very rarely talk about this but if you really want to know ....
The circumstances in my personal life at that time were becoming rather tumultuous 
I had been sober for a few years and when I had gotten the guitar my unborn son was in the womb of my live in GF ....
Once Kenny Jr was born his mom  hit in her own life a severe case of postpartum depression ...
She was not from the US , she was from another country and she was from a social culture where seeking outside help such as therapy / counseling  was considered a sign of weakness ...
As a result of that mind set we started to grow incompatible ...
She had some vacation time from her work so she asked me if it was OK for her to go back to her country for a one month visit to be with her family ...
I was OK w that and I gave her my consent to bring our child for the visit . I thought it would do us all good ..
Absences make the heart grow fonder ? right ?
When the month was up I was looking forward to being with my family . In reality I came home to an empty home ...
She came back and left my son in her country ....I did not consent to that ....nor was I happy about that unexpected turn of events ...
Her country does not recognize US law nor is bound to the US from a constitutional stand point of view ...
So that chapter of my life was spent dealing with navigating 2 separate country's legal issues ....
The long and the short of it is I couldn't force here to bring my son back unless I wanted to hire mercenary's to kidnap my son from her country and  people ....in the US I had no legal options until my son was on US soil ...
To cut to the chase , after dealing w this / all the issues that were involved for a number of years I waked away ...
I have not seen my son a lot more years than I haven't had my guitar
 
As far as my guitar went , my friend Pat held on to both my endorsement guitars ( Kramer & Guild ) he also lent me a little bit of money to keep me floating w the understanding that the guitars where still mine
 
Regarding the / my  endorsements
2 presidents of 2 US guitar company's gave me top of the line guitars to play ... 
As far as the types of endorsements I had , they are what I like to call good will endorsements ...
Both Guild and Kramer had high profile Artists that endorsed and played their guitars . Both company's also spent money on press for these artists ....
In my case the guitars themselves I received were the gift these 2 president's wanted to give me 
no press involved ......just a lot of good will and good Karma ....
One thing that most people don't know about Kenny is that I used to play out a lot and I'm very tight lipped about
some of the people I have played with ....I'm totally a relic from the pre internet days
Maybe folks would like to hear about what it was like for me to go over to the players house that played the solo to Reeling in the Years  ...and playing on the exact guitar he used for that record   ...
I'm just not that guy who likes to talk about it .or brag..so I'm gonna take it to the grave ....
 
I'm just happy I got my guitar back
 
as far as metal neck guitars go , yeah I've played them and liked them ....just not on cold days ..
 
all the best,
 
Kenny
 
 

Picture, or it didn't happen. You know the rules now, Kenneth.

Mesh
Merry Christmas Kenny!!
 
Very nice story and what a great way to start off the Christmas season.
 
(Have you posted the song yet (using the Kramer)? )

Hi Mesh ,
 
Merry Christmas to you
 
Yes getting my guitar back was an unexpected Christmas gift .....
My 30 year old Kramer still had the same strings I left on it 25 years ago
I put new strings on it and I've been playing it for the past few days ...
I honestly wish I can get it together enough to post a new tune using this guitar ...
it spanks the living cwap out of my Les
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny
 

spacey
Very cool Kenny. Look forward to the pics and rest of story.

spacey , thanks for the support
I'm OK w sharing the pics ...just don't laugh at how I decorated my guitar ...it was the 80's
back then people did weird things to their guitars ....
 

bitman

Picture, or it didn't happen. You know the rules now, Kenneth.

 
bitman , pics or it didn't happen I'm busted
 
here's some low rez pics I just took ....using my zoom ....
 
original Floyd Rose w fine tuners ....
30 Year Old Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck bridge pick up  w a coil tap

 
Low serial number
 
 

 
you cant see it but there is no scarf joint .....one piece neck
 

 
Back in the day I decorated my axe this way , I don't expect people to dig it .....
I dig it ...it's pretty tame for the 80's ....no stripes or fur looks good under the lights

 
30 year old Seymour Duncan neck pick up , I reversed the poles since that's the location of the harmonics ...
The pick up may be a 59 or a Jazz ...I don't remember ....
 

 
another low light front shot
 

 
fuzzy back of the guitar shot ...
 

 
Head stock pic

 
I do have the original Kramer case ...I used it for my Strat and I had given my friend the Kramer in a gig bag .
 
The basic down low on this guitar is there is a lot here for me to like ...
The hardware was top shelf for the day , Floyd Rose bridge w locking nut , Schaller tuners, Seymour Duncan pickups ...
Kramer had switched over to Ash and Maple bodies around this time ( yet  I'm not sure what she is made out of ) 
I do know this guitar itself weighs about 10 pounds ...
The rosewood fingerboard is beefy and thick ...The frets are jumbo w no wear ...
The neck is perfectly straight and did not need an adjustment ....
The tone knob for my neck pick up went MIA and I'm OK w it ...
While playing this guitar there is a lot of natural sustain and The tone is definitely there ,
 
thanks guys for showing an interest in my guitar
 
Kenny
 

Wow, tough story there Kenny!  That would certainly have most people singin' the Blues, yet you play Jazz instead so that's pretty telling of the stuff you're made of! 
 
As for the guitar, looks like a player to me.  I never judge the decorations when it's done to look good on stage.  Things usually have to be over the top there!