*** EVH's guitar building thread - Frankenstrat ***

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Deleted member 651465

D

Deleted member 651465

Hey all,

I'm back with another custom build guitar thread. This one is a bit more involved :D

For those who didn't see the last one, here's a link to the thread

This time, the aim is to build an exact replica of one of the most famous guitars in rock history. The black, white and red "Frankenstrat" famously created and used by Eddie Van Halen.

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I shall post more pictures and possibly a how-to as I go.

There are many replicas and copies of this iconic guitar, most notably the Fender official replica, retailing for a cool $25,000. Most come close, however most (including the official replica) are not 100% accurate in some way. There are some amazing builds on halen.com, where I've been trawling for inspiration and I have a massive library of official shots as reference.

I don't have a budget for this build, and I want to get the best parts, which might mean it takes longer to complete, but then, I'm in no rush and I want to get it as close to the original as possible without spending stupid money.
 
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I only currently have the neck. It's taken 4 weeks to get here from the USA :(

Bought on musikraft.com for $320, it's made to the exact specification of the original Boogie Bodies neck used on the current Frankenstrat. 2 piece birdseye maple neck with no finish (ignore the bit in the pic that says shellac finish, I ordered it unsealed because I want to relic it).

It is considered the most accurate neck for this type of replica, however there are a few other alternatives if you search around. Most notably you can order a neck from Warmouth, divebombinc and K&Eguitars, which are all American suppliers.

Here is the spec for those interested..

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Update: When I ordered this neck there was no option for the mounting holes to be drilled, although they've since added this feature. Bit of a challenge, as now I have to drill and thread the neck which could go horribly wrong :p
 
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Here's some more shots of the neck, now it's unbagged!

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I am not a luthier, so I opted for a floyd nut to be pre-installed.

Below, you can see how pristine the neck looks without a finish. Almost a shame that I'll have to relic it, there's a good grain on it.

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This step isn't exactly in the manual, but I've heard people use graphite powder to dirty up the fretboard.. I don't have that, but I do have a pencil! :D

Using a printout of the original, I carefully shaded the areas I wanted to dirty up, then smudged them in to the wood with a damp cloth. This is only a preliminary step. What follows can only be described as "original".

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I took the neck in to the garden and rubbed it full of mud to try and embed as much dirt as possible. The idea behind this was to emulate the natural accumulation of muck that would gather on an unfinished neck.

It is worth noting that the mud looks a lot darker here as I just applied it and the wood is damp. When it dried, it looked much lighter and I was able to wipe the excess off with a wet wipe, to get the wear just like the picture :)
 
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Ladies and gentlemen.. the first packet of cigarettes I've ever bought.

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Eddie had a habit of lighting cigarettes during a show, then leaving them in the headstock, which meant that from time to time they burnt the wood. To re-create these burn marks, there's really only 1 way! :eek: I used a small bolt to stop the cigarette from blowing away / moving.

I will say, trying to keep the cigarette alive was harder than I had anticipated. It may be due to the cheap cigarettes used, but they kept extinguishing themselves on the wood.
 
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Here you can see the results of the cigarette burns.

I actually used a red pencil to colour the wood, as some areas just went black, but 60% of the red is actual scorch.

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Bare in mind, some of the dirt will rub off when applying a finish to the neck, hence why it appears I've layered it on. I also banged and dragged the neck around the patio, to try and re-create some of the years of wear that the original guitar would have endured. I still have more of that later, once the sealer is on.

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Speaking of which.. I've gone for the tried-and-tester gunstock Tru-oil. I intend on waxing the rear of the neck, so it plays fast, if you're wondering why I have wax / polish. I'm just waiting for the first coat to dry, then I will buff it with steel wool (0000 grade) and apply a second coat to get any bits I missed.

As I said above, most of the grime wipes off when you apply the finish, so you really only end up with the worst of the muck left on the neck. I suppose if you sanding the neck lightly you could fine tune the appearance, but I'm happy with the finish on this.
 
