My new Frankenstrat LIVES!

[indeedido]

After several months, it finally breathes live! You can read all about the process in the builders forum, but wanted to share the final product with you all here.

Behold

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/indeedido/Picture005-1.jpg

[indeedido]

I went the factory finish route with still keeping with the original vibe. Pics don't do it justice. I think it is 98% right on with the striping. Not a fan of the ghost black stripes, to each his own. Relics are easy, a perfect one is hard. This took me a lot of work. Plays great, has a deep shine you can't really see, and is silky smooth. No tape lines can be felt. I just need to adjust the wiring a little in the cavity where the pickup swithc is.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/indeedido/Picture001-1.jpg

[indeedido]

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/indeedido/Picture007-1.jpg


http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/indeedido/Picture004-2.jpg

[DrMaddVibe]

Great job!

[Jimmy Jingles]

Kick ass this does!

Now give it to me...it will make you feel better.

[col5150]

looks fantastic ''lets hear it!!'' got any clips?

[indeedido]

I'm going to load up some youtube clips this coming weekend. I just sold my JSX and shipped it off so I'm between amps. I'm downsizing to a 5150 combo again. I've got G.A.S. It should be here by this weekend. I gotta say it sounded awesome with the JSX. Like a hot rodded Marshall. Think intro to Fools.

I've been missing that giant bottom end, enter the 5150 combo. I'll get some stuff loaded this weekend

[frets5150]

Great job man but I rather spend $25.000 on a beat up lookin peice of shit.


:D :rolleyes:

[smaz]

Looks awesome, well made :D Waiting on clips.... :)

[kastco]

Excellent job. Gonna start building mine in the fall. Anyone who is thinking of building one and needs a 71 quarter pm me. I have a couple of extras and I'll gladly pass them along. They're damn hard to come by.

[Nitro Express]

That's a keeper! Where do I send my address so you can FEd EX or UPS it to me?

[indeedido]

Here is a boring clip I made. Rushed it, should have just redone it. It's pretty crappy but oh well. My camera won't capture the real tone of it. I just sold my JSX and downsized to the 5150 combo, and now I'm having buyers remorse. I think I will relist it this week and get another JSX or Marshall JVM. G.A.S.

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[sadaist]

Wouldn't it be cool if the real one played Tobacco Road this tour? Nice job on the guitar.

[sisca]

great job, man.

[indeedido]

I haven't had time to dial in the amp to get a good tone out of it. I've got a few intonation issues to work out of my bridge too. I'll get it all worked out. It does play super easy

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by indeedido
I haven't had time to dial in the amp to get a good tone out of it. I've got a few intonation issues to work out of my bridge too. I'll get it all worked out. It does play super easy

Yeah, you have to play around with the knobs on the 5150 combos. What will really warm it up is putting in an adjustable bias control with a wide sweep. Peavey factory biases their amps too cold. A good set of Elextroharmonix 6L6 tubes will do wonders. Some people run a lower gain tube in the 2nd preamp socket also.

That's about all the amp will need.

[Diamondjimi]

Nice work dude. What's the $$$ breakdown for the parts ?

[Matt White]

Where did you get the EVH CHARVEL neck?

[DeadMan1984]

Good work, my friend. I'm very much in envy towards you. lol

[sadaist]

Your lawn sure is green for it being August.

[Panamark]

Looks great, any particular reason why you went the Charvel path and
not the fender ? (Just curious)

[indeedido]

Originally posted by sadaist
Your lawn sure is green for it being August.

It is usually dead by now. Have you seen the news? Oklahoma is flooding every other week. We've actually gotten rain this year. Tropical depression in the midwest. Keeps me from having to water

[indeedido]

Originally posted by Panamark
Looks great, any particular reason why you went the Charvel path and
not the fender ? (Just curious)

Interesting you should ask. When I first started this project, I was going totally with the "Fender" route. Once I got into it, I came across the neckplate that had the EVH on it like the Charvels. I've always liked Charvels and their logo. So one thing lead to another and i thought, the charvel version of this looks like shit because the stripes are all wrong and the pickup config was all wrong. so I thought, I'll make what Charvel should have.

I never really liked the relic look of these, just because they look like shit. It looks like you made it in your garage. I wanted mine to look like Ed's, if Ed knew what he was doing when he painted it. Basically a factory look of chaos.

[indeedido]

Originally posted by Matt White
Where did you get the EVH CHARVEL neck?

I made that bad boy. I ordered the neck from Warmoth with the Wizard profile.

I photoshopped all the logos, meaning recreated them from lo res images of the originals and made them hi res. Basic outlines

Then I got some model water slide decal paper, printed out my logos and trimmed a bit.

