Kramer DMZ Aluminum Neck Fretless Reviews 
5 / 5 based on 1 reviewsI don't remeber where I got it or what
it cost, but I remeber it was an online
and since I was already familiar and pleased with two other aluminum neck
Kramers, I went for it. Please forgive
a rather long review, but this is a very
unusal ax.
Nothing else on the planet sounds like
an aluminum neck fretless with an ebanol
fingerboard. It's a lined board, which
I prefer. Also, has an aluminum nut and
a zero fret.
The Dimarzio P-bass PU has adjustable
pole slugs and runs through two switches:
2-position and a 3-position mini toggles.
The inlaid position markers are aluminum
and look very cool.
The E-string tuner is far enough from
the nut that one can avoid getting the
main winding of the string wound around
the peg.
I like that it looks very ordinary but
the audience hears extrordinary sounds.
I was once asked if I used any effects
to sound "just like playing a horn".
It weighs 14 pounds and has a minor
case of neck dive.
Being fretless, it would have been very
useful to have a neck PU as well, like
many other DMZ series Kramers do have.
It's active, which explaines how it can
offer a zillion combinations of its two
toggle switches just to control a single
split coil [P-bass PU]. Even with the
active system, the single tone knob has
no major influence on the tone. Maybe
it's an active PU with passive tone. It
is very active in the LOUD department.
Neck is a cast aluminum "T" section beam
woth phenolic fingerboard and wooden 1/4
round sections inlaid so that most your
hand hardly touches any metal. Body is
very non-descript P-style, with a heavy
bent-metal bridge with keyholes in its
base plate for the strings. 34" scale
length with 21 positions marked. Small
radius, like and old Fender, and a bit
narrower guage, like older imports [but
it's 100% made-in-New-Joizy, USA].
2x2 tuners on the trademake "tuning fork"
headstock appear to be Schallers. Head
is also aluminum and integrated with the
neck beam.
There is no truss rod, and none is needed.
Neck is approx P-bass profile and being
cast aluminum, it isn't going anywhere.
You can haul back on the head in playing
position and the string height resists
any change in action. A small amount of
relief is built into the neck design.
Control cavity cover is a heavy aluminum
plate, just to top things off metal-wise.
Did I mention it weighs 14 pounds ? Well
if [like me] you are never mistaken for a
gorilla, then the saving grace is that,
since it's fretless, you can use it for
those jazz gigs where you get to sit on a
stool while playing. OTOH, nothing else
sounds like 14 lbs of hardwood and cast
aluminum, so it's not like it's heavy for
no good reason -- it delivers 14 lbs of
tone. Multiply that by 2 octaves and 100
watts, mix in the a fretless whine that
sounds of metal, not wood, and you might
just imagine what it sounds like. It has
plenty of classic big bottom but the mids
and harmonic overtones are unique.
Golem rated this unit
on
2004-08-13.
