1960s Framus Caravelle Thinline Semihollow Electric Guitar

Update 2021: this is back here for consignment and so I adjusted the description and made a new video for it.

This cherry-colored delight is built like a bolt-on-neck ES-335 but sounds and handles more like a Casino. It seems to be a Framus Caravelle from the late '60s, but the pickups look 1968-ish at the latest and it has the odd distinction of being the only Caravelle I've seen with no f-holes and black/dark binding. It may in fact be a '69-'71 Sorento model because of that, but those seem to have painted f-holes and no whammy unit when they pop-up on the market. The non-cut top helps with feedback, of course, but also gives it more of a '60s Gretsch vibe compared to a Gibson vibe.

A customer brought this in for consignment and it was actually in pretty decent shape as-is. There were alterations -- someone has glued the neck to the joint and added a truss-rod cover to the tailpiece as decoration -- but it seems to have escaped the cruelty of time without anything major mucked-up. The wiring harness even appears intact and unmolested.

The pickups are single coils with adjustable poles and they sound somewhere between a P90 and something like a DeArmond in tone when mixed with the body type. They're relaxed but full of mids and with a nice snarl to them when driven a bit.

It has a Bigsby-style whammy on it and a Mustang-like adjustable bridge. I'm not happy with the whammy's functionality, unfortunately, and would suggest "blocking" it so it acts like a trapeze tail unless you plan on very light bends with it. Other features include a zero fret and super-multi-ply maple neck (like Stratabond) with a truss-rod that's working perfectly. Overall the guitar is comfy and fast-playing and feels sturdy in the hands.

Work included: a fret level/dress, seam repairs to the back/side seams, repair of the 3-way switch, cleaning, one replacement knob, and a setup with 46w-10 gauges. The neck is straight and it plays on-the-dot with 1/16" overall action at the 12th fret.

Scale length: 24 3/4"
Nut width: 1 5/8"
String spacing at nut: 1 7/16"
String spacing at saddle: 2"

Body length: 18"
Lower bout width: 16"
Upper bout width: 11 3/8"

Side depth at endpin: 1 5/8" to ~2" overall

Body wood: ply maple
Neck wood: super-ply maple
Fretboard: rosewood

Neck shape: 12" radius board on slim, modern C-shaped rear

Bridge: adjustable, Mustang/ABR-mix style

Nut: original metal

Condition notes: it has one replacement knob for the neck volume pot. The bridge (and, probably, the adjuster shafts) is not original but is period to the instrument. The decorative truss-rod cover add-on to the tailpiece is not original. Someone in the past has also added a separate Framus label (on plastic) to the headstock. Presumably that's because the foil headstock logos tend to fall off. I don't consider the Bigsby-like whammy a functional unit, but it does dress the guitar up. If I owned this myself I might "block" it by replacing the spring with a dowel and then removing the arm.

The frets are smaller vintage stock but have plenty of life left in them.

Controls are volume/tone/volume...

There's a lot of wear-and-tear and skritchy-scratchy to the back and sides. The binding on the instrument seems to be stained maple with a bit of paint on it.

I'm not sure if the black paint at the back/sides of the neck near the joint is original or not, though I'm guessing not.