We found this early Baretta in a dealer's booth at the last Charlotte Guitar Show. As Lee and I walked past it, I said something to the effect that I had seen it somewhere before. Lee just looked at me funny because he thinks I say that about every 80's guitar we pass, but I was pretty sure I had seen these graphics somewhere. Sure enough, after doing a little research I found that this guitar was from the first series of graphics painted for Kramer by Dennis Klein back in 1985 and is called the Animal Series Lion. The body was probably built by ESP and still retains the trussrod notch. The pickup is a reverse Duncan JB, with the creme side away from the Floyd trem. The tuners are black M6 Schallers and the Floyd Rose tremolo obviously has a chrome arm, which is not original. We believe the backplate is MIA, but back in the day, most guitarists took it off anyway to access the trem block and springs. The hardshell case looks to be from a later period and has a spot hollowed out to accommodate the upper horn tip and straplock. Rare? Who knows, but we easily placed this axe into the cool category and all this coming from a couple of guys that once sat a hot pink Peavey Vandenburg on their table at a different Charlotte show around 2004 or 2005 and sold it that weekend! Now you know that takes a set of cajones. Comments, requests, suggestions and general chatter are always welcomed- thanks for checking out 80's week here at the 'Elk!