1966 Framus 5/115-54 Fret Jet Hollowbody Electric Guitar

Update 2022: this guy's returned here for consignment so I've updated the blog post description...

My friend Wayne dropped this off for a "setup" -- but, eh, it needed a bunch more! These old Framus boxes are super-cool and have an enormously-retro (garage band? ...surf? ...Spaghetti western?) sound but they're quirky "from the factory" and usually need a bit of fuss so that they handle well.

This one got a level/dress of the frets, hard-mounting and modification of the bridge and its base, shims at the neck joint to get the neck angle better, pickup baseplate springs so the pickups are more height-adjustable, electronics cleaning, and general setup.

It has a Gibson-ish scale length and a quick, C-shaped neck profile but with a fairly flat fretboard. The whammy sounds great but its mounting-plate is not really up to task and flexes in use so while it returns to pitch pretty well for the most part, hard dives played a bunch will put it out of tune.

The body itself feels pretty neat -- it's over 17" on the lower bout and while it looks mostly like an ES-330/ES-335 in general, it actually handles more like a double-cut Gretsch because of that wide lower bout. It's also quite thin, though, so it doesn't feel that wide.

The switching on the upper-bout is a little confusing at times (it seems to be 3 on/off for the pickups and 2 phase switches) because one needs to throw a phase switch now and then to get all of the pickup positions sounding good and full as you cycle through them. But... at least you have the options, right?

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, setup, tweaking with the mounting hardware and bridge, cleaning, and setup.

Body wood: ply spruce top, ply maple back/sides

Bridge: adjustable ABR-style

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: multi-ply maple

Pickups: 3x Framus single coils

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast) with lots of adjustment room
String gauges: 46w-10

Neck shape: medium C

Board radius: ~14-16"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-lower

Scale length: 24 1/2"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 17 1/4"

Body depth: 1 1/2" + arching

Weight: 7 lbs 10 oz

Condition notes: it has average usewear -- scratches and scuffs -- throughout but does look pretty clean overall. Everything appears to be original to the guitar but it is missing its truss cover. I suppose I could whip one up for it, though!