“Updated electronics feature a pair of Kramer USA-made Eruption pickups designed by Gibson Master Luthier Jim DeCola”: Kramer’s 84 HH S-style doubles down on the humbuckers, adds coil-splitting and a killswitch for maximum shred appeal

Kramer has refreshed its high-performance S-style range with the 84 HH, offering the dual-humbucker equipped electric guitar in quilted maple, satin and and fresh colour finishes.

As the name suggests, the 84 HH unashamedly retro, referencing a time when hot-rodding officially became a thing, as shred officially became a thing. And now look at it, this state-of-the-art boundary pushing in gear and technique is considered retro.

Yes, that might make some players feel old, remembering taking Perpetual Burn home from the record shop, reading the liner notes on the bus home, pressing play and getting their mind blown. Heady days.

Well, maybe these new Kramers will make those players feel young again. There are no guarantees in this world but consider this: a speedy S-style equipped with a killswitch, a Floyd Rose 1000 Series double-locking vibrato, and a pair of Kramer USA Eruption humbuckers designed by Gibson’s gear guru Jim De Cola will give any player a new lease of life.

That’s what you get with 84 HH Killswitch, which arrives in a sweet Smoked Almond Metallic finish that looks very much like rose gold, and is painted on the banana six-in-line headstock to match the body.

Kramer has just screwed those electric guitar pickups to the body. No mounting rings here, thanks. No messing around. There’s something refreshingly wild about that. Kramer says more sustain but we’d have to A/B that to say for sure.

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There’s a three-way toggle switch to select your pickups, a single master volume control, two mini-toggles for coil-splitting and an momentary killswitch positioned beside the neck ‘bucker for those staccato Tom Morello effects – or, if you prefer, Randy Rhoads, who was one for turning the volume down on one pickup and throttling his pickup selector switch for a similar machine-gun chop.

The neck on this is a satin maple bolt-on, with a 10” to 14” compound radius ebony fingerboard and 22 jumbo frets. Kramer has thermally aged the maple to enhance stability. The body is alder.

The 84 HH Killswitch is available now, exclusively from Kramer and the Gibson Garages in London and Nashville (Kramer is part of the Gibson brand family).

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Other models in the 84 HH series have a similar spec, albeit without the killswitch. There’s the 84 HH Quilt, which offers a AAAA quilted maple veneer in Magenta Burst and Red Burst, plus the Gisbon/Kramer exclusive Orange Burst and Purple Burst finishes.

If the $1,099 quilt maple option is a little too grown-up and high-scale – after all, these are hard-rock guitars – there is a more muted satin-finished model, available in Atlas Green, Radiant Red and Intruder Black.

This has a maple fingerboard. And finally, you’ve got a gloss edition that’s offered in super-bright Radiant Red and Purple Sparkle to match your Spandex pants. Both have maple fingerboards and are priced $999 street. All ship with a padded gig bag.

Hat-tip to the Gibson Gazette for breaking the news – Gibson's official news page is officially worth bookmarking if you're a fan of Gibson and its brands. For more details, head over to Kramer.