The 450B was displayed with what appeared to be a walnut body with a maple-and-walnut center stripe (though the brochure made no mention of body woods), and the fretboard had aluminum dot markers. The following year, the 450 guitar and bass were given a dedicated Deluxe Series brochure, as Kramer added new models in other series (Special, Standard, and Artist). Controls were guitar-like, with separate Volume and Tone for each pickup, and a three-way pickup selector toggle. The company’s catalog noted the “tropical imported body woods,” including Shedua, Bubinga, Afrormosia, and Swetenia, and that the 450B weighed approximately 10 pounds. The 450B’s block-shaped markers started at the first fret. Its neck was 15/8″ wide at the (aluminum) nut, and the fretboard had 20 frets, joining the body at the 17th on the bass side, 19th on the treble. The fancier bass, dubbed the 450B, had two pickups, a scale of 333/4″ and Schaller M-4 tuners. Kramer’s initial line consisted of two guitars and two basses.

Kramer fretboards were made of Ebonol, a substance similar to that of a bowling ball, and its headstock design – in the shape of a tuning fork – also set it apart. And while Kramer Guitars followed in the footsteps of builder Travis Bean, who used machined aluminum to make guitar necks starting in ’74, Kramer’s bolt-on necks felt more like a traditional instrument consisting of an aluminum bar with wood inserts on each side, Kramer’s approach reduced the much-maligned weight of Bean’s neck-through instruments and provided a more-natural (wood) feel. In terms of stability, the aluminum neck was seen as an improvement over wood.

When it entered the music-instrument market in 1976, Kramer Guitars made a big splash with an aggressive marketing campaign, big-name endorsers, and – most importantly – an improved approach to the then-fresh concept of aluminum necks.

Kramer bass guitar serial numbers