Vaccaro Guitars 2.0

The Vaccaro legacy begins in 1976, when Henry Vaccaro Sr., Co Founder and CEO of Kramer Guitars, helped pioneer aluminum neck guitar technology. These early Kramer instruments delivered exceptional tuning stability, strong note attack, and extended sustain, offering meaningful performance advantages at a time when consistency mattered most for working and touring musicians.

During the Kramer aluminum neck era, the instruments were embraced across genres by artists and bands who valued clarity, reliability, and performance. Notable players and groups associated with Kramer aluminum neck instruments included Stanley Clarke, Earth, Wind and Fire, 10cc, Kansas, Hank Williams Jr,. The Johnny Cash Band, and The Jacksons. This period established Kramer as a serious innovator in modern guitar design.

As Kramer’s visibility expanded, the guitars reached Eddie Van Halen during a pivotal moment in rock history. While Eddie valued performance, the original aluminum neck design proved too heavy for his playing style and stage demands. That practical feedback became a turning point.

In response, Kramer transitioned toward wood neck designs that better suited evolving player needs. This shift coincided with the rise of MTV and helped propel Kramer into the cultural mainstream.

During the wood neck era, Kramer became one of the most visible guitar brands of the MTV generation, seen in the hands of artists and bands such as Motley Crue Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Skid Row, Great White, Queensrÿche, Loverboy, and The Cars. This period cemented Kramer’s place at the center of 1980s rock culture.

Rather than abandoning innovation, Henry Vaccaro Sr. continued thinking about the original engineering challenge. How do you eliminate weight while keeping the clarity, sustain, and tuning stability aluminum provides?

In the 1990s, Henry Vaccaro Sr. and Henry Vaccaro Jr. answered that question together. The father son duo launched Vaccaro Guitars around a redesigned aluminum neck concept: an aluminum core wrapped inside a traditional wood neck, evolved from the original Kramer aluminum neck design. This approach eliminated excess weight and coldness to the touch while preserving the qualities players valued most—note definition, note clarity, sustain, and tuning stability.

That innovation became the foundation of Vaccaro Guitars and marked the beginning of a new chapter in the Vaccaro family’s engineering and design legacy.

Under the creative direction of Henry Vaccaro Jr., Vaccaro established itself as a disruptor. While mainstream manufacturers chased uniform trends, alternative and independent artists were drawn to Vaccaro for its originality, balance of tradition and technology, and refusal to compromise on feel.

Artists associated with this era included The Edge, Fountains of Wayne, Lenny Kravitz, Hole, Porno for Pyros, Billy Idol, Kid Rock, Everlast, Nancy Boy, Jane Jensen, Ira Dean, and Stevie Salas—a cross section of artists who valued individuality, tone, and instruments that stood apart from mass market design.