It was fun to document this guitar! Long overdue 🔴Reverb: reverb.com/item/41725888?_aid=growsumo&gs_partner=Trogly ❓Private Help Sessions: troglysguitarshow.com/help-appraisals/ 👕 Merch: teespring.com/basic-logo-4245?pid=211 🎸New Guitar Day Program: troglysguitarshow.com/ngd/
@@craigdonovan5068 A quick search for this guitar's specifications turned up the following; Ash Body Maple Neck 1-5/8” Nut Width Schaller Tuning Machines 12”-16” Compound Radius 21 Jumbo Dunlop 6100 Frets Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Pickups Single Volume Control Floyd Rose Tremolo Screw-Eye Strap Hooks Aged Chrome Hardware 25.5” Scale Length
This cracks me up. EVH mods himself a banged-up, strat copy for a couple hundred bucks, and then, a few years later, has Music Man make him a really nice signature model. And then the Fender CS painstakingly recreates the banged-up monstrosity, and charges as much as a brand new Honda Accord... I mean, I get it, it's kinda cool, but it's really, really funny.
@@dank8865 I just imagine Eddie being like 'Dudes, I replaced that guitar when I was 27 years old. You think if I had $25,000 to spend, I'd have had a guitar that looked like it was held together with duct tape and prayers???"
It probably felt so weird for Eddie to see people pay $25,000 for a guitar he spent a couple hundred bucks on and is held together by duct tape and dreams 😂
I agree, unless you are a professional luthier or have an absurd amount of experience I believe it’s better leave it untouched (specially on rare instruments). It somehow reminds me of people that order expensive and rare wines just because they can pay for it. And being the only one to do something out of the ordinary as taking apart a 40k guitar doesn’t necessarily make it a wise decision.
He’s probably the only guy that can get away w it since his selling power would offset the devalue factor some. But yeah, a lot of us cringing through this one.
My dad works at Fender and I remember when they were making these, he was asking us to keep an eye out for 1971 quarters. Family and friends gave him probably 15 or 20 for this guitar over the course of a couple months, mostly because they played poker at my grandma's house in Corona. He also got a photo holding the original when it was at the Fender facility!
I saw a vid online a week or so ago about this project. The lead was saying that finding the reflectors was about the most difficult part. They were some obscure truck reflectors made by a small company. Eddie said just threw them on to do something different. He really loved how these replicas played.
I know this is above and beyond in terms of price but still, this blows anything I've seen from Gibson out of the water in terms of aging, relicing, and attention to detail. Amazing.
But I cant imagine building this, to me it would be impossible to get the energy and motivation for tons of painstaking work to make a horrible-looking finished product. Hope the builders got paid well. And as far as buying it; I would only want the real one, not a pretend one no matter how exclusive.
Mr. Baker you couldn’t talk him out of taking it apart? The custom shop made them to the exact specs and he took it apart!!!! I’m subscribed to your channel and you take your guitars to a respected repairman for a switch!!! He can’t take a guitar like that apart and ask the money he paid for it! It’s not a custom shop guitar anymore! Troglys not EVH WTF!!!! He’s gotta understand you don’t take something like this apart!!!
Robert I saw your vid with the Mexican made EVH great vid. By the way I want your Les Paul lol. I got some killer guitars I can send you to try out like the Jason Becker Jackson Prototype that they only built two custom shops.
I was an assistant manager at guitar center at that time. My store was lucky enough to actually get one in. It’s the same tribute they did with Claptons blackie! Amazing art piece!
We had two in the guitar shop I worked in, here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They were amazingly detailed pieces of art. I remember what amazed me was that the craftsman had managed to reproduce convincing tape "gunk" on the wiring mess around the pickups and both of the examples we had were exactly the same. Same cracks on the bicycle reflectors on the back. They even used genuine 1971 quarters under the bridge. I know that we sold one to a local guy that was a touring guitar tech for Metallica and Madonna. He came off a tour and snapped one up. These things really belonged in a museum, they were THAT detailed.
