When did Ed first start usin a Strat ?

[Tone Slinger]

Yeah, I've seen this before. Also, I've heard that the 10/15/77 promo poster was fake ? But if not, here is a few possibilities.

* I thought the burst strat was DIFFERENT from the Black strat, if not, then here is what could (could) have happened.

1) The burst was a pre painted Boogie Bodies body that Ed had and claimed was a '64 Fender. It may have been Alder.

2) Ed got ANOTHER Boogie Body (from Charvel) which was the same shape as the sun burst, but was made of northern ash.

3) This guitar turned into the striped Franky


OR The Sun Burst WAS a Fender (or good Jap copy) and was painted Black, THEN, right after the Warner demo's I'd say, Ed got a Boogie Bodies body from Charvel along with the Ellsworth neck from Charvel, and threw the parts from the Fender on it. Maybe he DID get the paint done before the first album ?

All I know is that I 'HEAR" something slightly different sounding from spring '77 up to the 10/15/77 gig. By the 12/31/77 gig, I hear a sound that was pretty much what Ed used through the '78 tour, which was 'slightly' different from the spring '77 to 10/15/77 tone. The first album was recorded in Sept to maybe the first week of Oct. I think ?

This is as interesting as Ed's amp imo

[wjamflan]

So we are saying the alder burst strat was turned into an ash boogie body and the neck pocket suddenly became oversized when he put on the Elsworth neck?
That's some guitar! It's magic!

I'm not saying that, if that question was pointed at me. I don't know what became what, if anything. Ed said he bought the ash body that became Franky and that it was unfinished. Could he have painted it black? Sure. He must have at some point, but I don't know if he did the stripe job right away. One thing is for certain: I'm pretty sure he didn't do a burst job at home

[wjamflan]

Yeah, I've seen this before. Also, I've heard that the 10/15/77 promo poster was fake ? But if not, here is a few possibilities.

* I thought the burst strat was DIFFERENT from the Black strat, if not, then here is what could (could) have happened.

1) The burst was a pre painted Boogie Bodies body that Ed had and claimed was a '64 Fender. It may have been Alder.

2) Ed got ANOTHER Boogie Body (from Charvel) which was the same shape as the sun burst, but was made of northern ash.

3) This guitar turned into the striped Franky


OR The Sun Burst WAS a Fender (or good Jap copy) and was painted Black, THEN, right after the Warner demo's I'd say, Ed got a Boogie Bodies body from Charvel along with the Ellsworth neck from Charvel, and threw the parts from the Fender on it. Maybe he DID get the paint done before the first album ?

All I know is that I 'HEAR" something slightly different sounding from spring '77 up to the 10/15/77 gig. By the 12/31/77 gig, I hear a sound that was pretty much what Ed used through the '78 tour, which was 'slightly' different from the spring '77 to 10/15/77 tone. The first album was recorded in Sept to maybe the first week of Oct. I think ?

This is as interesting as Ed's amp imo

I agree - this is interesting. But it's so fraught with emotion, b/c some want to force what they think over what Ed has said.

First, who told you the 10/15/77 poster was a fake? I don't remember ever hearing that.

Second, haven't the experts here proven that the burst strat and black strat were two different guitars? I thought that was universally accepted.

Third, you and I disagree about what we hear on the June to December '77 boots. The 12/31/77 boot has the same tone as the 10/15/77 show, it's just not as good quality-wise. The '78 tour tone-change was b/c of the Tony Iommi influence....

[vanhalen5150]

At least we are not talking about Daves voice, Eds hair or Wolfies body mass index.

[Tone Slinger]

The idea that the burst was the same as the black guitar was news to me. I thought the sunburst was different, but, the 'morped' photo that Leadguy posted is the SAME .

If Ed found a neck that he liked after he already had the body, then I'd assume Wayne could have routed the neck pocket out more. Ed went to standard heel size by like '81, so that wasnt a problem.

I'm thinking that maybe Ed had more than one Boogie Bodies body. The burst was a alder (Ed claimed he didnt like the "cheap wood Fender used, which is Alder") and he got ANOTHER one( boogie body) and painted it black. Put the burst guitars neck on it until he found the wide flat Ellsworth neck. This was a possibility right before the VH1 recording sessions. Seems he would put parts on as he went, which could mean a Fender 6 screw and MM Screamer and Ellsworth neck (VH1) then by the 1st album photo shoot, he had a Mighty Mite Brass 6 screw bridge and a paf (rewound to 1 of three specs by Seymour, 1st 9k 42awg, 2nd 14k 43awg or 16k 44awg. I hear alnico magnet from 12/31/77 through the '78 tour. A2 or A5, but not ceramic. I only hear ceramic in '77). Ed went back to the Fender bridge saying he liked it better than the brass Mighty Mite.

[leadguy]

Maybe

Around late 1976/early 1977, Ed buys a Burst Strat body and a rosewood neck off Wayne Charvel and they were made by Boogie Bodies or maybe the neck was from Wayne Charvel or something he had.

Ed puts a Fender logo on the headstock (in the wrong place) and gets a Fender bridge off of someone or buys it used and puts a Mighty Mite in it that he bought from Wayne Charvel.

