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The
Pioneer Bass Page
Debuting
in 1981 alongside the first Kramer wood neck guitars was the Pioneer
bass. Clearly a refined copy of the classic Fender basses, the Pioneer
sported some unusual features such as employing Jazz and Precision
attributes and coil tap functions on the same basses. The body woods
varied. The translucent models will be of ash and/or maple while
the solid colors were mostly alder or poplar. All pickups were listed
in catalogs as being JBX and PBX of unknown origins, probably Schaller.
Hardware was mostly by Schaller also. All scale lengths were 34"
and all Pioneers had 21 frets. Rosewood and maple fretboards were
available later on as well as fretless options.
Another option on many Kramer basses back in the day was the "interchangeable
fretboard." This was a carry-over from the aluminum neck era
into the Pioneer Bass line. Very few of these guitars are out there,
but an example is shown below.
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Pioneer
Bass with Removable Fretboard Option |
Headstocks
at first were a clear copy of Fender's basses and sometime in 1982
were trimmed down to a more "Classic" style head following
in the path of Kramer's guitars of the times. Made in the USA, the
Pioneer represented probably what was the best of Kramer's bass
realm and today, is somewhat hard to find. There were 4 kinds of
Pioneers..The Imperial, Special, Double "J" or Jazz and
the Carrera. |
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The
Imperial was a two pickup(P&J) version of the Fender Precision
body shape. The bridges on the Imperial were Schaller as were the
tuners. Nuts were made of brass or plastic. The headstock was a
copy of the Fender Precision bass also and sported the Kramer logo
with "Pioneer series" under it. The Pioneer models also
gained the "Pat. Pending" later on. Hardware was gold
but also available in black on the Imperial in the following year.
Controls were 2 volumes and 1 tone knobs, and although listed with
a single switch for pickup select, most Imperials after mid 1982
will have this plus a 3-way coil tap switch. Most of the fretboards
of the early age will be maple. Rosewood was available later on.
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The
Special was a cheaper version of the Imperial with the same Fender Precision
body only it had a single PBX pickup, a gold Kramer bridge known as
a Kramer Track bridge, and 1 vol and 1 tone knob.
The
Pioneer Double "J" or Jazz bass was exactly what it was called...a
Fender Jazz bass copy. Body resembled the Fender Jazz and sported 2
Jazz or JBX pickups. There was also, in keeping with the Jazz bass motif,
a gold or chrome control plate holding 2 volumes and 1 tone and the
imput jack. This model also had the 2 switches, one for pickup select
and one for 3 way tone switching.
Sometime
in late 1982, assumably alongside the Pacer Carrera, the all-black Pioneer
Carrera debuted. It had same pickup configuration and electronics as
the Pioneer Imperial. The body boasted a slightly different shape as
the Imperial, however with an ever so slight bigger lower bass bout.
The bass was entirely black with no fret markers and keeping with the
Pacer Carrera, had an "ebonized" or painted rosewood fretboard.
Also included was a black Schaller bridge and tuners, 2 vol, 1 tone
and a 3-way tone switch and pick selector switch. The Pioneer Carerra
like the Pacer Carrera originally had black poly-coated strings.
tandard
colors for the Pioneer were black, white, creme, redstain, blue stain,
melaga purple, and 3-tone sunburst. Custom colors were candy apple red,
candy blue, emerald, and blue sunburst. graphics were also available.
The Pioneer Carrera lasted for 2 years into 1984 and was clearly the
rarest of the bunch, the Double "J" coming in second. Additionally,
in 1984, the Pioneer headstock was switched to the Banana headstock
like the rest of the Kramer line. All the other models lasted until
1986. The Pioneer bass represented Kramer's only wood neck bass from
1981 to 1984.
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1985
Pioneer Imperial with Banana Headstock |
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and Content © Copyright 2011 Infinite Sky Designs |
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