According to the many inyerviews I have read regarding this guitar, this is what I know. The body is a Boogie Body second that Eddie got from Wayne Charvel's shop. It was in a box with discounted parts and it was in his price range. Remember, Eddie was a struggling musician at this time and he tried to save money wherever he could.Remember, he used to boil his old strings in order to get as much life out of them as he could (strings were expensive then). The humbucker pick-up was from an old 335 that he had destroyed at some point (ya gotta break a few eggs to get a perfect omelet). He potted these in surfers wax in order to reduce feedback. He tried many others like Dimarzios, but they all just melted, except the PAF's! The volume knob on the B&W era was really a tone knob with the cap soldered to it. He must have changed it at somepoint.The orginal fender bridge was replaced with the floyd. It has a quarter screwed in there in order to level the bridge as Eddie only liked to dive bomb and not pull up (he probably didn't know how to properly set-up a Floyd at that time so just improvised this set-up with the quarter). Regarding the single coil and the toggle switch, Eddie said in several interviews that he installed it in order to screw the companies that were copying his guitars and never intended them to work (at least that's what he said in the interviews). The Fender neck used to have a Gibson logo on it, but 5that disappeared over time and the numerous changes on this guitar. The reflector's he said he picked up at a truck stop somewhere along the line. LOL. Eddie preferred tall and narrow fret's on his guitars and the Peavey Wolfgangs used to come with Dunlop 6105 wire (just an FYI). The original pickguard on the black n white era was a solid black one that Eddie cut out of plastic. The portion of pickguard that is on this era may have been a different one as it's a 3ply "BWB" (my guiess here). The cavity for the humbucker Eddie had used a chisel to remove the wood. Note: Most of this info comes from interviews compiled by a GP magazine release from the mid 80's that I have. Eddie did change some of this info from time to time in later interviews for whatever reason. lol.
Eddie was well known for throwing out red herring's so noone truly knew what he was doing or why he was doing it except him. I doubt that Wolfie even knows the truth about everything. Lol
There's also pictures of Eddie playing a sunburst Strat modified in this same way from the club days. I've wondered if Frankie wasn't really the sunburst Strat and the bumblebee from VHII was the only Boogie Bodies guitar.
that coin thing never made sense to me, it would be useful if he floated the trem slightly, not if it was actually decked right against the body. That or the neck sat too high in the pocket and he had to jack the action up.
@@RogueA.I. Nobody had big money like $25 dollars back in the early 80's. 🤣😂🤣🤣😂 My first VH concert was only $10 and general admission too (means you can sit or stand where ever you claim first dibs by getting there first). Arenas eventually stopped doing general admission seating after the Who concert in Cincinnati in 1980. But some promoters still do GA for smaller shows. Like the one recently in Houston (Nov 2021).
My favorite part about these guitars, and there’s a video somewhere showing this, is that EVH wasn’t able to tell the difference between his original and the first one produced for him from the custom shop until he wrote on the neck of the real one
They've got it replicated down to the cigarette burns on the headstock. The dirt or stains on the neck and headstock looks like oily dirt. Maybe from working on the old VW beetle that he worked on . The reflectors are like the ones on my cargo trailer.
It's just my opinion, but: *a custom shop replica represents exactly the opposite of what the frankenstrat is supposed to be* This said, I'd like to appreciate the effort Trogly put into this, specially on the demo. Nice job, man.
I remember the Guitar World magazine this was talked about it. The custom shop did EXTENSIVE work on it, like super detail down to the smallest detail. My high school self drooled over it, and now they have that one relic evh that's around. I really want to grab one.
This guitar series is a work of art by the master crafters at Fender. That said, here’s my take on it: $25,000 will buy you the illusion of holding Eddie’s actual guitar. For many, it’s worth that & more. I don’t knock it at all, but the way I see it Eddie made it for himself, so if you want to get the feeling of walking a mile in Eddie’s shoes you’d have to build your own guitar out of cheap parts as you outgrew the ones you could buy because of the vision you have about your playing. Personally, I’m not a fan of expensive guitars. I own a Fender Tele & a fretless Fender Jazz bass (both Mexican) and I love them, but I have a no-name cheap flying V that I call “the lab” because I use it to experiment with pickups, pots, knobs, bridges, and other gear. It was 1/4 the price of my tele & JB, but it’s also something that no one else has & it has the ‘tone’ & makes the sounds I want for how I play, and I’m certain Eddie would totally dig it. That, in my view, is how to own a Frankestein guitar - or in my case, a ‘Franken-V.’
