Kramer Gorky Park

In 1989, in the midst of the diminishing Soviet Republic and the falling of the Berlin wall, Russia was opening itself to more and more Western influences. One of which was rock and roll which had been an underground success there for many years. More American and British rock and roll bands were touring there than ever before and the USSR State political agendas, spearheaded by the fall of the Eastern Bloc, began to lighten up on the ever growing import/export of cultural exchanges. This led to several rock and roll bands growing out of the Soviet Union. One, in particular, was a band called Gorky Park, a five member rock unit that was managed by Dennis Berardi, the then president of Kramer guitars. (By 1989, Berardi had established a management company called the Berardi/Thomas Entertainment, Inc). In celebration of the union, Kramer guitars released the Gorky Park guitar. The GP's triangular body shape was based on the balalaika, a traditional Russian instrument . It sported a pointy/droopy headstock, rosewood board, single volume and humbucker and a Floyd Rose. The guitar also had graphics of the Russian and American flags along with the signatures of all the members in the band. There are at least two versions of the GP. One is the USA assembled "fancier" model with diamond/dot inlays, real Floyd Rose and actual signed autographs of the band. The other and more common version is the made-in-Korea version with dot inlays, silk-screened graphics, Power Sound humbucker and Floyd Rose II.

Berardi seen here with a Gorky Park at the 2003 Kramer Konvention

Gorky Park - Overseas Model	USA Gorky Park - never completed

As with Kramer itself, the GP did last long and went down with the company. It's known that many dealers never had to pay for the guitars because of Kramer's filing Chapter 11.

The band itself did not last long either as other musical influences began to dominate the American charts and hair bands began to demise. Editor's note: Most GPs today can be found for cheap online and otherwise. Most came without a case but there are some special hard cases that have appeared for the GP from time to time. Another interesting note relating to the Gorky Park, Dennis Berardi also should be commended on his work for bridging the gap between America and the then hated and feared Soviet Union. Dennis helped organize and see to fruition the Moscow Music Peace Festival, an event to help raise awareness for the drug problems not only in the USSR, but in the USA as well. Bands such as Gorky Park, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and Skid Row were among the performers. Considering the mood of the times with what was going on in Russia, Dennis did a great thing by being one of the first to try to bring Rock and Roll to Russia, on a USA scale.