Framus Star Bass

Framus Star bass made in 1963, four string short scale bass. Mega narrow nut 1.25inches widening to not much more by the 20th fret. Arch top with floating wooden bridge. Single pickup model with all electronics mounted on a separate metal plate. Volume control and a bass and treble control which don't do much, leave them up all the time. I believe the finish is call black rose and the body is a sort of semi acoustic Les Paul. Will replace the wooden saddleless bridge with a Hofner at some point.

This is the true sound of the 60's. Deep thumping bass tone. Strung with Pyramid Gold Flats, which are the strings it was designed with 45 years ago! Sounds very much like Violin bass from around Hard Days Night era. Definition from the E string a bit lacking, you have to adapt your playing a little.

This bass is 46 years old, I've had it since 1995 but I quickly broke the headstock. Have recently repaired it and set it myself. Action is quite low although having trouble with intonation. Not serious enough to present problems live but for recording I do use a little Autotune. The construction is OK if very of the time and european. Funnily enough my Framus is the quietest passive bass I have used with a single coil pickup!

It didn't take much for the headstock to come off!!! I would never dream of using this bass live, however a recent medical problem has meant I can only play a short scale, narrow necked bass while I recover. The old girl has performed brilliantly!!! To be honest you never forget you've got it, and you carry it in a very paranoid way but it hasn't let me down. I do take a spare though just in case although the Precision would currently kill me.

You see many of these with replacement big machineheads which look rubbish. Framus still exist and I was recently able to get a replacement (presumably new old stock) machineheads!

I have been playing for 25ish years and also use a precision 4 string strung with a flatwound 5 string set (IE I use the B string as an E and throw the G away... And I wonder why I have hand problems!!!)
I prefer this bass to the Hofner Violin and if it went missing I would replace it if I could find one in similar condition. This bass is just so easy to play!!!!

I have a Framus Starbass 5/150 serial number 2149. Not sure what year it was made, but looks like early sixties. It has two pickups with volume and tone controls at the lower bout as well as slide pickup selectors at the upper right bout. The odd thing about this one is it has a know with a thumb pull located between the pickups that at one time was spring loaded. It bounced the sound between the pickups and when pulled and released quickly made a sort of tremolo sound.

Sounds great for thumpy '60s bass lines and lighter jazz lines.

This thing is pretty big and I can't imagine gigging with it.

I had it as a backup just in case my P-lyte went on the fritz. It would have been interesting to see how it actually sounded on stage.

Well, I've contacted Framus to see if they know about this anomaly, but haven't heard from them yet. Customer support is yet to be decided.

This is a wicked cool bass with tons on vintageness! Best find I ever made. It was $75 at a Goodwill store in Ft. Lauderdale. I am making this post in hopes that someone has some info about the quick pickup selector between the pickups. Pictures are available if you may have some history about this. BTW, the additional know and thumb pull appear to be original and not added. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Judging by the serial number this instrument was made in 1963 in (I think) Bubenreuth, West Germany. Four stings, 20 frets. Hollow-bodied, with a right-hand cutaway. What I have never seen with any other electric guitar/bass is that all the electrics are attached to a metal scratchplate which is screwed to the body. Not even the jackplug actually enters the body. Movable bridge, but no adjustable saddles. One pickup- a neck pickup - which is also attached to the scratchplate. Mine is cherry sunburst. It is not good looking compared with Fenders or Gibsons: the instrument is of its time. There are volume and tone controls, also attached to the scratchplate. The tuners are elephant ears and not the originals. The instrument is in quite good nick, in apite of its age, and is perfectly playable.

I play in a hard rock outfit, so the Framus only appears on special occasions. I play through a 100W stack. The bass has a very distinctive sound. You will hear it on early British records like Shakin' All Over, Marty Wilde's records, some of the early Stone's records, and the early records by The Drifters/Shadows. There is also a two pickup model with a larger body which sounds much the same. I would use this instrument in a studio, although, if I use it on stage, all the bass players in the place gather round afterwards for a closer look.

The biggest flaw is that the metal frame round the pickup has sharp corners and have to be rounded with a file so you don't cut your hand playing it. Otherwise there is no point in bitching about an instrument that is so old.

No one dare put anything but light gauge strings on it. The instrument is very delicate. I have been told by Jet Harris - probably the Framus's greatest and most distinguished exponent - that he once left his leaning against a door, someone came into the room, knocking the instrument over. the neck shattered, and a piece of rock history was trashed. That's how fragile this instrument is. If you want durability, do what I do - and Jet did - and use a Fender.

Framus has been absorbed by Warwick. I do not think one can get spares for this still.