The double-sided tape for his picks, he was one of the first to start throwing them into the audience as he was playing (not losing them). When standing GA (General Admission) was still a thing in arenas, I remember people would make a b-line for the side of the stage where Ed would stand to increase the chances of catching one. I've see full out pitched battles for them that would make a mosh pit seem like a bible study class.
@Jay I was gonna say something when I heard Trog say 'lost picks'. But I read the comments first. Because I figured someone beat me to it. My friend caught one of those VH picks Eddie flicked to the audience back in the early 80's. He only let me hold it once... after begging him to let me hold it after he showed it to me. And yes GA seating was so much fun back in the day. I paid $10 for my first VH concert. I'll never forget running down the ramp to the floor and getting within the first 10 rows. The security guard that opened my door was late opening. Or I would have got front row. I heard rumors that guys would pay the security guards to open their door first. Those were the days! I was so disappointed when DLR picked up a bottle of Jack from the stage floor and started slamming it. Because I could see the bubbles and foam on top. So I knew it was tea. Real whiskey doesn't bubble and foam! 🤗 Did you get to see VH before they broke up after Nineteen Eighty Four? I'm glad i did! I was also lucky enough to see AIC open for VanHagar in the early 90's too.
Such a great episode and quite a surprise! The footage on the details demonstrates just how far the Fender Custom shop went into this creation. Well done.
there used to be a great Fender video/film where Eddie and the luthier talk through the process of making the limited edition Frankensteins, the cigarette burns are real, the dude who recreated the patina, and I think actually built all the guitars and worked out timing for how long to let the cigarette burn haha. It used to be on youtube and was in two parts, I would imagine it is still around if you haven't seen it
Also the original neck for the Frankenstein, Eddie said he found in the dumpster in the back of a guitar shop when he was getting his first custom guitar made! What an insane story for a legendary guitar!
Between this and Brian May's Red Special (trem made from motorbike kickstand parts, neck HAND-WHITTLED with a penknife by May from a mantelpiece!) this is true rock & roll.
My friends built and setup these guitars and they are amazing!! I played one and it was the best playing Van Halen guitar I ever played - and I have played them all.
The reason the quarter is further back away from the Floyd is that in the mid '80s when it had a Kramer hockeystick neck Tom Anderson did some work on it - including moving the bridge. Apparently it was so far out of position it would have been impossible to intonate properly when Eddie recorded the classic albums with it (well, the ones once the Floyd was installed). So it did actually sit under the base of the Floyd at one time, but became purely decorative once the bridge was moved.
@Kyle Thanks for clearing that up. Because I know for a fact the quarter was under the Floyd when I saw VH back in the early 80's (pre-hockey stick). So I figured there was a reason it wasn't under the Floyd anymore. Since we're sharing trivia: That bottle of Jack DLR drank during concerts back in the day was just tea. I could see the bubbles and foam in the bottle when he grabbed it from the stage floor and started slamming it down. I instanlty became one 15 year old disappointed, and disillusioned Rock-N-Roll fan, at that time. Because I knew that real whiskey doesn't bubble and foam. What else about the Rock-N-Roll lifestyle was an illusion? 🤔 But Eddie, Michael, and Alex rocked the arena! So, I didn't remain disappointed for too long. 🤗
This will help so many EVH guitar builds in the future and help answer questions on the smaller details of the guitar. Oh and Trogly, did you know at one point (late 1978) Eddie placed a Gibson logo on the headstock? In some photos of the original you can see it. When Fender made these in their custom shop in 2007, I didn’t think they were going to add that. I enjoy your channel 🤘🏻
No one else on earth could have pulled this off. This is one of the best ones you've ever done. Someone somewhere right now is thinking of refinancing their house. Beautiful. If you can, keep this one for the museum.
according to the builder, the company that made those reflectors (which he got from a truck stop) went out of business decades ago. To find them is a huge amount of dedication on the part of the builder. The most detail oriented part has to be a small piece of gaffer tape which Eddie accidentally left on the guitar when he painted it back in 78-79. The builder noticed this when he was inspecting it and you can see it on the replica at around 9:20 on the middle pickup section.
