I'm the bass guy here at GrinningElk and by being so, I just don't get a lot of credit when it comes to guitar details and facts. Lee thinks all bass players are knuckle draggin' apes and so, on those exceptionally rare occasions when I do spit out a nugget of knowledge about something with six strings on it, the victory is as sweet as a freshly cut slice of sun- ripened watermelon on a hot July afternoon. So, as we are walking through the carpeted room at the Arlington Guitar show a few weeks ago, Lee spotted this Ripley and quick- stepped his way to it. "Dude", he said. "I've never seen a pink Ripley- man, this thing has got to be rare". Seeing that moment as the time to strike, I replied, "That's not pink, you big dummy. It's called Red Cloud and it's just like the one Eddie Van Halen had back in the day. This one's got a pointy headstock and his had a banana". I would have achieved the same effect if I had smashed him in the jaw with a barbed wire- wrapped cinder block because he just stared at me like I had two heads. "How the hell did you know that?" he asked and I just grinned and said something to the effect of how it's hard to be both pretty and smart. Or something like that. What he didn't know was that, coincidentally, I was cruising the vintagekramer.com website a few weeks earlier and had seen a picture of Ed with his Ripley. The color was designated "Red Cloud" so now I look like a genius. These moments are so rare, I cannot put it into words...
   

Now let's get to this guitar. As soon as we returned from Texas, I knew I had some digging to do. To my recollection, I've only seen a couple of these Ripleys around over the years and I think they were black, so I had a sneaking suspicion that this one might be a tad special. So after getting in touch with Mr. Ripley and also getting an email from one of the largest Kramer collectors on the planet, here's what I've been able to discern; There were only 10-12 of these guitars ever to be made in this color. The first guitar went to Edward, of course and the second one went to his nephew. My collector friend got the third. That puts this one being between #4 and #8 that actually made it out into the public domain. There are 3- 4 bodies left that have not been assembled and they are all signed by EVH. Can't wait to see one of those! So, boiling all this info down, you're looking at one of the rarest and potentially most desirable Kramers on the planet and rest assured, it's in absolute collector quality condition. The package includes a stereo- mono cable, the Ripley splitter box and the OHSC. This one also quickly made it to the "ones I'd like to keep" list, but a quick glare from my now decimated and forcibly humbled business partner had me shooting pictures before you could say scat! Doesn't matter- I finally struck a blow for bass players everywhere and you get to see some cool pictures of an even cooler guitar. Give us a call with any questions and thanks for stopping by!