Anybody Else Building a Frankenstrat Right Now?

[kysrsoze]

It was Van Halen who made me want to play guitar, so I decided the best way to process his death and my fading youth was to build a Frankenstrat.

This is my first build which I've done any relic'ing on. It's nice not to have to worry about, and kind of welcome screw-ups with the paint job. One more round of taping/painting, then I start mashing it up and putting it back together.

Below is the $45 plywood donor guitar I found on Craigslist, followed by some of the work so far. This is turning out to be a 2-for-1 deal b/c all the parts I bought for it look too new. So I cribbed the Floyd Rose and hardware from my first electric guitar - an old Kramer Focus. I'm putting all the new stuff on that one, taking out the extra switches I stupidly installed, fixing all the punishment I've given it over the years, and refinishing it (hopefully) back to new condition.

 

[ace924]

Did my take for a charity auction for my daughters school in March.

 

[Jeremiah]

I’d love to do a 78 clone

 

[kysrsoze]

I like the blue color scheme, Ace.

Here's a little more progress. Need to yellow it up just a bit, and add some of the dark splotches, but I think I got the red right. I know the paint, dings and general relic'ing aren't exact, but I think it gets the feels of the whole thing enough to be satisfied when I'm done.

 

[Fletch]

I have a black plywood strat body in my garage that keeps me thinking I should do one of these.

 

[kysrsoze]

I have a black plywood strat body in my garage that keeps me thinking I should do one of these.

Might as well! It was a lot of fun doing it and it turned out way better than I thought. The single humbucker with no cap or tone control sounds awesome. The back could use a little more relic'ing, but it's not a high priority.

Some photos of the finished beast:

 

[Fletch]

Wow! That looks great, so much cheaper than the $25k one fender was selling and probably plays just as well.

Where did you find the red neck pickup? That’s the only thing I can’t find.

 

[Freddy G]

I have a black plywood strat body in my garage that keeps me thinking I should do one of these.

If it aint heavy ash, it'll just look like frankie....plywood sure as heck won't sound like it.

 

[Fletch]

If it aint heavy ash, it'll just look like frankie....plywood sure as heck won't sound like it.

Doesn't matter, turns out that body had a swimming pool pickup route. Basically junk.

 

[nuance97]

If it aint heavy ash, it'll just look like frankie....plywood sure as heck won't sound like it.

There’s some debate as to the species of ash, and how heavy Frankie is. Ed always said Northern Ash, but a lot of people dispute that claim, and say it was swamp ash. When the guitar was at the Met last year it was listed as weighing between 7-8 lbs which is a big range when talking guitar weight I suppose, but if it were at the lower end of the spectrum that’s fairly light for a Strat.

 

[kysrsoze]

Wow! That looks great, so much cheaper than the $25k one fender was selling and probably plays just as well.

Where did you find the red neck pickup? That’s the only thing I can’t find.

Thanks for the compliment! All in, it cost me about 2% of the price of one of those replicas.

I couldn't find an actual red pickup, but I did find a guy on eBay who sells "EVH Frankenstrat / Frankenstein Phenolic Pickup Top" for $6, which I just glued to the top of an old single coil I had lying around.

 

[kysrsoze]

If it aint heavy ash, it'll just look like frankie....plywood sure as heck won't sound like it.

I don't personally buy into the "tonewood" argument on an electric guitar. Gibson hollowbodies are made of plywood. His own branded "EVH" replicas are made of basswood.

It's mainly the pickup, the wiring/pot/no-capacitor combo and more than anything, a dimed Marshall Plexi on a variac that made most of his sound. The only thing that would make it really sound like the original would be his own fingers.

From my own observation, it seems direct mounting of the pickup does do something significant to the sound - more open and responsive to picking attack, IMO. I'm tempted to try it on another build.

 

[voices]

I did one last year...does this count? ps- RIP EVH

 

[kysrsoze]

I did one last year...does this count? ps- RIP EVH View attachment 506537

Man, that is sweet-looking. Well done! Very nice job on the paint. Of course it counts, since the Frankenstrat evolved out of it.

I've thought about buying an EVH Striped Series and it was between this and Bumblebee.