While the early metal-neck Kramers attracted a lot of attention, they did not attract buyers, and management of the struggling company was taken over for a brief period (around 1980-81) by Guitar Center, the Los Angeles-based retail chain. During that time Kramer switched to more-conventional wood necks. The elongated, four-point star shape of this Voyager Imperial, introduced in 1981, shows that not every element of Kramer’s new designs was conventional.

The single humbucking pickup was also unconventional, but it reflected the personal preference of the hottest guitarist of 1981, Eddie Van Halen. The key element on this model was the Floyd Rose vibrato, which allowed extreme pitch changes while remaining in tune and consequently was becoming essential equipment for rock guitarists.

In 1982, Kramer became the exclusive distributor for Floyd Rose, and that relationship helped seal the deal on an endorsement from Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen’s two-handed fingerboard tapping and “dive bomb” vibrato techniques had made him the most influencial guitarist of the era, and Kramer became one of the most visible guitar brands of the decade.