Kramer Focus VT-211S Electric Guitar - Purple Reviews

I love the Kramerit handles very well

I chose purple cuz I have had all the normal colors and liked this color. Not cuz I am a big GD fan etc.

Everyone is right about the fretboard. VERY Nice, smooth, easy to play, no fret nicks, etc.

I bought this for myself even tho I am more of an acoustic guy. Even for my classic and hard rock. Acoustics are just simpler and easier for lazy guys like me. =)

Decided if I play this one a lot I will upgrade to a higher priced model electric guitar.

I did take it to my local luthier to have him do a professional setup on it and it came out nicely. Also had him upgrade my strings to 10's. My personal fav on electrics.

I am a hobby player and this does great for me. FTR been playing on and off since I was 19 and I am now 63.

The Alinco humbuckers sound really good thru the amps I have. Line 6 pocket POD, Micro VOX AC30 direct plug in, Fender Frontman 10G (playing with that one right now - headphones of course) and the Fender Mustang LT-25.

The tuning keys are probably not the best but they do the job. The volume and tone pots work fine despite the volume knob having a slight wobble when turned. No biggy cuz I keep it full open and use the amps to adjust volume. I don't use the whammy bar so I cannot comment on that.

The bottom line is this is a minimal investment guitar for those wanting something inexpensive to play with, learn on, experiment with, etc. I'm not really very picky so it works fine for me. Good sound, solid feel, smooth maple neck. I play mostly classic rock and this guitar will not hurt the pocket book. =)

Service comment: Sweetwater is unparalleled in service and support in my opinion. Hats off to Taylor Perry for following up after my order, after I received the guitar, etc.

And how is that for a guitarist's name? Taylor guitars, James Taylor, Steve Perry, Joe Perry, Taylor Hawkins (RIP), and on and on.

Strums Well, I am pleased with the guitar and it's sturdiness.

I have been a guitar player for nearly fifteen years, and I am pleasantly surprised but how great this guitar performs. Not recommended for guitar solos or fast-paced music (e.g., metal), definitely more recommended for beginner-to-intermediate users, but for the price, this is an absolute bargain in terms of tone and looks.

Finishing Is near perfect. Neck smooth 0 fret sprout. Sounds unbelievable ( for this price ). You don't buy it it, its your lost. Buy one , put it aside., guaranteed make money.

This is my 4th Kramer and I absolutely LOVE IT, for the price you aren't going to find a better guitar. Team that up with the fantastic service Sweetwater provides and that TOTALLY ROCKS

I have been playing music for 33 years. I play various instruments but guitar is my main instrument. I have tried many guitars of various price ranges and brands. I am amazed by this amazing guitar. I was expecting a lot less quality. Nothing wrong with this Kramer it came in exceptional shape. The fit and finish is above it's price range by about $200_400 bucks. it plays like a much more expensive guitar. Everything works as it should and the sound blows my mind. How can they give you so much for so little. The only thing I will change is the strings because that is the only thing this beauty needs right out of the box. I would certainly recommend buying from Sweetwater. They have exceptional customer service above and beyond. Thank you Sweetwater.

I bought it to bedazzle as a gag for my wife, but I loved playing so much, I kept it. For the price, this is great! Needs a setup, but nothing extreme. I'm a novice, but I've learned enough from tutorials to get it in better shape.

This is an awesome guitar for the price. I put in a SD invader white humbucker in the bridge and SD hot rails on the neck. Clean up fret sprouts on the neck. The guitar screams now plays awesome too.

This guitar is not for the experienced professional although Mods can definitely be made to be professionalized. Now as far as a beginner prospective this is great! My only complaint is the horrible cheap tuning machines, and the bridge saddles buzzing as I strum but otherwise it is after all a beginner model. This is a great potential guitar to have. I have no other issues. Easy to play when it is properly tuned. No sharp frets, neck readjustment or any other problems.

The electronics and hardware are sub par. Good thing this thing looks sweet. Got a purple one cuz I'm a 80's metal junkie. Sales team was awesome. Thanks Jacob. I plan on upgrading this axe with ridiculous pup and pots.

What is it? It's a $ guitar made in China. Chinese guitars have come up in quality significantly in the past several years, but they are not without their issues that you HAVE to be aware of. So long as you know that these exist and are making an educated decision, you won't be disappointed in this guitar. In all honesty, a $ ax should be 2* at best. I give this a 3.5*.

PROS
1)Mahogany body. Most at this level will be with poplar or some locally harvested wood we've never heard of. Mahogany is a surprising find here. Now, it's prolly a 5-8 piece body - lots of thin strips glued together and painted to that you'll never know. That doesn't bother me at all because I've never seen hard evidence that the additional pieces noticeably effect the tone.
2)Maple neck & fretboard. This isn't so rare to find. What surprises me is that the wood is completely flatsawn. For a neck, you NEED with flatsawn or quartersawn lumber. Anything else CAN (and likely will) bring stability issues. There's been enough written on this topic elsewhere that I don't need to go into it here. So that they took the time at this level to make sure the lumber was sawn properly is a big plus.
3)AlNiCo V pickups. For $, you're basically guaranteed to get ceramic pickups. They're a LOT cheaper to make, and every sngle cost cutting measure needs to be taken. Not here. Now, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with ceramic - they're well suited for high output pickups. They're simply less expensive to make. So it's REALLY surprising to find A5 pickups here.

CONS
1)Every other part on this thing is cheap. The tuners are not sealed and don't move smoothly. The plastic on the p/g is so lacking is tint it's a little opaque. The pots are small dime-sized. The switch was defective. The tremolo block is garbage pot-metal. BUT LET"S BE FAIR - This is EXACTLY what you should expect from a $ Chinese guitar. They have to use cheap parts on a cheap guitar. You'd be naive to think anything else.
2)No shielding. There was a little bit of foil on part of the pickguard, but absolutely nothing in the cavity. Were this a HH setup, you might be able to get away with it as HBs don't hum. As this is a HSS, you don't have that luxury. But again... typical cheap guitar issues.

So while the cons are indeed cons, they're nothing unsurprising. As these are typical, you should know about them going into it. You've decided that you're OK with them and are buying it anyway, so you aren't going to be disappointed or surprised in any way.

DEFECTS
The cheap switch was broken. It just barely functioned.
The trem springs were so tight that the corner of the trem gouged the paint.

After the setup, it plays and sounds fantastic. It absolutely outperforms it's price point. If the p/g were actually solid, the switch worked, and the paint not chipped under the trem, this could be a $400 guitar. Visually, the p/g just makes it LOOK cheap. It's kinda hard to get past that when I look at it. I've never seen one that's just on this side of transparent.

So all this being said, I'm very happy with the purchase. I knew exactly what I was getting and what to expect, so I have no worthwhile complaints, only praises for the woods and pickups. It's an excellent choice for the beginner, or for the experienced to experiment with different pickups and hardware.

I bought the purple one from sweetwater i have a teal one as well both have indentation on frets out of the box under the d string on all frets as well as in 3 days there is more wear on frets then my 5 year old epiphone you can see the string indents in frets very odd if you take a string and go back forth its literally scraping into fret guitar tech said itll be a fret job down road 250 for new frets at this rate be two months and they'll need them great colors great make feel def upgrade all electronics bridge tuners nut for 130 its fine but fret issue not good very cheap material epiphone makes these all my guitars are Epiphone all great guitars i really wanted this to work colors nice few upgrades be perfect if you order one or have one go home take top strings and start bending you'll see what im talking about