Framus Banjo ?
JM/CO
it seems to play fine, but I'm wondering about the history of this make,
years of production etc. Can anybody direct me to a good source of
information?
Chuck
Bart Veerman
>years of production etc.
made several models including a long neck and 4 stringers. I've played
one since the 70's and is pretty much my all-purpose main banjo. The
neck angle is adjustable for string action which to my big surprise
(only very recently) also let's you "dial up" to set up the best tone
and sound. I *think* the necks are made of beech but I could be wrong
there. The lower models they produced didn't sound all that great and
the top of the line one sounded kinda crappy too. But if it still has
the original head and it says Nashville on it you have the best
sounding model they made and a fine instrument. They're generally not
worth a whole lot but the tone [of this model] is hard to beat.
Hope this helps,
Bart.
>> Learn how to cope with tinnitus, play the banjo, <<<
download banjo tabs, midis & mp3's at:
www.haruteq.com
>> veggies: stuff food eats <<
>> better to be in the groove than in a rut <<
>> may your moments of need be met by moments of compassion <<
Mike
Framus was a real interesting banjo maker from Germany. their
instruments are pretty far off the beaten path of the Gibson mold, but
their better models had good tone and remarkably good action. Around
here, I remember several folks using Framus 6-string banjos; Framus was
about the only company who made them in the 60's and 70's. The company
went out of buisness in the 80's, but I think it recently revived this
year.
One of the interesting features I recall seeing on Framus banjos was
their use of the top tension system for the head. Gibson, Leedy, Ludwig
and others used this in the 30's to allow adjustment of the head without
removing the resonator, but by the 60s, plastic heads soon came into
wide use, and only Framus used a top tension bracket hoop. It really
isn't necessary, because they all came with plastic heads, and once
stretched and set, plastic heads seldom need adjustment. Framus also had
a funky looking archtop tone ring that produced a good tone and belied
it's looks.
Regards,
Stanger
j.swan
I was very taken by your comments about Framus banjos. I have always been
very impressed with the action on these banjos as they are incredibly
playable. I have a couple of friends one with a long neck 5 string and one
with a four string tenor. I have to say that the tone is almost an "acquired
taste" but for an acoustic banjo they accept a stick-on transducer type
pick-ups well as they are literally built like tanks!
In England they were never worth a lot but over the last 3 or 4 years they
have become very "collectable" and almost have a cult status. I have seen 5
string long necks going for around £450-500 in average condition.
As a footnote the friend with the 5 string came to see me a while back and
asked for my opinion on the sound. He said it just doesn't sound like it
used to.
I asked him when he last changed the strings and his reply was "what do you
mean".
You can guess what my reply was. He'd had the banjo for as long as I had
known him - around 25 years!
It may not say a lot for the banjo player but I was impressed that the banjo
was still playable!
Regards, Terry Swan.
Bart Veerman
>playable
for my taste. I had a Saga neck (from a 70's Saga banjo kit) put on
and made it [for me] a lot more playable. They don't have near the
punch of a Gibson or Stelling and tend to get drowned out easily at a
decent jam. The quality of the sound though, I love it. Because of the
new neck and the fyberskin head on it, there's not much of the
original sound left. You can listen what it sounds like now, I played
this Framus when I recorded Bunkyo (pronounced boong-kee-oh), it's a
freebie download on: www.mp3.com/bartveerman
One practical problem with the Framuses is that the original necks are
a smidgen longer and the resonators a tad wider than the ones on
"real" banjos - finding a case to fit them is darn near impossible...
>Terry Swan.
P.S. How was your sailing trip Terry?
Bart.
-
Mike
Framus guitars also have a devoted cult following here in the U.S.,
especially their archtop models. I have a good friend who loves them...
my favorite was one that belonged to his now ex-girlfriend. It was
pretty cool, actually- a red sunburst German art-deco job with
absolutely no bass at all and tons of volume. I named it "Snakebite"
because it really fit the sound- loud, loud, loud, and piercing enough
to cut through an all banjo jam with no trouble at all. At close range,
it could make your ears bleed. My pal doesn't regret losing the girl,
but he sure misses her Framus!
I quite like their 6 string banjo, as does Bill Keith. He played one
during his stint in the Jim Kweskin jug band, and I think he also played
a Framus tenor in the group, too, probably for the reasons you mentioned
in your post- they are very easy to play and are built like tanks.
Stanger
Lewis Melville
friend wrote to Framus enquiring about an old guitar he found somewhere.
He received a letter in response -
from the founder of Framus. He was retired but spent some of his time
answering letters about their older instruments. In the letter he
mentions that he started off making banjos, and that he was still making
them in his retirement.
cheers
lewis melville
Mike (msta...@onewest.net) wrote:
: Hi, Terry...
rf...@aol.com
top and has the brackets that screw in from the top. It's a nice
sounding banjo. I was told years ago that this Volksbanjo was made in
Germany as a banjo for the masses. The only thing I can't get used to
is the funky forward leaning peghead. And it's funny you named yours.
I call my the Eagle, only because many years ago I found some neat
stickers of an eagle, and put on on the peg head and on on the drum
head, just to dress it up a little.
Mike
Cool story! I love this group- ya learn something new every day!
