Cheers all,
it's been a while since I posted anything on here but since I have a surprising NGD today I decided to once again ask for advice at this great place of knowledge called the BKP forum. First of all: this thread is aimed especially at luthiers and people who have some knowledge about getting vintage guitars into shape again. So Jonathan, if you read this, I appreciate your advice.
Now I need to explain some things first before getting to the topic: I have a friend who regularly pays me visits with his instruments, I swap pickups for him, change electronics, do setups including string action and intonation and so on. Now last week after I once again took care of an instrument for him he asked me if I wanted to have a Kramer. I was like "what?", but he told me he has a beaten up Kramer lying around at home doing nothing and that he originally got it as a gift from a friend but hasn't used it whatsoever. My response was of course positive and I kinda really got excited about owning a Kramer after reading up the companies history. Anyway, today he stopped at my place to hand me the instrument. I was surprised. And after examining it further I have some mixed feelings, positive as well as negative.
Now you will see the details on the guitar in the pictures. The Intel I gathered so far is the following: It's an American Guitar with the Serial saying "E7963" and "Neptune, NJ, USA" engraved on the backplate. Judging by VintageKramer.com this is either a 1985 or a mid 86 to late 87 guitar. Now I don't have a damned clue what exact model this is, that's the reason why I registered at the Kramer Guitar Forum where I'll be asking for some help to identify it, waiting to be approved by an admin there right now.
Anyway it seems that it has gone through quite some abuse by it's original owner, the two biggest indicators for this being the self-engraved german iron cross in it's body and the scalloping that awkwardly starts at the 7th fret and removed almost all the fret markers. There's a red "inlay" at the 12th fret saying "EVB". I wonder what it's supposed to mean. Eddie van Bludgeoner? Kinda hurts my feelings to see this kind of "modifications". I'm not a luthier nor skilled in any kind of woodworking, all I know is how to solder and setup instruments, therefore I would never dare to attempt this kind of stuff on a Vintage Instrument, but it seems like not everyone has my opinion. Now I don't wanna be to fast judging: after giving it a fast observation it doesn't seem like it has hurt the playability of the instrument, still a big no no in my opinion.
Now I really wanna get this guitar into shape again as it would be a shame to leave it as is, the pointy Jackson style headstock is exactly my thing, the body has quite some weight but is nicely contoured and seems to be oil finished, we have what seems to be an original Floyd Rose and made in Germany Schaller tuners, plus the neck really feels sleek and fast and I have a Miracle Man lying around that would perfectly fit the 80's flair of the guitar. I could of course just clean it up, put in the Miracle Man, some new strings, adjust everything and start shreddin but the aesthetics would probably bugger me too much.
Now I wanna get rid of the iron cross. I know James Hetfield has one on his Les Paul and whilst technically it's not exactly a Nazi symbol since it has been used prior to WWII and Hitler just adopted it, I don't want any kind of such stuff on an instrument. Especially since I live in Austria and not America hahaha

So that will probably need some refinishing.
The next thing I'm thinking about is getting a new fretboard done. I know a local luthier who built an amazing guitar for me and I'm pretty sure he can do it, probably gonna pay him a visit.
Now there also seems to be some cracking near the neck pocket, not sure how much of an issue it is...
So what are your opinions? How realistic is a fretboard change and should I do it? Or should I just take some tape to cover up the iron cross, clean the guitar and set it up, suck it up and play it?
Pictures attached. Looking forward to your opinions. Cheers!