Played my old 69’ Framus today View attachment 73411
What acoustic are you playing today?
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Westerly Wood
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I kind of always wanted a Framus.Not sure why why previous post won’t let me edit so I’ll try again . Played my old 69 Framus yesterday .
What a neat guitar. The fellow who taught me to play in summer camp had one like this, and I've always just thought they were super cool.Not sure why why previous post won’t let me edit so I’ll try again . Played my old 69 Framus yesterday .
davidbeinct
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Been playing this a lot lately. Really similar body to my GF30.
milhous1978
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Dayum!Today, it's a non-Guild.
bobouz
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Been playing this a lot lately. Really similar body to my GF30.
That’s so J-185ish, thought I’d post what happens to be in the rotation today:
Last edited:
Bob, that's beautiful! Which is it? J-45?That’s so J-185ish, thought I’d post what happens to be in the rotation today:
edit: no, apparently not. J-185? That's about the least-adorned Gibson I've ever seen. I love it!
Cougar
Enlightened Member
Probably won't get to any playing today -- I'm heading down to CDA to have the basal cell at the top of my ear sliced off. That Southern California sun will come back to bite ya!
Oooh, best wishes, Cougs!
bobouz
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Yes Charlie, it’s the 16” short-scale J-185.
Rayk
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Rob Reilly
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The oldest guitar in my collection is a department store arch top, from Sears Roebuck. It is from approximately 1947. The Sears history is vague, but I believe it is a Cremona model and was made by Harmony Musical Instruments of Chicago.
Sears offered it in their mail-order catalogue as the Silvertone Spanish Arched Guitar from about 1947-53 priced from $51 to $61 with case. That would be about 2 weeks wages for a working man.
The head stock and pick guard are decorated with shields and poleaxes, which are pressed in and painted, not decals.
The case is cardboard with a simulated alligator covering.
The marketing was loosely tied to Roy Rogers the singing cowboy whose movies were popular at that time.
My father-in-law was a Sears employee 1947-92, and began his career working in the catalogue preparation department. This guitar was probably photographed for the catalogue, and after they were done with it, he brought it home, thinking he would learn to play it. He may have had a lesson or two, as there is an undated receipt for a lesson in the case.
I inherited it in 2013, and when I opened the case I found the strings were green with corrosion and the plastic tuner pegs were mostly broken or cracked.
New strings and pegs, and I found it plays pretty good, though nothing like a Guild. The maple neck is pretty thick, so it doesn't need a truss rod. The lower bout is 17", shoulder 12-1/2", body depth 3-1/2", spruce top, curly maple back and sides. Triple Kluson type tuners. Wood bridge with brass height adjustment nuts. Trapeze tail piece.
Not very loud, really only good for playing in a home or a small venue.
Or on a horse when you're driving cattle.
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RBSinTo
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I practiced and took my music lesson today on my GAD jf-30, just because.
RBSinTo
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bobouz
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Hi Rob - Sorry for the veer, but I wanted to share a little bit of info with you related to Harmony’s Cremona model. In the ‘70s, I picked this one up at a flea market, probably for about twenty dollars. I could see that the top was solid spruce & carved, and it was very art-decoishly ornate. It’s hard to see in this old Polaroid, but Harmony is vertically written on the headstock & then Cremona diagonally intersects it - much like an old theatre marquee. The top had a checkered binding pattern, and the neck had a marquetry strip down the center which intersected the inlays. I dated it to the 1930s, and found many later examples of Cremona models with a wide variety of features & specs - going into the’50s, iirc. Loved the tone of this one, but the neck was a total baseball bat!The oldest guitar in my collection is a department store arch top, from Sears Roebuck. It is from approximately 1947. The Sears history is vague, but I believe it is a Cremona model and was made by Harmony Musical Instruments of Chicago.
Sears offered it in their mail-order catalogue as the Silvertone Spanish Arched Guitar from about 1947-53 priced from $51 to $61 with case. That would be about 2 weeks wages for a working man.
The head stock and pick guard are decorated with shields and poleaxes, which are pressed in and painted, not decals.
The case is cardboard with a simulated alligator covering.
The marketing was loosely tied to Roy Rogers the singing cowboy whose movies were popular at that time.
My father-in-law was a Sears employee 1947-92, and began his career working in the catalogue preparation department. This guitar was probably photographed for the catalogue, and after they were done with it, he brought it home, thinking he would learn to play it. He may have had a lesson or two, as there is an undated receipt for a lesson in the case.
I inherited it in 2013, and when I opened the case I found the strings were green with corrosion and the plastic tuner pegs were mostly broken or cracked.
New strings and pegs, and I found it plays pretty good, though nothing like a Guild. The maple neck is pretty thick, so it doesn't need a truss rod. The lower bout is 17", shoulder 12-1/2", body depth 3-1/2", spruce top, curly maple back and sides. Triple Kluson type tuners. Wood bridge with brass height adjustment nuts. Trapeze tail piece.
Not very loud, really only good for playing in a home or a small venue.
Or on a horse when you're driving cattle.
Rob Reilly
Junior Member
Yep, mine has a thick neck, but no marquetry inlay; an interesting little piece of American guitar history.
I noticed the lesson receipt has a hand written note "Next lesson Wednesday July 7" and the printed address is on Kedzie Ave in Chicago zone 23, no zip code, so that means it was either 1948 or 1954, probably 1948 as by 1954 he had moved out of Chicago to the suburbs. So that guitar probably was in it's case and never played from 1948 to 2013.
I noticed the lesson receipt has a hand written note "Next lesson Wednesday July 7" and the printed address is on Kedzie Ave in Chicago zone 23, no zip code, so that means it was either 1948 or 1954, probably 1948 as by 1954 he had moved out of Chicago to the suburbs. So that guitar probably was in it's case and never played from 1948 to 2013.
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GGJaguar
Reverential Member
The archtops inspired me to put the Gagliano Model 900 into today's play list. It's made by Kay and is equivalent to the K-11 model. Giant 5-piece maple neck (no truss rod), solid top (pressed, not carved), and laminated maple back and sides. Sounds amazingly good.
milhous1978
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Cool fretboard inlays
GGJaguar
Reverential Member
They are called "shark fin" inlays by Kay enthusiasts.