I used a very flat/satin laquer on the neck and clear coated them in. They totally look silk screened and factory. You cannot see the edges at all. I sanded it smooth as well. You can find how I did it in the builders section.

I added the custom shop logo and Ed's signature on the back for a different touch than the norm.

[indeedido]

Ok, here is a real life tour of my Frankenstrat. I got my original rig back, a JSX head into a Marshall 2x12 cab. EL34 power amp tubes....

Just changed out the pickup too. I ordered the Seymour Duncan custom shop EVH '78. I wasn't going to, but I figured, what the fuck. I'll try it out....I think it is a great pickup. It is a low output pickup, best I can describe is it is buttery and has nice bottom end. Harmonics galore. I think this pickup actually does get Ed's tone in conjunction with EL34 tubes. Very VH II and very "Fools" sounding too. I'm not used to low output pickups, but this thing does what it was advertised to do. I think the stock pickup in the Kramer 1984s also do a good job. They're a little hotter, but nail it too. They based theirs off of the original Gibson paf Ed used. They probably are a little closer, but this is what Seymour did for Ed in the day. Sounds great. Cleans up nice when you role down the volume of the guitar.

Anyway, pardon my southern Oklahoma accent. Man I hate hearing my own voice.

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[indeedido]

Here is a new audio demo, replacing that last turd I posted. I got my JSX back, and off with the 5150 combo. Man I liked that amp years ago, but fuck the effects loop sucks in that thing. anywho, please enjoy....

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[Eddie's Booze]

Originally posted by indeedido
Here is a new audio demo, replacing that last turd I posted. I got my JSX back, and off with the 5150 combo. Man I liked that amp years ago, but fuck the effects loop sucks in that thing. anywho, please enjoy....

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The guitar looks fucking great, man!!!! It sounds fucking nice as well, although for my taste I couldn't use as much distortion/overdrive as you are on that demo of it. Those JSX amps are pretty fucking nice as well. I've seen a couple of guitar players get great sounds out of them. You are kinda getting the "Old School" Van Halen tone in that Video apart from the excess distortion :)

I don't mean that as a put down either. It's just I am more used to using Power Amp distortion rather than Preamp Distortion like Eddie did out of his Plexi bad in the day.

Good Shit, Dude!

:D

[indeedido]

Thanks. I'm still experimenting. For VH, I agree it is too much gain. On channel two, I feel I can get a really good CVH tone. I'm on channel 3 in the demo. Thanks for the feedback

[Eddie's Booze]

Originally posted by indeedido
Thanks. I'm still experimenting. For VH, I agree it is too much gain. On channel two, I feel I can get a really good CVH tone. I'm on channel 3 in the demo. Thanks for the feedback

I have a soldano HR50+(2 channels/50 watts) head with a 5150 4x12 Cabinet. I don't even use the 2nd Channel. I only use the regular distortion. Just the regular Channel with the Preamp turned all the way up.

Then for Effects I use just a reverb. It's a simple setup but I like the way it sounds.

For whatever reason I just don't like a "compressed" sound.


:D

[naturochem]

Awesome job on the Frankie -- your attention to detail is incredible, particularly for a 'garage' build!

You should start a side business!!

[Nitro Express]

For Ed I just crank a Epiphone Valve Jr. with a Fulltone overdrive on the front end and a chorus peddle. If I want to quiet it down I throw a few blankets over it. LOL! It actually sound pretty early EVH because I'm driving a EL-84 hard.

[indeedido]

VH and the you tube police have killed my videos above. So, I'm reposting. Take that candystripe nazis

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[indeedido]

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Same thing stripe nazis

[Diamondjimi]

Good stuff man.

A word of advice. You should always keep your tuner 1st in your signal chain. Pedal buzz or modulations from (accidentally)left on pedals will throw a tuners calibration way out to lunch.

BTW how about building a VH II guitar?:D :cool:

[jhale667]

Originally posted by diamondjimi

BTW how about building a VH II guitar?:D :cool:

Dude, if I keep seeing single-humbucker Musikraft Strat bodies going for a buck-fifty on Ebay, I'm gonna! :D
Might as well..I mean, it will never leave the house, :lol:
but I've worshiped the VHII guitar since I was 13...:killer:
and I just happen to have a Chrome Floyd laying around...:baaa:

[indeedido]

Makes sense, I'll give the pedal rotation a try...I've thought many times about making a VH II guitar. It may be in my future. Would be super simple to do.

[Nitro Express]

That JSX sounds great with the MXR Flanger. Probably pissing the stipe Nazis off that you are getting great VH tones through a Joe Satriani amp. LOL! :D