ESP Frankenstrat Kramer 5150 Japan Model VH-250 Red White Striped Guitar

ESP Japan Kramer Frankenstrat 5150 MODEL VH-250 Red White Striped Guitar

Date of writing: 12/2020

Hello its Johnny writing another blog post to help all my friends learn more about the wonderful era of 1980s guitars. I’ve decided to create this post about the ESP made in Japan Kramer 5150 MODEL VH-250 released in late 1989 as a Japan only Kramer product. Manufactured by ESP the price for this VH-250 was 250,000 yen which was quite a lot of money in 1989.

In the below photo galleries i have posted six of these ESP VH-250 guitars. Yes that is 6 different ESP made in Japan Kramer 5150 model guitars. As i recover more photos from my old computer files i will add them.

All in all I have owned 7 of these Japan only Kramer Frankenstrat 5150 MODEL VH-250s. To some people i am showing them a unicorn. LOOK CLOSELY i speak the truth. That is why i am called THE SENSEI OF VINTAGE 1980S GUITARS.

That title of Sensei was not created by me but buy guitar collectors that i respect highly for their knowledge of vintage Fender and Gibson guitars. Initially these guys called me that as a joke about 10 years ago because shredder guitars were not popular… boy have things changed. That said, vintage Fender and Gibson is an area of collecting in which I aspire to become more knowledgeable. As of today my interests are still is fixated on the 80s.

For a number of decades i sought out these ESP Frankenstrat Guitars and actively collected them. To some who care about data, I also calibrated all the details such as neck shape specifications, fret size etc, with paper notes. That information and data was a big influence when i designed my AXN GUITARS.

So on this fine morning in the month of December I’m stuck in a hotel room as i write this. Opting to pen these notes into my Macbook. Offering this information up for you guys. If you can appreciate or add to this information let me know through email.

i know there are many of you that are information-aholics addicted to knowing more about 80s guitars. So I hope the blog keeps the fire burning to play more guitar... so enough said..!!! on to the facts ….enjoy.

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The VH-250 - insider information

ESP did make various Frankenstrat 5150 red/white color guitars as Navigator models before the VH-250. The 1989-1990 VH-250 was a genuine product manufactured in Japan by ESP and released by ESP firstly under the brand Kramer as a Kramer VAN HALEN model the vh-250. Yes it was released as a …

… Kramer branded product. So technically the first run of these VH-250s are Kramers.

As some Kramer guitar collectors know ESP manufactured ALL Kramer branded product after the mid-to-late-1980s. Funny enough my friends in Japan have reflected back to me that this model is also referred to as The VH-5150, The VH-250, or the KVH-49 the latter I believe was ZEP-II branded made in Japan product. Yet, the ESP product number i have ascertained is correct as The VH-250.

At the time of the release of VH-250 in late 1989, ESP had acquired rights in Japan to the brand name Kramer. A Kramer distributorship had already been well established through ESP and loosely called Kramer Japan. As well ESP had already been producing Kramer's domestic Japanese production models such as the JK series guitars.

Side Note: In a future lesson i will decode many facts that reside underneath a veil of secrecy in regards to the Kramer GL George Lynch model Kramer and the Mick Mars Model Kramer produced around the same time as The VH250. Check Back to this blog Johnny :-)

In reality by 1989 ESP was making everything branded Kramer and manufacturing them in Japan. Delivering Kramers worldwide. This includes every Kramer guitar that was sold in the USA including the guitars with the word “American“ on the headstock.

The VH-250 was a replica manufactured by ESP in Japan. Japanese magazines touted The VH-250 in advertising as a “Kramer Eddie Van Halen Model”. It was manufactured and painted by ESP starting in late 1989 with a Kramer logo right on the headstock. The Kramer logo was applied at the KRAMER/ESP shop. The familiar Kramer logo was applied by ESP to these guitars and was on the VH-250 models into the early 1990s.

The first VH-250s can easily be identified as a 1989-1990 manufacture dates. The earliest Kramer VH-250s check out to be 1989 and can be accurately dated by the Floyd Rose hardware and the Seymour Duncan JBJ pickup and volume pot. Again these were manufactured on the ESP/Kramer Japan production line with the Kramer logo.

In addition many times but not always there is luthier handwriting written on the heel of the neck and/or in the neck pocket. This was common on most of the ESP product of the 1980s.

