Vintage Framus - Identification, parts and servicing, advices

[fancywarrior]

Hello everyone,

I just bought a vintage Framus that I found good looking and comfortable to play on.


First I would like to identify it properly. The tag is hard to decipher and missing usual infos about the guitar.

The model seems to be something like 5/?11T but a spot masks the first number. Serial is 12992 if that helps in anyway. No mention of the year of fabrication, just the usual Müller testing.

I have all the parts not depicted above (Pickguard has a crack so I am gluing it, knobs are mismatched but functional) but two parts missing on the tremolo:

I you observe there is the arm obviously but also some sort of rubber buffer between the tremolo and the guitar body. Anyone knows how I could find some replacing parts? If you ever find an offer around I would gladly pay for item and shipping to France. Even replacing the whole tremolo would be a possibility as there is a little spot of verdigris as you can see pictured above. I thought about buying and adapting a Fender arm at first but this may not work and more importantly not solve the missing rubber part. Ant idea is welcome here!

I have also a question about the little black wire coming out of the bottom of the guitar on the first picture. It was sticked to the body under the tremolo place. Is there any reason for it? Is it some sort of ground wire that transmits electricity to the tremolo? I may look at electronics at some point...

And last but not least I wanted to find it a flight case. I assume the proportions of the guitars are those of a jaguar. Can anyone confirm? I thought of buying the "SKB 62 Jag/Jazz" to contain it. Maybe someone has another advice here.

Thanks for your time and replies, well appreciated

[raphaël]

Hey,
It's a Framus Television.
It seems it's a 5/111 T as it is written although it would rather be a 5/116-52 to me.
Yes the black wire is a ground wire for the trem unit. I can't be of any help for the case.
About that trem arm you shoud wait for one to pop up on the bay or reverb.
Also, are you french? I am too
Super nice find, super jealous also as it is one of my dream guitars...

[raphaël]

Do you have a picture of the headstock? It could help to date the guitar

[Steadyriot.]

+1 on it being a Framus Television.

Warwick still sells a lot of Framus parts, knobs and possibly tuners should be available.
Trem arm is a tough one, maybe you could add a Bigsby arm though. A felt washer of sorts would probably take care of the rubber grommet that’s missing.

[fancywarrior]

Hello Steadyriot, salut raphaël! I am french from Paris.

I have no reason to believe the neck was changed but I take it as a possibility that a previous owner changed some parts. A knob isn't original and the color is different as seen on the first picture (The one on top). Here is the headstock picture:


For the sake of reference I paid 820€ for this specific model and cleaned it quite much but everything is in top condition. I probably overpaid a little as far as I could see but it came at the right time when I desired a guitar with semi-hollow body and a good neck. The neck once cleaned and oiled is a delight!
It's a shame that I would resell it for the same price without even playing it if I can't find the proper fix, so I keep hoping...

Yes on Warwick! But my Knobs and even moreso tuners are in excellent condition (I removed the knob heads and rings for cleaning). One tuner is a bit loose because it was cleaned from its grease but even so it is barely a concern. I probably even have some specific grease leftover. The pickguard is also being glued for a barely noticeable crack that I try to consolidate. Mics were said to be very unusually good by the seller who has seen a few framus, I didn't put this allegation to the test yet unfortunately.

Only concern is that I couldn't find a replacement for the tremolo and even more than the arm, the small missing piece under it...
The best idea I had before posting was this, I thought about getting rid of the tremolo part.

I will search reverb and ebay for an exact replacement (May the stars align!): Framus+Television+Tremolo? How much would you suggest that I pay for one?
[EDIT] Found one for a huge price and a missing hole: ouch
I am hoping to stumble into a professional resseller collecting framus parts somehow. We'll see...

As for the case it is more a question about the differences in shape between a Television and a Jaguar or Jazzmaster if any. It is probably thicker because of the semi-hollow body anyway. I will probably take my chance and return the case if it doesn't fit but I want to make sure I keep it first.

