Vince Neil and Spector?

[ShredIsLife]

Hey bros, I was checking out Vince's site and I found this pic of him with a very odd Spector. I am assuming it is in the Kramer period, as I have seen pics of Vince playing another Spector, next to Nikki and his Spector bass. Just thought I'd share the pic, it looks like it's got a Floyd, a baretta-style single hum, and a sound hole! Check it out:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/AlexRigg/VNspector.jpg

Alex

[djjoiner]

:scratch Damn Bro, looks like a Tele Style Acoustic Electric ala Baretta HB and a Floyd.

Now that's a damn mouthful:thumbsup

I guarantee that's a One Off, wonder if Ole Vince still has it?

Dan

[Spade2you]

Spector used to make guitars, that was the coolest, though. I heard they're making guitars again.

[svachad]

I remember this guitar. Chris Hofschnieder built it in the artist endorsment room. Chris used the same Spector neck on a guitar he built for Joe Perry around the same time. The Joe Perry custom Spector was one of the best guitars, if not the best, ever made in Neptune.

[Spade2you]

Whoah, who are you?????? You come with a plethora of info!!!!

[MakaylaDawnGuitar]

Dave Sabo, from Skid Row, had some really cool Spectors, too! I think Scotti Hill had at least one, too.

[djjoiner]

Hey svachad, when did you work in Neptune?

Steve Z. was there from 1979 - 1983

Dan

[svachad]

I'm not sure I remember a Steve Z. but I didn't know everyone back then. My father gave me have a part time job in the factory in 1985 when I was in school. I used to work after school and all summer from 1986 until 1990.

[djjoiner]

Okay, cool Bro.
Yup, Steve Z. was long gone by then, but he'd drop by on occaison to visit with Andy Papiccio after he left.

I'll bet Steve knows your Dad.

Do you have any Kramers from back in the day?

Oh, and welcome aboard:thumbsup

Dan

[svachad]

I don't know if Steve knows my dad but I knew Andy fairly well. My father and Andy were partners. Andy was Vice President of manufacturing and my pop was the Exec. Vice President. I know I have a one of a kind Coors light beer can Kramer somewhere. Dennis Kline put some really nice airbrush work on it. I'll dig it out and take a picture when I get a chance.

[djjoiner]

Oh Cool,
Yeah, Steve worked for Andy the whole time he was there I think.

Sweet, we'd love to see the Silver Bullet Baretta:thumbsup

Dan

[djjoiner]

Steve's on line now, maybe he'll catch this thread.

Dan

[svachad]

It's not a Baretta. The body is cut to the shape of an actual beer can. I think it has a Sambora neck on it cause it was the only neck that was painted silver in the factory at the time. I have to dig it out. I also have a really wicked maple neck that was made for sombody named Ule Voz (I don't know if that is the correct spelling or who he is) but it has bats painted over the neck dots under the finish. I'm sure theres alot of weird stuff burried. I'll have to give it a look.

[steve ez]

Yeah, here I is. I didn't pay much attention to who the execs were in the later years. Was your Dad named Tony? Welcome aboard, these guys will love hearing everything you can remember. In my case that isn't that much these days. Musta lost a few brain cells on Green Grove road :bong

[djjoiner]

Oh, it's shaped like a Beer Can? Cool, hell yeah, dig all the old stuff up:thumbsup We'd love to see it!

Oh, meet Steve:thumbsup

Dan

[svachad]

Hi Steve,
Nice to meet someone from the old days. I read that you were there the first day Eddie came to Green Grove Rd. If you remember a pain in the ass 10 year old running around a getting pictures taken that day.....here I am. I'm sure we know alot of the same people and yes my dad's name is Tony. As for stories, I have quite a few! Did you leave before we moved to Neptune Blvd?

[steve ez]

Does your dad still play sax?