During the time of the late 1980s ESP luthiers near-to-always added markings usually using a ball point pen. I have many photos in this blog post and some include these common ESP luthier markings..

The VH-250s I’ve experienced have had 3 different varieties of neck plates. A blank chrome neck plate, a neck plate with the word kramer and a serial number under the name and more often a chrome neck plate with just a serial number. I suspect, like everything else ESP, they used neck plates as well as serial numbers inconsistently and just used whatever they had on hand at the time.

Apparently the VH-250s were sold only at the popular music stores like those found in Tokyo. It was said that the Kramer ESP model VH-250 was always sold out when inquiries were made about purchase at these Japanese music stores.

During the 1980s the big guitar stores in Japan placed display models up high on the racks to show-off to customer traffic. In addition the brands of the day such as Kramer produced short runs of guitars for advertising purposes with a super high retail prices such as this ESP VH-250.

Often in a collaboration with the big music stores these custom short runs of artist models 1980s guitars were marketed and promoted in tandem with the distributor, manufacturer and these music store outlets.

Production of the VH-250s I’ve decided was limited to somewhere around 100-200 guitars initially maybe more if you count the late 90s. In my opinion Kramer Japan produced these boutique quality replicas in one of these promotions. This kind of advertising was common during the 1980s in Japan and usually followed up with full page ads in Japanese rock magazines like Young Guitar.

Again, ESP sold the VH-250 in Japan as a Kramer product with the Kramer logo on the headstock until about 1990. As it looks to me ESP continued to sell the VH-250 through to the mid 1990s and after that point stopped placing the Kramer logo on the headstock and sold the VH-250 without a Kramer logo. Sales of these continued in very very small numbers in a somewhat secretive manner by ESP late into the 1990s. Its a fact this model was not listed in any ESP or Kramer Japan catalog.

Later after the logo disappeared ESP Japan treated the VH-250 as a ZEP-II brand product. I have given some definition of what a ZEP-II brand product is on THIS web page which is well worth reading.

As I have decided the VH-250 or indistinguishable models were manufactured and produced by ESP until 2000. In the late 1990s each time successive replicas were re-produced the looks and details were changed to match what Eddie Van Halen was using live at the time. Until it was eventually was phased out.

Later the specifications changed yet again and a relic 5150 model was released that i have not owned as of this writing. This 1990s style 5150 guitar had a single tuner on the underside like Ed’s and a more odd shaped 5150 looking banana headstock also like Ed’s. ( see the last bunch of photos at the bottom of this page ).

Needless to say every one of these vintage ESP/KRAMER EVH replicas i’ve owned no matter what run are ESP Japan quality with excellent tone, great playability, quality woods, highest end hardware and pickup, and extremely great craftsmanship.

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS THE EARLY ESP KRAMER JAPAN VH-250

Body: Ash center-seam 2 Piece / later 2 piece alder
Neck: Hard Rock Maple One Piece

Headstock: ESP Banana or Hockey Stick headstock
Bridge: German Floyd Rose Original
Pickup: USA Seymour Duncan Custom / SH-5 or EARLY one had a Duncan JBJ

GALLERIES OF SEVERAL ESP KRAMER JAPAN VH-250 GUITARS

GALLERY ESP FRANKENSTRAT #1

GALLERY ESP FRANKENSTRAT #2

GALLERY ESP FRANKENSTRAT #3

GALLERY ESP FRANKENSTRAT #4

GALLERY ESP FRANKENSTRAT #5

BELOW SOMEONE DID AN AMATEUR RELIC JOB TO THIS ONE

BELOW A “SO CALLED“ EDWARDS ESP 5150 RELEASED IN THE 1990s

I’ve been told by friends in Japan that this is an Edwards brand and also that this guitar is EXCELLENT QUALITY, EXCELLENT JUST EXCELENT…i havent owned one of these.

Thanks to Takumi for the photos… i believe this run of guitars was initially manufactured during a transition between the ZEP-2 brands demise and the launch by ESP of a new brand called Edwards in the early 1990s. That said only some old guys over at ESP would know for sure..for sure. ONLY them.

