1980s Kramer Nightswan Vintage Electric Guitar Metallic Pink, Vivian Campbell, ESP

Up for sale, a 1980's Kramer Nightswan vintage electric guitar in excellent condition and in perfect working order with a custom color Metallic Pink gloss finish. The genesis of the Nightswan model and this particular iteration necessitates a deep dive into Kramer history, beginning with Texas-based custom guitar builder Buddy Blaze. Originally designed (with no input from Kramer) as a signature model for Vivian Campbell, the Nightswan offered here is notable for matching the prototype with traditional dot inlays, eschewing the diagonal dots of virtually all available examples. As the guitarist for Def Leppard, Dio, Whitesnake and others, Vivian Campbell worked with Blaze on a model originally simply coined the Shredder, and later renamed the Nightswan by Vivian's wife. Buddy eventually came onboard at Kramer and the Nightswan was officially brought to the masses.

While players draw a distinction between USA Kramers and those produced elsewhere, it's worth noting that while Kramer assembled their USA instruments in Neptune, New Jersey, they didn't produce any of the parts in-house. For the Nightswan in particular, the bodies and necks were manufactured in Japan by ESP, a factor Kramer capitalized on when they made a very short-lived line of Nightswans in custom finishes made exclusively for the Japanese domestic market. Exceedingly rare, this custom color Japanese market Nightswan sports a gloss Metallic Pink finish, with a three-piece maple neck, slab rosewood fretboard, Floyd Rose tremolo, and pair of humbuckers uniquely located in the middle and bridge positions.

The ostensibly original middle position humbucker offers a full, harmonically-rich response with beefy low end and slightly growly lower mids. The bridge pickup is an aftermarket EMG-85 humbucker, higher output than the middle pickup and exceptionally versatile. The alnico magnets in the 85 provide a muscular growl, slightly compressed for cutting lead tones and ideal for the most extreme gain and speed. This Nightswan weighs 7lbs 15oz and has been professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 9-42 strings, accurate intonation, and effortless action.

The three-piece maple neck has a slender C shaped profile with moderate shoulder and lightly rolled fretboard edges, measuring .800” deep at the 1st fret and .875” at the 12th. The thick slab rosewood fretboard is an extremely dark, tight-grained cut with dot inlay and stock jumbo fretwire. The frets retain their full factory height with plenty of meat, showing uniform wear on the crowns of frets 1-5, and wear extending beneath the plain strings further up the board. The guitar plays well in all registers with a straight neck and an ideally adjusted and responsive truss rod. The scale length is 24 3/4“ and the locking nut measures 1 5/8“ in width. On the reverse headstock, the gold Kramer logo is clean as can be, and the original black Gotoh tuners are intact.

On the body, a single Volume knob and three-way pickup selector toggle govern the humbucker pair. The black hardware is clean, with a touch of patina on the original Floyd Rose tremolo. Cosmetic wear is limited to a few small chips in the gloss metallic pink finish at the lower bout edges and treble side body horn, with a few light scattered marks and scuffs on the body as a whole. The neck profile is pristine.

The original faux leather Kramer gigbag is included.