Kramer Stagemaster and Liberty

Coming off an aluminum necked legacy, the Kramer Stagemaster "phoenixed" from the ashes in 1986 and became Kramer's first neck-through guitars. Elegant, sleek and 100% rock and roll, the Stagemaster represented what, in many guitarists' opinions was Kramer's crowning achievement in modern guitar design. A very early prototype Stagemaster with banana headstock can be seen below (thanks to Mike Mojabi for the pictures). It is not known how many of these banana head Stagemasters exist, but they are more than likely extremely rare. One thing of importance to note, Andy Papiccio of Kramer noted that all stagemasters were shipped from ESP Japan assembled, and ready to sell. So technically, the Stagemaster line is not USA at all, since the parts manufactured were made in Japan and the guitar was assembled in Japan.

Early Prototype with Banana Headstock	HHeadstock

Production Stagemasters began in 1986 as flat-topped, 7/8 sized sharp radiused squared-off edge bodied, rock monsters with bound pointy headstocks, 24 fret necks with ebony fretboards with diamond shaped inlays with a dot in the middle, and a rectangular Kramer logo at the 24th fret, small block headstock logo, non-recessed Floyd, Duncan pickups and black or gold hardware. There were three models of the first Mach, the Standard, Deluxe and Custom. One thing to note, early models were not offered in archtop configurations. Additionally, shark tooth inlayed necks weren't seen until the Mach 2 era of Stagemasters.

The Standard had one slanted hum and a volume knob only. The Deluxe had the hum/single/single layout with 1 volume, 2 tones, 5 way select and a coil tap switch for the humbucker. The Custom had the same HSS layout as the Deluxe but had a slanted hum and one volume, 3 on/off switches for the pickups and a rhythm/lead bypass switch.

Liberty 1986

Also around this time was introduced the Liberty '86 guitar which had been designed the year before. The short-lived Liberty sported a slightly different shaped dual cutaway sharp radiused carved top body with bound pointy head and bound ebony fretboard with the same diamond/dot inlays as the early Stagemaster, Duncan JN and JB pickups, 3 way switch on the upper horn, 2 volumes, 2 tones and a master volume. The Liberty, Kramer's first arched top guitar could be had with a fixed Schaller bridge with fine tuners or a Floyd Rose. It also came in a bound white or black opaque finish body or in a seldom seen flame maple top version. The Liberty only lasted one year.

Black Liberty with Floyd	White Liberty with Floyd	Cherryburst Liberty with Stop Tail Schaller Bridge

Stagemaster Mach II

This first mach of Stages was short lived as changes were made in 1987-88 to make the model an even more top of the line axe. An additional body was offered as an arch-top with a recessed Floyd. The neck gained the "headstock" or "shark tooth" inlays and a 24 fret fretboard. Headstocks featured the new large diminishing logo and the lower cutaway also gained a scallop around this time for easier access to the upper frets. Reverse headstocks were optional.

The Stagemasters came in four models in the Mach II years with the differences being in the pickup configuration; the Stagemaster Standard, Deluxe, Custom and the Custom I.

Original Stagemaster Standard with Non-Slanted Humbucker

The Standard I and Custom I actually started with a single humbucker, not slanted, and then evolved into a slanted humbucker like that of the Kramer Baretta. The Deluxe had the hum, single, single layout as before. The Custom I had a hum at the bridge and a slanted single coil at the neck, one volume and a push/pull tone knob with a 3 way switch.

In late 1987, the Custom was dropped and replaced with the Deluxe II which was similar to the first Deluxe but was a flat top instead of arched, a lower bass bout contour, and the "dinky" style body shape.

Flat-top Stagemaster with Shark-Tooth Inlays

Colors for the stagemaster were candy red, candy blue, white, black, champagne, flip flop red, flip flop blue, flip flop white, rose, red stain and fluorescent pink.

The Stagemaster series held down the top end of Kramer's lines until the end in early 1990.