[Newkie]

Lemme set this up a bit for you. I bought a guitar like this some years ago and I loved it. However, I sold it for some reason and I've been wanting another one ever since. The years passed by and I finally found a pretty interesting one but it was out of stock and continued to be out of stock for months. Which sucked ass balls. Then finally, last week or so, it came back so I ordered one immediately.
Today it arrived.


A large box. I wonder what it could be? And yes, those are hearts and flowers on my sheets.
I only use them because of the excellent thread count...


Mandatory picture with feet.


I grab my trusted kukri. Burma is a war zone.




Sneak peak.


What could it be?


Interesting...





Metallic Blue. Awesomeness!





Fuck yeah! Kramer Imperial S-404S


Close-up of the Quad Rails which are kinda meh. They'll do for now but will be changed eventually.


24 Frets, 25.5" Scale and really nice fretwork for such a cheap guitar.


My first Kramer!

Some body shots.





The high E tuner is a bit off but I'll change them to locking ones very soon.
Anyone know a locking tuner that would fit? The current ones are Gotoh SG and there's almost no info on them anywhere.


This being an Explorer I had to do something about the strap issue.
I played a little bit using the stock ones and the guitar fell off the strap about 10 times in one minute.


Dunlop Straplok. Never tried these before but it's totally impossible to get hold of the DiMarzio StrapLoks here in Stockholm which are the ones I prefer.


Less blurry shot.


I begin removing the first strap button...


...and the second one.


Dear God, what have I got myself into?
I didn't take any pics of the drilling itself but I did it alot more carefully than that picture shows: :P


Phew! I'm glad that's over! It was the scariest hole I've ever drilled... no pun intended.


Looking good so far. Nothing can wrong now, right? Right?


Wrong! It was a pain in the ass trying to lengthen the strap when the Straplok was installed. Something that came as a sad surprise after I had already put them on my strap.

Well, now it's up to playable condition. Did a quick setup and rocked out for a couple of hours. It's great fun to play it and just love Explorers!

Some more pics.



















Here's a short clip so you can hear the quad rails in action.
YouSendIt - Send large files - transfer delivery - FTP Replacement




Family shot sans Kramer

Now there's just one final mod* I'll do today.



And there you have it! It's a really good guitar and if you want a cheap Explorer I can really recommend this one. MusicYo.com - The Worlds #1 Wholesaler of Brand Names is the place I bought it from and I didn't have to pay any taxes or customs so I'm very happy!






*Not a serious mod.

[D-EJ915]

I've always wondered if those were half decent, I wanted one a few years ago, then they raised the price about $100 and I never bothered to try to buy one.

[Michael]

Nice. Those pickups look pretty devastating.

[Lucky Seven]

I've always wanted to try one of those.

[Newkie]

Originally Posted by D-EJ915

I've always wondered if those were half decent, I wanted one a few years ago, then they raised the price about $100 and I never bothered to try to buy one.

They're good for the price. I've heard about some really bad ones that they let through QC years ago. Warped necks and barely mounted bridges and stuff like that but it seems like they've improved since then.

Originally Posted by Michael

Nice. Those pickups look pretty devastating.

Thanks! Yes, they do. That's about the only cool thing about them cause the sound is nowhere near devastating.

[Apophis]

Congrats