The Forum Bass Series

With the Pioneer series being dropped in 1985-86, Kramer came up with a new modern line of basses called the Forum, introduced in 1987. All the Forum series had the same double cutaway bodies with the "scoop" out of the treble horn for higher fret access. There were four forms of Forum basses. Forums were constructed and assembled overseas in Japan, however, they were marketed in the U.S. in symphony with the American Series guitars (although not labeled as such). Here they are broke down into their respective numbers and features.

Forum I
Neck-through body (archtop), Bound headstock and bound ebony fretboard, pointy headstock, Schaller tuners, Seymour Duncan or EMG P & J pickups, black hardware, 3 way select switch, 2 volumes, 2 tones and Spector bridge.

Forum I

Forum II
Bolt-on neck, with same features as Forum I.

Forum II

Forum III
Neck-thru flat-top body design, diamond/dot inlays, rosewood fretboard, Spector pickups and black hardware.

Forum III

Forum IV
Bolt-on neck, same features as Forum III.

In 1988, the Forum series received some upgrades. The Forum I & II received Spector boost/cut curcuitry with active electronics including a bass and treble control, and shark teeth inlays. The Forum I at this time gained an arched top while the Forum Ii was the bolt-on version with a flat top. The color options for the I & II were black, white, flip flop white, flip flop red, flip flop blue, hot pink, champagne, candy blue, candy red, red stain, violet and blue stain.

The Forums III & IV had bound heads with rosewood boards, diamond/dot inlays, one volume and one tone. The Forum III raimaining a neck-thru flat top and the Forum IV staying a flat top bolt-on version of the Forum III. Colors for the IIIs and the IVs were: black, white, violet, silver, candy red, Flourescent yellow, flourescent pink, midnight blue, and flourescent orange.

The Forum basses made it until the end of Kramer in 1990.