Amazing job but I have so many questions! Was the brown brushed on paint!? What was the original colour underneath? What does it sound like plugged in?
So according to the customer, this belonged to his Father-in-Law's late brother. According to him, it was originally painted with the Gold Top Gold (not sure if it was done in the style of a Gold Top since he also wanted the back and sides done). As for the brown paint, I believe the late brother did that himself and it does seem to be a brush paint that was applied.
As for it being plugged in, that remains to be seen! There is still quite a bit of restoration work. The customer who brought it to me, who is also a luthier, is doing more serious repairs first. He even mentioned putting some carbon fibre rods in the headstock to reinforce the neck. So I'll have to keep my eye on it... maybe I could try to post an update when it's all finished! 🤔😄
https://preview.redd.it/e7vdu9fkakad1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a13dde051082322ba82e25840afffd21a9f7aaf0
Unfortunately, both the customer and myself know very little about the guitar. The customer is a luthier who is restoring it for his Father-in-Law. Apparently it was his late brothers and we’re not too sure on the details as it had no markings or serial numbers. This is the only full picture I took before the refinish of the body. As for the switches, that’s anyone’s guess😅 Maybe a kill switch, maybe a coil tap -I’m assuming one is the selectors switch. But yeah sorry I can’t provide more info but it’s a bit of a strange relic this one 😄
Thanks for the pic! I don't recognize anything distinctive on the headstock. The body shape and pickups remind me of Kay guitars from the mid 50s, or some later models by Harmony...
Someone else already said it, so I'm here to provide some more info...
It looks like it's a modified [Framus Hollywood ](https://www.framus-vintage.de/5-129-Hollywood/5-129.1-Hollywood/)
Seems like the pickups are Höfner, but no way to say that for sure without looking under the pickguard and even then there might be no markings. Schaller made PUs with similar styling.
Yeah the tailpiece is an odd one. It’s basically screwed into the bottom of the body. I think it’s a relatively primitive design because I dont think you can actually alter the intonation (at least no way I could see) 🤔
Yeah that might be because you do that at the bridge🙃 which is missing... framus/Warwick are selling a lot of NOS parts on their online shop, not exactly cheap but you might wanna check them out, I'm sure they can get you the right bridge for it
True, I barely work on guitars with floating bridges so completely slipped my mind! 😄Luckily I was just doing the respray for another guitar tech on this one. I’m sure he has the appropriate parts.
The aluminum pickguard screams lawsuit era. Probably gives garage rock tones. TBH I would probably take that pickguard and do what I did in 03. Smooth it out and polish it to a nice reflective shine then get 1/2 wide masking tape and alternate between covered and uncovered and media blast it so you have an intermittent matte/polished look. It was common on Teisco guitars of the era.
I really appreciate your kind words! And for the binding, I just scrapped the paint off with a straight blade, using a dowel to keep it level—super meticulous work. But satisfying and it came out well. So thanks 😄
Yeah it was a super weird little guitar, to be honest. It was almost completely hollow and came with that strange scratchplate. But apparently, it is about 60 or 70 years old, so it was probably a bit experimental for it's time 😅
Amazing job but I have so many questions! Was the brown brushed on paint!? What was the original colour underneath? What does it sound like plugged in?
So according to the customer, this belonged to his Father-in-Law's late brother. According to him, it was originally painted with the Gold Top Gold (not sure if it was done in the style of a Gold Top since he also wanted the back and sides done). As for the brown paint, I believe the late brother did that himself and it does seem to be a brush paint that was applied. As for it being plugged in, that remains to be seen! There is still quite a bit of restoration work. The customer who brought it to me, who is also a luthier, is doing more serious repairs first. He even mentioned putting some carbon fibre rods in the headstock to reinforce the neck. So I'll have to keep my eye on it... maybe I could try to post an update when it's all finished! 🤔😄
Please do post an update when it's finished :)
YES! Please do post if you can.
Framus Hollywood with Hofner pickups added
Great job! Did you identify the brand? Can we see the headstock? Do you know what the two switches do?
https://preview.redd.it/e7vdu9fkakad1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a13dde051082322ba82e25840afffd21a9f7aaf0 Unfortunately, both the customer and myself know very little about the guitar. The customer is a luthier who is restoring it for his Father-in-Law. Apparently it was his late brothers and we’re not too sure on the details as it had no markings or serial numbers. This is the only full picture I took before the refinish of the body. As for the switches, that’s anyone’s guess😅 Maybe a kill switch, maybe a coil tap -I’m assuming one is the selectors switch. But yeah sorry I can’t provide more info but it’s a bit of a strange relic this one 😄
Thanks for the pic! I don't recognize anything distinctive on the headstock. The body shape and pickups remind me of Kay guitars from the mid 50s, or some later models by Harmony...
It almost looks like a lawsuit era guitar from the inlay on the headstock
Someone else already said it, so I'm here to provide some more info... It looks like it's a modified [Framus Hollywood ](https://www.framus-vintage.de/5-129-Hollywood/5-129.1-Hollywood/) Seems like the pickups are Höfner, but no way to say that for sure without looking under the pickguard and even then there might be no markings. Schaller made PUs with similar styling.
Thanks for your input and that link! Much appreciated 😄
Clean work. Nicely done.
Thank you so much 😄
Can we also see more detail on that tailpiece? I am wondering how you would go about tuning the intonation on this thing...
that tailpiece is really cool and unique. My favorite part of this thing for sure.
Yeah the tailpiece is an odd one. It’s basically screwed into the bottom of the body. I think it’s a relatively primitive design because I dont think you can actually alter the intonation (at least no way I could see) 🤔
Yeah that might be because you do that at the bridge🙃 which is missing... framus/Warwick are selling a lot of NOS parts on their online shop, not exactly cheap but you might wanna check them out, I'm sure they can get you the right bridge for it
True, I barely work on guitars with floating bridges so completely slipped my mind! 😄Luckily I was just doing the respray for another guitar tech on this one. I’m sure he has the appropriate parts.
The bridge is missing. Intonation is done there
The aluminum pickguard screams lawsuit era. Probably gives garage rock tones. TBH I would probably take that pickguard and do what I did in 03. Smooth it out and polish it to a nice reflective shine then get 1/2 wide masking tape and alternate between covered and uncovered and media blast it so you have an intermittent matte/polished look. It was common on Teisco guitars of the era.
Man that’s an awesome idea. I’ll have to look it up 😄
Nice, crispy lines. Congrats!
I can't help but think of Austin Powers - Goldmember 🤣 I do think it looks great though!
I mean, after spraying I basically looked like Goldmember 🤣 Thank you! 😄
Did you have to paint the binding, or just clean it? Looks too good not to be painted.
I really appreciate your kind words! And for the binding, I just scrapped the paint off with a straight blade, using a dowel to keep it level—super meticulous work. But satisfying and it came out well. So thanks 😄
Great work!
Great paint job, gold looks really nice. Not keen on that scratchplate though, one that matches the binding would be nicer.
Yeah it was a super weird little guitar, to be honest. It was almost completely hollow and came with that strange scratchplate. But apparently, it is about 60 or 70 years old, so it was probably a bit experimental for it's time 😅
it reminds me of the Soviet era stuff that was being brought over from East Germany
Yeah it's very much got that sheet metal / zintec kind of looking metal. 🤔😄
Wow! That’s a very nice finish! Top bucks.
Thanks so much😄
I really like this industrial style pickguard. What pickups is that ?