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Let me begin by saying this. I cannot BELIEVE this guitar sells for $179. It is by far the best guitar I have purchased in the last 5 years. I am not saying the best in its price range, (which it is...) I mean the best guitar overall. They would sell easily for $299 and no one would question it. Fit and finish is fabulous. Neck is very comfortable. The pickup is kick A$$ at this level. What a deal for this classic 80's axe re-released!

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I hadn’t bought a new guitar in 15 years and I was looking to buy a real cheap guitar to try my hand at learning to do some fretwork and other semi advanced setup and luthiering before attempting anything on my Les or Martin. This is not that guitar! The only thing I was able to do was lube the nut with some graphite to keep it in tune while using the tremolo. I can not believe the quality of this Guitar at this price.In 1984 I was 13 and lusted after a blue Kramer Baretta, The store wouldnt even let me play it because it was so obviously out of my price range. I highly doubt it played as good as this one.It’s only shortcoming is the single humbucker. By design a single humbucker doesn’t leave much room for sound manipulation; but I love that simplicity.(Zzounds, Why am I required to submit a manufacturer support rating when I’ve needed no manufacturing support ? )

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This guitar is well worth the money. Quality all around and other than the normal issues with a vintage six screw tremolo (no issues if you don't dive bomb), a great no-nonsense player. Paint is great, the nut was done very, very well. I DID however have to file a high fret, but in this price range I expected that. The stock pickup sounds great. Neck is thin and comfortable and the "cool" factor of finally owning a Kramer (as a teen I couldn't afford one back in 1987) can't be beat.

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Fantastic guitar. I purchased it with the intentions to rip the pickup out, but I plugged it in, and changed my mind. The stock pickup is killer. Very cutting and angular. Just what I needed. The finish is great, and the neck VERY comfortable. If you are looking for a light guitar, pass on this one. It's a mahogany body, with a strat style trem, and it's NOT light. If you're looking for a cool, killer 80's machine, this is the guitar for you.

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I'm really impressed. The neck is thin, fast and silky smooth. There was zero fret sprout, the frets are smoothly finished and the fretboard grain is so tight and smooth it's easily mistaken for ebony. The color is a little more yellow than I expected, but it looks great and the finish is flawless. I don't really use the tremolo so I can't speak for that. I have many guitars, but this one easily jumps straight into my top tier at any price. I can't believe it's this cheap.

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Wow for the $179 i paid this is a real impressive axe! I wanted a back up to my old original 84 baretta but did not want to spend the money they are going for these days.Anyway no i wont compare it to the original but on its own it is a amazing guitar for the EVH thing!

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This guitar was the most satisfying right out of the box than any other guitar I have purchased. I'm impressed. The one and only complaint I have is the volume seems to thin out the sound rather than reducing the output. I bought this as a project to be upgraded for fun. honestly, it's great the way it is. I should have purchased two.

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This Guitar has incredible sound, I have this Guitar in Black, Vintage White and Red, I keep them all original except the factory strings which are not bad at all, but I enjoy using Zacc Wylde signature strings instead. This Guitar is 100% Guarantee to impress the beginners and Expert Players, Ive been playing for 17+ Years and I recommend everyone have one of these in there collection.

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Simple......I purchased the Kramer Baretta Special to scavenge the body, pickup and tuners from for an EVH project guitar. Let me just say, I really wasn't expecting anything special in this price range, but WOW, this is an awesome bang for the buck. The neck is nice and straight, and the frets on my Kramer were dressed very well......BIG surprise. I'm a full-time luthier, and I give this guitar a solid thumbs up. No, it's NOT a vintage, USA-made Kramer, but neither is the price tag!

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Perfect guitar for what I play.