( note 12/29/2021: As a teacher of Vintage 1980s Guitar information please enjoy this stuff and absorb the facts for your own educational, spiritual and personal growth. For those of you that like to copy and claim facts that you never new before reading this as your own… please by all means, repeat, copy, duplicate, take credit, make youTube video and forum posts using my teachings verbatim as I have watched you do continuously.

Out of dormancy i have made you meaningful. Where futility resided previously i have provided inspiration. Johnny AXN Guitars )

Info

Jake E Lee Hardtail Bridge

Our machined in USA ALIEN JEL™ Hardtail Bridge is Available For Sale click here >> new ALIEN JEL™ Hardtail Bridge << its a clone and 100% exact reproduction of the 1980s original !!!!!

Jake E Lee's Vintage 1980s Hardtail Bridge

Hello friends Johnny here… Sensei of Vintage 1980s Guitars and veteran of the 1980s Hollywood Sunset Strip. After many requests from you I’ve decided to post information about Jake E Lee’s Vintage Hardtail Bridge.

The famous Jake e Lee Whitey Hardtail strat guitar that Jake used with the Ozzy Osbourne Band in the 1980s has many details that have been talked about over the decades. Ultimately Jake E Lee has answered most of the questions regarding the make and modifications to his favorite… The Jake E Lee Whitey Guitar.

Now I will give you the answers you all have been waiting for in regards to the big fat hardtail fixed bridge Jake preferred and used with Ozzy.

Ok so down to the brass facts. the above photo is showing you the real bridge. As owned by Jake.

I’ve owned and sold 4 of these authentic 1980s hardtail bridges. I have one left of these first incarnation of Jake’s hardtail fixed bridge i’ve kept ( pictured ). I also have notes from the shop foreman that machined the very first bunch of bridges for Charvel Jackson in the 1980s and his notes are below in the photo..

Theres a whole bunch of guys that have been trying to recreate this hardtail bridge over the years. ALL of these bridges that I have seen are absolutely and positively not accurate. I will go as far to call the ones I’ve seen for sale “Inaccurate Fakes”.

100% of the bridges I’ve seen for sale are nothing like Jake’s original hardtail.

Let us not forget that Jake’s Whitey Guitar was a 1974 Fender Stratocaster with a wide 2-7/32” string spacing from the Fender factory. Johnny - AXN Guitars

Here’s the first thing that gives the “fakers” away and the first thing to look for…

An authentic Jake E Lee Bridge has a string spacing that did not match F spaced humbucker pickups. That said Jake did use F-spaced AH Duncan pickups in his Whitey even though the pole pieces didn’t align perfectly. Every other replica JEL guitar bridge has thin 2” E-to_E string pacing. That means that ALL the so called Jake E Lee bridges that are for sale that have 2” string spacing are not accurate!

Above are the real specifications. Dig it!

Its a brass bridge with a thick and awesome brass baseplate that includes that enlarged block area that holds the saddles to the baseplate with screws and springs.

Jake E Lee’s Original Hardtail Bridge did not have a string spacing for F spaced pickups
Jake E Lee’s Original Bridge had a brass baseplate with the unique larger rear block area
The saddles on Jake E Lees original were sized as the above vintage note with a couple other unique features that are tough to reproduce.
Jake E Lee Hardtail he used with Ozzy had a black chromed baseplate
Jake E Lee Hardtail Bridge he used with Ozzy had chrome saddles
The Jake E Lee Hardtail mount with three screws under the saddles ( not 4 screws at the corners )

It is what it is. As the Sensei of Vintage 1980s guitars i’m spreading the truth. Science, study and perseverance goes a long way.

Best Wishes

Johnny - AXN Guitars

Info

Kramer Baretta 1983 Guitar UNMASKED part 2

Pictured is a 1983 Kramer Baretta body. As you can see the body has been repainted by what looks like a rattlecan creme color. Also, If you look closer you can see that someone at one time routed out 2 single coil pickups to make the body HSS. Like many 1980s guitars this Kramer Baretta has seen lots of miles and lots of modifications. I suspect this guitar was painted with red and white stripes at some point by a previous owner. None-the-less the guitar is an authentic 1983 Baretta with a serial number neck plate C36XX.

Body

As mentioned previously, the Kramer 1983 Baretta neck was manufactured by one subcontractor for Kramer NJ ( ESP Japan ) and The Holy Grail Kramer Baretta bodies were manufactured by a different subcontractor to Kramer. In Neptune NJ Kramer corporate assembled the 1983 Kramer Barettas and readied them for delivery to Kramer’s dealer network.