The story goes, from what I've heard, is that the neck pickup and the misplaced switch were to throw off companies trying to make unofficial replicas of the early frankenstrat after the what happened with some of his other guitars
For it to be truly authentic all the bodies used to replicate the Frankenstrat would have to be "seconds" from Charvel like the original. You know the story, they were seconds because they had knots in the wood were not up to standard. Eddie didn't care about that and he wound up creating one of the most iconic guitars and made some of the coolest sounds ever on it. Great video and review of this gem.
Thank you for doing this video, it was awesome. I bought the Mexican Frankie for 1,899.00 now they are 1,999.00. Still at the higher price it is well worth it. I have 6,000.00 strats CS that I love but this is my new favorite at this time. It does have Mojo and likes to be played hard, stays in tune and the neck is butter to play. Buy one if you can.
RIP EVH 1st one of my favorite guitar dudes ever, bootcamp ended in San Diego in Jan 1980 with my tapedeck and head phones got some tye stick and Hawaiin went to rheend of a jetty listened all day long like 5 times. One of the best days in memory in my life. Van Halen Van Halen hell yea to live in the best time of earth's history musically when creativity to extreme was real not made up on a computer..
Very surprised you took it apart. I remember the videos when these came out, really wanting one and knowing I’d never have one. One minor nitpick - the guitar parts on “Beat It” aside from the solo (I.e the riff) were actually played by Steve Lukather.
19:36 It's broken because Eddie was trying to attach that contraption of his that allowed to play the guitar horizontally (notice the screw holes). He later installed it in his Kramer 5150.
What a fantastic video, thank you. I was smiling all the way through it. That you have the nerve (to be frank, the experience and expertise) to tear apart a work of art only makes it better. How else will we know that Fender did such an incredible job on details like aging screws! And the sound - you should be very proud of your playing these days, Mr. Trogly. I’ve been following your channel since almost the beginning, you have advanced from “enthusiastic “ to “accomplished” as a player! Thanks again for your hard work on maintaining such an informative and entertaining channel.
Amazing guitar trogly!!! I'm so glad you got your hands on one of these. Thank you for these amazing guitar documentaries!!! Can't wait to check out the museum when you get that going!!!
When I used to build plastic model kits, the junker car with primer gray panels, a flat tire, and a big ol dent in the passenger side door was the biggest challenge.
It turns out that those reflectors were very hard to find. They were truck reflectors from back in the 70s. And that quarter is apparently very difficult to find as well. It turns out that there were limited minting of those 1971 quarters. All in all more of the mystique that is EVH. Rest in peace Eddie: that one guitar and 10 fingers changed the world of rock ‘n’ roll.
@@timcarter1164 The red reflectors and the oblong reflectors have the wrong patterns inlaid in them. The real ones are made by Cortina. These are not Cortinas. Ed was mistaken on that point.
@@adamhlava6970 ... Always willing to be shown when I'm wrong. And while I agree, at that price point that guitar should be perfect, we are getting nitpicky about the pattern in the reflectors on the back of a guitar which has absolutely nothing to do with the sound or the playability and blah blah blah. Now, again at that price, everything should be exactly right. But considering Chip did it all through pictures, I'm still pretty impressed.
This pickup (=13.77k) is closer to a Dimarzio Super Distortion (=13.68k) than a typical P.A.F. (7.75k - 8.15k). In an interview of Eddie I read somewhere many years ago, he said that he unwound a pickup and wound it to a different bobbin that was stuck on a turntable to rotate at 33 1/3 rpm. Then he put it to 78 rpm to do it faster but the pickup was tossed off the turntable to the wall and he started all over again in slower speed. Maybe he unwound a Super Distortion and wound it to a P.A.F. bobbin, because Super D. has allen pole screws and this one has a slug coil and a flat screw coil like a P.A.F.. Many Eddie fanatics support the idea of the VH1 tone being a Super Distortion and not a P.A.F..
