i find that captain solos very well, it sounds melodic and doesnt seem to go all over the place, it's focused and neat. Wish i could have some of those rad skills
Its funny to me that in the comments i'm reading,"I'd never own this model as i'd be branded a fanboy & people would expect me to throw out some EVH licks!" Well,all i can say is EVH is one of my main influences & the reason i learned to play..Also,being in a coverband thats exactly what i'd do! I had a Blue 1986 Kramer that was speq'ed to Edwards sig model,1 humbucker,"slanted" 1 volume knob,& Floyd Rose trem..that thru a 70's Marshall JMP & Boom! The tone was to freakin die for!.I aped as many EVH licks as i could figure out & have actually been compared to him a few times..All i'm saying is its ok to be influenced by you're heros,& theres much worse players to choose to emulate other than EVH..Does that make me a fanboy?? Perhaps,but definitly a fan..
The original frankenstrat from eddy was made from a 50 dollar 'boogie company' body and 75 dollar guitar neck. Eddy used kramer years later for his 5150 guitar that looks similar but has a banana headstock.
I ended up getting the Red/White/Black, but it was very hard making a choice. It's such a clean simple guitar, and it does just what it needs to (nothing less, nothing more). Most importantly, is it is a FUN guitar to play - it feels and sounds great, and it really takes me back nostalgically. For those that want to learn more, I do a full review of the guitar on my channel, including a comparison to other Fender guitars to hopefully help people make objective decisions. Rock on!
Glad you like it. I would have been interested in one but I think the paint job is a real let down - doesn't seem to match any of his striped guitar whilst the Bumblebee and the white & black EVH models look just like the originals. In the end I plumped for the Bumblebee - it's the rarest of the three and IMP the coolest. I am also very, very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the hardware. How about you?
***** you have a fully valid point here but at the same time he's the reason that David Lee Roth and Sammy hagar (idk if I spelt that right btw before you slag me for it if I did) originally left and he also didn't allow dave Lee roth to replace Wolfgang with Michael Anthony to bring back the original line up so I'm not saying you're wrong I'm saying that it's very controversial
Jequisha The bridge spacing on the guitar he got was different than the width of the humbucker he put in, so he angled it so the pieces on the metal could line up correctly with the strings. He may not have intended to put the pickup that way for sound purposes, but it did have an effect.
I have one and I'm really not into van halen. The guitar plays amazing and I traded a strat for it and been in love with it since. I love the stripes, the flush mounted floyd holds sustain on a different level than American or Mexican strats. That's all it really is, a mexi strat that is super fun to play. The d tuna is amazing but I could live without it. I want to seal the back side of the neck with nitro which I'm about to do right now because it's super rough but the fret board is dead nuts perfect. Love this guitar and will never get rid of it
Just a note, tune the guitar to drop D with the D-Tuna out, then push it in, and use the tiny allen screw on the side to micro-tune the string when it is in E position. Then after that, both E and D will be in perfect tune.
I'm talking about something from oh, anything from 1984 back. I would conclude that these guys didn't really listen to any early VH. I was hoping one of them (well, the chunkier one) would fire into a rendition of I'm The One, Eruption, something.
So awesome, I know that people have gotten incredibly complex and technical over the years, but there will never ba another guiatr player or writer like Randy I think he's the greatest guitar player of all time. His style is just so unique and flows better than perfect each note has such raw emotion and feeling, he's the type of guitar player that never hits one wrong note and improvisation sounds better and has so much more thought, truly unmatchable genius. The world will never know what we missed out on when he died, I think he could've even written some of the greatest classical music as well. Truly one of a kind.
For anybody wondering the white guitar on the first album jacket is the same one that eventually wound up with the red paint...so the white and red EVH Striped guitars are, in most ways, incarnations of the same instrument. The Black and Yellow seen on VH2 is a different guitar, that guitar was buried with Dimebag.
The black and white one is the original built by Edward with refurnished parts sold to him by Wayne Charvel. (charvel guitars in san dimas ca). That guitar later was repainted and became Frankenstrat. The yellow and black was actually a seperate guitar and is currently buried with dimebag. As far as Kramer, Edward changed the neck on Frankensrat numerous times and at one point put a kramer neck with there logo visible on the headstock. Kramer noticed and approached Eddie about endorsements.
I have one of these and it's amazing. I don't understand though, why they ship them with Wolgang pickups instead of the Frankenstein humbucker. This guitar IS the Frankenstein so why not put the right pickup in it?! That said, I love it and it sounds great!
The white and the red guitars were actually the same the guitar, he took the black and white guitar and put some red stripes, i'm suprised the Capt doesn't know that, but i guess he is not a big Evh fan.
I'm quite sure you're wrong....there is no red stripes on that guitar, he put some tape on it, paint it red and then took off the tape, that's only logical, in my opinion
yes, that's right, he took the black and white, put some new tape, painted it red and put the tape away. What was wrong is that he didn't put some red stripes. I'm a bit old but I still remember when the first VH album came out, it was an UFO and after that, I was all year waiting for their next album....
Papa Luigi nah, the black and yellow one is different but the other two are the same. Fun fact the actual yellow and black one is buried with Dimebag darrell
His early guitars were put together with Mighty Mite bodies and parts, he wax-potted his pickups himself to cut feedback and painted them himself. The tone knob was intentional as he lost the volume knob somewhere. I've always loved the black/yellow guitar. Charvel made a version for a while, and maybe even the original. Kramer endorsed him later. The original black/yellow guitar was buried with Diamond Darrel from Pantera. Eddie placed it there himself as a gift with permission from his wife.
