All I can say is wow.

[Ben Mitchell]

Do you think Framus, which I believe is a break-off of Kay, actually made a bass like this? Or is this a custom thing?

Kind of cool, if it wasn't painted.

http://sanmarcos.craigslist.org/msg/2446771231.html

[Steve Swan]

These cutaway german Framus basses are more common in the U.S. than you might think.

[Ben Mitchell]

Really? I had never seen one before.

[drurb]

Originally Posted by BassMaster65

Really? I had never seen one before.

This is where the old search function can really be your friend. Had you done a simple search on "Framus" you'd have discovered a wealth of information. They've been discussed in these threads going back to 2002.

[longfinger]

This clip has been on TB before too....

‪Duke Ellington Billy Strayhorn‬‏ - YouTube

and check out these links...

http://www.warwick.de/modules/infos/...ID=14554&cl=EN

http://www.framus-vintage.de/modules...tID=4602&cl=EN

http://www.framus-vintage.de/modules...tID=4668&cl=EN

[Ed Fuqua]

I also don't think Framus was a "break off" from Kay; they're a German company and Kay was a Murican.

[jazzbill]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

I also don't think Framus was a "break off" from Kay; they're a German company and Kay was a Murican.

I have a non-cutaway framus fom the 50's.

Framus was / is a German company run by a Wilfer that went
bankrupt and re-emerged as Warwick, a maker of bass guitars.

* 1946: The foundation of 'Franconian Musical Instruments by Fred A. Wilfer KG in Erlangen, Germany to help resettle luthiers displaced from Schönbach, today Luby u Chebu in the Sudetenland.
* 1954: A larger factory is built in Bubenreuth, Germany to house the 300-strong workforce.
* 1967: Further expansion sees the building of a second facility in Pretzfeld, Germany.
* 1975: The rapidly changing market forces the company into bankruptcy.
* 1995: Framus musical instruments enter into production under Warwick GmbH & Co.

[Steve Swan]

There is an oft-repeated european saying that goes "You'll never be famous if you play Framus."

[M.Wrenn]

Originally Posted by Steve Swan

These cutaway german Framus basses are more common in the U.S. than you might think.

Yeah, I've seen a bunch of those.

[Jake deVilliers]

The ones I've seen have had solid wood sides with ply tops and backs but I believe that they made carved backs and tops as well.

Nice sounding basses but the cutaway is kinda dumb...

[David Potts]

Legend has it that the English principal bass player of an orchestra here did a DIY to lower the LH shoulder of one of his English basses in order to facilitate the playing of an up-coming solo. The bass has become known as "One Tit Annie" and is still played here in Sydney somewhere. I haven't seen it yet. Framus was not alone!!

As students here in the early 60s the new basses available were Ligna, Framus, Hofner, Saumer and Shindler. Pick-ups were in various stages of infancy and a common adaption was an ex-army earphone from a radio head set, wrapped on foam and wedged between the tailpiece and the belly. It worked, sort of. The alternative was a mike on a stand in front of the F hole. I did see a hollowed endpin that put a mike inside the bass but never heard the result. Hi fi was also in its infancy, with huge vented speaker enclosures and theatre-size woofers. Underwood was yet to be born. The same with the fabulous mikes made today. Gut strings were going out. Nylon, Rotosound, Thomastik, Pirastro and Lycon were coming in. Bass guitars were in their infancy and their amplifiers were still huge and heavy, with valves, not solid state. Somehow we oldies survived and have had a lot of fun since, especially with advances in technology.

But there was never anything stranger looking than the cut-away Framus bass. The only other object of ridicule here was a white fibreglass bass that stood in the window of a city music store for years and used to smell horribly of stale fish on hot days. I don't know why it never sold?

Cheers from Down Under,

DP

[drurb]

Originally Posted by David Potts

I did see a hollowed endpin that put a mike inside the bass but never heard the result.

Indeed! Ampeg.

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by drurb

Indeed! Ampeg.

Kind of funny that they don't have a photo of an Ampeg on there, eh?

Here's one anyway, from a '41 Kay S-51:

[Ben Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

Kind of funny that they don't have a photo of an Ampeg on there, eh?

Here's one anyway, from a '41 Kay S-51:

Very cool! Does it sound any good?

[Jake deVilliers]

I don't know. My job was to remove it and install a regular end pin - it was missing the special cord that goes in the fitting on the foot.

The corpus isn't the best place to pick up sound though - its all boomy and boofy...

[Ben Mitchell]

Did you throw it away? It would be a cool looking collector's piece if you shined it up.

[KBbassguy]

Well, I figure this is sort of relevant, considering there is a bass with a cut-away here, and I *think* that's what we're discussing.

Caution: this vid contains swearz

Andrew Jackson Jihad on Vimeo

[mlz77096]

I have a friend who plays a cut away Framus. I understood these were sometimes called rock-a-billy basses and the cut away was to give easier reach to the notes like they do in some guitars.

[iiipopes]

If you surf the CCB's, especially on ebay, you'll see they are in production. For example:
THOMANN DOUBLE BASS 111E CUTAWAY BRC - Thomann UK Cyberstore
My concern is that the cutaway takes a significant cubic volume out of the box, which can't help overall tonality & resonance.