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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

Wow, when I got my Kramer SM-1 the thing seemed too good to be true. The fit and finish was great. The nut was at the right height. The bridge height and the action was just right. I could pull up a mile. Beautiful color (orange). Frets were all level, and no pokey fret ends.As far as being too good to be true, well it did have a stupid flaw. Someone at the factory forgot to put a ground wire to the trem claw. I had to take it to the warranty repairman. Took the repairman 10 minutes to fix it. Four inches of wire and two blobs of solder was all that was needed. Warranty job, so fixed for free. Almost.After 6 months of ownership of this guitar, the warranty guy gave me a call to tell me that Gibson never paid him, and that he was going to submit the claim one more time, and that I was to pay him if Gibson didn’t. When I first brought the guitar to him for the repair, he wanted 50 bucks. I said hold on there man, this is a warranty job. He decided to do the job right then and there, even though he couldn’t get authorization that day.Anyway, I wound up having to call Gibson and told them what happened. They were apalled. Gibson customer service really isn’t that great. I’m still waiting on parts for another guitar from the for the last 6 months. Gibson did straighten the warranty guy out though, and they paid the repairman. Apparently the repairman didn’t submit the claim properly.Well aside from that one issue, the guitar is perfect. The blade pups for the neck and middle sound awesome and so is the HB bridge pickup. SD JB I’m told. This guitar, aside from my ground wire issue, was as perfect as perfect can get. If you are looking for a shred guitar, sheik one of these out. The placement of the neck in relation to the body just feels right, unlike my Jackson soloist, which feels foreign.

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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

I purchased this guitar, had extremely fast shopping from zZounds. The guitar arrived packaged very well and seemed to be in prestige condition. Unfortunately while setting up the guitar I noticed the bridge Seymour Duncan JB pickup was deep in the pickup cavity. When I attempted to adjust it up, it wouldn’t move. I found out the lug holes for the adjustment screws on the pickup were stripped from factory and to remedy this they had thrown solder on it to hold in place. I know this has nothing to do with zZounds, but its poor craftsmanship from Kramer/Gibson. No reason a brand new guitar with brand new pickups should come on like this... I was able to fix it myself by soldering nuts to the lugs For the screws to attach to and using screws I had laying around. Other than that, the guitar was in great conditions and played fantastic. I just wish after paying 1050.00 for a brand new guitar I wouldn’t have to deal with a rigged pickup...

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after a thorough check of the guitar:the temolo system is of very poor quality.the knife edges of the tremolo system were badly bruised, as were the posts. the drive-in sleeves were very rusty and not hammered in properly.the mechanics were not properly attached and reils showed an idle travel of half a turnthe frets had strong scratches all over the fingerboardthe electrical system was laid in a mess, 4 cables came loose during the preliminary inspection, the 5-way switch had a loose contactall of the excavated shafts were not sanded, the electrical compartment was not shieldedwhy did i keep the guitar? because I am able to fix everything. and if i pull off the pu, it stays under 650 dollars for a lacquered body with a neck, that's oki installed a schaller lockmeister tremolo, schaller mechanics, a completely new electrical system, the frets dressed and polished, the shafts ground, the electrical compartment insulated, the misalignment on the nut fixed, a string retainer installed, new buttons installed.now i have a guitar that keeps the mood, sounds great and is the way it should be. I invested around $ 550 for this. so in total the guitar cost 1,600 dollars. I would have liked to pay directly if the manufacturer had offered it.I can't give you a recommendation out of the box because the guitar is not playable like this. maybe i get a lemon, but ther is no quality controll at all.

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