History of the frankenstrat Mark 1: Strat body that had a knot in the wood, strat neck, gibson paf humbucker, painted black then covered with masking tape then painted white Mark 2: After using the bumblee Eddie re masked the guitar and painted it red and added the truck relfectors and other things to the guitar. I'm building my own replica
Geometry Dash Xenon Good! I'm using a seymour duncan jb distortion humbucker instead of a frankenstein humbucker but all that needs to be done is for it to be painted and put together
Love the guitar I have the red,black and white one feels totally awesome to play sounds great,now if I could only get the thing to stop making micro phonic feed back it would be great. Almost sounds like they incorrectly potted the pick ups.
i dont know about any one else but 1000 bucks doesnt sound affordable to me. id rather buy a 100 dollar squire strat and so the evh stripe myself. total spending about 200 for the paints and updrading pickups
+geovanie flores you'll also need a $150 floyd rose, and to upgrade the pots, and a higher quality paint job, tuners, wiring, and truss rod. And a better wiring job, higher quality woods, and better coating on the wood for the electronics
Hey Rob and The Captain! In the 80's when Eddie moved away from his originals he went with Kramer in Neptune N.J. where my friend Paul Unkert was the head Luthier and Procduction Mgr who designed the "Hot for Teacher" guitar and other Barreta's for Eddie. The Hot for Teacher guitar had a Duncan 59' in it with a 500k audio pot and treble bleed. Paul's a great guy and fantastic Luthier and is good friends with Eddie to this day!
Kevin Kiso that’s right, later on Jerry Cantrell worked for them and got the chance to own a neck that was supposed to be delivered for Eddie but had a issue on the third fret. The guitar that came out of that neck is the one on Them Bones video clip
nah the first is the white and black that was on van halen 1 album then eddie made it the white black and red one went to the yellow and black and when dime bag darell died the yellow and black guitar was buried with darell .
sam rodgers You need to re-read that interview. He actually buried the Ibanez Destroyer with the cut out with him. Dime asked if Eddie could build him a replica of that guitar, and he was going to give him the original. Frank is actually the same guitar as the blk/white and black/yellow, just different paint jobs.
You're right. They are actually the same guitar, just different paint stages. Eddie also put a Kramer neck on it at one point after getting his endorsement. There's not 3 guitars, just one. Ash body, maple neck bought pre charvel. Doesn't anyone else read anymore?
sam rodgers I'm pretty sure Eddie sais in a Guitar World interview that it was the Destroyer he cut a with a chainsaw ( it looked like the Dean ML) that he put into dimes coffin. If I'm wrong, my bad. I'll have to look it up again.
Please know your guitar history the white guitar was called the Great white, the black and yellow was called the bumble bee guitar and red white and black was the Frankenstein strat!!! Then came the Circles and shark guitars later!!!.
The black and white guitar Is what Eddie later turned into to the actual Frankenstein. They are the same guitar. These are all the same spec, but not to the original Frankie. More of a VH one replica.
I bought one of these 3 weeks ago and couldn't be happier.The hand rubbed oil finish on the neck is smooth,it is so much fun to play and it has sustain and harmonics for DAYS!! It actually sounds better than my Ernie Ball MusicMan axis,but thats just my opinion. I've read people calling this a "one-trick pony",but it cleans up nicely when you roll the volume back. The basswood body is very light and the paint job is top notch. Everyone has their opinions on these striped series guitars,both good and bad.My advice would be to go play one and make up your own mind.
Ed's guitar was something he put together from parts that he purchased at pawn shops, with the intent of having a guitar with the looks of a strat and the sound of a les paul, hence he put the PAF in the bridge position. The necks I think would occasionally change on the guitar, when Ed got new endorsement deals, as he did with Charvel and Kramer respectively.
Again, you Brits deliver back at the USA. It is amazing that here in USA the guitar "super centers" come across totally corporate, hence they never get my money. Yet your "Super Center" actually focuses on the FUN! I could never see Keith Richards doing a demo for a USA guitar store, but I think he might feel more comfortable in the "Anderton Lounge". Thanks for keeping it fun. Btw, I am in the market for an Ibanez Edge Trem with changeable knife edges.
The tone knob was used as a volume knob on the frankenstrat because Eddie couldn't find his volume knob during assembly. The tone knob on that model is homage to that.
Eddie's actual frankenstein guitar was purchased from and made by Lynn Elsworth who worked at boogie body guitars. I believe he may have done some work for charvel as well. The body was a second due to having a knot in the wood. The pickup in the guitar came from eddie's Gibson 335. He did in fact use a tone knob instead of a volume knob. The D-tuna does need a small dab of lubricant but you should also back the fine tuner out instead of having it screwed closer to the body.
Frankenstein was a Fender Strat and the first album was recorded with the original standard Strat trem on it, no Floyd rose at all, when it was white and black. Later it became the red one we all know best. Many people think it was two different "g-tars".
It's a tone knob because eddie said he used the volume to get different "tones" out of the guitar, backing off the volume to clean the sound up etc. He said he had no use for actual tone controls
The black and white guitar were parts Eddie got from Charvel, that was repainted to the red and black one. Kramer didn't come in until the 1984/5150 period
***** Ed has changed his stories about his amps and guitars so many times over the years that it's impossible to know the truth about anything...his goal was to keep everyone from copying his actual gear. Now he probably can't even remember the real stories about the stuff that he played and the endorsed stuff that was released to the public...sad.