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I've always thought these looked cool with their single tiled bridge humbucker, so I picked one up. I am surprised this thing was only $180 before tax. It is made in Indonesia and it must have been made by one of the good workshops over there, because as simple as this guitar is, the fit and finish is amazing. The tuning machines are good quality, move very freely but also hold tune very well. The mahogany body is very solid, the black gloss finish on the body is free of blemishes and is very even and consistent. The finish on the back of the neck is very sleek feeling under my thumb. The fretwork is flawless. All the frets on mine are level and crowned properly. The ends are filed to prefection, absolutely zero sharp fret ends. The nut is a black plastic nut, so nothing fancy there, but it is filed to a perfect depth and the slots hug the strings nicely. I can't exactly speak to the quality of the tremolo bridge as I don't really make use of them, but it seems good and stays in tune (though I don't use it so I can't speak to how well it holds tune if you use it a lot). I'm not sure of the output of the alnico 5 humbucker but it sounds great and the tilted angle does indeeed seem to lend it a bit more bass than a normal bridge pickup, but without making it sound muddy. This guitar has me wondering why people buy something like a Rogue as a "beginner" guitar for a kid when you could get something like this for the same price or cheaper that is of much higher build quality and looks much cooler in my opinion. Best sub-$200 new guitar I've ever gotten hands down.

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Well.....this is the most bang for the buck I have ever gotten out of a guitar. The first thing that comes to my mind is it is just fun to play! I received it last Saturday and played it thru Labor Day weekend. Great sound out of the box, even the clean tones are awsome and the sustain is impressive! Great setup out of the box and it just feels good in your hands! I do like the pickup but I'm changing that out to a EVH Frankenstein this weekend. I plan on getting a black one soon and maybe put an EMG in that one! I didn't realize this was an "Editor's Pick" in Guitar Magazine until after I made the purchase....that is always a plus! Bottom line.....every player should have one of these in their arsenal....you can't go wrong! (zZounds was great with fast shipping!)

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I've been studying and playing jazz guitar for 58 yrs. I wanted a little "hot rod" to rekindle my fusion playing. This guitar is worth so much more than the $179.00!! It arrived in perfect shape! I have no complaints at all. I made a couple of minor adjustments, just to suit my own taste. 100% satisfied!!

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Was very impressed of how easy it is to play.really nice fast playing neck.the alnico pickup is really good.i did not replace it .it sounds good like it is perfect for van Halen songs.i did loosen the springs on the whammy and took the middle spring out.put a graphite nut on it now the whammy stays in tune.is comparable to many high end guitars.great deal.

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I purchased this a Month ago from ZZsounds,she arrived in perfect shape. I have had vintage Kramers in the past and had heard good things about this guitar so I took the plunge and bought it sight unseen(hard to find a Gibson-made Kramer in stores).First, the guitar was perfect, fretwork nice(some have complained of sharp fret ends) paint high quality, hardware exceptional( remember, this is a very affordable guitar). I love the thin, fast neck, and Kramer got the hockey-stick head and vintage decal just right.The real value was in the zebra humbucker, wow! This pickup sounds great on this axe, clear, loud, no mud if height is adjusted right. I have 5 other guitars, all of them custom, and the Kramer receives regular rotation, it will even play Chet-style clean with a Fender reverb setting on the pedal. Vintage Kramer aficionados complain it has no Floyd Rose, I don't like FR and the Strat style bridge tremolo worked great. I would consider this guitar to be one of the best deals out there, better get one before the price goes up!

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I purchased this guitar mostly for the price and reviews. My ex wife took my electric guitar collection, and I just wanted to play! So at this price point, I didn’t expect much, but to my delight this guitar was a steal, best guitar under $200 period. I’ve bought plenty of guitars online over the years, and every single one of them needed a little work before they were playable, tighten some screws and nuts, intonate, nut sauce, sometimes file a fret or 2, but I didn’t have to do much with this thing, it came with zero sharp frets, action is perfect, the electronics are cheap but decent.I can’t really say much on the tremolo because I’m not a fan of tremolos, I just tighten the springs until they don’t budge and throw the whammy bar in my parts drawer. The neck is nice and thin, I’ll probably end up sanding it and using an oil finish, because I’m not a fan of gloss necks. In the future I’ll throw locking tuners, a shadow kill pot, and a bare knuckle Blackhawk ceramic pickup in, but for now it’s good enough for me. I suggest grabbing one of these while they’re so low in price, because it feels more like $500-$750 guitars I’ve had in the past.P.S. the first thing to do if you get this guitar is snip off the cap on the volume pot! Trust me.

