Vaccaro X-Ray


 
Back in the 70's there were a couple of makers who experimented with aluminum neck guitars. One of the first was Travis Bean (famously endorsed by Gerry Garcia). One of Bean's associates, Gary Kramer, left to start his own company with financial backing from, among others, a real estate developer named Henry Vaccaro.

The aluminum neck models lost popularity in the 80's and the company continued under various ownerships until it folded in 1990.

In 1995 Henry Vaccaro (who had kept ownership of the aluminum neck patents) decided to revive Kramer with some of the original designs but was thwarted when , because of funding glitches, the Kramer name was sold to Gibson in 1997. 

A new Vaccaro line was created in 1998 under the stewardship of original Kramer luthier, Phil Petillo, with a new completely wood-sheathed T-bar neck design. 
American built guitars like my X-ray were only available built to order from  Vaccaro's New Jersey shop. A cheaper, Korean made, copy was available from some retailers (though not many).

The X-Ray has a double T-bar aluminium neck with a wood sheath and phenolic fingerboard. Mine has a red sparkle finish with mother-of-toiletseat pickguard and matching Rio Grande pickups: single in front, Hum in the back. As well as a single volume and tone control, there's a three way pickup selector switch and a coil-tap switch.

Cool Features:
    - Aluminium neck (wood encased)
    - Spertzel tuners
    - Novel pickup combination (Rio Grande's)
      (before you complain, yes, it's the same as
       the Squire Venus or Fender Cyclone, but
       with a coil tap)
    - Awesome sparkle finish
    - Phenolic fingerboard (not wood)
    - Built to order only ("not available in stores")