# NGD.... Ancient Framus Sorella



## plumber666 (Nov 25, 2007)

What an obscure find. Have read the earliest Framus electrics were originally archtop acoustics. They were fitted with a pickguard/floating pickup/control assembly. They never made electric guitars that were "born that way" till the late 50's.

I've looked at oodles of pics on the net of Framus Sorellas. Looks like the older ones don't have dot fret markers, like mine they have solid MOP inlays making up the whole area on the 5th, 7th and 12th frets.

But the part that has me excited is the pickup and stuff. Seems Schaller made their earliest pickups. Any pics I've seen have the nickel or SS pickguard with 1-3 pickups. And they either have nothing written/etched on them except Framus. Mine says 'Schaller electronic" on it. One single coil neck pup, a 2-way slider switch that seems to be a rhythm/lead cut switch. Volume control, and 4 way "mixer" they seem to call it. It's like a chicken head knob with marks: T, T+B-, T+B+,B.

I havent been on this site a while, but I'm sure my wife can help with posting pics. Personally I think I may have an interesting piece of electric guitar history here. The out of tune 30 year old strings are coming off tonight. Little 3 in 1 oil on the tuners seems in order, not to mention a little lemon Pledge. Gotta pull off the pickguard and try cleaning the pots, but all the electronics actually work, just a little scratchy.

Looks like a good $150 investment. Any of you kind and knowlegeable folks now anything about old f-hole Framus's? Love to hear from ya!!


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

vintage Framus Sorella - Google Search

I'll give you $160 for it. Plus shipping of course. LOL


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## John Watt (Aug 24, 2010)

"What an obscure find". Where did you find it? That might be the interesting part of this lack of story.
I might not be a kind and knowlegeable folk, but f-hole acoustics are where it's at, for real, for me.
Too bad they don't function well in front of loud amplifiers with effects.
Ted Nugent, when he was in "The Amboy Dukes", used a big f-hole for feedback effect, sounding really good.


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## plumber666 (Nov 25, 2007)

An old guy had this listed on a local online classified site. He wanted $250, had it listed as a Schaller guitar and had pics of the pickguard. As it said Framus on the headstock, I could tell he didn't know much about guitars. I went and saw him with $200 in my pocket to take a look at it. It looked haggard as hell, covered in dust but I could see the gem beneath. He said he'd go as low as $150 (?) so I took it.

I've since pulled the strings and pickguard and cleaned the hell out of it. Sprayed the pots and switches with cleaner. It's like newish now. I was really surprised how well the electronics cleaned up. All the hum and scratchiness is gone, sounds very very good.

With my old Acoustic Control corp 100 watt tube amp set clean, the sounds amazing. Jazzy, clear well defined notes, lots of sustain. Dirtied up a little, very old George Thorogoody, even a bit Brian Setzerish. Really dirtied, I ran through "Helter Skelter" and after dropping the volume knob a touch to get rid of the feedback, was floored how well the single coil could disrort.

Acousticly, very sweet sounding. My first f-hole guitar, thought it would sound thin and lifeless, but that's not the case. Can't seem to upload pics, will try again.


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## plumber666 (Nov 25, 2007)

Note pops up that I don't have enough priveleges to post pictures? I did find out that it's a '66 model from the Framus museum in Germany


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## plumber666 (Nov 25, 2007)

1966 Framus Sorella pictures by plumber666 - Photobucket

This work?


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

First, go to your picture in photobucket and copy 'direct link' under the picture. Then hit 'reply' here on GC, click the little box with the dots in the corners ('Image') then click 'From URL' then UNCLICK 'retreive remote file', and paste in the 'direct link' from the first step.


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## John Watt (Aug 24, 2010)

This is getting better. I gotta admit, I'd make a new pickguard and use a big humbucker with different knobs,
but that's just changing it to how I'd like it.
I've bought Schaller products, and this looks like one of theirs. Is this a factory or owner installation? I don't know.
Seeing the Schaller name up there big and bold makes me think it was a product added later.
And I wouldn't use Lemon Pledge, building up residue. That's a nice guitar, I'd use a nice cleaner.

Too bad your volume only goes up to 8.


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## plumber666 (Nov 25, 2007)

Framus could tell me the serial# indicates it was born an electric. Schaller couldn't tell me much, just that they made pickups and pickguards for Framus that almost always said Framus on them. There are no extra filled in holes that would make you think it ever had a different pickup or guard on it before. I'm a bit obsessive about this guitar, so hopefully I can learn more about it. Framus lost most of their records when they went bust in the early 70's. Warwick, who owns them now's got no early info. Weird getting these emails from German dudes, they all seem to have "Dr." in front of their name. 
One way to discover if the age of the pickup and the age of the guitar are the same would be to unsolder the metal control cover from the back of the pickguard. But that seem's a bit difficult, looks more like it was brazed or welded.


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## Hammertone (Feb 3, 2006)

It's always nice to see someone excited about cool German archtop guitars.
Go through the looking glass for more, here:

European Guitars Forums &bull; Index page
and
Schlaggitarren.de &ndash; Willkommen


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

For further questions regarding the electronics you might also get in touch with Mr Hansal who has been working with the Framus electronic dept. since the 1960s. [email protected]
@plumber666.....this is part of the reply I got from Dr. Christian Hoyer at the Framus Museum when I asked about the switch positions on my '67 Atlantic. Maybe Mr. Hansal can help. Dr. Hoyer sent me a diagram for a two pick up Atlantic, mines a three so I've been trying different switch positions to see what controls what. So far I've tried 20. On two,all the pick ups are off. The others control loud and soft for each pick up and combinations of pick ups....eg. neck loud, mid soft, bridge soft etc.. I believe this might take a while.
@Hammertone I checked out the two sites. Does second one include a translator?


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## plumber666 (Nov 25, 2007)

THANKS, eUROPEAN gUITARS fORUM LOOKS INTERESTING! Sorry for bad capital usage.


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