Kramer Assault 220
single cut solid body electric guitar
The history of Kramer Guitars began in the mid-1970s. In 1982, Kramer raced to the head of the pack in the emerging “heavy metal” market when they cemented an exclusive distribution deal with Floyd Rose. Kramer became the first Guitar Brand to introduce the world to the new and revolutionary Floyd Rose Locking Tremolos. The Floyd Rose equipped Kramer guitars were incredible guitars loaded with additional features like Schaller tuners and Seymour Duncan pickups, way ahead of their time and made Kramer the clear favorite of the 80’s metal guitar players.
Kramer’s artist roster quickly rose to house the biggest, baddest, meanest, loudest, fastest, and best Guitar Stars in the world. The Kramer roster was obviously led by Eddie Van Halen, who took the Kramer and Floyd Rose combination to heights never even conceived by existing guitarists. The story goes like this – Eddie had been interested in finding a tremolo that stayed in tune, which would be more stable and versatile and than existing tremolos. When a meeting between Eddie Van Halen and Kramer execs took place, Eddie was quickly sold on the opportunity and he reportedly quipped that he would help make Kramer the “#1 guitar company in the world.”
Well, that did happen! Kramer became the world’s best selling guitar in the mid-80s, completely outselling the historic and iconic Gibson and Fender brands.
Kramer 1984
In addition to Van Halen, Kramer players included a who’s who of rock guitarists, including Ritchie Sambora, Mick Mars, Vivian Campbell, and many, many more!
Ironically, 11 Years ago, the Gibson Guitar Company bought the revered Kramer brand, which, by then, was completely defunct. Kramer had risen so quickly to guitar brand dominance only to have the same type of exciting ride which led the brand’s sad demise. The king of guitar brands slowly burnt out almost as quickly as it began. Being a leader in worldwide guitar manufacturing themselves, Gibson knew the brand was something special, and also that they could once again bring the brand back to being a leader in the industry. Since the time of the Kramer purchase, Gibson has reissued many of the historic Kramer models, which allowed Gibson’s guitar making prowess to make the products EVEN BETTER than the originals! In addition, Gibson has “Kramerised” some of the more traditional shapes and come up with stunners such as the Assault series.
Today, Kramer is poised once again to take metal by the horns. With Kramer’s newest and baddest models ever, it is the leanest, meanest shred division of the Gibson family, offering modern design innovations as well as classic features that hail back to the era that once made and will make it again king of Metal.
The new Assault single cut 220 will take you for your own historic ride on one of the world’s best and most famous guitar brands in the world…strap it on, plug it in, then…hang on!
