Diamondjimi's Frankenstein Replica

[Diamondjimi]

Well here it is...

I decided earlier this year to build a EVH Frankie replica. I figured if Fender could, I could seeing as I've
built EVH replica's in the past.(A '78 white and black stripe & a '79 black and yellow "Bumblebee')
Fender's Frankie for 25k or build my own. Hmm, tough call there...

I bought an Adler body and a 22 fret birdseye Maple neck from a guy on Kijiji for $150 (a steal)
Acquired a mid 80's Original Floyd Rose in a swap with a guy off Craigslist.(also swapped him a late 80's

DiMarzio X2N for a Dimarzio "Norton" in case I decided to use it for this project) .I opted instead to use my

trusty old '84 Gibson PAF I pulled from one of my guitars.

For the neck I "pulled" the small frets, stripped the finish off down to natural wood and rubbed on gunstock

oil. This neck has 22 frets ,unlike Ed's (21). Don't care, this one is for me.
I slapped in new Duncan jumbo's.(Still need to be properly crowned at the moment) . For the "relicing" on

the neck I used cigarette ashes (my secret weapon ) rubbed in and wiped as desired.
Tuners are Schaller "mini's" (used Ebay $ 40)

For the body : I gave the unfinished body a generous coat of Sand and Seal to provent the finish paint from
absorbing into the wood. For the stripes I used 3 sizes of 3M painters tape. I took painstakin efforts to line

them up perfect. (99% there).For referrence I used as many pics of the original as I could as well as high res.

pics of Fender's replica.
The relfectors are identical to the original (or at least identical to Fenders) purcased @ Canadian Tire

store.You name it they have it...
For the colours I used Krylon spray bombs. 5 coats black/4 coats white/ 3 coats of red. Many prefer

Duplicolor brand, but who cares. This stuff worked awesome for me with the right amount of time to cure

before relicing.

Anyway here's some pics of the process...

[Diamondjimi]

Unfinished Alder body routed and chisled...


Sprayed black...


Taped and sprayed white


Tape removed...

[Diamondjimi]

Wetsanded and reliced...






Taped and ready for red




Sprayed red, tape removed and wetsanded 1200 grit

[Diamondjimi]

For the relicing I used mainly 600 grit wetsand, 3" lockblade knife and a metal dental pick.

Reliced body...




For the pickup cavity I used a light smear of glue stick and rubbed in some ashes...

[Diamondjimi]

[b] One of the most difficult things being from Canada is trying to locate an American 1971 quarter. Thanks
to my American amigo and fellow guitar builder JHale667 for hooking me up. Somehow a Canadian quarter
with a friggin deer on it would just be wrong...


The neckplate I had stamped the same as the original...

[Diamondjimi]

Before installing the pickup of my choice I decided to "pot" my PAF's in melted Parafin wax to prevent

any microphonic issues I might incur in the future. If you look closely you'll notice small bubbles surfacing.

This tells me the wax potting is taking proper effect...

[Diamondjimi]

And now for some photos of the (pretty much) finished project...
Pickup cavity assembled. The neck pickup was black.I gave it a couple of shots of red and while it was

"tacking up" I gave it a few dabs with very worn out cotton dishtowel to give it an aged look like Ed's original Mighty Mite. The switch was soaked in water and a chlorine puck for 10 hrs..


Headstock with real ciggy burns for the proper effect...


Front body close


Back shot close

[Diamondjimi]

Full front shot

[Diamondjimi]

Back shot full

[Diamondjimi]

Goddamn Photobucket won't let me upload super large shots, Bastards!!!

[fryingdutchman]

DJ....

I'm awestruck and incredibly impressed at your skills!

You should be extremely proud of yourself!

Upload some video of you playing it! I wanna hear the tone...

[hideyoursheep]

Man, that's great attention to detail!

[ELVIS]

Hmmm...

Very nice!

It's a little too clean, but i'd buy it over the garbage $25,000 guitar I messed with for nearly thirty minutes at guitar center...

They handed it to me only because they kinda know me...

I found it to be an unplayable piece of junk!

But it did look neat!

[Hardrock69]

Watchout! Gar will be posting here pretty soon.....

[jhale667]

Great job!!

[indeedido]

Wow, and all for under $25,000! Amazing! Awesome job man! Ashes, what a great idea for the cavity.

[Seshmeister]

Hmmm...

Very nice!

It's a little too clean, but i'd buy it over the garbage $25,000 guitar I messed with for nearly thirty minutes at guitar center...

I wonder if maybe the original was garbage too.

[jhale667]

I wonder if maybe the original was garbage too.

The $25K replica is supposed to be an exact copy, right?

Actually, I read an interview where a guy that did some work on the original, and he said it was the biggest hunk of junk he'd ever seen...he was amazed EVH was able to do the things he did with it...


But y'know, one man's trash...

[ELVIS]

I wonder if maybe the original was garbage too.

No way could it be as bad as the one I tried to play...

[ELVIS]

I mean, the neck was so wide and fat that the Floyd locking nut didn't even fit...and the action was horrendus!

