Fender Wayne Kramer Signature Stratocaster

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Continuing our short series of blog posts about guitars emblazoned with National flags, of course we had to feature something with the Stars and Stripes. The Fender Wayne Kramer Signature Stratocaster has just recently been issued by Fender, and is a highly detailed replica of the Strat that Brother Wayne used to encourage us to Kick Out The Jams with the legendary MC5 back in the 1960s.

Kramer has always preferred hardtail Strats, and indeed that is the case here. Another feature that is unusual is that it has a Seymour Duncan '59 in the middle pickup position. How often do you see a humbucker in the middle position, flanked by two single coils? A friend of mine, years back, had a Strat set up like this and it sounded fantastic. I've often wondered why this set-up isn't more commonly seen.

And before anyone says it, yeah I realise it's not an accurate representation of the Stars and Stripes. It is very cool though. Even I covet this guitar. Part of me thinks I would have liked to have seen this finish without the relic effect being applied, although another part of me likes that too, it makes it look as if the guitar has survived 100s of MC5 gigs.

G L Wilson

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Last week I went to see DKT/MC5 again, this time in Oxford. I also remembered to take my camera this time! As ever, they played an exciting set full of the MC5's best known songs.

What I want to know is, what model Fender Stratocaster is it that Wayne Kramer uses these days? It's a hardtail Strat, that's for certain (despite the "with Synchronized Tremolo" legend on the headstock!), and on the scratchplate near the pickup selector switch there is a Fender "F". Does anyone have any ideas what model it might be? Just curious...

I went to see DKT/MC5 last night, featuring three of the now legendary rock'n'roll revolutionaries the MC5 from Detroit. Absolutely fantastic show, and Wow! that Wayne Kramer can't half play the guitar! It almost makes me want to get a Fender Stratocaster again. (By the way, I noticed he was playing a hardtail, i.e. non-tremolo, Strat, which conversely had the legend "with Synchronized Tremolo" on the headstock. A mis-matched neck and body, perhaps?). Anyway, catch them if you can!

MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer is making music for 'grown-ups': Plenty of music, Kramer says, is created for and marketed to teenagers, which is fine, but adults need music that connects with them and their concerns, too.