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K so I waited a while and glad I did, they sent me a light one, and a very resonant one..mods... stainless PRS style trem mount screws, elevated the leading edge of trem 1/8th" leveled up trem plate, graphite saddles, graphite nut, NYXL'sit has wild tremolo up and down, once I used some nut sauce on the bridge n nut it stays in tune well, sometimes a sting will grab but I just push o pull on bar with a flick it goes back, I need to work on the nut and V out the back side of the nut as the strings are not straight back, they come off the back of nut at an angle so i cam going to open up the nut next string change and that should be cured 100%, that's a good trick even for Gibsons with 17 degree angle head stocks, angle that nut slot down and the same angle and v it out ever so slightly so the string is very free.. graphite!... WORKS!verdict? plays like a BEAST, sounds like a BEAST, best value yet, IMHO better than the classic vibes and that says a lot..I only have one question, do you have a dark rosewood finger board that's light? I am ready to pull the trigger on that one too...TY ZZS, Dee

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I purchased this guitar for my son. I had a set-up done on it by my small, local guitar shop and the people there LOVED this guitar. We will be replacing the pickup with a "hotter" DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup only to better match another guitar he uses (there was nothing wrong). Hey, for the money we saved buying this guitar we can afford the $65.00 upgrade. The ratings are based on the price and my experience with the guitar.

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This is a great rock guitar! If you use only the bridge pickup and never touch the tone knob, this guitar is for you!

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Best 179 guitar on the market. Blow's away3&4,.hundred dollar guitars on the market .wow factor the purple paint &ruby red.it looks pink.i got both of them.nice neck. Fits in the Kramer logo guitar case they sell..zZounds is easy to work with one payment on your card &they ship it.i will modify. them out in a few months nice trem .pickup,&a bone nut. 80s is back

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This is a great guitar to modify and up grade, for the money you'd be hard pressed to find a diy kit , the neck is awesome ! Mild set up and you can't and for a more playable guitar , couple of thing's you would expect for a guitar in this price range , once the action is set the adjustment screw's on the tremolo will be stick up a bit digging into your palm " easy fix " , the tremolo spring's are cranked down very tight , backing off the tension makes the tremolo much easier to use , the Tuner's are horrible easily a 1/4 turn slack in the adjustment , the volume is pretty much off or on , removing the capacitor on the volume pot eleviates that problem and makes the pickup sound respectable, overall for the price it will be hard to beat , I'm adding a Floyd Rose , decent Tuner's and upgrading the pickup and electrics and will be ordering a couple more , for the beginner this just needs a proper set-up , killer deal.

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Out of the box , the guitar plays very good , I did do a setup too my preferences and it plays like butter with action as low as my high end guitars , the hardware is as expected " Low End " the tuner's have a lot of backlash , tightening the knobs helped considerably , the Tremolo is standard Strat style, good luck keeping it in tune with anything other than mild vibrato , it sounds very good and this price point , fit and finish are well above it's price. This Guitar begs to be modified , I added a Floyd Rose , Edwards behind the nut lock , Graphite Nut and a slightly hotter pickup , I painted it EVH 5150 style , It's a Hot Rod ! I have less than $500 in it " not counting my time " The Guitar is Awesome for the money even bone stock , I'm buying a few more

