On rare occasions, the zeitgeist – not some lucky designer – creates a guitar that captures hearts and minds. Such was the case in 1982, when tastes in popular music and the rising skills of players conspired to birth “superstrats” like the Kramer Pacer Deluxe.
Though he rose to fame playing a parts guitar with a single humbucker, young Eddie Van Halen was the ideological nexus of the superstrat. In 1978, he lit up the world with a new style that combined catchy melodies, blistering speed, fretboard tapping, and “divebomb” vibrato. By the early ’80s, his play had informed a new style of hard rock and championed the locking vibrato recently pioneered by engineers such as Floyd Rose.
The idea of experimenting with traditional pickup layouts became increasingly popular in the ’70s, when Gibson hired Bill Lawrence to devise hybrid guitars like the S-1 and Marauder, while Randy Curlee put a lead single-coil at the bridge and a neck humbucker on his S.D. Curlee models. By ’79, Ibanez, Jackson, and Kramer were mounting twin humbuckers on Strat-style bodies, something that had never been seen.
This reflected the trend of guitar players becoming increasingly attracted to Fender-style aesthetics – the access (and image) of offset double cutaways – but with a beefy Gibson humbucker sound.
The first guitar company to synthesize the Gibson/Fender approach was Peavey, with its ’82 T-27. From its introduction in ’77, the T series (designed by Chip Todd) played with convention; the T-60 had twin humbuckers that converted to single-coils when the Tone control was rolled below 7. Conceptually, it was a step toward the superstrat, but the T-27 was the first production guitar to mount a lead humbucker with the middle and neck single-coils and a stop tail.
While it’s possible the T-27 influenced other guitar makers, it’s more likely that the humbucker/single/single was simply lingering in the ether. In ’83, Dean Guitars introduced the Bel Aire, which builder Dean Zelinsky says came to him in a dream. He exaggerated the upper treble bout, bolted on an ESP neck, and mounted a DiMarzio humbucker at the bridge to accompany the two single-coils. The bridge was a floating ESP Flicker vibrato. Company literature at the time asserted the Bel Aire was the first h/s/s guitar, but in reality, Peavey had beat them to the punch. It may, however, have been the first with a fancy vibrato.
While Peavey and Dean were playing with the new form, changes were happening in Neptune, New Jersey, where Kramer Guitars landed on the scene with aluminum necks touted as an improvement of Travis Bean’s idea. Gary Kramer had bankrolled Bean’s operation, but when the relationship soured, he hooked up with Dennis Berardi, Peter LaPlaca, Henry Vaccaro, Sr., and luthier Phil Petillo to launch Kramer Guitars.
Kramer instruments were well-received but struggled to become profitable. Their largest dealer was Guitar Center, an ambitious chain headquartered in Los Angeles; in 1980, GC owner Wayne Mitchell purchased a controlling interest in Kramer. The connection put them in proximity with Rose and Van Halen, and by ’82, EVH was ready to become an endorser. However, he wanted a guitar with a wooden neck, which prompted Kramer to begin a transition. For several years, they offered models both ways alongside new all-wood guitars.
The first product of the EVH/Kramer collaboration was 1982’s Pacer line with Floyd Rose’s double-locking vibrato system, billed as the “Edward Van Halen Tremolo.”
The Pacer was essentially a Strat copy in every way except for the Floyd. The Imperial variant lost the pickguard and had two humbuckers, while the Custom was the same and offered custom graphics. The Special had a single humbucker, graphics option, and a new headstock that collectors now call “the classic” design. The Standard was the same but with a regular fulcrum vibrato.
There were three basses – the Double J, Imperial, and Special, all with maple fretboards, while the all-black Carrera had ebony.
By ’83, Pacers acquired thinner cutaway horns, the classic headstock, and rosewood fretboards. Controls included a five-way pickup select with a mini-toggle for coil tap and phase reversal – classic superstrat.
The Deluxe remained pretty much unchanged through 1987 except for acquiring a new pointy/droopy headstock.
By ’88, the Pacer was gone and Kramer (which was mostly importing by then) was in financial trouble. In 1990, the company entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy, followed by a flurry of failed attempts to inject cash, including a brief association with Michael Jackson. In ’93, Kramer’s trademarks were sold to Gibson, which introduced a number of generic Asian superstrats carrying classic Kramer names. In ’97, Henry Vaccaro revived the aluminum-neck concept on a line of self-branded guitars that were produced for about five years.
While the T-27 and Bel Aire became footnotes to guitar history, Kramer’s Pacer was wildly successful, helping briefly make Kramer the largest American guitar company. More importantly, the trio established the superstrat, and practically every guitar company began producing the form, including Charvel, Jackson, Ibanez, Aria Pro II, and Westone. Eventually, even Gibson, Fender, and Guild tried their hands at it.
With the advent of “alternative rock” in the late ’80s – and certainly by Nirvana’s Nevermind in ’91 – guitar virtuosity and the superstrat lost their dominance, though they never disappeared and have experienced a revival in recent years.
This article originally appeared in VG’s December 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