I've been playing in bands since I was 14. I use a Fender Precision, because Fenders are best by test. The Framus is only for special occasions. I love it because it is beautifully balanced (Incidentally, Bill Wyman's steep slope is a natural position for the Framus). Its greatest feature is, although it was built in Bavaria, it is very much part of Britain's rock history. These are the basses that played the riff on "Shakin' All Over" and played the intro on "Living Doll". It sounds beautiful, and is easy to play. If it were lost or stolen, I would crawl into a hole and pine away. I am told that the day after I had bought it, someone came puffing into the music shop to buy it. This is an instrument that every bass player would love to own.

This Framus Star Bass is one of the ones that Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones played in the early to mid-'60s. It was made in Germany in 1963 according to the serial number. This one has a natural finish and I was told that the top and back are mahagony and the sides are maple. Not sure about the neck material. Fingerboard is rosewood with white mother of pearl dots for fret markers and it has 20 frets. White plastic binding on body and neck. The body is hollow with a single Florentine (pointed) cutaway. Neck is pencil thin and fast as hell, 1.5" at the nut and 1.75" at the 12th fret. 30.5" scale with an overall length of 41.375", width at lower bout is 12.875, upper bout is 9", body depth is 2" and it weighs a mere 5#.
There is one large chrome pickup right at the end of the neck, the electronics are passive and it has a volume knob and a 4 position tone knob. The one I currently have was found in pieces in a box at a local repair shop several years ago. Bridge was replaced with a Hofner (like the one on the "Beatle" bass, the cheesy original tuning heads were replaced with some Hipshot Lites, and I had to manufacture a new plate to hold the controls from an old silver plated nickel serving tray.

The thing I always liked about the bass was the sound (that's really what it's all about, isn't it?). It sounds warm, dark, round, and woody. Back in the day, I was playing it through an Ampeg Portaflex B-15N and it sounded as close to an upright bass as I've ever heard. i currently play it through a Hartke 1415 and it sounds just fine. We were playing hard rock and blues back then and that was the sound I wanted regardless of what other people thought an electric bass was supposed to sound like. Ron Malo who was the recording engineer at Chess studios as well as the house bass player agreed with me as to the great sound. Works just fine on stage or studio. I loved everything about it then and after close to 40 years and a reunion with it, I feel the same way now.

The only flaws on the one I currently own are that it's 40 years old, has been mistreated and was worked on by chuckleheads. I had it to an upright bass builder to get it tweaked and I just recently discovered that he worked out lowering the pickup by carving away some of the top. He was also the person that supplied the new bridge which he neglected to fit to the body. Everyone's a goddamned *expert*. As a result of this discovery, I'm doing all the work on it myself in the future. The only original flaws were the placement of the fretboard inlays--not centered. The action can only be adjusted to play up to the 17th fret. Past that, the strings buzz on the pickup. I think two octaves are enough for anyone anyhow, so that's a non-issue to me. The neck is dead straight and I can't set any relief since the truss rod when fully loosened won't give me any bow.

If treated properly, this bass will withstand being played by an adult indefinitely. It seems as fragile as a violin, but it's well constructed. It's not for slapping or popping and wasn't designed to be used as a surfboard or a pugil stick. It's great for jazz, latin, blues and traditional rock. The original tuning heads were garbage, but the new ones I've installed should outlast me. Unless one is wearing a macho-honker, rodeo belt buckle the size of a hubcap, the finish will hold up fine. I play this bass with no backup and never have a second's thought about whether or not it will survive being played. I'd compare her to Marlene Dietrich in her later years--a truly grand old broad!

Framus was sold to Warwick and there is no information, or support for this poor old gal.

I've been playing on and off for 40 years. I also have a Gibson Fretless Ripper which I also love dearly, but at 11#, it's like playing a gig holding a fully loaded M-14. I can play the Framus all night and hardly even notice it. If this bass were stolen or lost, I'd be heart broken. <<I had a new one in the mid-'60s with a cherry finish which cost $109 in '65. While I was off doing the military thing, I left it with the band for safekeeping. The manager of the band decided he wanted his investment back, didn't think the band was going to make it, and engineered the theft of equipment to recoup his investment. It's never been seen since.>> As a matter of fact, I'm looking for another one right now. I love the weight, the look, the feel, the sound and the way it plays. The only thing I hate about it is the string of morons who treated it so shabbily before it became mine. If anyone has one for which they'd like to find a new home, please contact me. Picture of the current one is here:
http://www.framus.htm
Picture of the old one with yours truly is here (hey, we all had to look like something, didn't we?): http://www.pressplay.net/neal_knave.html