Frankenstrat
The Frankenstrat , also known as The Frankenstein , is an electric guitar that guitarist Edward Van Halen built himself around 1975. The name is a suitcase word consisting of Frankenstein , the creator of the fictional monster whose body is composed of different body parts, and Stratocaster , an electric guitar model made by the guitar brand Fender . A copy of the "Frankenstrat" can be viewed in the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC .
The equipment of the Frankenstrat
The Frankenstrat represents Van Halen's attempt to combine the sound of an electric guitar from Gibson with the advantages ( vibrato system ) of a Strat from Fender . There was an ash corpus , the pickup milled by Van Halen has been expanded to a Gibson PAF humbucker in the web to accommodate position. Van Halen screwed one to the body maple - neck with maple fretboard and chrome hardware . Over the years, the current color combination of red, black and white stripes has developed through various repaints. It is in later versions of frankenstrat to a guitar with Floyd Rose - vibrato system .
Components of the Frankenstrat
Body and neck
Eddie Van Halen had bought the body and maple neck for a total of $ 130 from Wayne Charvel and Lynn Ellsworth's, who at the time were selling boogie-made corpora and necks as replacement parts. The corpus of the later Frankenstrat was referred to as second because it was not very aesthetically pleasing. It even had a knothole in the wood. Van Halen bought it at a discounted price of $ 50 because he said there would be no tonal impairment. The neck had Gibson jumbo frets and the neck tensioning rod could be adjusted at the end of the neck. The neck cost $ 80.
web
Van Halen first installed a Fender tremolo system that he had removed from his '58 Fender Stratocaster. The Floyd Rose system was added later, prior to Van Halen's second tour in 1979, as the guitar was unable to keep tuning with the old system due to its excessive use of tremolo. It was a prototype of the Floyd Rose, which Van Halen was involved in developing.
Pickups
Van Halen first installed a PAF humbucker (Patent Applied For), which he had removed from his Gibson ES-335 . He dipped the pickup in paraffin wax to reduce microphone feedback . This method was often used before the introduction of machine winding of cartridges. He screwed the pickup directly into the wood of the guitar in the bridge position. To compensate for the different spacing between the strings between the Gibson pickup and the Fender bridge, he screwed the pickup in at a slight angle. The pickup has also been replaced many times over the years.
Potentiometers
Van Halen removed both tone pots and wired the pickup in a simple wiring diagram, largely due to his limited electrical knowledge. The circuit diagram consisted of the humbucker, an A500k potentiometer (to control the volume) and a "1/4-inch" output socket. He also mounted the tone button on the volume pot. First he cut the pickguard out of a vinyl long-playing record and later mounted a plastic pickguard that he had also cut out himself. The pickguard had five holes for screw mounting (one of which Van Halen drilled himself), but only three screws were installed. He placed a few picks on a double-sided adhesive tape that was attached near the pickguard .
Color and paintwork
Van Halen initially painted the guitar black. After the paint had dried, he stuck adhesive strips on the body and painted over it with white paint. This approach resulted in the first, "classic" version of the Frankenstrat, which was painted white with black stripes. The guitar is shown on the cover of the first Van Halen album at this stage . Van Halen put a Gibson decal on the headstock of the neck to show the junction of Gibson and Fender. As guitar companies began selling guitars with similar finishes, Van Halen stopped playing the guitar in public. Instead he played the "Bumblebee" Strat on the Van Halen II tour (1979), which is featured on the cover of Van Halen II . Van Halen was not satisfied with the sound of this guitar and changed the look of the Frankenstrat again during the tour. Van Halen again stuck adhesive strips on the body and this time painted over it with red paint. He used bright red Schwinn bicycle paint. The resulting color combination of red, black and white is often used as a symbol for the band Van Halen .
Further modifications
The neck of the Frankenstrat has been replaced several times over the years. The bridge evolved from a '58 Fender Stratocaster tremolo to an original Floyd Rose bridge, both with and without a fine tuner being used. Van Halen screwed a quarter-dollar coin from 1971 under the bridge to be able to hold the Floyd Rose. He put reflectors on the back of the guitar, which provided amusement and lighting effects. Van Halen also added large eye hooks as a more secure attachment to the guitar strap.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, many guitar manufacturers tried to capitalize on Van Halen's popularity by making copies of Frankenstrats (so-called superstrats ). In order to mislead these manufacturers, Van Halen installed a red single coil in the neck position of the red-black-white Frankenstrat, which was not electronically connected and therefore had no other function. To further confuse imitators, Van Halen screwed a three-way switch into the empty cutout of the central pickup in the body. Its function, like that of the neck pickup, was purely decorative and should confuse potential imitators.
