Restored an '87 Kramer Pacer American

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Check it out! This guy at work had this '87 Kramer Pacer American sitting in his garage for like 15 years and since he knew I liked Kramers, he said I could have it for free... When I got this thing, it was a piece of shit. Neck and body had disgusting grunge all over them! Black pickguard was beat to shit, all electronics were rusted, Floyd was rusted, action was an inch off the warped neck... I took the thing completely apart and cleaned all the rust off every piece first. Then I had W.D. Music custom cut me a new pickguard out of black pearl. I got all new electronics, including a Suhr Aldrich pickup for the bridge and Suhr Fletcher-Landau single coils and wired the new pickguard. Re-assembled everything and had my tech do a setup and voila:

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Came out pretty good, huh? My co-worker saw it now that it has been restored and I think he's a bit bummed he just gave it away... I offered it back to him for just what I put into it, but he doesn't want to spend all that on it... I think it might work better with a chrome Floyd now, but I'm not gonna waste any more money on this project...

Steve
 
Fantastic job Steve!! Looks awesome!

How did you go about removing any rust on the floyd or other metal parts?
 
tweed":382e8az4 said:
Whoa :inlove:

How does she play now after the setup magic was done?
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Actually plays great now -action is set pretty low or me, but it is a fast comfortable neck...

Steve
 
MrDan666":ru2rosfr said:
Fantastic job Steve!! Looks awesome!

How did you go about removing any rust on the floyd or other metal parts?
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I mix 3 in 1 oil and lighter fluid and soak the parts in it and them a bit of scrubbing takes all the grunge and rust off... The only thing you see on the Floyd fine tuners now is wear marks, no rust...

Getting the years of dust and finger oil grunge off the neck was the hard part - alot of work...

Steve
 
That's cool! I have an '86 Pacer American, no pickguard, that needs some TLC similar to yours. Probably needs a new volume pot, input jack, Floyd work, and probably a new bridge PUP since I never liked the JB too much in there. The stock single coils that were in there are considered to be desirable because they sounded good so don't toss them! I think they are Duncans, not sure which model. Some people drop them into Strats and really think they sound great.

BTW does the Aldrich PUP come w/o a cover?
 
How are the FL's? I've debated getting a set for my kramer. Does the Aldrich balance well with them?

ps - nice work!
 
jaybird":7xwkppla said:
That's cool! I have an '86 Pacer American, no pickguard, that needs some TLC similar to yours. Probably needs a new volume pot, input jack, Floyd work, and probably a new bridge PUP since I never liked the JB too much in there. The stock single coils that were in there are considered to be desirable because they sounded good so don't toss them! I think they are Duncans, not sure which model. Some people drop them into Strats and really think they sound great.

BTW does the Aldrich PUP come w/o a cover?
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Cool info - the original single coil pole pieces were really rusty - I got them as clean as I could, but still pretty bad. They sounded horrible in this guitar and aso did the bridge pickup. Real mushy...

The Aldrich does come without a cover in black and zebra...

Steve
 
ratter":3qis7igs said:
How are the FL's? I've debated getting a set for my kramer. Does the Aldrich balance well with them?

ps - nice work!
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I like the FLs so far - I need a bit more time to experiment with them though... As far as volume balance, they seem to be a good match with the Aldrich...

Steve
 
fletcher landau =

blang

looks great stevarino!
does the brown floyd rose stay in tune ok? :D
 
mentoneman":wiquz4uz said:
fletcher landau =

blang

looks great stevarino!
does the brown floyd rose stay in tune ok? :D
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Thanks, brudda...

Brown Floyd... :lol: :LOL: Argh... you're not gonna make me put a new chrome Floyd in there are ya?

Steve
 
sah5150":rl2ncb3l said:
mentoneman":rl2ncb3l said:
fletcher landau =

blang

looks great stevarino!
does the brown floyd rose stay in tune ok? :D
Click to expand...

Thanks, brudda...

Brown Floyd... :lol: :LOL: Argh... you're not gonna make me put a new chrome Floyd in there are ya?

Steve
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chrome might be too glitzy...black or gold....

i had a zion with an old rusty floyd on it and it was easier keeping water dry than trying to keep that afflicted hunk in tune.

i wonder how you could restore the black color of the parts?

soak them in shoe polish? just curious? too bad you couldn't buy sharpie ink in a bottle!
 
Nahh, don't change it! (Assuming it works ok.) That Floyd's got character.
 
Nice job, can't believe how much time and money you must have put into that guitar. Where are the clips you playing the guitar though?
 
I think the only thing I might consider is black single coil covers. Bad ass otherwise.
 
Looks cool, I really like the look of the covered humbucker. Great job on the restore! :rock:
 
blackba":3igg9tz3 said:
Nice job, can't believe how much time and money you must have put into that guitar. Where are the clips you playing the guitar though?
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I never actually play them.

Steve
 
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