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I purchased this guitar mostly for the price and reviews. My ex wife took my electric guitar collection, and I just wanted to play! So at this price point, I didn’t expect much, but to my delight this guitar was a steal, best guitar under $200 period. I’ve bought plenty of guitars online over the years, and every single one of them needed a little work before they were playable, tighten some screws and nuts, intonate, nut sauce, sometimes file a fret or 2, but I didn’t have to do much with this thing, it came with zero sharp frets, action is perfect, the electronics are cheap but decent.I can’t really say much on the tremolo because I’m not a fan of tremolos, I just tighten the springs until they don’t budge and throw the whammy bar in my parts drawer. The neck is nice and thin, I’ll probably end up sanding it and using an oil finish, because I’m not a fan of gloss necks. In the future I’ll throw locking tuners, a shadow kill pot, and a bare knuckle Blackhawk ceramic pickup in, but for now it’s good enough for me. I suggest grabbing one of these while they’re so low in price, because it feels more like $500-$750 guitars I’ve had in the past.P.S. the first thing to do if you get this guitar is snip off the cap on the volume pot! Trust me.

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Resived 11 days before my April 30th B-day,it a well made guitar delivery in safe secure box it nit that yellow like the picture but it's nice it's worth the price and then some why it did not cost alot I don't know but the consumer wins on buying this guitar made in Indonesia and there good and making guitars over thereakso companion that's might be why this is a great guitar might do a tuner macian swap but will see 100 % satisfaction I highly recommend but please buy hear at zzounds I'm treated like a Rock Star the custermer service is awsrm I'm going to tone down on emailing them to much but like always I have purchased all my gear with zzound I my book there number one and they know this business highly professional so support Zzound where my dreams have been helped by zzound so great guitar ,great service and no going threw a credit report...RocknRollFlat5

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Just got my Baretta Special guitar in black and all I can say is "Your kidding Me". I have played guitar for 50 years and have gone through so many brands, models of top name and bargain types of guitars. I have overpaid for some and gotten good deals on others. I mod guitars all the time to my taste. This guitar out of the box was intonated, perfect action, fit and finish top notch. Tuners are fine, neck is thin and fast. Best deal I have had in years, can't stop playing it! Hard to believe this is my 1st Kramer after so many years.

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I had heard about everyone talking about getting these guitars and modding them. And I had planned on doing the same. However when I got it I couldn't get over how good it sounded and played! I threw some Jersey Stars on it and its now one of my everyday players. This is a fantastic bargain and a fantastic shredding machine! I love Kramer Guitars and all of their updated line. Get one before they are gone!

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I own guitars 5X the price that sound only slightly better. That’s saying a lot. After a setup to my personal preference, 10 gauge string and floating the trem with added amazon higher ratio locking tuners I spend extra $25 for. This thing plays awesome. Also the popular mod to remove the capacitor / resistor it had on the pot really works lol.You won’t regret it!

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Playable right out of the box. Within 30 mins I put a new set of strings on and had the guitar set up to my liking. The neck, frets and the Alnico V pickup are the stand outs on this guitar. Add a little gain, verb and delay and this pickup growls and sings. Back the volume off and it cleans up nicely. Trust me, it will be the best $179 - $199 you will ever spend for a guitar.

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Surprised is my first impression. From the moment I started to fiddle with this guitar I could not believe the ease of playing and great sound I got out of this thing. I bought this guitar as a throw around thinking it was a cheap turd, but not the case.

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I took a chance on this guitar from seeing how cool it looked in the photos. Other than it needing a simple truss rod adjustment due to buzz in the lower frets, this guitar is more than worth the $179 it goes for. The fret work is done excellently. Plays great, looks great, is great. I own 8 electrics ranging in price from $2800 to $165. The Kramer Baretta Special is worthy of being in anyones collection. No, it's not my Custom Shop LP 58 reissue... but still a super cool guitar that I'm glad I took the chance on.

