I am German and my first guitar was a crappy Framus in the late sixties. I really appreciate anyone investing money and effort in these instruments to preserve music history. Here in Germany most of them have long been discarded and replaced by Yamahas and other Japanese or even U.S. guitars Sometimes you can find one on a flea market for 30 or 50 Euros in a very poor condition. Nobody would buy them. But I own an old sixties Framus tenor banjo with the laminated neck. Not a Gibson (as their guitars) but a decent instrument for Irish sessions.
I love old Framus acoustics. I bought mine out of a PX in 1972 when I was stationed in Germany. the neck is also bolted on like the one in the video. back in 1972, I paid just less than $30.
another great repair. I think I'm going to start looking around for an old damaged guitar and see what I can do with. once I found an old Dean A style mandolin in an antique shop. I bought it took it home and it needed some work done on it.I adjusted the neck and leveled the frets, put Martin strings on it and took it to show my friend that I played music with. he liked it so well he said it was the best sounding mandolin he ever played. He wanted to buy it, so I finally sold it to him for what I had in it. Then about 2 years later. he had a massive stroke and never came out of it. they had to turn the machine off on him.. Some of his family got the mandolin. never saw it again, but I still miss my music buddy
Hey Jerry I love this! The way you are- respectful and kind towards your customers like Bill is lovely to see and also that you always put your heart and soul into your work. Thank you ❤
My father was a cabinet maker and I inherited all of his tools among which were various sizes of hand screw wood clamps. I use them quite often to hold a guitar on its edge while I work on the repair. They work especially well on Les Pauls and other thin solid body guitars that are not very stable standing on their edge😎
Customer mentioned Chocolate. I haven't seen that one, so I watched it. That was amazing thing, getting that violin 're-assembled'. I understand going off the clock to make it look better. As mention by another commenter, Brown recluse spider also called violin spider and fiddleback spider. I seen the damage they can cause, I'll steer clear of them.
Hi Jerry. Stumbled across this excellent video today! I have just done that exact repair regluing the top to the end block on a Texan I bought a couple of weeks ago with 5 guitars and a fiddle from a Methodist church in the UK! The one I am working on has been played to death for 40 years. Action was high so shimmed the neck. I refretted the fingerboard as the frets had deep grooves in them. Softest brass frets I have ever pulled out of a neck. It sounds interesting with a zero fret - almost like a resonator. Great plectrum guitar for bluegrass etc.
I had a Hoyer 12 string, also German made and with the same laminated neck with "flat" peg head and a factory fitted electric pickup. A delightful little instrument but with slight intonation trouble due to two fret slots being poorly cut.
You are one off the best Luthier in the world !! Your work and feeling for all kind off wood are wery inpressive !! And your skills are top off the line👍👍keep it up !! Sorry for the problems whit your hands !! can only think how distressing this is !! but you are fighting it !! And maby you scould take a mount off !! And rest !! BUT KNOW your building and farm need full attention !! Shopping Wood for heating , exetera !! But take care !! You are not 20 Years young longer !! Greetings from Kjell in Sweden ! I build and service guitarrs as a hobby ,, are decent good ! I know a lot !! But have a great more to lurn 😉
Hi Jerry, wonderful video and amazing repair! I just wanted to give some information about the strange shape of the headstock: Framus created this design in order to avoid breaking the headstock in case the guitar falls back. The older Framus models had a classic style headstock and glued-on necks. Many of them broke because of the very fragile headstock to neck joint witch was caused by the trussrod channel. With this newer design, the Neck and headstock gets more resistant. The prove is that fender electric headstocks, who are similar to this Framus design, never brake when they hit the ground, contrary to Les Paul and SG models, who always break. By the way: You mentioned that you worked on a couple of other Framus guitars with a hook mechanism on the neck joint. Maybe you mean the Hofner guitars who had this rake (hook) mechanism, specially the 489 and 490 models. Framus had only glued-on and later bolted necks, but never a hook. Greetings fom Paris Minos
You are correct about the hook and being a hoffner however I don't agree with the idea about the peg head shape. Because it is laminated any shape would be perfectly strong. it would not have to be flat to be strong in fact angled down would be stronger with all the laminations
I've recently become a Framus fan and am currently restoring my 12 Texan that I bought. The conditions are similar, I just don't have a hole in the ceiling, but an open piece on the inside of the ceiling. She is given a tailpiece from behind because she was in a terrible condition. I removed the old tailpiece. I replaced the optical part of the old tailpiece with a 2mm aluminum sheet so that the optics are right again. Then she gets a pickup (piezo) and the volume and tone controls. I have already learned so much from you, for that I would like to thank you again for all the information that you convey in your videos. I have always recommended you to others whenever someone had problems
It's Fantastic to watch your videos Jerry, its just Don here from Hamilton NZ, your videos really do help me tremendously, I'm just a retired old guitarist an' I learned many years ago how to improve the sound of your guitar simply by changing the nut & saddĺe to bone ( which I make myself ) & recently I did a chip repair with CA glue, filled it smoothed it off & turned out real well, thanks again 😊😊😊
Interesting video. I think the filler you used on the hole was TimberMate. I have used that to repair a hole in a door. Shrinkage is negligible and it is paintable. Good choice.
Those Framus guitars were in the music stores when l started playing in 1971 but they were out of my price line, that is to say to a 13 year old. Decades later a friend of my brothers was given a guitar like this a "Texan", he loaned it to me for a while, strange guitar, l strummed it and did not like the sound, harsh and discordous to me, then l finger picked it and it sounded okay, strange, never really knew what caused this. The Kinks song "Fancy" was recorded using Ray Davies´ Framus "Texan" guitar.
Looks like a very late 60's Framus dreadnought, could be very early 1971-72. I have a mid-60s Framus 6 string - similar to a Hofner Congress - and a mid-60s Hoyer 12 string both German guitar makers.
I have one of those it was made in the 60's. Mine is model # 5/195 made about the same time. You need a basket weaving course to put strings on it! I had the same problems with the neck block and a few loose braces.. Mine didnt have a bullet hole but I thought about adding one when I was trying to fix the belly bulge. LOL They sound good but different and would sound better if they had a solid top but top bottom sides and the arched bottom are all laminated..
These are made of plywood from the Black Forest. Mine had no bracing on the back and minimally on the top which is how Jerry could get his hand inside so easily. It's obvious that the instrument was dropped - the neck was so solid that the body self-destructed.
Hi Jerry- only with the benefit of hindsight, I’m wondering could you have salvaged a piece from under the neck between the pocket and the rosette and used it to patch the hole?
I love your channel Jerry but sometimes I can see other options for your fixes. I would’ve taken a plug out of the section under the end of the neck on the guitar top surface forward of the sound hole. It has the same finish. Love from Australia 🇦🇺
A German Texan, eh? I had a Höfner in '74 and it had bolt-on neck. And the same is true with bolt-on bridges... You lose sound vibration transmission/transference. I'd have that bridge glued on. I'll save my opinion until I finish watching and hearing the guitar. I just started and I just couldn't wait to voice my hatred for the design. And I agree with Jerry about the headstock angle as well, and especially the laminated neck design - similar to neck-thru design, only just on the neck - and "a hundred" layers (whatever number). Almost makes truss rod unnecessary, ALMOST.
Yeah, the tone of that acoustic lacks low end. I'd glue that bridge AND NECK on with Jerry's favorite glue that works best for possible future removal.
I have almost the same Framus guitar. I'm wondering if you could tell me what size wrench I need to adjust the truss rod? If you know I'd be grateful. Thank You. I've watched hours of your videos :)
