Vintage 1981 Kramer Pioneer Imperial (P-Bass)
Serial No. A7633
Weighs 9.2 lbs

Made in USA: This is a very high quality Vintage Made in USA P-bass. Body and neck are made in USA, but Kramer sourced the pickups, bridge and tuners from Schaller. Those parts of excellent quality and made in USA. Vintage Fender basses from the early 1980's are going for $2000 to $3500. If you're looking for a Vintage Made in USA P-Bass, and don't want to shell out mega-bucks for a Fender, this is the bass for you!

Free Pro Setup - $90 value
See below for details

Available cases:

• Fender gig bag $39
• Road Runner zip up case shown $69
• Vintage tweed hard shell case with red interior, $149
• TSA approved SKB molded hard shell bass case, $179
• Note: This guitar will ship without a case or bag unless you add one to your order. See below for more information regarding cases and shipping.

Vintage: Based the shape of headstock and the serial number, A7633, we believe this bass is from the 1st year of production, which would make it a 1981. The CTS pots are also from 1981, which tends to confirm this.

Condition: This bass is 44 years old and has developed a nice patina. Has been played and loved, but not abused. Lots of Mojo. Frets in good condition and will be dressed and polished as part of our setup. The pickup selector mini toggle is missing its nut, but it‘s tight in the guitar and doesn't move. Plays and sounds awesome.

History of the Pioneer Bass: Made in the USA and debuting in 1981, the Pioneer Basses were refined copies of the classic Fender basses. They represent what was the best of Kramer's bass realm and is somewhat hard to find today. The Pioneers sported some unusual features such as blending Jazz and Precision attributes and coil split functions. The body wood on the translucent models were ash, while the solid colors were alder. Pickups were listed in catalogs as "JBX" and "PBX" and were sourced from Schaller. Hardware was also by Schaller. All were 34" scale with 21 frets. Headstocks at first were a copy of Fender and sometime in 1982 were trimmed down to the "Classic" Kramer style. There were four models: Imperial, Special, Double "J" and Carrera.  The Imperial was a two pickup (P&J) version of the Fender Precision Bass. The bridges on the Imperials were Schaller as were the tuners. Nuts were made of brass or plastic. Hardware was gold. Controls were two volumes and one tone, and a 3-way toggle switch for pickup select. Most Imperials after mid 1982 will have a 3-way coil tap switch as well. Most of the fretboards of the early Pioneers will be maple. Rosewood was available later on.

Luthier's Assessment and Measurements:

• Weight: 9.2 lbs
• Nut width: 1.62"
• Neck width at 12th Fret: 2.25"
• Neck thickness at 1st fret: 0.87"
• Neck thickness at 12th fret: 0.96"
• Action (high e): 0.075"
• Action (low E): 0.090"
• Neck pickup DCR: 2.87k Ohms
• Bridge pickup DCR: 3.46k Ohms
• Truss rod: Excellent. Turns easily
• Fret condition: Good (8/10)
• Cosmetic condition: Very good. Some nicks. See photos.
• Functional condition: Excellent.
• Playability: Excellent. Easy to play.
• Electronics: Excellent
• Sound: Excellent
• Overall condition: Very Good

Features and Specs:

• Model: Pioneer Imperial
• Body shape: P-bass style
• Body wood: Alder
• Body contours: Forearm contour and belly cut
• Neck wood: Maple
• Fretboard wood: Maple
• Nut material: Brass
• Truss rod: Adjust at heel
• Neck joint: Bolt-on
• Scale: 34”
• Neck pickup: Schaller PBX, P-bass type split coil
• Bridge pickup: Schaller Humbucker
• Pickup switch: Mini 3-way toggle
• Mini toggle: Coil split for humbucker
• Controls: Neck pickup volume, bridge pickup volume, master tone
• Bridge: Schaller, high mass with three way adjustable roller saddles
• Tuners: Schaller open gear
• Hardware: Gold

Dr. T’s Professional Inspection and Setup:  You may find a similar instrument listed at a lower price, but ours may still provide better value as we include our professional inspection and setup. This service costs from $80 to $150 and up at most shops. With over 25 years in the industry, we’re convinced that a good setup is the single most important investment to improve the playability and sound of your guitar.  Here’s what in entails. We inspect the guitar and address issues. Next, we remove the strings and tighten and set the drag on the tuners. We inspect the frets, find any high spots, then level, crown and polish. We clean and oil the fingerboard, restring, tune to pitch and set the neck relief, action and intonation. We then play each fret and check for fret buzz and fret-outs during bends, and we fine-tune as required.  Next, we test the electronics, clean and tighten pots and jacks and balance the pickups.  Occasionally, we find a fault with the electronics, so we dig in and diagnose and repair that.  Once the electronics are tip top, we play the guitar to make sure everything is just right.  Finally, we clean and polish the guitar, then slacken the stings to get it ready for shipping.