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Pros:1. Great price.2. Excellent stock pickup for a low end guitar.3. Solid body.4. Decent neck.5. A modders dream guitar.5. Good fret work and leveling.Cons:1. Tuners are poor.2. Plastic nut, but that's to be expected with a low end guitar.3. Terrible tremolo system and tuning stability.4. The treble bleed capacitor make this guitar volume either on or off, no dynamics at all.5. My volume pot was defective and would only sound proper if I adjusted it to about 1.5 level. Anything over that it sounded weird and anything under that it turn the pickup off.Overall this is a bargain guitar with a bad economy at the moment. At the moment I have the guitar in a repair shop to replace the pickup with a DiMarzio Super Distortion, to install a new pot, treble bleed cap and to set up the action. I contacted zZounds about the issue with the pot and they were not willing to help me at all so their customer support service is horrible these days considering it used to be good. They told me to go to Gibson for support when the purchase was less than 2 weeks old. Do they realize I could have just returned the guitar and made them lose a sale completely? I guess they don't care that they just lost a potential future customer.

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CORRECTION OF OTHER REVIEWS REGARDING VOLUME KNOB - Some reviewers say the volume knob only works as on/off, which is incorrect. I immediately checked this on my Fender Super Champ tube amp and the volume knob rolls off both volume and distortion as expected. Very sweet! Not sure what amps those reviewers were using but most solid state amps won't allow volume roll-off from guitar knob. Wanted to make it clear that it does! Now for the review! No way can I buy shoes or clothes online for fear something won't feel right, and I always felt the same way about guitars. How do you buy a guitar without playing it first? Well, for less than $180, and a proven no-hassle return policy I decided to go with the positive reviews and try this Kramer out. While waiting for it to arrive I was sure it was a mistake and I would be disappointed. Even up to the moment I finally got it out of the well-packaged shipping box. But WOW it was just as all the positive reviews said, and then some!

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Amazing guitar! Set up is perfect! Frets are perfect! Action is perfect! The pickup shreds! It’s amazing ! I’m in love! Better than some $1500 guitars I have owned! This is my first Kramer and now I am sold for ever ! This thing SHREDS!

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As the owner of many vintage Kramer Barettas, I was looking for a guitar that played reasonably close to my originals, that I could hammer the heck out of without worrying about. In short? This kicks world-class @ss. Monster pickup, and killer actions and intonation as shipped. Luthier handed it back and said "nothing needs to be done" which was a first. Find myself laughing every time I plug in while looking at guitars that cost 10/20X+ as much hanging on the wall...that aren't even close. Love these things and ordering a few more. Knocked it out of the park with these!

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I have gotten several other ACG's from Indonesia, but WOW! This guitar is beautiful, plays and sounds like it should cost at least 50% more! I love the simplicity of the single humbucker with volume! The real deal! DO IT!

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I did my homework on this guitar before I made my purchase so I knew pretty much what to expect. The body and neck/frets are outstanding and I was surprised at the quality of the stock pickup. But just as every review I read, I knew the tuning pegs had issues, actually the guitar with stock tuners is virtually unplayable. Worst tuners I've ever seen. But once those were replaced with some Gotoh locking tuners and a Tusk graphite nut- no problems. Stock trem is quite functional but just doesn't look proper on this guitar, so I went with a Babicz full contact trem and threw in a Seymore Duncan Black winter and Oh yeah! Got the guitar in purple for my little head banger granddaughter and can't wait to see her sawing peoples heads off with this beast.

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For the price you can't go wrong. A simple and well built guitar. I was expecting less for the price to be honest but was shocked when I played it.

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This guitar is unbelievable. Neck is perfect for faster runs and power chords both. Mine was near perfectly set up and slightly out of tune. Pickup is just as good as any other. The red is pinkish but in a good 80s way. The simplicity is a bonus for me also, there’s no knobs or switches to get hung up on while strumming. Kramer hit a grand slam with this guy. The price is icing on the cake….