***** I read an old article online e this year..it was from several moons ago...Ed was sort of using the in'nerview as a confessional confessing past transgressions. He REALLY regretted the telling ppl how he plugged his amp into the variac, turning the amp volume all the way up to 11 ALL THE TIME, while using the variac. In the article he said he felt like crap because it wasn't true and it was causing dudes everywhere to kill their amp. He said the devil (DLR) made him do it. Apparently Roth told him that ppl are so amazed at what he was doing so he's gotta really sell the story with a lot of mythical things. People will eat it up since EVERYBODY WANTS SOME of Ed's magic. Wish I could find the article again.
You're looking really good Chappers. And I don't just mean physically, mentally and emotionally you seem really strong and it translates through your vids. It's great to see!
The original white striped strat on the van halen 1 album was made from parts and an es335 paf pickup. The yellow striped one was a charvel guitar made for him (which was buried with dimebag) The original red/white/black "franistrat" is the same guitar as the white one but he painted it and took the scratch plate off. Around the 1984 album he started using kramers. He then had the musicman guitar (now the axis sport) Peavey wolfgang, and now evh wolfgang. Hes also had charvel sigs.
I know I'm commenting on an older video, but I can't help but notice your struggle with the D-Tuna. That's completely on the person that set up the guitar for use of the D-Tuna. It's really important that the fine tuner is all the way up/out and then turned in 1/2 turn when initially setting it up with the D-Tuna in the DROP position. This allows for the "spring play" of the FR so the D-Tuna will slide in and out with ease....
Please keep in mind, if you WANT the trem bar to float, it can certainly be adjusted to do so, thus allowing the "flutter" effect and the ability to pull UP on the bar as well as down. However, with it set to float, if you do a string bend while simultaneously sounding an unbent note, the unbent note will sound very flat and out of tune. This may not be an issue for players who only play rock and metal. But for anyone who plays country and southern rock leads, it is a definite issue, and is only overcome by blocking the bridge in the rear tremolo cavity or by simply allowing the bridge to rest on the body top surface (this is how the guitar comes shipped). I prefer to use a piece of metal angle in the trem cavity which then allows the bridge to be set parallel to the body surface as per original design and optimum Floyd Rose performance. This worked perfectly on my black and yellow striped EVH.
EVH did fit a "tone" knob as, he did say the "volume is tone" his very early "Frankenstrat" was based on a Fender Strat, it didn't have a Floyd rose either, evh modified the stock fender trem and routed the trem block hole larger to gain more "range" of trem movement, he also routed the bridge pickup hole to accommodate a humbucker. Locking nuts were not even fitted to his early Frankenstrat, he mentioned he used to wind his strings on in a certain way, so they would not drop out of tune.
This is a volume knob, but Eddie actually thought of it as a tone knob (you turn it down and the tone of the guitar changes - goes slightly darker and so on) and he didn't use much the Tone knob anyway, so that's why he called it Tone.
Eddie's Frankenstrat was a custom built one which he got from spare parts from Charvel. Since the body was faulty he got it for real cheap, but he wanted the neck to be perfect so he then bought the neck straight from the factory if my memory serves me correctly :)
Eddies first Frankenstien was the black and white guitar. He made that I believe around '74-'75. He bought the neck and body from boogie guitars. He painted it black first then had this idea of wrapping masking tape around it and paint it white. Later on (early 80's) he put more masking tape on it and painted it red. The yellow and black one was a different guitar he made for the second album and is now buried with Dimebag Darrel. Hope this helped.
Rob, not sure if someone has said this and don't honestly feel like scrolling through to tell but actually eddie ended up going to charvel's warehouse and saying he needed a guitar since his had broke, and he didn't have the money to buy a new one so he bought a body that had a blemish in it, i believe it was a bubble in the back of the body, and then bought a fender neck that chervel had laying around. they had a stash in the back of bodies and necks they were gonna throw out that were defective or what have you, so he bought the body for 50 bucks i think and the neck for 80 i believe and found an old fender style pickup he had from his other guitar slapped that in there right around the same time Floyd rose was getting ready to produce the floating system, so he gave eddie serial number 2 of the prototype to try out. and eddie painted that guitar white and black first with just random tape and spray paint. no clear or anything. then got bored and painted it yellow and black and then to the one we all know today being the black red and white (yes all colors are the exact same guitar he just painted over and over again) he's kept the same one for all those years even till today. i can even send you the video where he says all this if anyone doesn't believe me. great videos btw rob! sorry i wasn't able to get to the bethesda show when you came to maryland with joe from riff city i really wanted to be there! Rob Chapman
+tray allebach Just to correct you on one thing......the white and black striped guitar on VHI was NEVER painted black and yellow.......the black and yellow guitar was made for him BY Charvel.......he didn't like it as much as the white and black one.......he also didn't like people copying his striped design, so he painted the white and black one with a coat of red.....that is the Frankenstein. The Frankenstein has long since been retired, and during his Kramer years, he replicated the red, white, and black paint jobs on other bodies. But it is NOT the same guitar. There are distinct differences.
Yes Eddie put the "TONE" knob on there because he used it to vary the amount of distortion. Think "Aint taklin bout love", the way he cleans up the riff, all done with the guitars volume knob.
I think the knob is a bit lower than what a normal volume knob on a strat would be, so that's why they have a tone knob on there, because its closer to the place a tone knob would be if it were on a normal strat.
Eddie bought the original white and black guitar body and neck from a Charvel factory and it was actually B-stock. He painted it spray painted it to be white and black. The yellow and black guitar was a similar project and it was the prototype for the original floyd rose system, this guitar now rests with Dimebag in his grave. The famous frankenstein guitar is actually two different guitars. One of them has a kramer body and was used on the 5150 tour, and the famous one is actually....