Epiphone was another company that once made more banjos than anything
else, and like the Framus, old Epis are scarce nowdays.
Stanger
Mike
instruments, but for some unknown reason, about 10 years ago or more, I
gradually started giving them nicknames. I think it started with a balck
Stratocaster electric guitar I have; memory fades, but I think one of my
kids started calling it Little Blackie, and the name just stuck. Now I
have:
Big Red- a 29 Mastertone (and possessing a very red mahogany finish)
Ooga Mooga- a Macafferi style guitar (named for it's "big mouth" after
some ad copy from a speaker company who made enclosures with a similar
shape for their woofers)
Marilyn- a big blonde, curvy Gibson J-200
Red Head- a Gibson EAS DeLuxe with a cherry sunburst
Frankenstein- a banjo with a pot from one brand and a custom made neck
that came off another banjo. It now has it's original neck back on, but
still has the name.
Heavy Gun- a Gibson Advance Jumbo guitar that I bought as an employee.
This is the loudest guitar I have every played, as well as one of the
best sounding. Ooga is loud, but Heavy is VERY loud if I want it-easily
at the same volume as most Mastertones when played hard. I knew it had
the stuff the first time I picked it up, and put my money down on it
well before it was finished.
Oddly enough, I never use the names some of my instruments came with.
One of my Ibanez banjos was called the Mountaineer by the company, but I
never use that name for it. And all my other stuff is called by it's
name (if it has one) or model number.
Do any of you indulge in this ridiculous practice? (other than you, r- I
know about your Eagle now). Of all of my playing friends, only two use
names for their instruments- and one, a banjo named Louisville Slugger,
was tagged by Bob Carlin, not the guy who owns it. The other one is a
very beat up Martin guitar that everyone around here knows as Ugly
Bitch... it's not only ugly to look at, it's ugly to play on, too. No
one seems to know who tagged that one; the guy who owns it didn't.
Stanger
Jon Freeman
"j.swan" <j.s...@ntlworld.com> wrote
>
> I was very taken by your comments about Framus banjos. I have always been
> very impressed with the action on these banjos as they are incredibly
> playable. I have a couple of friends one with a long neck 5 string and one
> with a four string tenor. I have to say that the tone is almost an
"acquired
> taste" but for an acoustic banjo they accept a stick-on transducer type
> pick-ups well as they are literally built like tanks!
>
> In England they were never worth a lot but over the last 3 or 4 years they
> have become very "collectable" and almost have a cult status. I have seen
5
> string long necks going for around £450-500 in average condition.
One area their tenors have been popular for some time is in Irish music and
I've known a couple of excellent players choose a Framus in preference to
any of the Mastertones, Vegas, etc. Maybe this has something to do with the
"acquired taste" in tone.
Jon
Marsh & Peg Hendrickson
sure has. If this wasn't a family ng I'd share them.
Eat, Sleep and Pick,
Marsh
"Mike" <msta...@onewest.net> wrote in message
news:3B720F42...@onewest.net...
Nick Kennedy
> instruments, but for some unknown reason, about 10 years ago or more, I
> gradually started giving them nicknames.
I called my RB-100 Orville, for Orville Gibson. Perhaps I called my
Paramount Mr. Lange, for William Lange, the designer. But I've kinda lost
my imagination--no name for my '2000 Earl Scruggs Mastertone. "Earl" would
be kinda trite, wouldn't it? Maybe I'll come up with something.
And speaking of Framus--I had a Framus long neck around 1967. It was a nice
banjo. Of course, bluegrassers thought those long necks were an abomination
back then--never took the capo off.
Sorta wish I still had it. But I've got too many banjos. (Is that an
oxymoron?)
Regards,
Nick
in Arkansas
Mike
Nick Kennedy wrote:
>
> And speaking of Framus--I had a Framus long neck around 1967. It was a nice
> banjo. Of course, bluegrassers thought those long necks were an abomination
> back then--never took the capo off.
>
> Sorta wish I still had it. But I've got too many banjos. (Is that an
> oxymoron?)
Nope, Nick...
You never have too many, unless you run ouf of space in the house. BAS (banjo
aquisition syndrome) seems to be a lifelong affliction for a lot of players. It
comes and goes with me- I'll be totally happy for years, then one pops up that
I just have to have! After a point, though, it doesn't cost as much as people
think- you tend to trade upwards most of the time, and eventually a banjo that
would cost $2000 from the ground up costs maybe $300 difference from the one
you already have. It's sorta like owning a Ferrari- it's hell collecting the
money for the first one, but the second isn't too hard to get in trade.
The days of cheap great old banjos are long gone, though. It's hard to believe
now that Earl Scruggs paid about $75 for the banjo he swapped to Don Reno-
bought it in a pawnshop. Don felt so badly about sharping Earl on the deal that
he traded is 1938 D-18 along with the Granada Earl still uses... and the total
deal amounted to $75 cash. You could buy a house for what the D-18 is worth
now, and 2 houses for the Granada. It's crazy, ain't it?
My first banjo could have been a mint Vega #7 Tubaphone. It was in a furniture
store, going for $125. My Dad said "that's too much money, and you can always
get another one"... last time I ever took his advice on banjos!
Stanger