The bodies for every authentic 1983 Baretta were manufactured by Sports in Connecticut USA. This was a carry over of the relationship between Kramer NJ and Sports. Sports Inc. had done many of the early Kramer guitar bodies in the first part of 1980s.

Notice the familiar KRAMER NJ neck pocket markings. Meant-to-be a truss rod adjust access point, the funny little notch cut out in the neck pocket wood is a common 1980s Kramer NJ guitar thing. It can be seen that this example is a maple wood body and weighs in at 6+ lbs ( heavy ). There you have the little tremolo cavity route for the extra travel of the springs on a 42mm Floyd Rose sustain block. That little tremolo cavity route was a signature tell-tail marking that equals up to authenticity. This is a real deal Holy Grail Kramer Guitar. Of course also visible is the second generation Kramer electronics control cavity route/shape on the back of the guitar.

All Kramer 1983 Barettas have the very model specific contours and routing, overall body shape, and the various signs that all add up to the 1983 Baretta bodies having been manufactured in Connecticut at Sports. All of these things are what people can use to verify this bodys authenticity or the authenticity of any 1983 Kramer Baretta.

Neck Plate

Kramer NJ had lots of different neckplates on many different Kramers guitars yet the 1983 Baretta neck plate was a Fender standard size plate. Made of steel and they used black neck plates and black screws. Every 1983 Baretta had a serial# starting with a C with 4 numbers after the letter.

Though all over the board with serial numbers that sometimes where out of sequence with other Kramer guitar models, with the 1983 KRAMER BARETTA the first guitars in the run had a lower serial number and the last guitars in the run of 1983 Kramer Barettas had a larger serial number. The serial number range from the ones I’ve seen C3200-C4500.

Schaller Made Zebra Pickup

Schaller Reverse Zebra Golden 50 Humbucker ( non trem spaced ). The factory pickup was this Schaller humbucker. Said to uses alnico II magnets and said to be the same wind, wire gauge, and specifications as the Gibson 57 classic pickup. Its a two wire type and the one from this Kramer 1983 Baretta is putting out 8.85 ohms on my meter.

Floyd Rose Tremolo

I have much knowledge on Floyd Rose history and the Floyd on this body is original. Many have said its a flat black finish. I think its just a fist generation made in Germany black tremolo.

The first of the various Floyds that were manufactured in Germany in 1983. Also, the first black version from Schaller. The Germany company Schaller handled manufacturing for Mr. Floyd Rose in 1983 after Fernandes Japan..

This tremolo has also seen the miles. That said its original to this particular 1983 Kramer Baretta. This Floyd has one of the thickest baseplates of any Floyd Rose tremolo I have on record. The baseplate thickness is .137”.

This 1983 Kramer Baretta Floyd Rose vibrato utilized a 42mm sustain block on its black Floyd Rose baseplate. I photographed the original tremolo as is, yet i think its been tinkered with a bit. The saddles are in disrepair and it needs at the least new blocks if not new saddles altogether. The tremolo is showing a brass tremolo bar mount which is unique. Texturing on bottom of the baseplate signify type manufacture and time frame of manufacture.

i would not skip over the R5 Floyd Rose nut. Its made in Germany and marked with Made in Germany the way it was on the early Floyd Rose nuts ( first generation marking/branding which was later changed ). An R5 nut size equals a wide 1-3/4” nut.

The R5 locking nut has a radius of 10 inch. Also the Floyd Rose tremolo bridge has a saddle radius of 12 inch. These two specifications funny enough do not match the actual Kramer 1983 Holy Grail necks they were mounted on when the guitars were assembled at the Kramer Neptune NJ USA factory. This original 1983 holy grail neck has a unique fretboard radius which is much flatter than either the radius of the nut or the radius of the bridge saddles.

Tuners and Misc

The tuners on a 1983 Kramer Baretta were 1983 unbranded Gotoh 90Degree tuners. Black in color. The tremolo posts were German made first run Floyd Rose posts made by Schaller.