The night Ed came in after hours it was just a handful of people, Dennis, Andy, Me, Dave, Liz and I think that was all.
He spent the night at Dennis' house and returned the next day. There were so many people running around that day I probably wouldn't hav enoticed you to be honest but it would be fun to see some of those pictures. :D

Yeah, I left before the move to Neptune Blvd. but I stopped in there every now and then. I had a GF that worked in the office. :eek

[svachad]

That's pretty funny Steve. I can't beleive you remember that he was a sax player! He pretty much just plays golf these days and has nothing to do with the music business. And the names you mentioned D.B., Andy, Liz....all real good people. In fact I had a broken arm when Eddie was at the factory and right below his autogragh on my cast it says "Tough luck, love Liz". Funny Stuff!

[djjoiner]

:scratch I I'm not mistaken, Peter LaPlaca is a Sax player as well. Dennis Berardi plays the Drums, and Gary Kramer is just like me (can't play a guitar wortha damn:thumbsup ).

Did Henry Vaccarro Sr. play anything?

Dan

[svachad]

I don't think Henry was a musician. But he was a real nice guy as was his son Henry Jr. I hate to say it but I really no very little about Mr. Laplaca as he had sold his shares in the company well before it went bigtime and I only met him once or twice. As for Mr. Kramer, I never met him and I know he was out of the picture for a while when my family got involved in 1982. When Kramer got really popular and had all those people endorse the product (1984-1989) It was Dennis as President, Tony as Executive Vice President, Andy as Vice President of Manufacturing and Henry as the CEO.

[djjoiner]

Ok, I was wondering where Henry got his inspirations for the Vaccarro Line couldn't remember if he played the guitar or anything else.

Pete's email addy starts out with pjsax:thumbsup

Yeah, Gary was gone early on, years before your Dad joined Kramer.

You'd like Gary, sincerely nice guy, cool as hell:thumbsup

Lookin' forward to some pics, I know you've got a lot of cool stuff for us to see:thumbsup

You've probably got some funny stories you can share as well.
The last years of Kramer are the ones we know least about.

Dan

[steve ez]

Hey svachad,
Can I call you Chad for short? I remember your father played sax because he jammed with us at the company picnic one year. Dennis on drums too :band

Your dad may be one of the nicest guys I've ever known. He never made anyone feel like just a lowly employee, if you know what I mean. You should be proud to have him as a father. :notworthy

Hope you can dig up some stories and pictures for these guys. They are always very appreciative of any info on the company. :book

[KramerWolf]

Hey svachad;
do you remember Jon Hoenge? I have been in contact with him and he is a guy who has some really good stories about the days between 79- door closing....
in fact he sold me his old softball jersey, and satin members only management jacket.. glad to have you aboard....

james

[svachad]

Hey Steve,
Thanks for the kind comments about pop, he's always been pretty down to earth, never really got caught up in any BS and still hasn't. Those company picnics were alot of fun and I remember those jam sessions if you want to call them that. Is it me or was "On Broadway" the only song Dennis new how to play! I think the place was called Patsy's 40 acres or something like that. Anyway the food & drink were the right price! Do you remember a kinda big guy named Paul D. He used to work with J. Cavallo in the fat rock repair shop on green grove road. I still talk to him quite a bit. He actually became the head limo driver once we moved to Neptune Blvd.

[svachad]

Hi James,
Do I remember John? I worked with him in the cage for three summers stringing up floyds for the production line when I was a teenager. He was like the lord of the parts. His room was one of the few that had an "Authorized Persons Only" sign out side and was actually locked. All of the pickups,t-shirts, jackets, floyds, everything worth anything was in his supply room. For a short time Steven Berardi, had an office in the cage as well. I think he only worked there for a year or so and was in charge of purchasing supplies. John was one of the nicest guys at Kramer. Had a real funny dark sens of humor as well. I remember his band back in the 80's was called "Itchy K" The next time you talk to him see if he remembers the time we had a shipment of vintage instruments in his cage that we were to ship to Guitar Center(LA) the next day. This was the finest collection of about 25-30 peices we had ever seen. 57 strats withg the tags still on them. Perfect Birdlands and Gretch White Penguines. Fender P bass'. Old Gretch and Ricks. The was even one or two D'Angelico's in there. I'm sure he'll remember that one.