Variations and replicas
Kramer guitars
Kramer was the first guitar manufacturer to officially win Edward Van Halen as an endorser . In 1983 Kramer began to build Frankenstrat replicas for him. Van Halen exchanged the Frankenstrat's neck for a Kramer neck. In 1984 he received a guitar from Kramer known by fans as the "Hot for Teacher" guitar (seen in the music video for "Hot for Teacher"). Van Halen has now also appeared in Kramer advertisements.
The best known Kramer played by Van Halen was the "5150", which he assembled himself in Kramer's workshop. The body came from a prototype of the Kramer Pacer, not, as is often wrongly assumed, from a Kramer Baretta. Van Halen played the guitar from the 1984 tour to the OU812 tour. The guitar was most recently used on the recording "Judgment Day" on the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge . Although the "5150" was briefly used on the tour in 2004 with a Frankenstrat replica neck, it is no longer played today.
Many other Kramer guitars were built and played by Van Halen at the time, such as: B. the "1984" Kramer. Many of these guitars were mainly used as backups for the "5150" guitar on tour and presumably retired at the same time as the "5150". Others were given away or, as in the case of the "1984" Kramer, given away in competitions.
Charvel Hybrid VH2 aka Bumblebee
The second Frankenstrat, which was created during the time of the Van Halen II album and the subsequent tour, was the black and yellow striped Strat. Charvel made this guitar especially for Van Halen. She was buried with Dimebag Darrell ( Pantera ) for asking for a Charvel Art Series replica before they were released. Instead, Van Halen brought the original to the funeral.
Ibanez Destroyer aka Shark
This guitar was equipped with two humbuckers and was originally an Ibanez Destroyer made of Korina wood. Van Halen saw off a large piece of the wood. The name "Shark" came about because the cut piece of wood was jagged and looked like a shark's tooth. The guitar can be seen in the music videos for " Runnin 'With the Devil " and " You Really Got Me ". However, the removal of the wood changed the resonance behavior of the guitar, so that the guitar sounded much thinner and was no longer used.
Newer replicas of the Frankenstrat
Charvel manufactured replicas of various Frankenstein guitars which were marketed under the name "Charvel EVH Art Series Guitar". The guitars were equipped with a single, custom-made pickup, a Floyd Rose tremolo, and were available with both black and yellow and red, white and black stripes. The guitars were not given a "relic job", but the neck profile was similar to the neck of the original Frankenstrat.
300 replicas of the red-white-black Frankenstrat were painstakingly recreated, taking into account all the subtleties, such as the quarter dollar coin from 1971. These replicas went on sale under Van Halen's "EVH" trademark for $ 25,000. Approximately 180 of these guitars were offered for sale in the United States, with the remainder being sold overseas.
In 2013 Van Halen's "EVH" brand released several replicas of different versions of his earlier Frankenstrats. Replicas of the Charvel "Bumblebee", the original Frankenstrat with pickguard and the red-white-black Frankenstrat are available. The hardware is similar to the hardware of the EVH Wolfgang models.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Beth Py-Lieberman: Q and A with Eddie Van Halen .
- ^ National Museum of American History Receives Eddie Van Halen's “Frankenstein Replica” Guitar - Newsdesk .
- ↑ Eddie Van Halen's 'Frankenstrat' .
- ↑ Eddie Van Halen ( Memento of December 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Shredaholic.com - EVH Frankenstrat Guitar .
- ^ Guitar World, July 1985, pp. 56f.
- ↑ a b c d Guitar World, July 1985, Collector's Gallery, Edward Van Halen's Home-Made Original, Serial # 61 071 (ca.1961)
- ↑ a b Eddie and Fender Unveil New Frankenstein Replica . January 22, 2007.
- ^ Guitar World, July 1985, p. 57.
- ^ Guitar World, July 1985, p. 36.
- ^ Bruck, part 2.
- ^ Guitar World, July 1985, p. 68.
- ↑ Here's When Eddie Van Halen Painted His Red / Black / White Guitar! . March 31, 2014.
- ↑ See cover of the compilation "The Best of Both Worlds", 2004.
- ↑ Van Halen Files Suit Against Nike . June 16, 2009.
- ↑ evhgear.com . Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
- ↑ Interview with EVH and Dennis Berardi .
- ↑ Edward Van Halen's Guitars .
- ↑ Edward Van Halen's Kramer 5150 Hybrid Guitar .
- ↑ earlyyears.html .
- ↑ Raul: “Dimebag” Darrell Was Buried In A Kiss Kasket With Eddie Van Halen's Bumblebee Guitar . November 30, 2010.
- ^ Search and Destroy . June 2, 2011.
- ^ The EVH Art Guitar Series - www.evh-guitars.com .
- ↑ evhgear.com . Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
Web links
- Rock Chronicles 1980s: Interview with Wayne Charvel. UltimateGuitar.com, April 29, 2014, accessed May 1, 2014 .