Re: Offset's fronm the other side of the tracks :o

Naturality · Post by **Naturality** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:22 am

I've noticed you all seem to love your fender offsets, I mean c'mon we all do, they're beautiul, but what about the others? for example the Gibson Firebird

the hopf saturn

the eastwood remake of the hopf

the gibson vegas

and many, man, more.....

Aug · Post by **Aug** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:34 am

2 of those are NOT offsets...

Post by **mezcalhead** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:47 am

I'd agree that those Gibsons aren't really offset. They have irregular shapes but not offset waists as such.

You are correct though; there are plenty of worthy non-Fender offsets, like the DiPinto:

Fall reverb · Post by **Fall reverb** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 2:49 pm

Approx. 10 years ago I bought a live album by The Telescopes (anyone here remember them?) called 'Trade Mark Of Quality'; the back of this album shows a pic of Joanna Doran playing an obscure offset guitar that looks like a Jazzmaster, but her guitar featured pickups that resemble Fender's "Wide Range" humbucking pickups & also had a Bigsby-like vibrato - for years I tried to find out what guitar this might be, but only a few weeks ago I finally found out what guitar this was - courtesy of this German eBay-auction I discovered that Doran's cool offset was a Framus "5/355" which was probably made in the early 70's :
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... %3AIT&rd=1

Post by **fullerplast** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 4:06 pm

That Framus is really cool...

Post by **daydreamdelay** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 4:31 pm

OH MY GOD I MUST HAVE THAT

I love love love the Telescopes, they're one of my favorite bands.. do you have a pic of that cover? I remember just Stephen being on it, maybe I'm confused with something else

tremolite · Post by **tremolite** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:06 pm

I'm so glad this topic came up because I've never known the model # of this particular Framus. Here are some pics of my 5/355. I've had it for about 10 years. It sounds really good... kind of a cross between a JM and a 72 custom. It's been out of commission for a few years. The faux-Bigsby tailpiece is not so hot if you like your guitar to stay in tune, but I think a new spring may remedy that a bit. I'm also in need of roller bolt for the bridge. Plus it needs a new nut and possibly a refret or at the least a thorough fret dress. The tuners are pretty useless as well and I haven't even bothered to look at the electronic components. I'm really unsure if I should sink a bunch of money into this instrument. I bought it for $75. Maybe you folks can motivate me to get it up to speed. What do you think?

dinosaur · Post by **dinosaur** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:19 pm

It's so beautiful! You have to fix it up. I dont know if I would pay for a refret, but everything else should be easy.

Post by **daydreamdelay** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:20 am

fix that poor thing up!

Post by **fullerplast** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:31 am

$75! Good find!

I love the look. Some of the other Framus offsets are too whacky for my tastes, but this one looks just right.

Hehe... looks like a J-Bass control plate. I thought about using one of those on an offset project, and putting the toggle switch in the extra hole.

Post by **mezcalhead** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:44 am

If it sounds good and you think you can get it to play well also, then I think it's definitely worth it.

Since you like the sound, the electrics probably don't need messing with. A new nut might help the tuning quite a bit as well. It doesn't sound like you'll need to spend a lot of money on it.

tremolite · Post by **tremolite** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:11 am

Well I think I'll start with getting the bridge and tailpice in order and then cutting a new nut. Thanks for the encouragement! This'll actually be a pretty fun fix-it project...

tremolite · Post by **tremolite** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:23 am

I had no idea the Framus was so GAS-worthy.

Naturality · Post by **Naturality** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:25 am

What does GAS mean?

Naturality · Post by **Naturality** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:27 am

Have you seen the Framus that Kurt Cobain held on the cover of Alternative Guitar magazine? looks really cool

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