Guido from Germany || Sugar Baby on the Peter Kraus Guitar

Guido is always glad to share information about his instruments. I inquired about what he was playing in one of his videos and got an interesting lesson on a German rock star. . .

In the video "Sugar Baby”, I played a “Peter Kraus Guitar”. This guitar was built especially for the German “Rock Star” and entertainer Peter Kraus. At the start of his career, he wasn’t able to play a “real” guitar. But at this time (the 1960's) everybody in Germany thought that a Rockstar MUST play a guitar. So Framus (a guitar building factory in Bavaria, Germany), built a special, four-string guitar for him, that was easy to learn. It has a standard guitar scale and was tuned DGBE. Peter Kraus was really successful here in Germany and so Framus started a production. The Peter Kraus Guitar was build in 3 different versions, including an electrical. The Production stopped in the mid 60's. Framus has a homepage for its vintage guitars, but its currently down. Usually it can be found at Framus Website.

These guitars are rather rare, even here in Germany. I found mine in a flea market for 100,- Euro. It had to be restored, which cost another 120,- Euro. Some idiot glued the pickguard directly on the top, so that had to be removed. Also the neck was re-glued the wrong way at some point. It had to be removed and glued in correctly. The tuners needed some care also. The bridge was an old mandolin bridge and held in place with two wedges. It has been replaced with an actual guitar-bridge. The original strap pin was also damaged, so my guitar-doctor installed a new one. He installed one too at the side of the Neck. Not original, but working.

I was looking for years for one of these guitars and I’m very happy to have one now in playable condition. It might not be the best sounding guitar, but it’s a piece of German history. The neck is a little narrow, compared to a baritone uke, but wider than the standard tenor guitar neck. I have a little trouble with the longer scale, but I’m getting used to it.

Here's a picture (shown above) for a detailed view.

Regards

Guido