Vintage Framus Guitars
One of the lesser known vintage guitars out there happen to be vintage Framus guitars. However, these guitars are still excellent options for collecting, although you may have never heard of them before. They have a beautiful sound and unique design that any collector would be proud to have.
The company behind vintage Framus guitars was first established by Fred Wilfer back in 1946. It was established in Erlangen Germany, and the guitars made by the company were imported by the more well known Philadelphia Music Company into the United States. Right before 1955 the company moved to Bubenreuth, Germany, and before this period, the company only made acoustic guitars. Their first electric guitars essentially just added pickups to the archtop acoustics. Starting in 1955 they started making the Sorella, which was an archtop acoustic that had one cutaway. It could be purchased with the pickguard and pickup or it could be purchased without it. Then the Billy Lorento model would come out in 1958, which was an archtop that had two pickups by one cutaway.
It wasn’t until about 1960 that the company started making actual electric guitars that were designed that way. The Caravelle mode came out in 1965 and had two pickups, double cutaways, as well as a tremolo. Many of their higher end models at this point in time also had a special organ tone on them, which tried to provide what was known as the “Leslie effect.”
When it comes to vintage Framus guitars, the model in 1967, the Golden Television, was one of the this. This guitar was semi hollow, had three pickups, and double cutaways. Then the Jan Akkerman model was made between 1974 and 1977. It was in 1977 that the original lines of Framus guitars were stopped.
Purchasing these vintage Framus guitars are definitely a good investment. Not only will you be wisely making an investment, but you will get the opportunity to own a piece of the past as well. In most cases, you can find these guitars online for reasonable deals, and often it is possible to resell them later if you need to or want to. While vintage Framus guitars aren’t as well known as Fender, Gibson, or Martin guitars, they are quite popular and are a good buy.