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Hello Framus community,
I picked up my first Framus a few weeks ago and have spent quite a bit of time learning about the history of these acoustics and restoring it to playing condition. I'll share a bit about my adventure and then add a few questions that I'm still uncertain about (photos below).
The guitar was for sale locally for an attractive price. I've wanted a 12 string for a long time but was hesitant to sink a lot of money into one because I'm not sure how often I'll play it. It was advertised as missing a few machine heads, which didn't seem like a big deal to me so when he dropped his price even further I grabbed it.
When I picked it up, I found that the machine head wasn't the biggest issue. The guitar was clearly very dried out and had been neglected for many years - possibly decades. There was a decent sized crack down the side of the mahogany that looked like an amateur tried to repair at some point. Still, at $100, it still seemed like a fun project. I also wasn't certain at the time, but it looked very much to me like a solid wood top sides and back. It has the multi ply neck, which I actually think is a great idea.
I spent a great deal of time taking it apart and adding some humidity to the body. Damp sponge inside the sound hole (on a tray) for most of five days. That seemed to really help make the wood on the side more malleable and I was able to close the crack and secure it with cleats on the inside. The indoor dry air in the winter here in Canada is not friendly to solid wood guitars!
I repaired the narrow residual crack on the outside of the body with some CA glue but didn't try to obsess over making it like new. It's part of its history.
I detailed the logo on the headstock using a gold pen, a razor blade and a lot of patience. All the old logos seem to have fallen out, but they leave a small relief in the finish that - if you're careful - can be filled with some ink or paint. I think it came out okay and has a nice aged look.
The neck required a bit of shimming to get the angle to hit the top of the bridge properly, but not much (about the thickness of two business cards at the front end of the neck pocket). The neck itself was surprisingly straight - in fact it was too straight! I loosened the truss rod completely and it was reluctant to give any relief at all. This pretty much confirms that it was sitting with no strings on it for a long time. I strung it up and left it to sit for a while with the truss rod nut completely loosened (it's a 7mm nut, by the way). Eventually, I got just enough relief in it to clear up any intonation issues.
The saddle was long since disintegrated and bits were sitting in the metal trough of the adjustable bridge. I wasn't sure about how to go about making the saddle, as the bottom of it has a bow to it, rather than being flat. Again, patience was key in working a blank bone saddle into the correct thickness and then arching the back to make proper contact. I decided to do a compensated top, even though it never had one. I'm not sure if I'll have problems in the future, but it seems to be good for now.
I then dialed in the action perfectly and did some more fidgeting around. Testing and re-testing. I'm now incredibly happy with the results. It has such a nice mellow sound and plays like a dream - at least a six string dream because those four missing gears and pegs are proving to be very difficult to come by. I know that Warwick has some old stock tuners I could used to salvage these from, but at 40 Euros + 52 Euros shipping + whatever Canada customs charges me for import duties, it make literally no sense financially. There are some options available on ebay, but they're not much more affordable. I decided to carefully search alibaba for decent quality 15:1 open tuners and see if there's a solution. I've got something coming in the mail - fingers crossed.
I hope some of this information is helpful to others.
A few questions:
I picked up my first Framus a few weeks ago and have spent quite a bit of time learning about the history of these acoustics and restoring it to playing condition. I'll share a bit about my adventure and then add a few questions that I'm still uncertain about (photos below).
The guitar was for sale locally for an attractive price. I've wanted a 12 string for a long time but was hesitant to sink a lot of money into one because I'm not sure how often I'll play it. It was advertised as missing a few machine heads, which didn't seem like a big deal to me so when he dropped his price even further I grabbed it.
When I picked it up, I found that the machine head wasn't the biggest issue. The guitar was clearly very dried out and had been neglected for many years - possibly decades. There was a decent sized crack down the side of the mahogany that looked like an amateur tried to repair at some point. Still, at $100, it still seemed like a fun project. I also wasn't certain at the time, but it looked very much to me like a solid wood top sides and back. It has the multi ply neck, which I actually think is a great idea.
I spent a great deal of time taking it apart and adding some humidity to the body. Damp sponge inside the sound hole (on a tray) for most of five days. That seemed to really help make the wood on the side more malleable and I was able to close the crack and secure it with cleats on the inside. The indoor dry air in the winter here in Canada is not friendly to solid wood guitars!
I repaired the narrow residual crack on the outside of the body with some CA glue but didn't try to obsess over making it like new. It's part of its history.
I detailed the logo on the headstock using a gold pen, a razor blade and a lot of patience. All the old logos seem to have fallen out, but they leave a small relief in the finish that - if you're careful - can be filled with some ink or paint. I think it came out okay and has a nice aged look.
The neck required a bit of shimming to get the angle to hit the top of the bridge properly, but not much (about the thickness of two business cards at the front end of the neck pocket). The neck itself was surprisingly straight - in fact it was too straight! I loosened the truss rod completely and it was reluctant to give any relief at all. This pretty much confirms that it was sitting with no strings on it for a long time. I strung it up and left it to sit for a while with the truss rod nut completely loosened (it's a 7mm nut, by the way). Eventually, I got just enough relief in it to clear up any intonation issues.
The saddle was long since disintegrated and bits were sitting in the metal trough of the adjustable bridge. I wasn't sure about how to go about making the saddle, as the bottom of it has a bow to it, rather than being flat. Again, patience was key in working a blank bone saddle into the correct thickness and then arching the back to make proper contact. I decided to do a compensated top, even though it never had one. I'm not sure if I'll have problems in the future, but it seems to be good for now.
I then dialed in the action perfectly and did some more fidgeting around. Testing and re-testing. I'm now incredibly happy with the results. It has such a nice mellow sound and plays like a dream - at least a six string dream because those four missing gears and pegs are proving to be very difficult to come by. I know that Warwick has some old stock tuners I could used to salvage these from, but at 40 Euros + 52 Euros shipping + whatever Canada customs charges me for import duties, it make literally no sense financially. There are some options available on ebay, but they're not much more affordable. I decided to carefully search alibaba for decent quality 15:1 open tuners and see if there's a solution. I've got something coming in the mail - fingers crossed.
I hope some of this information is helpful to others.
A few questions:
- The guitar body is clearly solid wood, with the back and sides looking very very much like mahogany to me. There are some very bold statements various places online about these being made of plywood. However, in my case, I've looked very carefully inside and outside at the grain patters and am certain that mine is solid. I assume some bodies were made with ply, while others were not. Does anyone have some clarity on this or how to identify the solid vs ply Framus acoustics?
- I've seen several references to Alpine spruce being used for the tops of Dix and Texans and one reference saying that "limba" was used for the majority of Dix tops. Does anyone know about this? Can anyone look carefully at mine and determine what kind of wood it is? I don't think it looks like the wide grain of spruce.
- Does anyone know what 06011 refers to in the vintage Framus nomenclature? Is that a specific body shape? I see it noted with reference to both Dix and Texans...
- Lastly, does anyone know where I could find some tuner gears and pegs at an affordable price?
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