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Out of the box, this guitar was set up better then my US Strat. Small intonation adjustment and the was it, but that might have been due to me putting on my preferred strings. . Fret board is nice and flat, similar to a Charvel (little smaller frets). The neck has a comfortable C shape. The body and paint is nicely done. The pickup is great considering the price range. I wish there were more colors so I could get another. Unbeatable for this price. Weight is nice and it feels solid. Cannot believe how impressed I am with this guitar. It was just going to be a practice/stand by but I don't want to put this down.

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Perfect sexy looking finnish. Nice smoth feeling neck. Fast finish on the back not to glossy. Low action no string buzz. Very snapy and punchy. Nice long lasting pinch harmonics that sustain forever. Have 2 30 yr old kramers and jacksons. When i pick a string i feel the vibration forever in the body and neck. So much better sustain than my originals. Was thinking as most do install New S D pup.Na Im gona leave it. Love !!!!

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This guitar surprised me how good it is as far as quality goes. I figured it would have to be modded to make it good (due to being a child of the 80's when cheap guitars were made of plywood and that included Kramer) not the case at all. The neck feels great and the factory pickup isn't bad either. I modded mine to include an EMG 81, all black hardware and locking tuners. You can make this guitar into what you want and still not break the bank, which is why I bought it.

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This was my 3rd attempt at getting my 9 yo a playable guitar. DO NOT buy an Ibanez GRGM21 GiO Mikro Electric Guitar. It was garbage. I got this one and was a little worried at first because the neck did not match the ebony one in the picture. This is the vintage white model. I tuned it and plugged it in and was blown away. When I was 15 there was no way to get a quality instrument at this price! Played great out of the box. Stays in tune which is important for a kid. One volume one humbucker. This is such a value would recommend anyone buy this if you need a travel second guitar.

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UPS guy hands it to me. Get it in the house. Outer packaging... perfect. Inner box... perfect. Strings might be from Dollar Tree ??? It's very DRY. Back of neck, fretboard, even the strings ... extremely dry. I like the pickup. Tuners, and Bridge, not so usable... But I did expect that. I thought it was supposed to be made in Indonesia? Mine says, "made in China". I do like it. BUT, there were NO allen keys. I did get 3 stickers. I'm gonna buy 9 more.

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I’ve owned a Kramer Beretta Special for about a couple years now. It’s one of the better “budget” guitars out there. The straight and solid neck alone was almost worth the $179.99 they want for this 7.0 pound rock machine. The Rosewood fretboard is finished almost as smooth as Ebony! The wonders of CNC milling... The frets came polished and dressed very nicely with no sharp edges whatsoever. Tuners are so-so, but it stays in tune very well. I’ve read the p/u is an uncovered Epiphone 498T-clone. Whatever p/u they are using, it sounds great. Not overly midrangy for a p/u which ohms out at about 16k at the cord jack.After I got it, I put Ernie Ball 0.10s on it, locked down the bridge, dropped the action quite low (without any buzz whatsoever), set the neck relief, adjusted the p/u height, unsoldered one leg of the bright-cap, intonated it with a Peterson Strobe, and it’s my #2 favorite guitar to play out of a bunch of them.Through a Marshall DSL100HR and a 40 year old Marshall 1982a cabinet, it nails early Van Halen with ease. When I play it through the full Marshall stack, it gives me goosebumps. It sounds that good! I prefer to play my Les Pauls, but when I need to get my 80s/90s hard rock and metal on, this is my go-to rock guitar.

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I was so stressed trying to find my son the exact guitar he wanted in the stores at reasonable price! I found this website via a google search and I am love! Will keep buying from here.