Settings:  We do our setups using common settings, which we've found work well for most players. If you have special preferences, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Fine Tuning Adjustments:  Your guitar will be playing and sounding wonderful when we finish our setup. However, occasionally minor adjustments will be needed after shipping due to changes in temperature and/or humidity, rough handling or other unfavorable conditions. Since we have no control over this, we cannot cover the cost of these adjustments. However, if your guitar was mishandled during shipping, please let us know, so we can see if a shipping claim is in order. Sometimes it’s possible to get you a partial refund to help cover issues if we can show that they were caused by shipping.

Condition Ratings: We rate each guitar’s condition using guidelines outlined by Reverb.  Please refer to that section of Reverb to better understand what each condition means.

Standard of Care:  We strive to meet our clients’ expectations, and we want you to be happy with your purchase. However, please keep in mind that guitars develop wear with use and it’s widely accepted that honest wear adds character and shows that the guitar has been loved. Our used and vintage guitars will have signs of use. Our Del Mar Lutherie brand guitars are hand-built and will have artifacts that some people might view as "imperfections".  If you want a guitar in “perfect” or “flawless” condition, we advise you to buy new from an authorized dealer or buy locally so you can inspect it in person. We do not guarantee that our guitars will be cosmetically flawless, and we don’t accept returns or give partial refunds due to cosmetic imperfections.

Specs:  We list specs as a courtesy. Some specs are measured by our techs. Others are taken from the manufacturer's data. Manufacturers change specs all the time, and their listed specs may not be 100% accurate. Also, some used guitars have mods that may not be apparent upon visual inspection. The guitar you will get is the one shown in the photos. If there are any "deal breaker" specs that you must have, please let us know so we can double check for you before your purchase.

Videos:  We often provide links to YouTube videos to provide our clients with more information. These videos will be of a similar make and model which is representative of the guitar in our listing. 

Shipping:  We ship guitars via UPS ground. The fee shown includes shipping within the contiguous USA with insurance. It also includes packaging materials and our time to pack up and drop off at UPS. For guitars, shipping costs are controlled by box size and insurance is based on value. Note that your guitar will ship without a case, unless one is described as included in the listing or you add one to your order. If you decline to add a case, we will pack your guitar well with bubble wrap and other padding and ship it in a sturdy guitar box. However, if you want your guitar to have even better protection, we encourage you to add a hard case to your order. See below for details.

Cases:  When we buy guitars, some come with cases and some don't. Also, some of our clients want cases, and some have so many they don't want more.  To offer flexibility, we make cases and gig bags optional and offer several case types to better suit our clients’ preferences. Also, this allows us to pass on some savings to those who don't want cases.  However, if you want a case, please let us know, and we will find you a good one. There are many benefits when you buy a case from us; we have good prices, we make sure your guitar fits, we offer free shipping on the case (when combined with a guitar) and best of all we ship your guitar inside the case for the best possible protection. Each year, we see a small number of guitars arrive with damage caused by mishandling during shipping. However, when shipped inside a hard case, the incidence of damage is almost zero. See the top of the listing or inquire for options.

Delivery Time: We do our best to get your guitar setup, boxed and shipped as soon as possible. However, sometimes this can take a few days depending on how many guitars are in the queue, our current workload and other factors. Once UPS receives your guitar, they will estimate a delivery date, which you can access via Reverb. UPS will typically deliver your guitar within 2 to 7 business days after they receive it. Time varies depending on your distance from Southern California. If you're in a hurry, please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you, or at least we can advise you of the estimated wait, so you can decide if you need to make other arrangements.

Damage Claims: Although rare, guitars sometimes are damaged during shipping. If you receive a guitar that is damaged, please let us know immediately so we can open a claim. We will ask you to send the following photos: overall view of the guitar; damaged areas of the guitar; overall view of the box; view showing the shipping label; view looking down into the top of the box with the guitar and packaging the way it was when you opened it; and view showing any damaged areas of the box. Important - Please keep the box and all packaging in case the carrier requires it for inspection. We will do our best to get this resolved ASAP, but please be patient, as we have no control over the time it takes the carrier to process the claim. Once the claim is approved, you will ship the guitar back to us with the return label we provide, and we will process your refund.

Returns and Canceled Orders:  We are a small business and can’t afford to offer free returns like the big guys. There is a lot of time, effort and cost involved with processing your order, pulling your guitar from inventory, setting it up, packing and shipping it. Please make sure you want the guitar before you commit to buy. If we agree to a return or agree to cancel your order, you will be responsible for all incurred shipping costs (both ways) and a restocking fee to cover our time.

Dr. T's Tone Factory & Del Mar Lutherie, Message from the Owner:  We are a small shop in San Diego County, California. We are part of the local guitar community (Fender, Taylor, Kiesel) and build custom electric guitars, custom tube amps, and do mods and setups. We also buy, sell and trade vintage and used instruments. Our owner is a guitar enthusiast, wood worker and professional designer and engineer. We've been doing this type of work since 1999 and have hundreds of happy customers. We are a Reverb Preferred Seller, and our approval rating is 99.9%. 

Best wishes and happy strumming!

Dr T.