You out-did yourself on this one, Austin. This has to be your best yet. Outstanding on the detailed analysis of this axe. Never have I seen this done before on such an iconic guitar; an eternal hurrah on a great journey thru time, effort and detail! Way to go, as well, Fender!
I love your channel and glad I found it. I worked at Kramer from 84-88. I painted half the guitars in that period. I had one of eddies actual guitars from 81 that had a crack from the tremelo but I traded it for a studio Les Paul. One of those "shouldn't have done that" moment. But this brought back some memories. The quarter he must have added later cause it wasn't there at that time.
F A N T A S T I C ' ' ' ...what a tone' what a sound ...sooperb' video ...we've all heard the stories about the Frankenstrat and now we see all the detail up close' great video surprise, thank you Mr Trogly, Rest in Peace Eddie.
As a 35+ year VH fan, I found myself smiling the entire time. EVH needs to get off their butts and make a Fender Custom Shop version of the legendary Kramer 5150 guitar which Edward actually used longer than the Frankie, both in the studio (1984, 5150 and OU812) and on tour. The 5150 guitar was Edward's guitar of choice during the 80s and he retired the Frankie because of it. That's saying something. Watching you disassemble the Relic Frankie triggered me hard because of all the attention to detail they made into cloning the original. I was thinking "is he going to re-align the screw heads again when he re-assembles it?" Triggered hard. lol The tremolo was a prototype installed to Frankie. Maybe why it looked different. Edward didn't like pulling up on the tremolo bar. He only dive bombed. The tremolo was set up to prevent pulling up, but gave him plenty of room to dive bomb. Thanks for the video. For the first time I noticed Edward's fingerprint on the side of the switch from when he "pressed It" into place while attaching it to the body. Detail upon detail. I could look at this guitar for hours upon hours and still find new things to gawk at.
@@DukeHard I am lucky enough to own one. It was my childhood dream to one day own one of his signature series guitars. The original striped series just didn’t do it for me. I’ve seen a million Bumblebees, “clean” frankenstrats (the red white and black one modeled after the paint scheme of the Frankie), and the classic B&W from Van Halen I. I’m not a huge fan of the Music Man, later Wolfgang, styled guitars. They just don’t do it for me. When I came across the 5150 series? I honestly wasn’t even a huge fan of 1984/post-Roth era Van Halen work, or his choice of guitars for that matter, but seeing that kind of made it come full circle for me. It called to me. I played it, and bought it and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. The only thing I hate is for a 1,300 dollar guitar (they go for 1,999 now, from what I’ve assessed), they could at least hook you up with a hard shell case. I went ahead and bought one, just because it was a pretty monumental moment for me and represented pretty much every single reason of WHY I got into playing guitar. I’m not a crying man, but I purchased my 5150 a month before Eddie’s passing, and you’d better believe I shed a tear. Couldn’t believe he was gone. Still can’t, and it’s been a year now. But it gives me more of a reason than ever to continue to study the school of Edward, in his memory. Long live the king. Much love ✌🏽✌🏽
@@xavierwalker3645you are lucky! the 5150 Kramer is my favorite. I have a 1984 Pacer imperial with an original style Floyd Rose because of it. Keep rocking!
@@DukeHard The 5150 series strat isn't a straight replica of the Kramer (for obvious reasons). The obvious and most glaring difference between the Kramer 5150 and the EVH 5150 series is the number of pickups; which aligned with Edward's later tastes, but steps away from the famous single humbucker/single volume knob that was the hallmark of the Kramer Pacer/Beretta guitars. No. I'm talking about a museum quality relic guitar like the Frankenstrat, but what the Kramer 5150 looked like in 1986 during the 5150 World Tour. Look at the guitar in Live Without a Net. All of it's scrapes and blemishes. The worn out paint on the arm rest portion of the body. Do it all. lol
That sounded awesome Austin.I get frustrated playing EVH sometimes,not because it's hard he just has that sound that's hard to replicate(for me anyways).Great video.
