The Kramer Ferrington

In 1985-86, Kramer began it's relationship with Danny Ferrington, the Nashville-based luthier who built several guitars for celebrities and, himself had became a reputable reputation for new designs of electric/acoustic guitars. Ferrington designed all of the models of the Kramer Ferrington lines and Kramer had the majority of them made in Korea. The idea was to have an acoustic with the feel of an electric. These guitars were heavily advertised by big names such as EVH and Dweezil Zappa. The first batch of Ferringtons were offered in 1986, the KFS-1(Strat shape and the KFT-1(Tele shape). These sported thin bound front and back bodies, off-round sound hole, bolt on maple necks, banana headstocks, rosewood fretboards, and a passive transducer pickup mounted on the bridge with a volume and tone control on the upper horn of the body. Colors were black, white, red and cherry sunburst. (see the ad below) A few months later, the heads, like the USA Kramer lines, were changed to the pointy/droopy variety and diamond inlays in the fretboard. See the Ferrington Catalogs for more info.

Banana Head Ferringtons	KFT-1 KFT-2, KFS-1 KFS-2, KFB-1	KFB-2, KFS-12, KFX	SB, RT models	DS, JS, and C models

New this year (late 87) was the KFB-1 and KFB-2 basses which also followed the binding/inlay scheme of the guitars. In 1988, came the KFS-12 which was the Strat-styled 12 string version. It had binding and shark teeth inlays also. It's said not many of these got out the door. 1988 also produced the Explorer shaped Ferrington, the KFX. It had a bound fretboard and shark teeth inlays and came in black, natural, red and white.

This was also the year that Kramer announced the coming of the Signature series which were several models fashioned for certain celebrities and
featured glued-in necks, solid Sitka spruce tops, glued-on bridge and an active 4 band EQ system with sliders for volume, treble, midrange and bass. (see above ads)

These models were available only in natural color and actually didn't appear until 1989 or 1990 although they were listed in earlier years:

The SB was the Stephen Bishop guitar. Single cutaway, 3 + 3 headstock, rosewood board with 22 frets and pick shaped sound hole and inlays.

The DS was Danny Steve Ferrington's own guitar. Single cutaway, pointy/droopy head and pick-shaped sound hole and inlays.

The RT was the Richard Thompson guitar. Classic -styled headstock shape, double-cutaway body with pointed horns and and another point on the lower bass bout. Sound hole and inlay shape was stretched oval-ish.

The JS was for J.D. Souther. Jumbo-sized single cutaway, asymmetrical body, and 3 + 3 headstock.

Wood options for the RT were mahogany, maple or rosewood bodies and the DS and JS models came in maple or rosewood bodies.

There was also a little seen nylon-stringed classical model called the C model which had a cedar top, rosewood body, slotted headstock and small treble bout.

As said before, the Ferrington lines were like many of Kramer's endeavors and were promised way before Kramer could deliver. Therefore, many of these models came out right before Kramer went under and many are uncommon to show up these days. The line made it until the end in 1990 at which time Danny Ferrington moved to L.A. and continued to make and produce guitars in a custom shop fashion for big-name artists under the company name Ferrington Guitars, Inc. With Andy Pappicio, the former V.P. of Kramer as president, the line struggled on. The only models that were being made at this point were the KFS-1 and 2, the KFT-1 and 2 and the KFB-1 bass with bolt-on necks and 3 band EQs. Colors were similar as before: black, white, red, natural and tobacco sunburst. It's assumed this establishment did not last long.

Post Kramer Ownership Ferrington Model	Post Kramer Ownership Ferrington Headstock and Neck Inlays