Framus D-Series Diablo Pro

review
101
JANUARY 2020 GUITARIST
reviewFRAMUS PRO SERIES & D-SERIES
Y
ou gotta have some front to call
your new electric guitar ‘Supreme’.
It’s like a boxer nicknamed ‘The
Killer’. The minute he’s stretchered from
the ring unconscious, the game is well and
truly up. In this instance, Framus has given
its Panthera II Supreme contender every
fighting chance to live up to its name with
some high-spec gestures.
Taking its cue from the mighty Gibson
Les Paul Standard, the Panthera features a
mahogany body with a thick and fabulous
AAA maple cap. The top benefits from some
beautiful German carving, which lowers
the level of the volume and tone controls on
the treble side, and on the bass side where
the three-way pickup selector toggle switch
resides. The contouring is emphasised by
some silver pin-striping. We’re not sure this
silver lining adds anything to the aesthetic
impact, but some of you will likely, er, like it.
Moving on, this cat’s got the cream of
humbucking goodness thanks to a bridge-
dwelling Seymour Duncan SH-11 and the
neck-located APH-1N Alnico II Pro. The
wiring loom presents itself as a pair of
volume controls, a master tone with push/
pull functionality to split the pickups’
coils, and a three-way pickup selector
toggle switch. Hardware responsibilities
are entrusted to Tone Pros for the chrome
tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece.
These metal appointments feature small
Allen head bolts that secure them in place
when you’re changing strings. The tuners
are Graph Tech Ratio locking jobs. They
look good and keep the tuning solid, which
is about all we can ask of them.
The other substantial part of the Panthera
II Supreme involves a set 628mm (24.75-
inch) scale, ‘fat’ profile mahogany neck
and a sweet-looking ‘tigerstripe’ ebony
fingerboard – look closely and you’ll see
the little streaks that give this its name. The
305mm (12-inch) radius ’board plays host
to 22 extra high jumbo frets. Scour our pics
and you’ll notice that you can’t see the ends
of the fret tang, the bit that’s hammered into
the ’board. This is one result of Framus’s
IFT or Invisible Fretwork Technology.
FRAMUS PRO SERIES PANTHERA II SUPREME &
D-SERIES DIABLO PRO
£2,204 & £773
CONTACT High Tech Distribution PHONE [phone] WEB www.warwick.de
What You Need To Know
I thought Framus made basses…
The German brand, established in
1946, attracted attention when kids
like Bill Wyman and Ronnie Lane
were spotted using its basses in the
60s. The brand ceased trading in ’75
before being revived 20 years later by
Warwick. Framus is now established
as predominantly a guitar brand.
Why are these prices so far apart?
Framus guitars come in three series:
there’s the Custom Shop Masterbuilt
in Germany guitars; the Pro Series,
Teambuilt in Germany; and the
Standard D-Series, sourced in China.
Who’s playing these things?
Endorsees include Motörhead icon
Phil Campbell, Mick Jagger sideman
Stevie Salas, and Phil X, Richie
Sambora’s successor in Bon Jovi.
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VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
GIT454.rev_framus.indd 101 28/11/2019 15:27