Wow. $2000 guitars sound expensive to me...I can't imagine having the balls to take apart a $30,000 guitar. (I didn't even know a guitar could cost that much!) You sir must be seriously experienced in the luthier biz. Thanks for the guitar porn. It's insane the level of detail the Fender people went to in aging even the tiny screws, and recreating the most immaculate level of detail. Thanks for giving us an eye into that incredible workmanship.
About the "cigarette burns" i'm most certain that is actually a cigarette burn. As a heavy smoker myself that ruined its fair share of wood appliances and headstocks i know a nicotine and tar stain when i see one ahahahaha. Either was that or it was that or the guys on custom shop had some magic juice. Which it is not impossible because their techniques of aging are almost the same as a lot of diorama and modeling guys uses (i build car models i recognize some)
Eddie made his first Frankenstein guitar for about 500 bucks and a little elbow grease and its a converted Strat that was painted white with black stripes…25K is just ridiculous but there are some suckers out there will lay down the dough just to say they have it however I will say that my $950 striped series that came out later on as an affordable version for the rest of the world it is the only guitar I bought that I never had a mess with and plays awesome with stainless steel frets
26:00 If you’re playing the “Beat It” riff for reference that’s great, but Ed only did the solo. The rest of the guitar tracks were done by Steve Lukather.
DIDN’T HEAR YOU MENTION THE CRAZIEST PART!: The humbucker actually doesn’t produce ANY electrical output when they hooked it up to the volt meter…so by all means it shouldn’t work at all! They had to do side wizardry. Guitar world has an amazing write up on it if you can track it down
Love my “working man” EVH Franky relic ! …tuned down half a step it really gets the vibe. It’s not 100% accurate, basswood body, not original Floyd, etc. Been chasing the EVH tone since 78’ …..it really gets close and it’s a ton of fun to play ! 😎
@@Ub3rGr00SS I would be too overcome with anxiety that I'd put something back incorrectly. Recording the process helps, but just imagine what could happen if a dog barked or a kid came barging in while handling a pickup. Twitch and it's gone.
Nice to see this up close! Makes perfect sense that Fender made it. It's their body shape and headstock design. At the end of the day, it's a modded Strat.
@@claudevieaul1465 are you taking about the repro, or what Eddie built? Either way, it's faithful to the original and sounded and played? Well, I think history is our judge on that one.
Brilliant effort to take apart a guitar of that value. I was considering buying one of these when they were released. I knew it was crazy money but it’s a crazy guitar that actually got me into playing in the first place. RIP Ed. The legend will last for many generations of guitar lovers.
Nice video. Love EVH’s music and the frankenstrat looks great. The only thing I can see wrong, for historical purposes, the Beat It riff you play at 25:48. Eddie played lead guitar on the song. Steve Lukather from Toto played that part. Other than that, great vid. 👍
Probably the most recognized guitar in the history of rock. I always wanted to see the internals of one of these, just to see how he actually set it up.
That was the one thing that players like Steve Vai had over Eddie. They could pull up their whammy bar. Eddie's tremolo was right to the wood, which is CRAZY to think about, as he was the most dynamic player I have ever seen next to Hendrix! I wonder what Eddie would have done with an upwards pulling tremolo. He could have written the book on it. I often think of the Whammy pedal and how easy it makes the note go down and octave or two, but that is not the same as ACTUALLY pulling down the bar an octave or two. Eddie was pure excitement in the search of the sublime. And MAN did he find it.
One of the best videos you've ever done. The detail you went into was excellent (as ever) and you were clearly impressed by the feel and sound of the guitar as well as the detail that went into its construction. The detailed info about how the trem block was set really surprised me - thanks for making such a great video.
Didn't know you had it in you to pull off some proper EVH style playing, but you nailed it!!! And I appreciate you taking apart yet another very expensive guitar for your viewers. Very cool!
Wow, my favorite video of yours by a long shot! Thanks for doing this and taking the guitar apart to show all the details. I think Chip Ellis worked on these. Amazing replica!
![Lethal Company Music Video 🎵 "Follow The Orders" [VERSION A]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QeooZB4Z7RA/mqdefault.jpg)
It was fun to document this guitar! Long overdue
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Getting into the fenders, I like it 👍🇨🇦🍁
Very cool Austin, great review (nice playing).
