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Topic: Framus lap steel history |
Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 9 May 2008 9:29 am |
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http://www.framus-vintage.de/
Select the Other category, then select Hawaiian to see what appears to be a full listing of the lap steels sold by Framus over the years. It's a very well done web site!
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 9 May 2008 10:39 am Neat, sweet, petite
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Cool!
And, a console Framus, with legs to die for. First I've ever seen.
Anybody here have experiences with a Framus?
I've never heard one, that I know of, but always wanted an 8 str. Waikiki. |
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 9 May 2008 11:53 am
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Now that's some interesting and nice playing.
And, the crowd was just as I like 'em, bad posture, fat guts, and QUIET.
Thanx for the link!
What's Mr. Tam's steel history? |
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Jonathan Shacklock
From:
London, UK
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Posted 9 May 2008 1:29 pm
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Just in the last couple of weeks I bought my first non-pedal steel on eBay, this blue-flock beauty (or ugly duckling depending on POV), so it's great to see a Framus demonstrated to such wonderful effect.
This one looks like a Hawaii 800 but it has the bridge with levers so maybe its an SL800/1 (not pictured on the site)?? I have it tuned to C6 but haven't experimented with the bridge yet - any suggestions for tuning setups would be gratefully received (ie does it make sense to have C6 in the middle position with the option to raise or lower each string by a semitone? Or is there a better configuration?)
Thanks for giving me a good excuse for my first non-peddlers post!
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Darrell Urbien
From:
Echo Park, California
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Posted 9 May 2008 4:27 pm
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| Wow, great site! I especially like the electric mandolins, but those triangular steels sure are interesting. I wonder what the Tahiti looked like? |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 9 May 2008 6:25 pm
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| Wow, Jonathan, please post some sound clips if you can at some point. That looks quite interesting. |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 9 May 2008 7:05 pm
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Jonathan. I'll be on Skype from about 11:00 Saturday, I can talk you through the best possible configuration depending on your style requirements.. I've been there, got the T shirt..
Skype name "Basil Henriques" audio or video..
Or you can just 'phone me at 0781-687-2166 or 0182-770-4110 or 0121-288-1077..
I'm at all those numbers..(and more) |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 9 May 2008 7:53 pm
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| Quote: |
by Trung-Tam Le :-
My steel is also an Framus with " autotuning change bridge" too, but only 2 neck 16 string. I tune one neck in C6 and the other in A6.
With the system "autotuning change", while picking, I can change C6 into Cm6 or C7 and A6 into Am6, A+, A° and A7 only with right hand and not foot !
It is enought for my playing because I don't search the virtuosity of 9th or 13th chords or speed...My genre is smooth with songs like: "song of the island", "blue Hawaii", "sweet leilani", "drifting and dreaming", "King's serenade", "pagan love song", "Kalua", "kawa", "beyond the reef", "aloha oe"...all songs very slow which can bring you (me) to Paradise. (in 1950 my king of hawaiian guitar and model was Hal Aloma who played at Moana Hotel with the orchestra of Al Kealoha Perry of the Hawaiian Calls)
I only try to communicate my feeling, my daydreaming, sometime with just a slide...
Though I played steel guitar when I was 18 years old, and now I am 70, music is not my profession, just my hobby. I don't (never) play well, but when facing my guitar, I seem to go into a trance and every note is a little bit of mine. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 9 May 2008 8:35 pm
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Per Tam's statement - As it should be!
Thanx for the post, Basil. |
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Jonathan Shacklock
From:
London, UK
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Posted 10 May 2008 11:14 am
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Doug, that is a thing of great beauty. I'm not sold on the aesthetics of many of the lapsteels I've seen but I must say I like all the Framus designs. Just personal taste.
I had a very nice chat with Basil this morning – he gave me some very useful information on tunings for this kind of bridge as well as some good tips on string guages. I'll be putting this all into practise soon. Thanks Basil!
Ron, I will try to post some soundclips tomorrow. |
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Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
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Posted 10 May 2008 12:16 pm
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| basilh wrote: |
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Wow!! That's (almost) identical to one I bought in '79 - of course at that time I had no idea what to do with it, or even how to tune it, so it took me another 20+ years to get started.....
Thanks for the "flashback"!
