Aluminium Part 1

[BigRedX]

Partly inspired by the Talbo discussion in the eBay links section...

As some of you might have spotted I have a thing for basses that have metal as a major constructional feature.
So here is the first in what will probably be an occasional series is one of my metal basses...

The Kramer 450B











Bought of eBay at the end of last year and in surprisingly excellent shape for a 30 year old bass - just a few dings on the back and edges and a single split in one of the pickup surrounds which are notoriously fragile. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the electronics which had been severely mod'd at some point in it's past and featured extra coils in the control cavity either for hum cancellation or as bass filters, it's unsure which and the overall state of the pots and jack socket were pretty poor. Thanks to dangerboy for sorting me out with the correct values for the original pots and capacitors, although in the end after a bit of experimentation I changed the neck pickup circuit for a .047 and no treble bypass cap on the volume rather than the original .022 tone and 0.001 volume caps (which I stuck with on the bridge pickup).

Now with sensible electronics in, it has a very usable sound. Plenty of treble and sustain, which is what the Aluminium-necked Kramers are famous for, but winding in some of the neck pickup stops it from being all zing and no body. It's a heavy bass, but not too much of a problem with a Comfort Strapp and no neck-dive. I've not had any tuning issues with it so far, but I haven't used it in any extremes of temperature yet.

As you can see the metal work has polished up very nicely except for a couple of deep scratches on the control cavity cover that won't polish out without seriously reducing it's thickness!

Overall a cool-looking and useful-sounding bass. For more information on the Aluminium-necked Kramers have a look [url="http://www.vintagekramer.com/alum.htm"]here[/url]

[joegarcia]

Phwoar. Still trying to get the case together for Dangerboy's 450B.

[matt_citizenbass]

ahh i love it !

[Prosebass]

Nice bass and a lovely restoration, love the speed knobs, my Hofner S7B has them fitted. I remember lusting after a Kramer many years ago.
Basses from that era had a certain look. A zeitgeist thing I suppose, along with early Wals , Guilds and Shergolds they all look from that era, where as Fenders have always looked modern ! Now theres an idea , I wonder how a modern interpretation of a Shergold would go down ?

[Stingray5]

Seeing some of the older basses on Basschat is bringing back quite a few memories and your 450B is no exception as I had one for a couple of years around 1980-82. Yours looks in great condition and I would have even sworn it was my old bass - til I saw the back. I've not seen the string holes before as on the back of your bass. I checked out the page on the VintageKramer website but they only have 'front' shots. So I'm wondering if this was a retro-fit thing? Either way - nice!

p.s. - I almost bought a Travis Bean ali neck bass guitar back in '80, instead of the 450B, though I heard that the all-aluminium rear of the neck was a bit of a sod to play in colder conditions when your hand would stick to the neck! (I think it was Mick Khan from the band Japan who spoke about this in an interview in one of the old bass mags).

[budget bassist]

very nice, i keep seeing them on ebay and people don't seem to clean the aluminium much and it goes all cloudy and horrible looking, yours really looks nice, which is surprising because i don't usually like them, must be the shininess

METALLL \m/

[BigRedX]

Thanks for all the kind words.

I think the speed knobs just work on this but it's all to do with familiarity and the 2x2 + selector switch guitar-style layout.

It looks like the through-body stringing is a retro-fit. I've been in conversation with Steve EZ (who used to work at Kramer in the Aluminium-neck days) on the Kramer forums and he's suggested this. It's been done very well, The only real clue that it's not a original is that the ferrules are completely recessed into the holes and that the finish doesn't extend into them, however that's eccentric enough to have been an original Kramer feature, so I didn't really consider it until he mentioned it. Normally the strings would slot into keyholes in the bridge plate for pseudo through-body stringing.

I'm still hoping to find a TB2000 (preferably without frets like Mick Karn's) at a not too stupid price then I'll be able to compare and contrast the feel of the necks. The other aluminium-necked basses I have have the whole of the back of the neck lacquered so they feel totally different. I've played a completely aluminium Veleno guitar and didn't have any problems with the neck on that, but it was a pleasantly warm afternoon in New York when I did!

Polishing up the aluminium has made a massive difference (although it was helped by the fact that the body is almost completely ding free). I just used Brasso wadding polish which cost about £2 for enough to do at least 30 instruments judging by the amount I used on this. It's quite a messy job, but the results speak for themselves. It took almost a whole day, but that included disassembling and rebuilding the bass as well as installing the new circuitry (everything except the pickups and the selector switch) and setting it up again once I was finished.

[Stingray5]

From memory, the TB I tried years ago certainly didn't feel as though there was any presence of lacquer. It actually felt almost 'rough' to the touch; maybe it was a Friday afternoon job! Aside from that, it was a nice bass though I must admit I fell out of love with the Kramer for lack of the bottom end and not wanting to bother to upgrade the electrics etc.

Edited July 4, 2008 by Stingray5

[dangerboy]

That is beautiful. Amazing condition.

With instruments I play I'm actually more of a fan of non-shiny aluminium. But that's just me.

On the lacquered necks - I have one 'raw' Travis Bean (serial number 3XX) and one later Imron-coated one (no. 9XX). tbh the neck size and profile is so different between them that I never notice the difference in finish.

Oh, someone buy my 450b that's in the For Sale section. I'll even throw in some Brasso ;-)

[BigRedX]

Someone should buy dangerboy's 450 at the current price it's a steal and judging by the pics it looks in as good condition as mine and all original - just add some Brasso!

Here's a couple more photos showing the case which unfortunately appears to have taken more than its share of knocks (but then that's what a hard case is for!)



Encouraged by the results and your comments, I've started work on my KXB-10. This is going to require significantly more work than a re-wire and polish so it may be a while...

[OutToPlayJazz]

That's absolutely gorgeous, BRX! I always remember Alan Lancaster playing a lovely looking Kramer in a dark wood towards the end of his days in Status Quo.