Official post your frankenstrat thread - LET's See THem!

[Strat78]

Dood, are you in Asia? Yes the tone was pretty good, youtube messes shit up. I am sure it is better in-person. What amp?

You may not believe it, Cary, but, as I recall, Jimi uses a Peavey Vypyr. 30W I think...

I believe it.

[jimi22812]

Dood, are you in Asia? Yes the tone was pretty good, youtube messes shit up. I am sure it is better in-person. What amp?

You may not believe it, Cary, but, as I recall, Jimi uses a Peavey Vypyr. 30W I think...

I believe it.

It's actually a 15W in that clip...

[azazael]

Just an update on mine... getting there. Need to finish lining the lid.

[spcv]

Finally had the chance to take some decent photos of the family…

So, here it is:








Kramer 5150 – KnE poplar body, AllParts maple neck, hand shaped headstock, Peavey Wolfgang pickup!
Frankies (counterclockwise):
AllParts ash body and Allparts maple neck with 22 frets, Bareknuckle VHII pickup – my very first Franky assembly, this guitar now belongs to a friend I just installed a Bourns pot;
KnE northern ash body and Musikraft maple neck, current Franky version, EVH Frankenstein humbucker;
Divebomb swamp ash body and Divebomb maple neck, with a temporary Peavey Wolfgang pickup – the neck one. I just love this guitar so much that I installed this humbucker here to play it.

I’m waiting (for a long time) for two SIN pickups to replace the Wolfgang pickups. Unfortunately, Chris Carter, true to his reputation, has taken too long to deliver the goods. Let’s hope that the goods are also true to their reputation…

[flex5150]

SPVC I recently ordered a sound of sin EVP from Chris Carter stuck my neck out and went direct (no ebay) paid about $55 and was delivered the wrong colour (arrived in about 2 weeks) Got in touch and was sent a second pup for an additional $25 arrived in about 5 days. The guy seems legit and I was extremely impressed with the quality. Send him another email and hang in there. My fingers a crossed for you.

[azazael]

Well I was certainly no fan of Chris Carter after I had problems with an order before he disappeared due to illness or whatever it was. None of the pickups I ordered came like I had ordered/specced and took forever to get them.

However, he contacted me recently and we sorted it out and before christmas he sent me 2 sets of pickups for free.
1x EVP set and 1x Axis clone set.
The colours were correct but I believe the 4 wire specification wasn't present on the pups but I can live with that for gratis.



I've not tried them out yet... but I am intending to swap the Dimarzio PAF Pros in my Silhouette with the Axis SIN pups so i'll let ya all know. I've got a few SIN pickups laying around, got those 2x EVP's, Wolfgang and another 2x EVHs.

The pickup that is in my Franky just now is a Sin pickup, but it is a little different from the current ones. I got it in a random bundle of parts on ebay and thought nothing of it as I had never heard of Sinbucker pickups. It wasn't until I contacted Chris about it with photos for more information on it that he simply asked me 'Where the hell did u find that??'


It's actually a very good humbucker, although on recent Ed findings on this forum. I don't know if you can consider them 'what Ed did'

I was impressed with the black/white pickups I got recently as the workmanship and quality was very very good.


He told me this about it...

"That is one of the ones I built with The Red enamel wire that was made in 1974. It had FENDER on the spool wrapping.The date on it was April of 1974. Smooth cast Alnico 2 magnet. Asymmetrical coils or off balanced. I have no idea what the resistance is between 8 and 9.8k. ALL of those were wound on a sewing machine. I took the foot and stuff off the sewing machine to let it run faster. I tinned the start of the wire then wound it some tinned it to check the resistance till the coil was over 4.5 ish area. Those were as close to What Eddie really made as it gets. I only had 3lbs of that wire it was some good stuff! Wish I had 1000 pounds of that same stock. Thats about it. "

[spcv]

Well, I ordered them a month ago outside ebay too - kinda like a leap of faith. Chris told me he'd take a week to make them then he'd ship them; then he told me that he didn't have the base plates and would have to order some; then he told me he received the wrong ones and had to hand make some; then he told me he and his family got the flu; then he sent me a tracking number that never gave any info; then he said he had shipped them; then he said the package was returned; then he said the iem has shipped (again); then after I mentioned that I was going to contact Paypal, the tracking number (finally) mentioned that the item was sorted out two days after I told I'd contact Paypal.

