5-string tenor conversion from a Framus parlo(u)r guitar

[Mandocarver]

I've been pleased to see the recent interest in 5-string tenor guitars on the forum as I'm a confirmed fan and have made a couple of them from scratch but have never been totally satisfied with the nut width, fretboard radius or feel of the neck. So before my next scratch build, I wanted to experiment a bit and make a prototype based on a parlour guitar conversion.

I decided on a Framus 50/1 "Sport" guitar from the 60s or 70s, picked up on Reverb for €100 or so, primarily because this model has a bolt-on neck allowing for lots of quick and easy experimentation. I also liked the pressed arched back.

So I built a new neck with a 2-way trussrod, filling in the neck pocket with some scraps of spruce. I ended up with a 22" scale which seems ideal for FCGDA, equally comfortable for chords or melody and tried to mimic the feel and narrow string spacing of an electric guitar. In the end it averages at 7mm between strings, 38 mm in total at the nut. I used my favourite EVO gold fretwire on a rosewood fretboard with a 10" radius. I made a new bone saddle and nut. Nice low action. The original bridge is glued & bolted on, and I hid the bolts under MOP dots. I stripped the body and on doing so found out it was entirely laminate, but the prettiest plywood I've ever seen! 10 coats of Truoil completed the job. I also made a scratchplate from some leftover zebrawood veneer.

I'm very pleased with the result which only took a couple of weekends. The comfort and playability are outstanding and the tone and sustain are much better than I would have thought for a laminate body. The compact size makes it the ideal tenor for noodling on sofa and it is robust enough for travel.

Sorry for the long post but I thought it might be useful for anyone considering their own conversion. Check outReverb for plenty of Framus guitars - but check first, not all have bolt-on necks.

Cheers

[fox]

Looks great!
What string gauges did you use?

[Mandocarver]

Thanks Fox, like you, I enjoy experimenting with different strings (!) but at the moment they are:

F 0.050
C 0.036
G 0.028
D 0.016p
A 0.010p

Made up from an assortment of single strings I have lying around. The wound strings are chrome electric guitar strings.
They seem about right apart from the D and A which could stand being a touch heavier, perhaps to compensate for the laminate soundboard.

[fox]

Right I am inspired.... I must have another go at putting a five string together.. If I could only get my head around Rodgers extended bass string design!

[Mandocarver]

Looking forward to seeing the results.

[Lord of the Badgers]

Like the headstock shape - well suited to five tuners (though I might've gone for gotoh stealths had it been me).

Really want to hear it... Hope you can record it.

[Mandocarver]

You're right, and these tuners are make it far too headstock-heavy. I have Stealths on another build and love them but they're pricey and the idea with this was to spend as little as possible. These are reused Gotoh tuners from another experiment that has since been recycled. I'll be using Stealths when I finally get round to building one from scratch though, based on this experiment.

I'll try post a basic recording but it'll be the week after next when I get back from a trip.