{ PART 1 - KRAMER 1983 BARETTA - UNMASKED BLOG POST ]

Complete Blog Index Of Posts

Info

Kramer Baretta 1983 Guitar UNMASKED part 1

Hello friends Johnny here from AXN Guitars. The Kramer 1983 Baretta will be the highlight of my next two blog posts. Specifically today I will highlight this Kramer Holy Grail Baretta 1983 neck. In a later post we will dissect the body from this authentic 1983 Kramer Baretta specimen i have here.

Hello friends this is Johnny form AXN Guitars. Today I discuss one of the most difficult guitars to acquire the 1983 Kramer Baretta. The guitar in the photos will more than likely be the last Kramer Baretta holy grail 1983 guitar that i will have in my possession and soon its off to its proud owner. This guitar is quite used and its been modified by a previous owner. It has quite an impressive history and as pictured you can see its years.

I’ve slowed my vintage guitar buying habit. I’ve invested all my time, thoughts and passion into making AXN Guitars. We are manufacturing guitars that exactly replicate, celebrate and re-incarnate the quintessential electric guitars of 1980s. As The Sensei of Vintage 1980s Guitars i’ve put together this 1983 Kramer Baretta information and photos for you.

As I’ve mentioned in other blog posts I’ve always been very interested in the technical specifications of vintage artist model guitars; these hold the answers to the magic unique to each guitar. Because of this obsession I have recorded thousands of pages of technical entries with data about guitars.

Older information i wrote down in ink and paper way back in the 1980s before any of us used computers. Having aged sometimes 30+ years each technical entry accurately breaks down every minute detail of these guitars in a scientific manner. I even photographed some guitars back in the day with black and white film and a Nikon camera.

In the below photos we can see that we have a 1983 kramer Baretta non-tilt “hockey stick” neck as it was called in the 1980s. In recent years the shape of the headstock has been called the “banana” headstock by fanciers. Also referred to as a “non-tilt” or “non-angled” banana headstock.

Its 25.5” scale, it has jumbo frets and the back of the neck has an 1980s style oil finish. Its truss rod adjust is at the heel and the truss rod as you can see is the ESP type. Electric Sound products in Japan manufactured every Kramer 1983 Baretta Holy Grail neck while a subcontractor to Kramer Neptune NJ.

I’ve said before the specifications of the 1983 Kramer Baretta neck is like no other. With its R5 wide nut size, its super flat radius, and unique neck shape its nothing like any other neck you will play. Funny enough, no other luthiers have ever gotten the specifications right on any of the copies or recreations. Neither Fender or Gibson has gotten anywhere close to the real neck specifications in their “Baretta clones”. Our AXN ‘83 is the only guitar available with the exact neck specifications.

Its my belief that no guitar maker has ever cared about those specifications because the true specifications are too hard to accurately acquire and re-create. Even more importantly for most guitar makers its to costly to manufacture an exact clone neck due to various factors which include, the length of the maple wood required from banana headstock tip-end to heel/butt. Also the type of fretboard, the flatness of the fretboard ( the radius ), the uniqueness of fretboard width at certain frets and the subtle contours of the back of the 1983 non-tilt neck are exclusive to this Holy Grail Kramer.

In addition the size of the neck pocket on the body and the heel/butt size of the neck at the 22nd fret are a unique size that we create virtually exactly. All this causes the 1983 Kramer Baretta a challenge for any other luthier to accurately form. The original 1983 holy grail neck was a true hand made boutique guitar neck. ESP japan had the skills and they were asked to manufacture these awesome necks for Kramer. We are the only luthiers that do it 100% accurately!

I’m considered the foremost collector of vintage ESP and i can verify this 1983 era of ESP manufacturing. ESP retained an extremely talented group of luthiers who where unmatched in their time. I am familiar with the work from the different ESP craftsman at the various Japan ESP shops from the 1980s. I can accurately identify virtually every time exactly where in Japan and when ESP products were manufactured.

Within these 1983 Kramer Baretta blog posts will be a complete visual break down of the 1983 Kramer Baretta Signature guitar i have here… Enjoy!

Johnny - Sensei of vintage 1980s guitars.

Photo Note : i shot the neck and the body separately and in separate photo shoots. I placed some of our AXN guitar raw bodies and necks as decoration in the background such as the AXN ‘83 maple body that is an exact duplicate of a Kramer 1983 Baretta body. If you look close you can see the visual age of this Kramer Holy Grail 1983 Baretta guitar neck in all its splendor. I may add more to this post as time allows.