Steinar
_________________
"Play to express, not to impress"
Website - YouTube |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 10 May 2008 3:59 pm
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They were also available as twin 8s, and the optional finish was a strange "flocking" colour..   |
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Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
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Posted 10 May 2008 4:38 pm
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I found this in my old scrap book, it's from June '78, so it was even earlier than I remembered. I had seen Jackson Browne with David Lindley on TV and was blown away by Lindley's lap steel playing.
The triple-8 Framus was the only non-pedal steel I could find in Norway, and I remember being totally confused by all the strings and no known resources or teachers to turn to, so I gave up pretty fast..
I held on to the sitar much longer, still have the mandolin (tuned to 4-string "piccolo slide" due to neck warpage), and recently bought myself a flute again 30 years after selling the one in this pic... 
Steinar
_________________
"Play to express, not to impress"
Website - YouTube |
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Posted 11 May 2008 1:38 am
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| Ron, Tam is a french vietnamese who's in his 70s & has been into Hawaiian musik since day 1 |
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basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 11 May 2008 3:09 am
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Another bit of info about Tam:-
He took lessons from Hal Aloma !!
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My first and only master of Hawaiian guitar was Hal Aloma (1950, I was 14 years old) who kindly sended me my first lessons from Honolulu Hawaii to Saïgon Vietnam. 6 diagrams and 2 records (78 tours: 1 song per face) and these lessons are giving with the tunings: EAEAC#E and AC#EAC#E. Even with this only sending, I was his pupil. Later, he sended me his record (columbia?) "Hawaii Calls" when he played with Al Kealoha Perry's band at the Moana Hotel, Waïkiki (Vinyl 33 tours). Fabulous !!!
Why? Because I am so sentimental and his play is so soft and so smooth. Even "Hawaiian war chant", he played this song with tempo 70 !!! And as I "copy" his play, I have not to resolve the problem of...speed. Ha ha !
My play depend on my feeling. So the same song is differently performed according to my mood of the moment. The phrases may changed. Except, the backing must be right and I surf and improvise on the rhythm.
I know, my play is not exceptional, but for me, each slide played is a bit (the voice) of my mind...sometimes with tears. I'm not professional, so I play mainly for me, generally the night, when everybody is sleep (I play with headplones).
My travels to the dream land, I do them in my...dreams.
I have chance to meet last year the french steelers...and you now.
In France and Belgium practically all steelers play country musics but not at all hawaiian, among them I am like a spot in the middle of the nose, but they like me a lot ! They are incredibles. |
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Jonathan Shacklock
From:
London, UK
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Posted 11 May 2008 6:00 am
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Ron, I've recorded a few seconds of my Framus, a little aimless blues noodling in the key of x and then my first try at something western swing-y. Please forgive me. In the words of Tam I am "surfing and improvising on the rhythm"   
click here
Apologies for the levels, any distortion is at the soundcard end. I'm getting a tiny bit of static from the pickup though (you can just hear it at the very end) but I quite like it - it's like a little bit of vinyl crackle. In the hands of an expert like Tam I think the tone of the guitar would be very nice. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 11 May 2008 5:42 pm
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| That's the equivalent of three Hipshot Trilogies on one instrument. Given the number of permutation one retuning device will give you, I would think three necks would become unnecessary. |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 11 May 2008 8:21 pm
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Flipping those levers worked OK for the slow tune the guy was playing, but would be slower than a pedal steel for up-tempo tunes wouldn't it ??
It just seems like a massive rig to lug around with three necks and all the mechanism. What does something like that weigh?
Just trying find out how they worked out for a busy musician. |
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Danny James
From:
Summerfield Florida USA
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Posted 12 May 2008 8:30 am
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The tuning changers on the Framus steel guitars are really neat looking. And on the video I thought it sounded good. I really appreciate all the posts on these guitars.
On the guitar that I built with a changer in it I made a gauged roller nut and the tunings return to original pitch really well.
Bazil, in looking at the Framus from the picture it looks like the nuts are solid, and if I'm right, I'm wondering how well it returned to the original pitch after changing tunings?
Thanks,
Danny |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 13 May 2008 10:10 am
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| Yes, a very interesting video. I've been trying to create similar sounds using palm levers on a modified lap steel. |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 13 May 2008 10:15 am
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Excel has been working on a lever system for some time now, mounted on a lap steel.
Havn't heard anything for a while. It looked great, and supposedly worked just as well. |
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