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Pft, it's not a custom guitar build if you buy a neck ready made, then it's just putting together a kit :p

Are you on TDPRI? Tons of amazing builds (and builders) on there. Interesting that you're 'relicing' before finishing it... i'm not necessarily against a good relic, but it's very hard to make it look convincing. Otherwise it's just like faded jeans - if it happens over time then cool, but buying them pre faded is just asking for trouble ;)
 
Sorry for the lack of updates guys, but I'm hoping to update the thread with more progress as things are back on track.

Essentially, in August 2011 I ordered a custom guitar body for this project from a website, http://www.divebombinc.com based on the good words from members of the halen.com fan forum.

Around 2 months later (roughly when I started the thread) I was expecting the body.. which never arrived. Turned out the guy behind the website, Kyle went AWOL with mine and several members money and disappeared from the face of the earth :mad:

As the 28 day period had elapsed since I'd placed the order PayPal wanted nothing to do with it and that was the end of it, as far as they were concerned.

Approx 12 months later (August 2012) I had an email from Kyle stating that he'd fallen under the amount of work and had no funds to fulfil my order, but he was hoping he could get back on track and eventually fulfil my order. To say I was annoyed is an understatement, but I remained polite and told him I'd rather a refund and I'd go elsewhere.

He never replied. Several emails to his account and through his website also went unanswered.

Then, Christmas 2012 he emailed me out of the blue to say the body was ready and that he would be shipping it via UPS for delivery "soon". He'd promised this to several members of the fan page too with limited success, so by this point I'd lost faith and thought "if it turns up.. it turns up" and resigned myself to the fact that I was scammed and I'd just go elsewhere.

Anyway.. 1 and a half years after I originally ordered, a body DID arrive.

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As you can see, it's been routed to follow the chilsed / butchered nature of Eddie's original, and has the "ghost routing" for the original pickups.

You can also see where I've pre-drilled for the pickguard around the tone control chamber.

I know it was late, but Kyle did a great job! The body is 2 piece Northern Ash (like the original) and the flame is incredible. Such a shame I have to make it look so bad. The rear is routed for a big block original floyd rose. The eagle eyes will have spotted that the neck pocket is not squared like the neck, and this is deliberate.

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Also, here is a picture of the pickguard that I had made up in the time between ordering the guitar body and it actually arriving!

It's a 500k volume pot, installed in a cut down black pickguard, and scratched to hell and back. I cut the pickguard down with a junior hacksaw and finished the edges with some wet and dry.

For the grubby nature of the tone control, I simply rubbed the knob in some dirt (ooo eer!) and wiped the excess off. I then used a sharp craft knife to do some squiggles on the pickguard and covered the back with some aluminium shielding tape.

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Suprisingly, this original 1971 american quarter was easy to find on ebay. I will need to drill this for mounting on the body, but it's also one of those essential pieces, if you're building this replica.
 
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On to the paint!

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I prepped the body with some Plastikote primer spray can, just to seal the body. I rubbed it down once or twice to remove the excess grain and re-sprayed to truly get a uniform finish.

My father has access to some proper spray guns, but I deliberately chose to use the spray cans as that's what Eddie did. See the pattern here? ;)

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In doing my research I couldn't find a clear answer.. Gloss or satin paint. All I could find out was that the original guitar was never finished with a clear coat, so I erred on the side of caution and went for satin paint. I can always coat it later if the finish looks off.

Below is a shot of the can of black I'm using. If this turns out alright ill get the red and white too.

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EVH said:
Anyway.. 1 and a half years after I originally ordered, a body DID arrive.
Click to expand...

That is amazing, at least he came through and was obviously feeling guilty all that time, most would have scammed you.

Anyway, looking forward to the rest of the build.
The first time I saw EVH he was supporting Black Sabbath promoting their first album and EVH kept turning his back to the audience every time he did a solo.
 
You're far too talented EVH, what with your house and your guitar.

Just.......just GTFO.
 
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I had a really bad attempt at a Stone Roses Jackson Pollockesque bass years ago, I wish I had pictures, it looked like someone had been sick and then wiped their arse on it :D
 
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