Thanks a lot for your first replies

[ohm-men]

Looks indeed like a Television.
The neck suggests its a late 60's model. By that time Framus made these laminated maple necks.
Parts for these guitars are hard to find and usually pretty espensive.
There is a German website called "Musik Keller" that sells refurbished old Framus guitar parts (among other vintage German brands)
But the prices are pretty steep imho.

Your Television seams to be missing the ferulles of the tuning machines.
Also I'm not sure the tuners are the original ones.

But the plus side is that the pick ups in these guitars are absolutely killer imho. There is something about vintage German single coils.
I still have a '63 Framus Strato (that a got from a friend) that has one of the nicest sounding single coil pick ups I ever heard.
I used to own a 70's Framus offset guitar that had had these amazing Schaller WRHB in it. I think I paid € 60 for that guitar (as the previous owner defretted it...and no one wanted to buy it....) I refretted it and I still very much regrett selling that guitar.... It had the same kind of laminated neck like your framus.

[fancywarrior]

Thanks alot for the website advice ohm-men, this is exactly what I was looking for. A tremolo seems usable for parts already but I have contacted them to check first.

I think I confused alot of people with the naked guitar pictures, I actually have all the missing bits but two. I am debating rewiring it cleanly or leave it as is so I wait before putting everything back (Also making sure I want to keep it if I can get a complete tailpiece). Only the tailpiece has issues, everything else is close enough to perfection. I do have the ferulles, now newborn clean! I keep your comment in mind for the tuners.

So it is a laminated maple neck, thank you for the info. Gathering this helps a lot. I can't wait to hear those pickups on my rig to put them to the test

[fancywarrior]

Thank you again ohm-men for the tip, I received an answer from MusikKeller with a pricing of 50€ shipping included for the two missing parts:

I'll pick them and be done with it, everything is fine apart from that!

[ohm-men]

You're welcome. A few years ago I restored some old German guitars (Framus, Hopf, etc...) and that's how I found out about Musikkeller.
In most cases they are the only ones that have vintage correct parts for sale. As for most of these there are no aftermarket parts.
I'm glad you found the parts that you were looking for.

If I remember correctly, Framus started with these "laminated" maple necks in the later part of the 60's.
They claimed that these necks would not wrap. You can also find them on Hopf guitars.
These old German guitars from the 50's, 60's and 70's are very interesting. They came from an age when guitar factories really wanted their guitars to stand out. They were not afraid to experiment with shapes, pick up designs, weird headstocks, etc....
They did not copy existing American models, they gave 'em a twist of their own. Most German guitar brands vanished in the late 70's/early 80's as they could not compete with the guitars made in the far east. Also by that time all the kids wanted Strats and Les Paul copy guitars....
Framus last "big" thing was when they did the "Jan Akkerman" signature model after he was voted "best guitarist in the world" by a magazine... I doubt a lot of people nowadays remember who Jan Akkerman is... Although his Framus Signature model is quiet nice (and fetches quiet some dough these days)

A lot of great music was made on these guitars. They early 60's bands could not afford American made instruments, so they bought these German made guitars.

Like I said, I'm still a bit sorry for selling my small old german made guitar collection...
I only kept the '63 Strato, as I got it from a friend. But I should have kept the "73 Strato 6....

[crianlarich]

I should have kept my '62 Strato. It has a special organ-like tone in the mid position. But selling it allowed me to get the '73 Strato 6 ->
(or whatever it is)

[ohm-men]

I should have kept my '62 Strato. It has a special organ-like tone in the mid position. But selling it allowed me to get the '73 Strato 6 ->
(or whatever it is)

The Strato 6 in your avatar's pic looks exactly like the one I regett selling. The only difference is that mine has WRHB that looked a lot like the 70's Fender ones.... Man... I really should have kept that one... a "73...my birth year....

[mullena]

I regret mis-placing all of the electrics of mine!

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=118499&p=1659194&h ... o#p1659194

I suspect I'm in for a long search project

[Trout]

I might have a set of original tuners if someone is interested. Gonna look into some boxes etc..