Kramer was in the 80's, these Strat shaped ones were parts Eddie bought from Boogie Bodies which was run by Wayne Charvel in the 70's before he started Charvel guitars. It had a Gibson PAF and the deliberate tone knob on the volume pot Eddies red 'Frankenstrat' was actually his black & white bodie with now red paint on top, the scratchplate removed & he replaced the neck with a Kramer duckbill headstock. Then came the one made all by Kramer in the 80's with the hockey stick/banana headstock.
The reasons basswood is generally considered a "cheap" wood is because it's inconsistent. It generally has more discoloration and such than other woods, hence why solid finishes are more common on them. Basswood is also very soft, which is why thicker finishes and maple caps are normally put on. You can get great quality basswood, it just takes a little more nitpicking.
Original superstrat Ed put together years ago was pioneering, for himself, cheap tone wood with good hardware. Now EVH brand finally makes gear as cheap as it gets, but with great vibe, very playable and good. Love 'em all strats, wolfs, Music Man signature is my favorite, go figure... it's all about music :)
Hi guys , very nice vid and playing!! i like this guitars very much and think i buy one, this days, What would be good modification that i can do on these guitars? what do you think if i i change the wolfgang humbucker and replace it with a frankenstein evh bucker or a seymour custom shop 78? and maybe a shaller lockmeister floyd? you think it´s a good idea? thx for the help guys :)
im sure someone has said this already but -that's the 5150 guitar in the background ... and the guitars you're holding is the franky before it was turned into the franky
Eddie actually started out on Charvel in the 70's, then went to Kramer, then to Ernie Ball Music Man, and now has a line of guitars with Charvel and his own namesake brand EVH through Fender.
I just bought a Tremonti SE from Guitar Center recently. I don't really like Tremonti that much, and the styling is REALLY understated, so it looks like it could be for anybody!
The black and white one is usually called VH1,the yellow and black one is Bumblebee and what's funny is not a lot of people realize that the famous red,white and black one is VH1 without the smaller stripes,which weren't painted on,they were taped on.
The tone knob was an Eddie thing, and I would want the black and white one mainly because I like its simple look as well as the fact that I love the first Van Halen record so much.
i find that captain solos very well, it sounds melodic and doesnt seem to go all over the place, it's focused and neat. Wish i could have some of those rad skills
Jon Ang I find the Sergeant, Lieutenant and Private also solo very well, but that's a story for a different time.
+ReneeNme *roll credits*
Some kind of little tribute : sound+tapping in the end
rip MASTER EVH and in the 3rd video too
th-cam.com/video/7IdYztYYROE/w-d-xo.html
Its funny to me that in the comments i'm reading,"I'd never own this model as i'd be branded a fanboy & people would expect me to throw out some EVH licks!" Well,all i can say is EVH is one of my main influences & the reason i learned to play..Also,being in a coverband thats exactly what i'd do! I had a Blue 1986 Kramer that was speq'ed to Edwards sig model,1 humbucker,"slanted" 1 volume knob,& Floyd Rose trem..that thru a 70's Marshall JMP & Boom! The tone was to freakin die for!.I aped as many EVH licks as i could figure out & have actually been compared to him a few times..All i'm saying is its ok to be influenced by you're heros,& theres much worse players to choose to emulate other than EVH..Does that make me a fanboy?? Perhaps,but definitly a fan..
The whole thing about the tone knob, is Eddie said that the tone comes from volume.
Specifically he said that volume is tone.
The original frankenstrat from eddy was made from a 50 dollar 'boogie company' body and 75 dollar guitar neck. Eddy used kramer years later for his 5150 guitar that looks similar but has a banana headstock.
8:48 When you're 20mins to D-tune and lube and he gives you the look.
How do you demo a VH guitar without playing ONE VH lick? THAT, my friends, is a crime.
I think he did play a D chord, one day I think I saw Eddie play a D chord!
Copyright issues . Rhino/Warner Bros got some independent Van Halen documentaries taken off TH-cam because of the use of the band's music .
@@akfreed6949 figures.
I ended up getting the Red/White/Black, but it was very hard making a choice. It's such a clean simple guitar, and it does just what it needs to (nothing less, nothing more). Most importantly, is it is a FUN guitar to play - it feels and sounds great, and it really takes me back nostalgically. For those that want to learn more, I do a full review of the guitar on my channel, including a comparison to other Fender guitars to hopefully help people make objective decisions. Rock on!
it most have been a long time playing that great guitar u had the 80s way to go i tried to build the same guitar u had and its hard well thats it
Glad you like it. I would have been interested in one but I think the paint job is a real let down - doesn't seem to match any of his striped guitar whilst the Bumblebee and the white & black EVH models look just like the originals. In the end I plumped for the Bumblebee - it's the rarest of the three and IMP the coolest. I am also very, very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the hardware. How about you?
The branded floyd rose is original??
Lee's tone is fantastic in this one. It's got that warm sound that just makes me smile.
Hey TH-cam the guitar tht rob is playing is a replica of the one tht Dimebag Darrell is buried with
thats the story,
sleep in peace diamond darrell
Before dying he had asked Van Halen to make him a replica, but hearing of his passing, EVH put the original one in.
metalmusician6798 yup that is exactly how i read it
***** I'm I
***** you have a fully valid point here but at the same time he's the reason that David Lee Roth and Sammy hagar (idk if I spelt that right btw before you slag me for it if I did) originally left and he also didn't allow dave Lee roth to replace Wolfgang with Michael Anthony to bring back the original line up so I'm not saying you're wrong I'm saying that it's very controversial
I played one the other day in a Osaka guitar store. I didn't want to stop. It's really fun to play. I had it going through a Marshall.
No EVH guitar replica is accurate without the angled humbucker.
metalmusician6798 Not true. Do you even know why he angled his humbucker?
