Fred Wilfer started producing instruments under the “Fränkische Musikinstrumente” or Framus name in 1946 in a small West-German town called Erlangen. Framus started out building all kinds of string instruments, like guitars, violins, cellos, banjos, zithers and double basses. Quickly the attention of the brand shifted towards guitars and banjos. Starting from the mid ‘50s, electric guitars and somewhat later basses became the main focus of this brand. 

This tenor guitar from 1959 is a signature model for the then very popular  German Rock ‘n Roll singer Peter Kraus. This model, the 5/141 with two pickups and a cutaway, was the most luxurious of the three Peter Kraus models on offer. The scale length is somewhat longer than a typical tenor, which allows for a somewhat lower tuning of A, E, B, F#. The usual tenor tuning is C, G, D, A.

Because of its very low weight this fully hollow instrument is very easy to handle and it displays a very lively acoustic voice. It sounds clear and twangy when amplified through its low output pickups. While it works well with a clean sound and some added reverb it’s also fun to add some vintage overdrive. Here at Dirk Witte we really enjoyed the sound of this tenor amplified with a loud Vox AC-30 and some tremolo.

Tenor guitars are a bit of a forgotten type of instrument, but as a guitar player it’s easy to learn to play one. In the ‘50s this instrument was focussed towards aspring teenager rockers and it came with an instruction booklet that explained how to rock like Peter after only limited practice. Unfortunately the booklet is lost but anyone used to mandoline or any other instrument voiced in quints will be able to learn to play this instrument very quickly.

The tailpiece and bridge of this 5/141 were replaced at some point but the replacement parts work fine and don’t look out of place. All electronics, including the volume and tone controls, work fine without issues. The skinny neck recently benefitted from a professional reset so this tenor plays great with a low action.