1965 Framus Strato Deluxe Electric Guitar

If you're like me, you're emotionally tugged to a guitar like this right from the get-go. It's got chrome, it's got a stupid amount of pickups, it's got weird spacecraft controls all over it, it's got huge transparent tortoise pickguard realestate, and it looks like a Jag! 

This is the fanciest version of the Strato Deluxe that I know of. I'm more-used to the earlier, skewed body shape and the 2-pickup models. This one has a '65 date-stamp next to its serial number on the back of the headstock, too, which places it nicely in the timeline.

So -- the basics. This has a Gibson-style 24 5/8" scale length and a slim, fast neck profile. The body is roughly Jaguar-shaped but two-piece maple and has contours for the belly and forearm. It has a whammy that functions more or less like a Teisco-style Bigsby impersonator and the pickups are single-coils that sound a lot like a Jag in the neck and middle. The bridge pickup seems underwound, though, as it's a bit thin and quiet. It doesn't seem damaged -- just weak like it's wired for "all-on" but out-of-phase with the others -- but it's kind-of nice to switch into it on its own for cowboy-style strumming-chords.

Now -- the fun part! The controls, right? What about the controls? The upper horn has 3 slider-switches to turn the pickups on/off. There's a lower plate that has three slider switches, though. The first switch engages the weird ketchup-pump-looking arm in chrome nearest the bridge pickup. That is righteous -- it's a "swell" control with a spring-loaded arm. It "springs" to off and you pull it up with your pinky after strumming a chord to get a swell effect. Yes... you can do that with your volume pot, but this has so much control with the arm farther out like it is that it makes me feel like these should be on every guitar.

Next-up -- the middle slider switch confuses me -- I'm not sure what exactly is going on -- perhaps some sort of resistor or bypass function for the pickups? The third one engages a muddy-sounding capacitor to mellow the tone. The rest of the controls are a trio of tone controls and a master volume, I believe. I left them mostly alone because I space-out at that point.

That's not it, though, because the bridge also has a Jaguar-style bridge mute that's functional. I added a bit of damping foam in addition to the old pad that was there to get it to work 100% and it's fun to have and, with the bridge cover removed, it's also out-of-the-way enough to do palm-muting with it still on the guitar.

My work on it was glorified setup stuff, but now that it's done it plays like a hum-dinger and is ready to go. Did I mention the original strap-secured chip case? Too wonderful...

Repairs included: fret level/dress, ground wire added to the bridge, spray-out of the controls, reseating of the pickups for better height adjustment, minor mod to saddles to get intonation correct (save for my fumbling fingers in the demo video, haha), cleaning, and setup work.

Body wood: two-piece solid maple (bookmatched)

Bridge: adjustable Jag-style

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: multi-multi-ply maple

Pickups: 3x original Framus single coils

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast!)
String gauges: 46w-10 lights

Neck shape: slim C

Board radius: ~10-12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-lower

Scale length: 24 5/8"

Nut width: 1 9/16"

Body width: 13 1/2"

Body depth: 1 3/8"

Weight: 8 lbs 11 oz

Condition notes: it's completely original throughout except the original collar that holds the whammy in is missing. I've made-up for that by wrapping the bar in aluminum tape and adding a press-fit collar to help it stay put and it works decently. The bridge pickup is also weaker-sounding than the others but all are height-adjustable. There's mild playwear/usewear to the body and back of the neck but overall it's very clean. The frets didn't look like they'd been played much at all but still needed a little level/dress and seating work to get them up to snuff. There's cross-grain finish cracking on the body but not a ton of it -- and it doesn't detract. The original tuners work just fine, too. The truss rod works, too.

It comes with: an original chip case with luggage-style straps.