Petillo designed the guitar with a forked headstock. When La Placa and investor Henry Vaccaro joined forces to open a plant in Neptune, New Jersey, they needed Petillo. The first four prototypes of Kramer Guitars were hand made in 1976 at the 1206 Herbert Ave. Ocean, NJ Studio Workshop by Phil Petillo. These unique guitars were photographed for the first Kramer Brochure that was introduced at the 1977 NAMM show in Chicago, Illinois in 1976. At that show, the fledgling guitar company sold $250,000 based on the interest generated from the 4 prototype guitars.