Hey hey, Welcome back to another installment of Famous Guitars. I’m your host Cassie, and I’m thrilled to be putting out another article for you awesome people to read. And don’t worry, I’ve got more where these last few came from, so stay tuned.
Just in case you didn’t see the last two articles, (which you should definitely check out after you read this one,) let me give you a little run down of how we do things around here. First off, I’ll introduce the guitarist who’s guitar I’ll be going over today. I’ll give you a little background on them, tell you who they play for, etc. After that, I’ll tell you all about their guitar. The history, the electronics, who made it, you name it. Finally I’ll give my thoughts and opinions about said guitar. Now, if all of that sounds like something you’re into, let’s jump right to today’s topic: Vivian Campbell and the Nightswan!
Who is Vivian Campbell?
Vivian Campbell played guitar for a little underground band you might not have heard of called Dio. He also played with other little underground bands like Whitesnake. He started his guitar journey at the ripe old age of 12 years old. He joined his first band at 15, but left in 1982 to play with Dio after their guitarist, Jake E. Lee, left to join Ozzy after Randy Rhoads died. After a while he and Ronnie James Dio got into it and Vivian left the band. He’s currently playing with Phil Collen in Def Leppard. Now that you’re aware of the awesomeness that is Vivian Campbell, let’s talk about his equally awesome Kramer Nightswan.
The Nightswan
Vivian was originally interested in a guitar made by luthier and Kramer associate Buddy Blaze when he did an event at a music store and a friend of Blaze’s let Vivian play a custom made guitar he had recently gotten. Vivian soon got into contact with Blaze and asked him about getting one for himself.
The original paint job for the Nightswan was painted by Vivian himself. He used a variety of white, blue, and red tones to create a cool lightning graphic on the front. It looks to me like he used an airbrush, but don’t quote me on that. Vivian put his signature on the back and he and his guitar were off to the races.
Features
As per usual, refer to my handy Guitar Glossary at the end of this article if there’s any nerdy guitar lingo you’re not sure about. The Kramer Nightswan features a one piece mahogany body, which essentially means that all the cavities are carved into the wood. It was a non-traditional strat body shape with the lower horn cut out for easier access to the higher frets. It had a bolt-on maple neck with an ebony fingerboard. The later models have diagonal fret inlays, but the original prototype didn’t. The headstock is a reverse banana shape with the Kramer logo on the front.
The first prototype had one volume knob and a three way pickup selector switch. He had a Seymour Duncan Full Shred pickup in the bridge and a JB Humbucker in the neck position. The bridge was only the best of the best, a Floyd Rose Original tremolo system. The tremolo sits directly on the body of the guitar, so it can’t be pulled backwards. I broke a string doing that once, so I guess I can see why.
Where is Vivian’s Nightswan now?
I couldn’t find much on the Nightswan itself, so I decided to write this little segment so that this particular installment would better match the length of my other ones. Sorry about that! Vivian’s Swan is currently owned by some dude in Chicago known simply as Justin. I would assume he keeps it nice and safe in his house somewhere, but I don’t know for sure. I hope it’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox though. I sure hope nothing happens to it!
My Thoughts
Well, I think the Kramer Nightswan is pretty darn cool. The original paint job looks awesome in my opinion, and it’s a lot better than what I could’ve done. Airbrushes are not my friend, okay? The Nightswan definitely isn’t my favorite guitar on the market, but it’s a cool one for sure. I like how it comes in so many different finishes too. If you’re interested, you can grab one with Vivian’s lightning design, blue polka dots, Aztec patterns, or my personal favorite, a holographic finish. Too bad the Holoflash swans aren’t easy to find. I wouldn’t mind having one for myself.
Sorry about the shorter read today, I couldn’t find much interesting backstory about the Swan. Everybody talks about the guitarist, but never his axe, y’know? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it in spite of that. Thanks for tuning in, and until next time, Rock on!
Guitar Glossary
Luthier: A fancy word for someone who builds guitars.
Headstock: The part at the top of the neck that’s usually carved into fun shapes.
Fret Inlays: The parts on the fretboard that mark almost every other fret, with a few exceptions. These are usually -but not always- dot-shaped.
Tremolo: A device that allows you to temporarily change the pitch of the strings. Also called a whammy bar sometimes.
Fretboard: The part of the guitar that your fingers touch.
Pickup: The little rectangle under the strings that pushes the sound through an amplifier.
Humbucker: A type of pickup that helps reduce feedback in the amplifier.