[jhale667]

I mean, the neck was so wide and fat that the Floyd locking nut didn't even fit...and the action was horrendus!

Is it 1 3/4" at the nut like his old necks were? Love those, but with a slim back profile. I spoke with EVH a few years back and he told me he'd switched to 1 5/8" - when I asked why he said something to the effect of "Wait 'til you get a little older and arthritic" Fortunately hasn't been a problem thus far...

[ELVIS]

I hear ya...

Thats probably why he never played a replica (as far as I know) on the last tour...

[indeedido]

I played one locally, it played ok. Not $25k worth, but ok. It really looks like a hunk of shit in person. I imagine the original nut didn't fit either since it was a retro fit. I can only imagine what the original was like after thinking back to the first guitar I ever made. This was Ed's first one as far as the story goes. He probably just got used to it.

[ELVIS]

No...

He played his Ibanez Explorer on most of the first album except for the whammy dive-bomb parts...

[indeedido]

He didn't make the Explorer, he just cut some holes in it. He radically built the b/w strat with whored out parts.

[ELVIS]

But the Ibanez was unaltered on the first album....

[Diamondjimi]

DJ....

I'm awestruck and incredibly impressed at your skills!

You should be extremely proud of yourself!

Upload some video of you playing it! I wanna hear the tone...

Thanks Dutchie.

Still waiting for a new luthiers fret file. Got 'em levelled ok ,but I still need to crown and dress them. Video? Down the road a bit probably...

Man, that's great attention to detail!

Thanks. The Fender replica's are inconsistant. Fact,no two are identical. I relied way more on pics of the original.

Hmmm...

Very nice!

It's a little too clean, but i'd buy it over the garbage $25,000 guitar I messed with for nearly thirty minutes at guitar center...

I've read similar stories where the guitar had loose neck screws,horrible action and imput jack that was installed incorrectly causing it to cut out. Bullshit like that.
Doesn't seem like the QC @ Fender is firing on all cylinders...

Watchout! Gar will be posting here pretty soon.....

No shit, he's probably Googling up quotes right now...

Great job!!

Thanks Bro!

Cheers...

Wow, and all for under $25,000! Amazing! Awesome job man! Ashes, what a great idea for the cavity.

Thanks. Ashes are a relicer's secret weapon!

[ELVIS]

Excellent job!

[Diamondjimi]

Thank ya vurry much!

[kwame k]

D.J. Fucking awesome, dude!!!!!

[Diamondjimi]

D.J. Fucking awesome, dude!!!!!

Thanks!

[jhale667]

Alright, DJ...I'm sending you a body to paint for me someday, as I'll never get around to painting one myself...I've got two if not three projects I'm still stalling on....lol.

Pretty damn impressive, though.

[Diamondjimi]

Alright, DJ...I'm sending you a body to paint for me someday, as I'll never get around to painting one myself...I've got two if not three projects I'm still stalling on....lol.

Pretty damn impressive, though.

Thanks man. We can work something out! But I'll warn ya, I work very slow...

[ELVIS]

Dude...

Not cutting jimi down...

It's not that difficult...

I imagine even jimi will tell you that...

[jhale667]

Duh. It's not about difficulty, it's about timing...like I said, I've got multiple projects in the air at the moment. DJ'd probably still get it done before I could. Besides, since no one in Los Angeles would be caught dead playing an EVH replica live (it just isn't done, unless you're in the Atomic Punks....lol), it will essentially be a wall-hanger...

Thanks man. We can work something out! But I'll warn ya, I work very slow...

No worries on that....lol

[jhale667]

Not to mention I have NOWHERE to paint at the moment...

[Diamondjimi]

Dude...

Not cutting jimi down...

It's not that difficult...

I imagine even jimi will tell you that...

It's not rocket science, that's for sure. But the key to making a good one is knowing the stripe mapping ,cold. To me it's just as important as the relicing process. It's good to know the process and the techniques involved. Research is the key. Going in cold you can relic yourself straight into a repaint...

Duh. It's not about difficulty, it's about timing...like I said, I've got multiple projects in the air at the moment. DJ'd probably still get it done before I could. Besides, since no one in Los Angeles would be caught dead playing an EVH replica live (it just isn't done, unless you're in the Atomic Punks....lol), it will essentially be a wall-hanger...

Projects take time,true I've got a couple on the go too. A good replica shouldn't be rushed by any means...

Not to mention I have NOWHERE to paint at the moment...

Space can be a bitch sometimes, especially when ya wanna bust out the spray bombs.

[ELVIS]

I've sprayed in my kitchen...

Cleaning up is the mess...especially red...

[Kristy]

DJ....

I'm awestruck and incredibly impressed at your skills!

As am I! That's genius/impressive work from start to finish.

[jhale667]

I've sprayed in my kitchen...

Cleaning up is the mess...especially red...

Yeah, I did the base coats for my old gray Charvel mutt (that's currently being redone) in my Mom's living room back in the day.... problem with that now is my current place is extremely poorly ventilated for some reason...
...to cook I have to open all the windows and the front door or the fucking smoke alarm goes off every time...sucks living in an apartment again!

I'd fully choke to death on paint fumes in here....lol