Jequisha The bridge spacing on the guitar he got was different than the width of the humbucker he put in, so he angled it so the pieces on the metal could line up correctly with the strings. He may not have intended to put the pickup that way for sound purposes, but it did have an effect.
+Jequisha Get rekt
+Jake Wilson haha this guy was all oh yeah metal do you even know and he just fucked him up in the most respectful way haha
metalmusician6798 the original frankenstrat didn't have a angled humbucker.
I have one and I'm really not into van halen. The guitar plays amazing and I traded a strat for it and been in love with it since. I love the stripes, the flush mounted floyd holds sustain on a different level than American or Mexican strats. That's all it really is, a mexi strat that is super fun to play. The d tuna is amazing but I could live without it. I want to seal the back side of the neck with nitro which I'm about to do right now because it's super rough but the fret board is dead nuts perfect. Love this guitar and will never get rid of it
You guys need to make an album together xD you two play together so great. :3 i love the all jams in these videos. Just amazing!
Just a note, tune the guitar to drop D with the D-Tuna out, then push it in, and use the tiny allen screw on the side to micro-tune the string when it is in E position. Then after that, both E and D will be in perfect tune.
"Everything's better with lube" - The Captain
So people laugh at anything.
I love the neck too. That was my favorite part of the guitar
I'm talking about something from oh, anything from 1984 back. I would conclude that these guys didn't really listen to any early VH. I was hoping one of them (well, the chunkier one) would fire into a rendition of I'm The One, Eruption, something.
The Kurt Cobain Jag is one of my favorite sig models. Just a great guitar.
getting this guitar can't fucking wait
Happy for you, can't wait for a shark model of van halen :)
Agent 313 YES I WANT THAT!!!!!
the jam at the beginning was absolutely stunning
lol Look at how skinny Rob is! Man, the difference is startling to his appearance today.
Haha that's my profile pic on Instagram great choice man
Justin Rivera Yes. That one picture sums up RR in a glance. The perfect rock star.
So awesome, I know that people have gotten incredibly complex and technical over the years, but there will never ba another guiatr player or writer like Randy I think he's the greatest guitar player of all time. His style is just so unique and flows better than perfect each note has such raw emotion and feeling, he's the type of guitar player that never hits one wrong note and improvisation sounds better and has so much more thought, truly unmatchable genius. The world will never know what we missed out on when he died, I think he could've even written some of the greatest classical music as well. Truly one of a kind.
For anybody wondering the white guitar on the first album jacket is the same one that eventually wound up with the red paint...so the white and red EVH Striped guitars are, in most ways, incarnations of the same instrument. The Black and Yellow seen on VH2 is a different guitar, that guitar was buried with Dimebag.
Anyone know what the £80k guitar was and what video I can find it on?
The black and white one is the original built by Edward with refurnished parts sold to him by Wayne Charvel. (charvel guitars in san dimas ca). That guitar later was repainted and became Frankenstrat. The yellow and black was actually a seperate guitar and is currently buried with dimebag. As far as Kramer, Edward changed the neck on Frankensrat numerous times and at one point put a kramer neck with there logo visible on the headstock. Kramer noticed and approached Eddie about endorsements.
I have one of these and it's amazing. I don't understand though, why they ship them with Wolgang pickups instead of the Frankenstein humbucker. This guitar IS the Frankenstein so why not put the right pickup in it?! That said, I love it and it sounds great!
They're probably selling these in higher numbers, and the Wolfgangs must be cheaper to source. Economies of scale.
Cheers for all the info on the origins of these guitars - knew we could rely on you lot to set us straight!!
The white and the red guitars were actually the same the guitar, he took the black and white guitar and put some red stripes, i'm suprised the Capt doesn't know that, but i guess he is not a big Evh fan.
I'm quite sure you're wrong....there is no red stripes on that guitar, he put some tape on it, paint it red and then took off the tape, that's only logical, in my opinion
yes, that's right, he took the black and white, put some new tape, painted it red and put the tape away. What was wrong is that he didn't put some red stripes. I'm a bit old but I still remember when the first VH album came out, it was an UFO and after that, I was all year waiting for their next album....
Yes your right its the same guitar
Rob and lee's jamming just keeps getting better! Freaking awesome!
I wanna see the video where Chap plays a 80k guitar and it sucks! Anybody has a link?
Papa Luigi nah, the black and yellow one is different but the other two are the same. Fun fact the actual yellow and black one is buried with Dimebag darrell
His early guitars were put together with Mighty Mite bodies and parts, he wax-potted his pickups himself to cut feedback and painted them himself. The tone knob was intentional as he lost the volume knob somewhere. I've always loved the black/yellow guitar. Charvel made a version for a while, and maybe even the original. Kramer endorsed him later. The original black/yellow guitar was buried with Diamond Darrel from Pantera. Eddie placed it there himself as a gift with permission from his wife.
History of the frankenstrat
Mark 1: Strat body that had a knot in the wood, strat neck, gibson paf humbucker, painted black then covered with masking tape then painted white
Mark 2: After using the bumblee Eddie re masked the guitar and painted it red and added the truck relfectors and other things to the guitar.
I'm building my own replica
Miles Smith how's it coming together?
Geometry Dash Xenon Good! I'm using a seymour duncan jb distortion humbucker instead of a frankenstein humbucker but all that needs to be done is for it to be painted and put together
Miles Smith I like SDs too! The painting and taping must be the most fun part
Geometry Dash Xenon Yeah. My uncle does body work on cars so I'll probably use his equipment to paint it
Miles Smith have you considered making a video about it?
