Ed's Franky (beneath the paint)

[EJSLPlexi]

I was all over the A8 ten years ago. I tried an A8 in the JB, it was way too twangy. I tried everything in that JB including ceramics. I can't believe I'm defending an A2, but when you run the amp properly, the A2 is perfect. It does not push into the correct gain zone on it's own like an old wax potted DSD does, but the perceived gain and hair you hear on the first record is from a variac starved circuit being slammed up front with a mxd 6-band. If the pickup were any hotter, that set up would sound horrible. Here is a JB with an A2 going through the proper amp without a 6-band or variac. The hair and gain that is missing comes from running the equipment as above stated:
https://soundcloud.com/iskra68/atbl68-12301clone

How did the JB sound with the ceramic ?

Like a duncan distortion lite.
the JB,duncan distortion and invader all share the same coils but have different mags and on the invader they used those oversized cap pole pieces but is has the duncan distortions large ceramic magnet.

[jnew]

So is the Duncan Distortion in anyway like a DiMarzio Super Distortion? I thought the Duncan Custom was the Super Distortion equivalent.

[EJSLPlexi]

Yep, so now the question is whether that black paf in there was rewound at that point or not. Eddie claims it was. The Duncan '78 is,imo, very similar to what Ed had. It lets a Ash strat retain its 'Stratiness' but at the same time has just enough balls.

Could be? we can go back and forth about this till doomsday and to be honest it wont ever prove what eddie used?
What i dont agree with about the 78 theory is that there is not one single clip of it doing VH I through a stock plexi like eddies was said to be. There are plenty of clips of ceramics doing it.
Many say the 78 is nothing more than duncan hype and eddie never even used one?
It is odd that the 78 or EVH as it was first called never surfaced until the 2001?
I find it really strange that not one single person ever called duncan before that and requested a VH pu?
A guy that did contact duncan in 87 was told to get a duncan custom by seymour himself!
So i ask WHY was the 78 not recommended by duncan?

I have used a Duncan Custom from way back. I had a guitar built for me by Performance guitars back in '87 (Yes I am an old dog:-))

Back then, before there was endless choices of pickups like there is now, I called Seymour and actually got to talk with Seymour himself. I of course was an Eddie freak back then and was having Performance building me a guitar (basic super strat) to do the Eddie stuff.

Seymour told me to put a Duncan Custom in it. Now...this was in '87. While there are many more options available now, back then it was Seymour's answer to Ed's tone.

It is a bit hotter than the standard PAF, but I was able to get pretty good tone out of it for VH. It is a bit more brash due to the ceramic mags, but it has more top end bite and clarity than the Custom Custom. I have a Custom Custom as well in an Alder hot rodded strat and to me it seems more like a "Stone in Love" lead type of tone more so than the Eddie Tone. Ed's early tone almost has a twangy clear top end without a lot of gain. It is like more power than saturation and gain.

I can still pull good Ed tone with that Custom with the right amp tweaks!

[rdodson]

I think that is a 1/2" rollover? Nice and crisp! Just another obvious difference from that burst strat that everyone thought was the Franky.

3/8ths roundover. Then hand sanded to almost a 1/2. The 2nds didn't get much sanding (you can see the uneveness on Ed's on the inside of the lower horn) hence the sharper roundover.

[garbeaj]

Thanks Ron! Great to hear from you again!

[rdodson]

Thanks Ron! Great to hear from you again!

You bet. It is easy to see from the surviving Azusa examples.

I love that "in-between" round over that is just a tad more sharp than a standard Fender.

[rgorke]

Thanks Ron! Great to hear from you again!

You bet. It is easy to see from the surviving Azusa examples.

I love that "in-between" round over that is just a tad more sharp than a standard Fender.

[rdodson]

Thanks Ron! Great to hear from you again!

You bet. It is easy to see from the surviving Azusa examples.

I love that "in-between" round over that is just a tad more sharp than a standard Fender.

See below (from a thread on this site):

[Tone Slinger]

Definately, the sharper edges of the body (rollover huh ?) distinguish the Azusa's from a Fender bodies. Once someone notices that, there is just NO WAY they can cling to the hope of the Sunburst strat as being the Franky.

[Strat78]

Thanks Ron! Great to hear from you again!

You bet. It is easy to see from the surviving Azusa examples.

I love that "in-between" round over that is just a tad more sharp than a standard Fender.

See below (from a thread on this site):

My heart just goes pitter patter when I see the 0022 AZUSA. I wish the owner of that guitar would loan it out to Musikraft or Kne for an accurate replication. James Duffy did a pretty good replica and I sent him $260 for a copy, ha ha, never got the body, big surprise! Anyway the 0022 is pretty much exactly like the Franky, just check out the upper horn and the forearm roll over. I remember when that guitar went up for auction, I bid $780 and still did not get it. I would have bid $1,500 if I knew how crazy the other bidders were. Please, if you are out there, for the love of the VH community, let someone clone that body!!
I can understand that it would be tempting, but I would have never routed that body much less fit it with a Floyd, seeing this nearly brought tears to my eyes. Still, he did a good job of it I guess.

[jnew]

How are guys posting pics?

[dirtycooter]

Yeah, I know. Wtf is goin on with pic posting saying the quota has been reached? Happening to me as well

[Bore Em at the Forum]

[
My heart just goes pitter patter when I see the 0022 AZUSA. I wish the owner of that guitar would loan it out to Musikraft or Kne for an accurate replication. James Duffy did a pretty good replica and I sent him $260 for a copy, ha ha, never got the body, big surprise! Anyway the 0022 is pretty much exactly like the Franky, just check out the upper horn and the forearm roll over. I remember when that guitar went up for auction, I bid $780 and still did not get it. I would have bid $1,500 if I knew how crazy the other bidders were. Please, if you are out there, for the love of the VH community, let someone clone that body!!
I can understand that it would be tempting, but I would have never routed that body much less fit it with a Floyd, seeing this nearly brought tears to my eyes. Still, he did a good job of it I guess.

Musikraft got their hands on one of the other Azusas (28?) and that body was the "template" for the Franky they sell today. IIRC, that body had been sanded down. So either Musikraft has it right, or they have something accurate to what they copied - with a 30 year old sanded body, you just don't know if someone sanded those corners off in such a way that it lost some of it's character lines and contours.

[Tone Slinger]

KnE also have a very close take on the Azusa

[Strat78]

I have the Kne and the Musikraft 0028 AZUSA clones. To begin with, the 0028 is alright but definitely not as close as the 0022 to the Franky. Kne kind of did their own thing with their clone, not great but still better than those horrible looking Warmoth cut bodies. Musikraft is OK, the upper horn needs reworking. I never used them, I think I'll put both on eBay cause I need some irons and a head cab for my 50w build. I actually got a body from Frankenstraat off eBay along time ago, he said it was a clone of the 0022, I made a computer outline of it and discovered that he had simply traced an old pic of the Franky (optical warping and all)