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I like the vintage white offerings . Altho the colored maple necks are killer also but the warmth and tonal abiance of the early mahogany specials are very diffrent in sound and vibratory impedence. The stock pickup is really good. Just seems every time i score one sombody likes it so much i end up leaving it behind and give it away . Im on my 4TH now and only have one to show for myself. Their that good. Out of the box their great. No sharp frets.all rolled nice. Trem bar can keep tune if you know what to do. A claw ajustment with 5 springs and Lube is the key. Keep the nut wet and the pivot points wet with pencil dust and gun oil and dive away. A classic at birth and it seems they have a greater resale value than the new cost here . This is a pro able axe my freinds . And not a life changing if lost stolen or damaged or gifted at this price .~sIXx

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This guitar is made in Indonesia so you know it’s PT Samick. As far as important Guitars you can’t get much better than that. If I remember correctly Kramer is distributed through Gibson Guitars. As far as the color goes it’s more pink than red.

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Unreal that this is $179. Good tone, good neck. It even stays in tune for awhile.. Ive had $500 guitars that werent as good as this. Get it you wont regret it.

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Let me start out by saying, review is based mainly on price.And I bought it only to use as 2nd guitar for tuning purposes.I didn't want to spend a lot of $ cause theres only a few songs I need it for. Ill go in reverse order of ratings. The wow factor,4 stars.Only because I wish it was white.Its like a yellow tint white.Love the looks of the hockey stick headstock,&p/u Value,5 stars.cmon its $180.Brand New Ease of use 4 stars.I don't use a tremolo,so I was going to block the tremolo and tighten down the bridge,I didn't have to.If you don't know about tremolos,there 2, like this & floyd type.I don't use either but hate the Floyd type, because its made to go both ways,[floating].& theres a half inch space open in the back which constantly is a hassle in so many ways,pressure on strings,locking nut,tuning,etc,@ least this type you can lay flush against guitar body,[which it already was] tighten claw screws,[which was already done] and tune to different tunings with ease because theres no locking nut to deal wither added pressure on the strings.*NOTE if you use the tremolo hard,this is NOT the guitar for you*it will NOT stay in tune, its made for very slight use.and make sure the tremolo claw screws are adjusted for use. Sound 4 stars.I think it sounds fine,No need to upgrade p/u Manufacturer Support,2 Gibson I guess owns Kramer?didnt no that, cause you go thru Gibson website,I asked 2 questions about the tuners,took them 3 days to respond,and they didn't have the info on this model to answer the question anyway, not good. Quality 4 stars.Only due to A&D Strings set very high,& saddle screws were crooked.which wasn't a huge deal,novice would be fine with it.I set up all my own guitars anyway so no big deal.The problem came with the set up.Very poorly installed cheap saddle screws, and wrench, the strings were set so high,& un even & the saddle threads were already stripped.Adjusting the string height,& leveling the saddle screws was a nightmare. Features 4 mainly because I wish it was available w/o tremolo.but love the headstock, and 1 slanted p/u.I can't go into wanting an ebony fretboard, locking tuners because obviously its a $180 guitar. OVERALL, 4.3 stars..with throwing out the support rating.Thanx to Kramer to offer a guitar under $200 that doesn't feel or sound like tin.when you pick up the guitar, you know its built well,and when you plug it in it sounds good.The only things keeping this from being ranked 5.stars is the off white color and cheaply installed bridge pieces.

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Just received mine today. Set up was perfect pick up has a great tone a definite bang for the buck

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Absolutely blown away. Way better than I ever thought it would be. Was going to switch the pickup. But no need. This thing sounds amazing. Buy one. Hell, buy 2. Worth every penny

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I have read reviews on this particular series and will be making a purchase. Kramer is the first brand to endorse Eddie Van Halen, and,it was good enough for him then I'm in..

