The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Other Bass Brands => Topic started by: Aussie Mark on January 19, 2014, 03:54:29 PM
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Yes, I did it. Given the Stones are touring Australia this year and our Stones tribute is getting lots of well paid bookings as a result, I thought I'd splash out on a Framus for the hell of it. The Bass Place in Arizona had one in stock for $1195, discounted from the MSR price of over $1800.
Will report once it arrives.
So, my Wyman stage props now number 4 ... the Framus, Vox Wyman, Dan Armstrong lucite reissue, and Gibson EB-3 reissue. Not sure I'll go the whole hog and buy a Travis Bean or a Fender Mustang though. And the reissue of Bill's home made fretless is as ugly as a hat full of a$$holes, so that's not on the list either.
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And the reissue of Bill's home made fretless is as ugly as a hat full of a$$holes, so that's not on the list either.
There goes another monitor covered in 7-Up!
Congrats on the bass and the gigs. Looking forward to your report.
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Oops wrong forum area - mods, can you move this to Other Bass Brands, thanks :-)
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I had one at home for a review for a while. Like it!!
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Out for delivery on the Fedex truck today!
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OK, so this baby arrived today, in it's original factory carton with all the case candy. So, it's been in the store (The Bass Place in Arizona) for some time. The serial number tells me it was made in November 2012. These are Korean-made, by the way.
The finish and quality look absolutely choice. It will need a set up after I restring it with flats (why would a sixties reissue come with rounds?), as the pickup heights are all over the place by the look of it. Interestingly for a hollow body bass, all the electronics with the exception of the jack socket are outside the body - mounted under the pickguard - nothing at all is drilled into the top of the body. The tailpiece attaches to the end side, and the pickguard assembly is mounted to the lower side by screws in two places. The pickup height screws rest on the body on top of little circles of felt, and the timber bridge is floating. Neck width at the nut is 1.5" - Jazz bass width, so nowhere near as pencil necked as the Vox I bought recently.
Now to go looking for a case - the body is very wide - it's around 3 or 4cm too wide to fit in my Thunderbird gig bag, for example. The guys in my band own a 335 and an Epi Casino, so I'll try their cases as a starting point.
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Bass%20gear/IMG-20140129-00211_zpsb304be7b.jpg)
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Nice looking. IIRC there was more than one version in the 60s but this looks a lot like one of them.
Rounds were available by the mid-60s (even earlier from Danelectro but you had to buy the bass to get them). They weren't common that early but they were made.
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IIRC there was more than one version in the 60s but this looks a lot like one of them.
Yes, Bill played two different model Framus basses, this one (the 5/150) ...
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Bill_Wyman_and_Brian_Jones_1965.jpg)
and this one ...
(http://www.flyguitars.com/graphics/billWymanFramusBass.jpg)
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Hans-Peter of Warwick told me that rounds were the only compromise on the bass. Warwick makes rounds in China and it would make the bass even more expensive to send flats to China just to fit on that bass. So they settled on rounds, of which they know they will be replaced by new owners.
Framus made several Star Basses. Small and big and with different cutaways.
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That's a beauty Mark, they did a nice job of trying to go for a decent reissue. Good for them! How does she sound?
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I know they did a lot of effort to reproduce pickups and so.
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Found a case for an acoustic bass that fits perfectly ....
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Bass%20gear/IMG-20140203-00216_zps403d98f0.jpg)
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Dang, that thing is beautiful!
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That's a beauty Mark, they did a nice job of trying to go for a decent reissue. Good for them! How does she sound?
She sounds like most hollow body bases from the sixties - warm and tubby. The pickups are not hot, quite low output compared to a 'bird, P bass or even my SG RI. But, she's pretty, looks the part, and is nice to play ....
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Gig%20photos%202014/1655863_635747986474355_957158574_n_zpscaf4c6ac.jpg)
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Gig%20photos%202014/1958330_635748066474347_1547627918_n_zps8ebd2678.jpg)
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Lookin' Good, Mark!
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Great!!!
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(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Gig%20photos%202014/markvbill_zps31aaba17.jpg)
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You've got the Wyman stance down pat. :)
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Cool!
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So Mark, after having the Star Reissue after almost a year now are you using it on anything else besides Stones band stuff? I had one years and years ago and recall it sounding pretty much close to a double bass at the time, except the electronics were not up to par. I saw a kids band the other day where the bass player had one. He was playing itnthrough a guitar amp and it had roundwounds(!). When their gig was over I asked him if I could check it out and he obliged. Well it felt nice and light ( a true hollowbody) and the electronics and variables associated with them seemed to be pretty good. However with the RW's and guitar amp I could not really comment furthur on it. What about your update?
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So Mark, after having the Star Reissue after almost a year now are you using it on anything else besides Stones band stuff? I had one years and years ago and recall it sounding pretty much close to a double bass at the time, except the electronics were not up to par. I saw a kids band the other day where the bass player had one. He was playing itnthrough a guitar amp and it had roundwounds(!). When their gig was over I asked him if I could check it out and he obliged. Well it felt nice and light ( a true hollowbody) and the electronics and variables associated with them seemed to be pretty good. However with the RW's and guitar amp I could not really comment furthur on it. What about your update?
No, I've only used this in the Stones tribute show so far, which are roughly 75% of my gigs. It definitely doesn't sound close to a double bass - there are quite a wide range of tones in these pickups .. quite zingy if I needed it to be. This bass is partial to feeding back depending on where I'm standing - I've got to be quite careful on loud stages to make sure I have all strings muted when I'm not playing anything otherwise she takes off in a big way. Other than that, it's a well made bass with a great neck, and it does look fantastic. I'm not sure I'd like to play the Framus in a rock band where I'm jumping around on stage, but it would probably work fine for a sedate wedding band type of gig or something folky.
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Gig%20photos%202014/DSC_0366_zps67c02d0e.jpg)
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Gig%20photos%202014/10661921_10152728826625763_7733856752498089648_o_zpsb8fe6d2d.jpg)
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Thanks Mark. Yes i forgot to mention about the feed back aspect. The thing was alive!