Basswood sits right in between alder and mahogany. It's like setting your eq flat. Pickups then add whatever tone you want
Love the guitar I have the red,black and white one feels totally awesome to play sounds great,now if I could only get the thing to stop making micro phonic feed back it would be great.
Almost sounds like they incorrectly potted the pick ups.
i hate that, i always blame my amp tho
Ryan Abbas ya but I hate blaming my amp as it is an EVH 5150iii Stealth and kicks serious ass.
Il remember that when il be buying a new one! im using a fame gx35r
Changed the pick up and the microphonic feed back is gone!
Id rather just get s new guitar, but thanx :)
Nice Slashy type playing at around 7:50. Sounds cool. Nice choice of notes and phrasing.
i dont know about any one else but 1000 bucks doesnt sound affordable to me. id rather buy a 100 dollar squire strat and so the evh stripe myself. total spending about 200 for the paints and updrading pickups
It's not about the Evh stripes it's about the sound that's why it's so much more
+Justin Rivera gotcha
+geovanie flores you'll also need a $150 floyd rose, and to upgrade the pots, and a higher quality paint job, tuners, wiring, and truss rod. And a better wiring job, higher quality woods, and better coating on the wood for the electronics
I agree with you 100%, for $1000 it better be eddies guitar not just a copy
Or hit ebay up and stripe up a single pickup kramer pacer they run about 250 to 300 ya dont need a mint one your painting and modding it
Hey Rob and The Captain! In the 80's when Eddie moved away from his originals he went with Kramer in Neptune N.J. where my friend Paul Unkert was the head Luthier and Procduction Mgr who designed the "Hot for Teacher" guitar and other Barreta's for Eddie. The Hot for Teacher guitar had a Duncan 59' in it with a 500k audio pot and treble bleed. Paul's a great guy and fantastic Luthier and is good friends with Eddie to this day!
Boogie Bodies is where he got his first body...
Kevin Kiso that’s right, later on Jerry Cantrell worked for them and got the chance to own a neck that was supposed to be delivered for Eddie but had a issue on the third fret. The guitar that came out of that neck is the one on Them Bones video clip
Actually the black and white striped guitar, later became the FRANKENSTRAT...... Not a lot people know that..
Captain knows more about this than he should....................I am impressed.
pretty sure they are the same guitar.. just in different "franken-stages" The red white and black one is just the final product.
nah the first is the white and black that was on van halen 1 album then eddie made it the white black and red one went to the yellow and black and when dime bag darell died the yellow and black guitar was buried with darell .
sam rodgers You need to re-read that interview. He actually buried the Ibanez Destroyer with the cut out with him. Dime asked if Eddie could build him a replica of that guitar, and he was going to give him the original. Frank is actually the same guitar as the blk/white and black/yellow, just different paint jobs.
You're right. They are actually the same guitar, just different paint stages. Eddie also put a Kramer neck on it at one point after getting his endorsement. There's not 3 guitars, just one. Ash body, maple neck bought pre charvel. Doesn't anyone else read anymore?
no because the black and yellow is in the grave with dime bag
sam rodgers I'm pretty sure Eddie sais in a Guitar World interview that it was the Destroyer he cut a with a chainsaw ( it looked like the Dean ML) that he put into dimes coffin. If I'm wrong, my bad. I'll have to look it up again.
The Captain has really picked up his rock game. Love to hearing his improvement on stuff outside of blues. KEEP IT UP LEE!
Please know your guitar history the white guitar was called the Great white, the black and yellow was called the bumble bee guitar and red white and black was the Frankenstein strat!!! Then came the Circles and shark guitars later!!!.
+Jason Christopher Great white evolved into Frankenstein. Same guitar underneath the red paint.
the shark is dope
The black and white guitar Is what Eddie later turned into to the actual Frankenstein. They are the same guitar. These are all the same spec, but not to the original Frankie. More of a VH one replica.
I bought one of these 3 weeks ago and couldn't be happier.The hand rubbed oil finish on the neck is smooth,it is so much fun to play and it has sustain and harmonics for DAYS!! It actually sounds better than my Ernie Ball MusicMan axis,but thats just my opinion. I've read people calling this a "one-trick pony",but it cleans up nicely when you roll the volume back. The basswood body is very light and the paint job is top notch. Everyone has their opinions on these striped series guitars,both good and bad.My advice would be to go play one and make up your own mind.
No Eruption?
Ed's guitar was something he put together from parts that he purchased at pawn shops, with the intent of having a guitar with the looks of a strat and the sound of a les paul, hence he put the PAF in the bridge position.
The necks I think would occasionally change on the guitar, when Ed got new endorsement deals, as he did with Charvel and Kramer respectively.
Basswood has Growly lows, punchy mids, and breathy highs. I think people are just too stupid to figure that out
Oh yeah, I'll take advice about what is and isn't stupid from someone who bases their username off of fucking Gold Dust
I really want this guitar, the red white and black looks incredibly good and comfortable to play on. :(
These things r $1000. That really isnt affordable. Maybe cuz i grew up poor and my fam barely has money
Sorry if I'm being slow, but what was the point of this comment?
im guessing that what he's trying to say was, why pay for a $1000 for a guitar made out of fucking basswood? it makes no fucking sense
Again, you Brits deliver back at the USA. It is amazing that here in USA the guitar "super centers" come across totally corporate, hence they never get my money. Yet your "Super Center" actually focuses on the FUN! I could never see Keith Richards doing a demo for a USA guitar store, but I think he might feel more comfortable in the "Anderton Lounge". Thanks for keeping it fun. Btw, I am in the market for an Ibanez Edge Trem with changeable knife edges.
