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| Curious design choices http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=33186 |
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| Author: | Corky Long [ Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Curious design choices |
On vacation this summer I lucked upon a guitar in a house we were renting - which was delightful, since my Martin Backpacker just wasn't cutting it - almost unplayable in my opinion. When I opened the case, I was a little dumbstruck as this was a very strange guitar.... almost every characteristic seemed to be exactly the opposite of what we discuss here as good design for an acoustic guitar. I chuckled a bit looking at this thing, a "Framus" , built in Bavaria. As for how it sounded, well, not great..Pretty dead. The action was good, anyway, (and my kids were sleeping upstairs, so maybe a dead guitar wasn't a bad thing after all.) Here are a couple of specifics: |
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| Author: | DennisK [ Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Freaky! Looks like an electric neck. I assume those bolts go all the way up through the headblock to hold the neck on like a strat? That bridge just looks ridiculous. Bet it sounds like an electric too, with that much mass  What sort of bracing underneath? |
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| Author: | Corky Long [ Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Yeah, it was really bizarre. The bracing on the top looked to be standard x - bracing, although I didn't have a mirror to really have a look. The x - brace was.....yes, massive, as well. |
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| Author: | Mike Dotson [ Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Framus, Germany's answer to Harmony, Silvertone, etc. |
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| Author: | the Padma [ Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:47 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Corky Long wrote: I was a little dumbstruck as this was a very strange guitar.... almost every characteristic seemed to be exactly the opposite of what we discuss here as good design for an acoustic guitar. Ya Corky, Is all part of the B.S.* of North Amerikans...you know, ours designs are the only right and proper way to do things. Ya right!  Peter Kraus, John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartne, Bill Wyman, Billy Lorento (alias Bill Lawrence) Attila Zoller just to name a few are on the very, very long list of internationally recognized pickers that play and have endorsed Framus Instruments and amps. Ya theres a lot more to an ax than what C.F., Les, Leo or Orville came up with. Their entry level guitar is now just under $5,000 with the top of the line in the $12,000 range. Unfortunately, they are not too accepted over here...oh well, what we know? The last one me had (same model as yours) grew legs about a year or so back. Oh well. Me suggest you restring her and give her a spin...you might just be surprised. Oh ya, and thats not a nut. Its a sting spacer. This guitar does not have a nut. It has a zero fret. blessings  PadmaB.S.* ~ belief system |
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| Author: | Corky Long [ Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:02 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Good point on the strings. The ones that were on the guitar were pre-Cambrian, so that certainly was responsible for some of the deadness. Unfortunately, we're back from vaca, and the guitar is back where I found it, at a farmhouse in France, so don't have the option of testing the hypothesis. I hear you, Padma, on the narrowmindedness of assuming that there's only one way to build a guitar. Life certainly would be boring if we all built the same instrument, making the same assumptions about what works, and what constitutes "good design". No argument here. I've enjoyed experimenting with variations in design on the few (8) guitars that I"ve built, and have learned from each of them. Some failed, some were improvements, some seemed to have no impact at all. What I found so interesting about this guitar, is that it seemed to violate a pretty basic tenet of acoustic guitar building, that adding mass to the instrument, especially to the soundboard, has a cost in terms of the responsiveness of the instrument. |
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| Author: | chinito [ Sat Aug 13, 2011 12:20 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Hi Corky, Crazy looking guitar! I think I've seen one of these in a shop near my home. Is the neck basically plywood/paralam? -Jake. |
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| Author: | Corky Long [ Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:02 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Jake, Sorry, I don't have the guitar here - it's back in France. As for the neck construction, frankly I don't know. Padma, on your old Framus, was the neck a laminate or natural wood, quartersawn? |
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| Author: | WudWerkr [ Sat Aug 13, 2011 11:26 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Corky Long wrote: What I found so interesting about this guitar, is that it seemed to violate a pretty basic tenet of acoustic guitar building, that adding mass to the instrument, especially to the soundboard, has a cost in terms of the responsiveness of the instrument. Looks like there is NO distortion of the top around the bridge in either direction . Its hard to tell from the pics . Obviously it is an old guitar so .... There is an upside to having some "extra" mass in that area . Just an observation from a newbie BTW just went on Ebay and bid on one close to this , Not exactly same , at $70.00 now . There are several on there to bid on. |
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| Author: | Jeff Highland [ Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
With that heavy bridge and hence unresponsive top, they were probably a good stage guitar with a magnetic soundhole pickup. |
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| Author: | the Padma [ Sat Aug 13, 2011 4:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Yo wud, me most unhumbly suggest ...you stay away form the Framus...they are a piece of junk, don't ya know.  This batch of black beer is A1 first class and is almost gone...swing by, we down a few. blessings |
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| Author: | WudWerkr [ Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:30 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
the Padma wrote: Yo wud, me most unhumbly suggest ...you stay away form the Framus...they are a piece of junk, don't ya know. This batch of black beer is A1 first class and is almost gone...swing by, we down a few. blessings Thanks for the advice Padma , But me wanna see one up close and personal. Besides , Its only money !
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| Author: | Erik Hauri [ Sun Aug 14, 2011 1:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Todd Stock wrote: A European variant of the same idea that brought us the Fender Palomino/Newporter Indeed - I have built a couple of electric 12-strings using Fender Shenandoah necks, complete with those hard-to-find 60s tuners. That's the best thing those guitars have going for them. |
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| Author: | chinito [ Wed Aug 17, 2011 1:23 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Curious design choices |
Took another look at the Framus in my neighbourhood shop. Neck is plywood laid up with the glue lines perpendicular to plane of the fretboard and no heel where the neck meets the body. Ugly as all get out. -Jake. |
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