Framus Akkerman guitar

[jtr]

Anyone ever play or know anything about these guitars?

[yogadork]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

These guitars were made by Framus for Jan Ackerman of Focus fame, They are a single cutaway semi solid Les Paul type guitar and were the top of the line for Framus at the time. Rick Emitt also played one for a while and I'm pretty sure Alex Lifeson used one a bit also. The are snazzy guitars and pretty hard to come by. They are not that well known though and sellers sometimes don't get what the guitar is worth cause there is no real market for them. They are very cool guitars IMHO.

[fred dons]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

Framus now makes a reissue (AK76), the first reissue had Jan's complete name on it but they had forgot to inform Jan of this nor did they get his permission.
Framus still owned Jan money from the time the original Framus when bankrupt (it's now resurected by the sons of the original owner, of the Warwick company) so Jan was not to pleased with this. I tried to negotiate on Jan's behalf some sort of deal for use of the design and the name but Framus was only willing to offer 1 guitar for free if Jan would agree to become a exclusive endorser and that's it.
(I spoke to an employee of Framus on the Frankfurter messe and he literally said that Jan should be glad that they used his name for a guitar so he would get some publicity )
I actually like the reissue better than the original (according to Jan it is more in line with his original design, flame maple neckthrough)

[Chasbo]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

The original framus akkerman is one of my dream guitars. I never see any for sale on e-gay or in my local area. I have been jonesing for one for about 15 years. The reissue they are making now is really nice and I have been playing with the idea of selling off a couple axes to pick one up in cream or cherry. I haven't decided yet.

Chuck

[jtr]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

I'ld love to have one of the original Akkerman's but I've never seen one much longer played one. Pictures of them is all I've got. Has anyone actually played one or for that matter seen one in the U.S.A. They seem to have had very limited Distrubtion in the 70's and about the same with the new one. I have seen one on Ebay but I don't want to spend a $1000+ on a guitarI know nothing about. JTR

[lerxstcat]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

If they used Akkerman's name without his permission, he should be able to sue them for some money. He should get an attorney.

[fred dons]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

they removed his name in the meantime (after I had send them an angry letter) it is now called the AK76 instead
(but in shopadvertisements it is still called an Akkerman) Jan Akkerman also claimed the design on the guitar but he was unable to prove that he indeed designed it. All paperwork still resides with Warwick/Framus and they are not going to prove for him that they did not design it themselves.
As the original Framus company went bankrupt in the 70ties Jan did not save all his contracts but just moved on to other guitarbuilder to have his guitar build.

[lerxstcat]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

I don't know how it works there, but here his attorney could subpoena their records, and if there are ads referring to his name, they are still using his name to sell the guitar no matter what the model designation is. Using his name alone should entitle him to compensation, and if they did it without his permission then he should get compensation beyond that if he'd given permission.

Then again, the law may be different there. You should probably consult an attorney rather than trying to do it as a layman.

[fred dons]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

they only used his name for a short period of time untill the letter was sent out, after that Framus only used the AK 76 monnicker. The thing is that all the magazines and shops still call it the Akkerman and not Framus themselves, so they are not in breach of a trademark.
Regarding the records, Framus is officialy an entire different company from the original Framus company as that one whent bankrupt. The sons of the owner of Framus started Warwick (Bassguitars)and when they wanted to have a guitarline as well they decided to resurrect the Framus name (and models)under a new company .They claim that they do not have any evidence Jan Akkerman designed this model and Jan cannot prove it that he did, according to German law (I actually worked for a german bank for 13 years and was involved in legal paper work on a daily basis)the burden of proof is on Jan. Jan is not great on contracts and has lost a great deal of money on these things but he is a great player and a very nice guy and I get the feeling that his friends actually care more about these things than he does himself

[snc2716]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

Didn't Rik Emmitt or Alex put a Kahler
on their Framus?

[lerxstcat]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

That's a shame; they know he designed it but won't step up. I still think if you could find guitar magazine ads from the days of the original Framus Akkerman that this would help
his case. Maybe search Ebay with "Akkerman" to see if an ad comes up; US Ebay sells a lot of old ads like Vai with the Carvin X100B and so on. If you had an ad copy saying he designed it, that would testify that the original Framus had stated so. Even the proof of an endorsement might help.

If Jan's okay financially and isn't that upset
that is fine. I just hate to see him not get its due, one of the earliest and greatest shredders in hard rock.

[snc2716]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

I now remember, Alex Lifeson put a Kahler on a Gibson Howard
Roberts. Rik is the only person I ever remember seeing play
the Akkerman model.

Too bad that they won't pay Jan, that is just wrong.

[fred dons]

Re: Framus Akkerman guitar

I have searched and found the original adds and unfortunately it doesn't say anything on who designed it but only that Framus built the "Jan Akkerman"
The funny thing is that in the meantime 4 or 5 builders build exactly the same model for him (the last one by Catalyst in carbon fiber!) and Framus did not sue for trademark infringement (o;