Ed also buys a Mighty Mite bridge off Wayne Charvel (VH1 cover) and other Mighty Mite pickups as well, like the Franky's single coil and maybe pickguards as well.

Ed then paints it Black somewhere between Feb 1977 and May 1977 and tries another Mighty Mite pickup.

Ed also painted the Destroyer White or had someone else do it in 1976, when Wayne Charvel was too busy to paint it.

Ed then paints it white sometime after the end of May 1977 using tape and it is the B&W Franky.

Ed also picks up the maple neck and puts a Gibson logo on the headstock.

Ed also installs a Seymour rewound pickup in it.

Ed probably does buy other bodies and necks off Wayne Charvel, but

In that composite picture, the Burst Strat's original pickguard screwholes line up with the Franky's original screwholes and there are chunks in the finish, especially on the bottom of the lower horn, that seem common to both guitars.

The Boogie Body Strat body shape is different to Fenders and Tokais etc and the Boogie Bodies horns have a distinct shape and the Burst Strats horns seem to match the Franky's horns in the composite photo and the original pickguard screws seem to match and the general body shape seems to match and some finish chunks seem to match.

There is no real evidence about what the Franky's body wood actually is except for Jas Obrecht saying that the weight is light and Fender saying that it was Swamp Ash, but Fender was/is selling to EVH fans that already had a pre conception that the Franky was Ash due to some of Ed's comments or whatever, marketing and all that.

[ROCK€]

Wayne Charvel:

"One day Eddie came over to the shop and asked if I had an extra body and neck. I told him that I had an extra Boogie Body neck, and an older body that I had constructed in my shop. I gave Ed the parts, and the next time I saw the guitar, he had painted it white with a spray can, and put black tape on it for the stripes. He used nails to hold the pickup in the body."

http://wayneguitars.com/wordpress/?page_id=444" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[wjamflan]

It's appropriate that the Halen.com thread that the overlay pic came from basically ended after 22 pages with this (from GW - July 1985):

[vanhalen5150]

When the guys at Fender looked at Franky, it was ASH...the burst strat is Alder. The black paint missing from the lower horn doesnt match either. If you look closely you'll see it goes much higher to the top of the body on the strat than it does Franky.

[leadguy]

Yeah, that's the standard story.

All I know is that the Burst Strat seems to be a Boogie Bodies body and that the original pickguard screwholes on the Burst Strat seem to match up with the Franky's original pickguard screwholes.

[vanhalen5150]

Well, he did have at one time a fender pickguard on the frank. Maybe even that same one. If he traced the fender pickguard he had onto the black vinyl he cut, doesn't it make sense the screw holes will line up the same?

[wjamflan]

Ed could have built a Charvel sunburst, but I think AP91 did a good job of explaining why the strat in the musikfoto pics was probably the 1961 strat he always said he had. I hope he won't mind my quoting him here:

The neck is interesting in that it appears to have an "Original Contour Body" decal slightly off center to where it should be, and the Fender logo is clearly in the wrong position

The tuners do indeed appear to be Kluson Deluxes,

The second thing of interest is the fingerboard. If the photos were in color, then we could possibly be able to tell if the wood is Brazilian by the stronger reddish color alone. If the neck is of possible after market origin it would certainly not be Brazilian rosewood as it would not have been available at all after 1975 (being declared illegal to harvest). This doesn't rule out a Brazilian board, but it makes it less likely.

Also the lack of curve at the end of the fingerboard (behind the nut) is indicative of a possible answer. '59-'62 Fender necks would have been 'slab' board necks. In '62 Fender switched to a thinner veneer rosewood board that has a definitive curve. The string retainer is a butterfly clip. Fender used these from mid '56 to '71. Post '71 they switched to two string retainers.

Here's a '64 neck. Note the fingerboard 'curve',

Here is a '61 neck. Note the lack of curve and beveled and longer edge.

Ed's neck, with no curve and longer beveled edge,

I believe the neck is a 1961 Fender neck that has later replacement decals applied by Ed. (Thus tying the statement by Ed that he owned a '61, and the fact that Frankenstrat has the neck plate of a '61 Strat)

I would add to that, that it doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch to think that the rest of the guitar is his '61 Strat.

[rgorke]

This may help a bit (1 minute in):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKOeJBOo ... 96598095E6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good find! Unless Ed has bought him off it sounds like what several have been saying, ncluding Ed.

The burst was first with humbucker, then black to striped.

[Marshall SL12301]

Here is the black strat which, in my book, is the body he got from Charvel and is the Franky. This is a different body than the sunburst guitar.

That's my story and I'm stickin' with it.

The pickup in this strat which i am almost convinced is what was played on the 1st record strat/trem bar tunes has a PAF looking pu. I bet that is the pu that eddie got from seymour(the JB or custom wind?)

[vanhalen5150]

I just got someone to run the black strat photo through a photo filter program. You'll notice how black Ed's hair appears against the background in the original. The black gets pretty pixeled but it seems to show the photo has a lot of wash out between black and other colors. Nothing conclusive but one can draw a few conclusions from it. Is it really a all black strat or is it just a poor photo? There seems to be an underlying pattern that points towards a sunburst. There is also an odd line that I think is Ed's right arm refecting of the clearcoat.