Thank You for documenting this historic instrument.
Austin what's the radius????
@@craigdonovan5068 A quick search for this guitar's specifications turned up the following;
Ash Body
Maple Neck
1-5/8” Nut Width
Schaller Tuning Machines
12”-16” Compound Radius
21 Jumbo Dunlop 6100 Frets
Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Pickups
Single Volume Control
Floyd Rose Tremolo
Screw-Eye Strap Hooks
Aged Chrome Hardware
25.5” Scale Length
@@hkguitar1984 that's what I thought, I just know it changed over the years...
This cracks me up. EVH mods himself a banged-up, strat copy for a couple hundred bucks, and then, a few years later, has Music Man make him a really nice signature model. And then the Fender CS painstakingly recreates the banged-up monstrosity, and charges as much as a brand new Honda Accord... I mean, I get it, it's kinda cool, but it's really, really funny.
It is ironic how guitar guys think ahahahhaa.
Totally agree
Man, you hit it right on the head. "Bizarre" is a word you could use in place of "ironic." Lolol. 🤣
@@dank8865 I just imagine Eddie being like 'Dudes, I replaced that guitar when I was 27 years old. You think if I had $25,000 to spend, I'd have had a guitar that looked like it was held together with duct tape and prayers???"
This and Gibson making a slash LP reissue, that was actually a Gibson replica are some of the finest ironies of this market.
It probably felt so weird for Eddie to see people pay $25,000 for a guitar he spent a couple hundred bucks on and is held together by duct tape and dreams 😂
Haha
"And that's dreams are made of" lmfao
Well, how much were those dreams worth?
It sold for 6 million. Biggest of all time
It's even more wild to think that flight case cost probably around what Eddie payed for his strat that's held together with duct tape
“Factory rust” I’m going to use that in my next Reverb listing.
I've used that before on FB Marketplace when describing an old Chevy. I spend too much money on my trucks so I only own and upload Epiphone videos 😂
😂
@@AuntAlnico4 I've got 2 deans and couple Washburns now.
I can finally say that I’m at the same skill level as Eddie...
in terms of soldering.
that's the one thing i'm better than him at
The sheer audacity to take apart a guitar at this price point just to document is why this is one of, if not, the best guitar channels around.
I would think that by removing all the precise connections and mountings the custom shop did just tanked that guitars value
you say audacity like it's a good thing.
I agree, unless you are a professional luthier or have an absurd amount of experience I believe it’s better leave it untouched (specially on rare instruments).
It somehow reminds me of people that order expensive and rare wines just because they can pay for it.
And being the only one to do something out of the ordinary as taking apart a 40k guitar doesn’t necessarily make it a wise decision.
@@azt3ca the bonus here is the video, having exact proof this is real makes this more attractive to certain buyes
He’s probably the only guy that can get away w it since his selling power would offset the devalue factor some. But yeah, a lot of us cringing through this one.
My dad works at Fender and I remember when they were making these, he was asking us to keep an eye out for 1971 quarters. Family and friends gave him probably 15 or 20 for this guitar over the course of a couple months, mostly because they played poker at my grandma's house in Corona. He also got a photo holding the original when it was at the Fender facility!
Lol. Why're you lying? My father was the builder of those replicas.
@@michaelcordero5588 Haha, that’s fantastic! I don’t know what your story is or how it contradicts. This is what I know.
I saw a vid online a week or so ago about this project. The lead was saying that finding the reflectors was about the most difficult part. They were some obscure truck reflectors made by a small company. Eddie said just threw them on to do something different. He really loved how these replicas played.
@@Pyruh360Chip built the prototype, genius. The production run had a TEAM of builders working on them.
@@Pyruh360 Because you don't use your real name in social media
I know this is above and beyond in terms of price but still, this blows anything I've seen from Gibson out of the water in terms of aging, relicing, and attention to detail. Amazing.
But I cant imagine building this, to me it would be impossible to get the energy and motivation for tons of painstaking work to make a horrible-looking finished product. Hope the builders got paid well. And as far as buying it; I would only want the real one, not a pretend one no matter how exclusive.
Oh snap you got the video done early!