I really hope I'll receive the things and I really hope they'll live to expectations.

[chrisom]

101_3008 sm.JPG (61.02 KiB) Viewed 3484 times

Mojotone headbox for my 12,000 build, 1960AHW cab w/ Marshall "Bluesbreaker" vertical pinstripe cloth installed, Les Paul Traditional Plus, Import alder Strat build, Charvel w/ custom EVH stripes. I need a better camera.

Started working on the 12,000 build last June-July then went back to school for the last 2 semesters. I finally get the chance to finish this amp up before Summer classes begin...

[stramm8]

Here's mine. I traded a guy named Jerry Lica an original '83 Kramer Pacer body for the custom routing, paint and relicing work on this guitar back around 1997 or so - back before you could buy a frankie body off the shelf. Much like Ed's original it has undergone many changes (different necks, pick ups etc.) over the years and currently has a Warmoth neck with the wolfgang back contour and an duncan '78 pick up. I have bought and sold countless guitars over the years but this is one I will never part with...



I also just completed an evh inspired charvel relic.

They both play and sound great and I imagine this one will be here for good as well

[vanhalen5150]

I like that Charvel. It's pretty badass. Has a Jake E Lee vibe.

[Tone Slinger]

I agree, that is a cool looking Charvel. It does conjure up a Jake E. Lee image. Reminds me of how in the early mid '80's, how bad I wanted one (a Charvel strat). I might actually still have the order forms/papers they sent me (Charvel/Jackson). The prices shattered my hopes at that time .

[azazael]

Have to admit I get more of Gary Moore vibe from the Charvel than a Jake E Lee.

Reminds me of the Red Charvel at the Stockholm show and the salmon pinkish colour reminds me of his old fender.

[Rich_D]

The normal Fender-style body with the side jack is a cool touch that makes it unique.

[Rich_D]

Mine:


The 5150-style is a poplar/maple both KNE that I just got and I'm trying to think how to paint. Right now it has my old JBJ that has lived in my strat until now. I think I got that JBJ in 89-90.
The strat is an Allparts body and neck I got around '87. I don't know what the body is, ash? You can't really see from the pic but I've never painted it and it has a really cool aged look. The floyd is a Kahler Steeler I got around that same time. That is a great floyd lic bridge. The zebra is a GFS VEH and the single is a (working) standard Fender neck.
I'm lucky enough to live in Memphis (man I don't say that too often) because Tom "TK" Keckler has his shop here. TK worked at Schecter with Tom Anderson in the late 70's and can talk about EVH loitering around their shop "bugging the hell" out of them to pick up guitar-making tips. He did the assembly on my strat around '91 and just did the 5150. So my EVH-inspired guitars can claim a 1-degree of separation from the man himself!

[garbeaj]

The 5150-style is a poplar/maple both KNE that I just got and I'm trying to think how to paint.

Very cool! I made my version of a 5150 style guitar from a few sources. I started with an old '88 Kramer Striker 100ST that was factory black. It had the pointy headstock, the later 3D Kramer logo and the slanted pickup. I straightened the pickup slot out using black epoxy to fill in the slanted area. I threw in a stock SD '59 and an NOS German Schaller Floyd Rose that my tech had lying around...(this was in 1994 or thereabouts). I stuck on a MXR knob for the volume and played it this way for almost 20 years...

I just recently bought my dream hockey stick Ed neck from Musikraft and I am having my guitar painter/finisher paint the headstock black and throw on a gold block logo Kramer logo I got from eBay for $10. They are sanding the body to get everything even and then they will paint it black with a nitro finish just to make it look like a factory guitar.

I think of my "5150" style build as making my Striker 100ST into what should have been the production model guitar that Kramer put out. I know the body on my guitar is plywood like most of the later Kramers, but it is close enough for me. At least it has the shape that is extremely close to the 5150...at least close enough for me.

All this is to say, I can't do crazy 80s graphics and I certainly don't want to do the whole 5150 paint scheme. I suggest black for your guitar-that way it is at least something you can play in public! I'll post pics of my Kramer when it is finished-that Musikraft neck is unbelievably great!

p.s. Memphis is the shit. Wife and I spent a few days there last year and it was great...can't wait to go back A.S.A.P.!