[Spade2you]

This=coolest thread in a really long time!!!!!

[jumbowolfe]

This probably goes beyond mentioning, but if you need space to host photos to show off, feel free to use my FTP. :)

I'll put them on VK as well if you want.
Mike

[djjoiner]

svachad,
Have you had a chance to dig out any of the old Kramer stuff?

I know, patience Grasshopper:p

Dan

[ShredIsLife]

Hey Chad,
Your Dad must have been Tony Costello...
I am looking at his picure right now in my Kramer catalog!

Too cool! Welcome aboard!!


Alex

[steve ez]

Yep, Pat's 40 acres. Still there BTW. The cops have their "Pignic" there every year. :guns

I remember throwing a party and there was a guy there with the Kramer limo and he kinda freaked when he found out I used to work there. I guess he wasn't s'posed to use it for personal runs. :lol

I talked with Paul on his cell phone a few years back and he told me about a big stack of original No Bozos posters he had in a closet. Tell him he's got a goldmine there if he wants to sell them to the list members here :thumbsup

:idea Get him to join the group and tell his stories about driving Queensryche around

I run into John C. all of the time. He sends me his band calendar but I never get out to see them anymore. He's a great musician though.

[ShredIsLife]

DID SOMEBODY SAY NO BOZOS POSTER???!!! I NEED ONE. NOW!! That poster is what got me into Kramers, and ultimately started my long search for the Holy Grail (which, thankfully, ended recently). Sign me up.


Alex

[svachad]

Hi Steve,
Did Paul D. or Paul U. say he had the posters? I know Paul D. has a load off coll stuff as not only did he work in the factory for five years but he was also the Exec's personal assistant and limo driver till he left to road manage Gorky Park. Paul D. also had one of Eddie's t-shirts from one of the old photo shoots he had given him as a gift. I would imagine he still has it, but we really don't talk much about Kramer except in passing. I'll ask him about the posters the next time I talk to him and see if he'll sign on to the board. He's got some really cool stories. He even spent a few day's a Eddies Malibu house as a guest back in the late 80's. Not to mention was his limo driver whenever he was in the NY area.

[steve ez]

Yeah, Paul D, I think. As far as I know Unk sold all of his Kramer stuff :D

I have to make sure that it was Paul I talked to 'cuz it coulda been another limo driver, right? The name Paul (or probably Paulie?) sounds right but I'm not positive. I'll ask my friend that knows him real well.

[svachad]

Hey Steve,
Do you know if Unk still works on vintage guitars. I know he used to have a shop in Toms River but I didn't see it when I was down there last year. I have a 66 ES-335 that needs some work and I don't know of anybody around here I would trust with it.

[steve ez]

I don't know if Paul is still working on guitars or not but I know he cut down on his hours awhile ago. I have his email somewhere and his phone # so I'll send it when I find it.

There's always Phil Petillo. One of my friends brings his vintage Gibsons (including his ES) to him and likes his work. I've heard mixed reviews.

[svachad]

Thanks Steve. I'd like to find someone in Central Jersey to work on it. And Dan, I've dug up some old photo's but there is one box that I am looking for that has a bunch of old advertising material in it. I think it's burried at my fathers house. I'll try to look over this weekend. I figured you would find that stuff more interesting than the photos with me in them!!!

[steve ez]

Phil is in Ocean twsp. so fairly close. Here's his website: www.petilloguitars.com/ (http://www.petilloguitars.com/)
His son does some really nice marquetry work. Check out the link.

[djjoiner]

The old photos probably have some great stories with them, I think we're all up for some good stories:thumbsup

Dan

[AimingHigh]

Excellent thread, welcome Chad! I hope you document your stories--we live for this stuff. <img border=0 src="http://www.kramerforum.com/emoticons/thumbsup.gif" />

George

[steve ez]

Yeah man. Post the pictures with you in them if they are shots of the factory or artists. We'd all love to see them

[djjoiner]

Chad (is that correct?)

Can you post some pics Bro? Look forward to seeing all the good times:toast


Dan