The lack of knowledge on evh makes me hurt
The tone knob was used as a volume knob on the frankenstrat because Eddie couldn't find his volume knob during assembly. The tone knob on that model is homage to that.
The simplicity of this layout really appeals to me.
Day after day the captain gets more experience and plays better, well done
Eddie's actual frankenstein guitar was purchased from and made by Lynn Elsworth who worked at boogie body guitars. I believe he may have done some work for charvel as well. The body was a second due to having a knot in the wood. The pickup in the guitar came from eddie's Gibson 335. He did in fact use a tone knob instead of a volume knob. The D-tuna does need a small dab of lubricant but you should also back the fine tuner out instead of having it screwed closer to the body.
Your jams are just getting better and better...
I enjoyed seeing them both play guitar. I want one of those guitars. Red would be my first choice. Black and yellow my second.
Frankenstein was a Fender Strat and the first album was recorded with the original standard Strat trem on it, no Floyd rose at all, when it was white and black. Later it became the red one we all know best. Many people think it was two different
"g-tars".
It's a tone knob because eddie said he used the volume to get different "tones" out of the guitar, backing off the volume to clean the sound up etc. He said he had no use for actual tone controls
My understanding, regarding the "tone" button, is that Eddie considered "volume" IS "tone".
The black and white guitar were parts Eddie got from Charvel, that was repainted to the red and black one. Kramer didn't come in until the 1984/5150 period
Ah your right, I was thinking of the 5150 guitar
***** Ed has changed his stories about his amps and guitars so many times over the years that it's impossible to know the truth about anything...his goal was to keep everyone from copying his actual gear. Now he probably can't even remember the real stories about the stuff that he played and the endorsed stuff that was released to the public...sad.
***** I read an old article online e this year..it was from several moons ago...Ed was sort of using the in'nerview as a confessional confessing past transgressions. He REALLY regretted the telling ppl how he plugged his amp into the variac, turning the amp volume all the way up to 11 ALL THE TIME, while using the variac. In the article he said he felt like crap because it wasn't true and it was causing dudes everywhere to kill their amp. He said the devil (DLR) made him do it. Apparently Roth told him that ppl are so amazed at what he was doing so he's gotta really sell the story with a lot of mythical things. People will eat it up since EVERYBODY WANTS SOME of Ed's magic. Wish I could find the article again.
You're looking really good Chappers. And I don't just mean physically, mentally and emotionally you seem really strong and it translates through your vids. It's great to see!
I love the chemisty of your jams!
The original white striped strat on the van halen 1 album was made from parts and an es335 paf pickup. The yellow striped one was a charvel guitar made for him (which was buried with dimebag) The original red/white/black "franistrat" is the same guitar as the white one but he painted it and took the scratch plate off. Around the 1984 album he started using kramers. He then had the musicman guitar (now the axis sport) Peavey wolfgang, and now evh wolfgang. Hes also had charvel sigs.
I know I'm commenting on an older video, but I can't help but notice your struggle with the D-Tuna. That's completely on the person that set up the guitar for use of the D-Tuna. It's really important that the fine tuner is all the way up/out and then turned in 1/2 turn when initially setting it up with the D-Tuna in the DROP position. This allows for the "spring play" of the FR so the D-Tuna will slide in and out with ease....
Please keep in mind, if you WANT the trem bar to float, it can certainly be adjusted to do so, thus allowing the "flutter" effect and the ability to pull UP on the bar as well as down. However, with it set to float, if you do a string bend while simultaneously sounding an unbent note, the unbent note will sound very flat and out of tune. This may not be an issue for players who only play rock and metal. But for anyone who plays country and southern rock leads, it is a definite issue, and is only overcome by blocking the bridge in the rear tremolo cavity or by simply allowing the bridge to rest on the body top surface (this is how the guitar comes shipped). I prefer to use a piece of metal angle in the trem cavity which then allows the bridge to be set parallel to the body surface as per original design and optimum Floyd Rose performance. This worked perfectly on my black and yellow striped EVH.
EVH did fit a "tone" knob as, he did say the "volume is tone" his very early "Frankenstrat" was based on a Fender Strat, it didn't have a Floyd rose either, evh modified the stock fender trem and routed the trem block hole larger to gain more "range" of trem movement, he also routed the bridge pickup hole to accommodate a humbucker. Locking nuts were not even fitted to his early Frankenstrat, he mentioned he used to wind his strings on in a certain way, so they would not drop out of tune.
This is a volume knob, but Eddie actually thought of it as a tone knob (you turn it down and the tone of the guitar changes - goes slightly darker and so on) and he didn't use much the Tone knob anyway, so that's why he called it Tone.
Capt Lee's playing gets tastier with every video
Eddie's Frankenstrat was a custom built one which he got from spare parts from Charvel. Since the body was faulty he got it for real cheap, but he wanted the neck to be perfect so he then bought the neck straight from the factory if my memory serves me correctly :)
Eddies first Frankenstien was the black and white guitar. He made that I believe around '74-'75. He bought the neck and body from boogie guitars. He painted it black first then had this idea of wrapping masking tape around it and paint it white. Later on (early 80's) he put more masking tape on it and painted it red. The yellow and black one was a different guitar he made for the second album and is now buried with Dimebag Darrel.
Hope this helped.
Captain has really upped his game since the beginning of these Anderton vids. Good stuff. Lately both guys get better tones too.
the captain was ripping it up in this video great playing Lee
his magic lies in the headband!!!!!!
