creating a low-budget evh frankenstrat

[LPanon]

A FANTASTIC resource (couldn't have done it nearly as well without this).

Not my pic. Sorry, I don't know where it came from originally. Follow the lines around the front and back, and you'll see there's only about 4 pieces of tape used for the whole B&W paint job.

The pinstripes were stick-on, not paint. Don't do what I did, and forget the piece shown in yellow (doh!). Had to do a lot of work to get it looking right.

Also, search until you find 3/4" tape. Don't settle for anything else.

Painter's tip: your first layer of paint after taping the black should be black. THEN start with the white. This will give you great lines when you peel the tape. Anything that runs under the tape will be black, and you then seal the edges in black.

 

[Montrose]

If this helps, peel the tape off the paint right before it drys. Your stripes will come out much better, and you won't have to deal with potentially peeling off the paint too.

I've painted a lot of bedrooms with my grandma.

 

[hbucker]

We just took the tape off of ours - my friend and I are doing this as a project. Below is a photo of ours (left) with a life sized picture of the real thing on the right. We still have to relic the red layer. There are errors but we're proud of our results so far.

FWIW

 

[Montrose]

Looks pretty dead on so far!

Gotta get that 1974 quarter too!

 

[Montrose]

1972 quarter.
Good advice for interior house paint. Bad advice for spray laquer (if you choose laquer).

1971.

Looks like we're both wrong

Frankenstrat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hopefully you wouldn't spray the laquer before the paint drys, then yes my advice wouldn't work in that case...

 

[hbucker]

Ooopsy! I knew that. I have the quarter (just not installed, yet).

hbucker. Yours looks GREAT. I don't think that the pic you're copying is the "real" Franky, but it is a very close copy (maybe one of the factory issue replicas).

In some spots, yours is more accurate than the pic!

Yes it is a '71 quarter, minted in Philidelphia I believe. And yes, we do have one.

The life sized photo is either the real thing or one of the Fender replicas. Funny thing is, we've looked at A LOT of the Fender replica photos and no two of them are identical either. Very close for sure. But wear marks vary wildly between the replicas.

To the casual observer they are all the same. But start working on a project like this and you start to notice fairly glaring differences. In that context, ours is close enough. But we have been looking, as much as possible, at photos of the real thing too. There just aren't that many closeups.

Thanks for the comments. Will post more as the project continues.

 

[KS 5150]

Just so you know, I built the Frankie on the bottom of this pic for about $300 all-in...its not perfect but its good enough for me...use a Squier Bullet as the base body...unless they've changed them, they don't have the swimming-pool route under the pickguard..let me know if you need any more info:

 

[KS 5150]

KS 5150. That came out great. Good find on the maple neck.

Thanks....the neck is more lacquered than the real Frankie but it fit within my budget, so it works. The guitar looks better in person than in pics....I used Duplicolor paints and wet-sanded between layers to avoid ridges in the paint.

 

[hbucker]

Well done 5150 and you hit the target of the o.p. in the process.

Does it play as well as it looks? I'm assuming you had to retro fit the Floyd and locking nut??

 

[KS 5150]

Well done 5150 and you hit the target of the o.p. in the process.

Does it play as well as it looks? I'm assuming you had to retro fit the Floyd and locking nut??

Yeah I did have to retrofit everything....unfortunately, it plays for what it is...a bunch of parts thrown together....thats why I have Les Pauls!! I was looking for more of a showpiece anyways, but it looks good and is a great conversation piece!!

 

[Lespaulman59]

It's a three-layer job. I'd put solid white down first, and mask off every area on the original where white shows, and shoot red. Then I'd mask off every area that isn't black, and shoot black. Then I'd clear-coat it.

From what ive heard, I dont think Eddie Put on a clear coat

 

[stringbender11]

I have no desire to own one of these currently, but man when i was around 17 or 18 (in the late 70's) I thought that guitar was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Just seeing the pics in this thread sure brings back some memories, I was blown away by EHV, too.
It's funny i had always assumed that Eddie had just wrapped a body in different colored tapes to get the look, i didnt know that the Frankenstrat was actually painted.
Cool project though OP, I hope you get it back on track soon.

 

[hbucker]

I know what you mean stringbender. We're working on ours as a fun project, but also because, at one time, there was nothing cooler for me than his red/white striped guitars - besides how he played them.

As for the other one playing like a bunch of parts put together, I think that's how EVH's guitars always played. Because that's what they were. I've heard that his action tended to be disturbingly high too, by most player's standards. I don't know that first hand though.

We've slowly made progress on our body. Will post photos shortly.

 

[stringbender11]

Yeah I've heard the same thing about those early guitars, and it makes sense. I bet they would be considered terrible by most player's standards, but Eddie sure made them sing.