Frankenstrat

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:56 pm

I hadn't seen this on the board, it's somewhat interesting....

Post by **The Flying Dutchman** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 2:43 pm

Amazing job on that guitar! It looks exactly the same!

Thanks for that!

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:23 pm

It's quite interesting that during the filmed interview they say he did it all from photographs, and in the magazine he says he took the original apart to make a template and Ed loaned it to him every time he asked for it to compare details...

It is an amazing replica of a beat-to-hell axe.

Post by **The Flying Dutchman** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:28 pm

RockyRhoads wrote:It's quite interesting that during the filmed interview they say he did it all from photographs, and in the magazine he says he took the original apart to make a template and Ed loaned it to him every time he asked for it to compare details...

To me it seems impossible to duplicate a guitar just by using pictures...... you need the EXACT measurements then. And when I hear Eddy telliing he couldn't get them apart then a true miracle has happened if it was done by only using pics!

Anyway, that guitar looks great indeed!

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:51 pm

The price tag is pretty big as well...

Post by **The Flying Dutchman** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 4:18 pm

Tommy wrote:The price tag is pretty big as well...

Yeah, but alcohol isn't cheap these days......

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 4:28 pm

True!

EVH said they buried Dimabag with his original black/yellow frankenstrat? That's new to me? Way cool!

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 5:23 pm

Tommy wrote:The price tag is pretty big as well...

A guitar should be an instrument for making music, NOT an investment.

Ed's original guitar cost him $50 for the body and $80 for the neck, the rest of the parts cost him less tha $70, bringing him to a total under $200. The copies are going for $30,000 - not a bad profit, huh? Let's see, 300 guitars at
$30,000 comes to $9,000,000.

Post by **Stiltzkin** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:02 pm

i could build Frankenstrats and charge way less than that
and still earn alot

anyone interested ?

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:47 pm

Stiltzkin wrote:i could build Frankenstrats and charge way less than that
and still earn alot

anyone interested ?

Err... I'll build my own, rather than having you do it!

If you do the finishing yourself, you'd get away with $800-1000 depending on the woods etc. And then you'd have a really good guitar, with all the best hardware!

Of course, if you buy the body off of ebay, you'd get away even cheaper!

Post by **Stiltzkin** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:51 am

$800-1000 is way over the actual price

body + neck = $250 approx
color = $65
pickup = $160
floyd = $70
tuners = $22

then add another $50 for pot and knob.

... total = $617 ...

now this is if you get the body and neck new
from various luthiers

but you could probably
go even cheaper ...

you could probably do cheaper with the humbucker
and go wit a regular Duncan SH-1 instead of
the '78 EVH one from the custom shop

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:09 pm

Depending on the wood? If you go with anything other than an alder body, it wouldn't be the same thing - if you're trying to duplicate Ed's guitar. Alder is what is used to make guitars with paint, because it doesn't have much in the way of grain.

As for the pickup, any humbucking pickup will do. Ed pulled his out of a 335 and rewound it himself. So get any humbucker at all and rewind it until it sounds good and there you go.

As for the paint, the article says "multiple coats of laquer"... Ed used Krylon spray paint out of a can. You should be able to get all three colors for $20. And a roll of masking tape for about $3.

With eBay, you could duplicate that guitar pretty closely for under $400 if you check out the "project guitar" auctions...

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:37 pm

Ah, yeah, of course. I was thinking maybe birdseye maple neck or something fancy, while your at it.

I'd rather get a cheaper pickup, SD Custom 5 perhaps, and use the cash saved there on either a Schaller floyd, or an OFR. Of course, the costs of the neck and body varies from place to place.

Post by **Stiltzkin** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:18 pm

RockyRhoads wrote:Depending on the wood? If you go with anything other than an alder body, it wouldn't be the same thing - if you're trying to duplicate Ed's guitar. Alder is what is used to make guitars with paint, because it doesn't have much in the way of grain.

As for the pickup, any humbucking pickup will do. Ed pulled his out of a 335 and rewound it himself. So get any humbucker at all and rewind it until it sounds good and there you go.

As for the paint, the article says "multiple coats of laquer"... Ed used Krylon spray paint out of a can. You should be able to get all three colors for $20. And a roll of masking tape for about $3.

With eBay, you could duplicate that guitar pretty closely for under $400 if you check out the "project guitar" auctions...

Ed's Frankenstrat is ash

also, the Duncan '78 is modeled after Ed's actual pickup

although you could go with a Gibson '57 classic pickup,
rewind it and put in a DiMarzio magnet like Ed did.

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:40 pm

Stiltzkin wrote:
Ed's Frankenstrat is ash

Are you certain? With all that paint, it'd be hard to tell for sure... I'll take your word for it though.

Here is a great description of the different kinds of wood used in guitar bodies. Warmoth is Linn Ellsworth's company - used to be Boogie Bodies where Ed picked up his original parts. Now it's up here in Puyallup, WA, it's a fun place to visit, out in the middle of nowhere.