The black and white striped was the original guitar used on the first album which eventually turned into the frankenstrat
Rob, not sure if someone has said this and don't honestly feel like scrolling through to tell but actually eddie ended up going to charvel's warehouse and saying he needed a guitar since his had broke, and he didn't have the money to buy a new one so he bought a body that had a blemish in it, i believe it was a bubble in the back of the body, and then bought a fender neck that chervel had laying around. they had a stash in the back of bodies and necks they were gonna throw out that were defective or what have you, so he bought the body for 50 bucks i think and the neck for 80 i believe and found an old fender style pickup he had from his other guitar slapped that in there right around the same time Floyd rose was getting ready to produce the floating system, so he gave eddie serial number 2 of the prototype to try out. and eddie painted that guitar white and black first with just random tape and spray paint. no clear or anything. then got bored and painted it yellow and black and then to the one we all know today being the black red and white (yes all colors are the exact same guitar he just painted over and over again) he's kept the same one for all those years even till today. i can even send you the video where he says all this if anyone doesn't believe me. great videos btw rob! sorry i wasn't able to get to the bethesda show when you came to maryland with joe from riff city i really wanted to be there! Rob Chapman
That's right, but it was an ES-335 pickup
+tray allebach Just to correct you on one thing......the white and black striped guitar on VHI was NEVER painted black and yellow.......the black and yellow guitar was made for him BY Charvel.......he didn't like it as much as the white and black one.......he also didn't like people copying his striped design, so he painted the white and black one with a coat of red.....that is the Frankenstein. The Frankenstein has long since been retired, and during his Kramer years, he replicated the red, white, and black paint jobs on other bodies. But it is NOT the same guitar. There are distinct differences.
+Terry Murphy yeah, the black and yellow one was buried with dimebag darrell
+J.Ob3rting correct!
Yes Eddie put the "TONE" knob on there because he used it to vary the amount of distortion. Think "Aint taklin bout love", the way he cleans up the riff, all done with the guitars volume knob.
I think the knob is a bit lower than what a normal volume knob on a strat would be, so that's why they have a tone knob on there, because its closer to the place a tone knob would be if it were on a normal strat.
Capn's gettin really sick solos in now! Sweet tone too.
captain has improved so much as a guitarist.
Who could dislike a video like this?!?!?!?!?!
Yes eddie had that tone nobe as volume AND I OWN THE RED ONE
Eddie bought the original white and black guitar body and neck from a Charvel factory and it was actually B-stock. He painted it spray painted it to be white and black. The yellow and black guitar was a similar project and it was the prototype for the original floyd rose system, this guitar now rests with Dimebag in his grave. The famous frankenstein guitar is actually two different guitars. One of them has a kramer body and was used on the 5150 tour, and the famous one is actually....
Kramer was in the 80's, these Strat shaped ones were parts Eddie bought from Boogie Bodies which was run by Wayne Charvel in the 70's before he started Charvel guitars. It had a Gibson PAF and the deliberate tone knob on the volume pot
Eddies red 'Frankenstrat' was actually his black & white bodie with now red paint on top, the scratchplate removed & he replaced the neck with a Kramer duckbill headstock.
Then came the one made all by Kramer in the 80's with the hockey stick/banana headstock.
The reasons basswood is generally considered a "cheap" wood is because it's inconsistent. It generally has more discoloration and such than other woods, hence why solid finishes are more common on them. Basswood is also very soft, which is why thicker finishes and maple caps are normally put on. You can get great quality basswood, it just takes a little more nitpicking.
Original superstrat Ed put together years ago was pioneering, for himself, cheap tone wood with good hardware. Now EVH brand finally makes gear as cheap as it gets, but with great vibe, very playable and good. Love 'em all strats, wolfs, Music Man signature is my favorite, go figure... it's all about music :)
Hi guys , very nice vid and playing!! i like this guitars very much and think i buy one, this days,
What would be good modification that i can do on these guitars?
what do you think if i i change the wolfgang humbucker and replace it with a frankenstein evh bucker or a seymour custom shop 78?
and maybe a shaller lockmeister floyd?
you think it´s a good idea?
thx for the help guys :)
Yup. the B&W strat was on the cover of VH's first album, then shortly after got the red spray paint treatment, to then become Frankenstrat
im sure someone has said this already but -that's the 5150 guitar in the background ... and the guitars you're holding is the franky before it was turned into the franky
Eddie actually started out on Charvel in the 70's, then went to Kramer, then to Ernie Ball Music Man, and now has a line of guitars with Charvel and his own namesake brand EVH through Fender.
I just bought a Tremonti SE from Guitar Center recently. I don't really like Tremonti that much, and the styling is REALLY understated, so it looks like it could be for anybody!
The black and white one is usually called VH1,the yellow and black one is Bumblebee and what's funny is not a lot of people realize that the famous red,white and black one is VH1 without the smaller stripes,which weren't painted on,they were taped on.
"Everything's better with a bit of lube!"
Captain' -_- Ahahaha.
I started to listen to Rory Gallagher purely because of his guitar. That guitar has got the most epic relic ever!
Oh jeez rob was really in his element in this vid!
The tone knob was an Eddie thing, and I would want the black and white one mainly because I like its simple look as well as the fact that I love the first Van Halen record so much.
The original Frankenstein was made with pieces of many different guitars (hence the name), but was assembled by the Charvel/Jackson custom shop.
The white one turned into the red one. And if i remember right he got the body and neck while visting the charvel shop. And they were 2nds or b stock
Yup. And the Bumblebee was buried with Dimebag.
chappers and captians playing is top notch in this video, love it keep it up guys!!!
Fun fact! The infamous red white and black frankenstrat is actually the same black and white guitar from the from the first album cover!
I didn't think an EHV guitar would have that kind of tone. I'm pleasantly surprised.
The white one was later painted red. The Blk/Wht was made for him, it got buried with Dime.