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The good: Solid guitar, great sounding pickup. The neck was in good condition and very straight with good frets, which is crucial for practice. The bad: Nut was overly sticky and The pencil trick did not really fix it. I think the slotting might be a little strange too, and it doesn't really stay in tune at all even with gentle playing. The intonation is impossible to set because I think they drilled the bridge in too far forward towards the neck. Now the little intonation screws are cranked all the way back with no room left to finish adjusting to the proper intonation, and when I play chords on different spots, the neck and certain notes are out of tune. With the sticky nut and all, the amount of time I spend trying to get this thing back in tune is kind of maddening. Don't bother using the tremolo. For this to be an actual player I am pretty much needing to put a quality locking nut on it, and maybe figure out how to move the bridge a centimeter or so. either I have to return this guitar or completely hot rod it to make it an actual player, I guess you get what you pay for.

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I love the color, and the design of this guitar so much. However, it arrived with a small back bow, very sprouted fret ends "cuts my hand", and a fret buzz I still havent got rid of yet. However I still love the look of this thing, and thought it was worth the money in "tools" I had to buy to fix. Even with all these problems I still might buy another. Lol

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Well I finally got my kramer barreta what a disapointment first off the vintage white is not vintage white mine came bright artic white that will blind you .nThe neck is 3 inches wode looks like a classical guitar neck. Speaking of necks the pocket is oversized with an 1/8 inch gap . I've been waiting for this guitar to come into stock this is the 2nd or 3rd run on these I think the first run is where all the positive reviews are from . I know its only 179 dollar guitar but I'm still disappointed . The pickup is smoking hot so all's not lost. For me the color is what really bummed me out I wanted that yellowish smoke stained color .

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really think before you look away!

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Believe the hype! Opened the box upon arrival prepared to be disappointed, or at least, underwhelmed. Fit and finish looked excellent, far above what you expect from a guitar at this price. Tuned it, plugged it in and was completely overwhelmed at its greatness! I didn’t have to adjust ANYTHING! I haven’t even bothered to change the strings. You will not believe the tones you can get from such a barebones rock and roll guitar. I mostly use it for 70’s and 80’s rock and metal, and it does a banging job with Van Halen, as you’d expect. However, I’ve been able to get some interesting and sweet clean tones with it running through my Boss Katana mk2 50. This guitar is of great quality and is worth every penny and then some. You will not be disappointed!!

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Out of the box mine was set up perfect. Tuned up and this is a player! Nice action and simply play easy. Great tone thru my line 6. Flawless finish. Buy one, you won't regret it!! Some people change the pick up but I see no need. INCREDIBLE vaule for the money!!

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This is a sweet guitar! Set up perfectly, comfortable to play and screams! I was really surprised at the quality of this! Step back into the 80's. BUY this guitar, you won't regret it!!

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Believe the hype! I unboxed my Baretta Special, tuned it, plugged it in and was blown away! My guitar was made in Indonesia and the quality is excellent. The only thing I might do is lower the action, but really that’s probably not really necessary. Besides having excellent fit and finish, it was ready to play right out of the box. The sound through my Boss Katana Mk2 is excellent. Perfect Van Halen/80’s rock tones can be achieved with ease. Buy this now before they realize it should cost three times as much!

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The neck is fast and awesome. The pick up is not bad at all. The biggest problem with this guitar is the headstock’s string angle. You will never ever stay in tune. That hockey stick design is fine with a locking nut but not without. For the price it is debatable whether it is worth it or not. You’re going to be frustrated with the inability to stay in tune through even one single song.

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I only play inexpensive guitars and have plenty. The bridge on this is what I would expect on a $25.00 new guitar. This guitar is unplayable. After lubing the nut, getting the strings as tight as possible, even without using the tremolo, the guitar simply will not stay in tune for more than two seconds. DAMAGE: The body had cracks around the volume knob, as if there was severe blunt force to the area. Due to the cost of the item, I was not going to worry about cracking that didn't seem to have any way of impacting the guitars sound.The cost of this guitar is not worth my time trying to return it, I will avoid Kramer and ZSounds from here on out.If the tremelo/bridge was functional, this would be a good $180 guitar, otherwise its not worth a dime.

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