I just watched your video on one. I was very shocked. I was like what’s with all the evh guitars now!?!
@@malikkhader602 Its the Trogly and Robert Baker EVH frankenstraturday!
Have you been secretly teaching Trogly to play?
Mr. Baker you couldn’t talk him out of taking it apart? The custom shop made them to the exact specs and he took it apart!!!! I’m subscribed to your channel and you take your guitars to a respected repairman for a switch!!! He can’t take a guitar like that apart and ask the money he paid for it! It’s not a custom shop guitar anymore! Troglys not EVH WTF!!!! He’s gotta understand you don’t take something like this apart!!!
Robert I saw your vid with the Mexican made EVH great vid. By the way I want your Les Paul lol. I got some killer guitars I can send you to try out like the Jason Becker Jackson Prototype that they only built two custom shops.
I was an assistant manager at guitar center at that time. My store was lucky enough to actually get one in. It’s the same tribute they did with Claptons blackie! Amazing art piece!
We also got a few of the original Srv custom shop sig strat
@@idleave ... That's what I'm talking about. I'll take a #1, to go...
They had one at Scottsdale Guitar Center when they first came out...$25,000 price tag and all.
Wow you have seen an original version???? Congratulations!
Yet this guitar is still less banged up than most of the other guitars at guitar center.
Irónic, a $25k replica guitar of a guitar that was Made of lefotver parts.
Really does blow your mind...
Boomer money 😅
@@camh4656 yup. Crazy stupid money for a guitar that was only good because of Van Halen.
LMFAO 😂😂 Sad but, true.
We had two in the guitar shop I worked in, here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They were amazingly detailed pieces of art. I remember what amazed me was that the craftsman had managed to reproduce convincing tape "gunk" on the wiring mess around the pickups and both of the examples we had were exactly the same. Same cracks on the bicycle reflectors on the back. They even used genuine 1971 quarters under the bridge. I know that we sold one to a local guy that was a touring guitar tech for Metallica and Madonna. He came off a tour and snapped one up. These things really belonged in a museum, they were THAT detailed.
Things that are made to be collectable, are not collectable. Id play the hell out of it.
According to the many inyerviews I have read regarding this guitar, this is what I know. The body is a Boogie Body second that Eddie got from Wayne Charvel's shop. It was in a box with discounted parts and it was in his price range. Remember, Eddie was a struggling musician at this time and he tried to save money wherever he could.Remember, he used to boil his old strings in order to get as much life out of them as he could (strings were expensive then). The humbucker pick-up was from an old 335 that he had destroyed at some point (ya gotta break a few eggs to get a perfect omelet). He potted these in surfers wax in order to reduce feedback. He tried many others like Dimarzios, but they all just melted, except the PAF's! The volume knob on the B&W era was really a tone knob with the cap soldered to it. He must have changed it at somepoint.The orginal fender bridge was replaced with the floyd. It has a quarter screwed in there in order to level the bridge as Eddie only liked to dive bomb and not pull up (he probably didn't know how to properly set-up a Floyd at that time so just improvised this set-up with the quarter). Regarding the single coil and the toggle switch, Eddie said in several interviews that he installed it in order to screw the companies that were copying his guitars and never intended them to work (at least that's what he said in the interviews). The Fender neck used to have a Gibson logo on it, but 5that disappeared over time and the numerous changes on this guitar. The reflector's he said he picked up at a truck stop somewhere along the line. LOL. Eddie preferred tall and narrow fret's on his guitars and the Peavey Wolfgangs used to come with Dunlop 6105 wire (just an FYI). The original pickguard on the black n white era was a solid black one that Eddie cut out of plastic. The portion of pickguard that is on this era may have been a different one as it's a 3ply "BWB" (my guiess here). The cavity for the humbucker Eddie had used a chisel to remove the wood. Note: Most of this info comes from interviews compiled by a GP magazine release from the mid 80's that I have. Eddie did change some of this info from time to time in later interviews for whatever reason. lol.
Eddie was well known for throwing out red herring's so noone truly knew what he was doing or why he was doing it except him. I doubt that Wolfie even knows the truth about everything. Lol
There's also pictures of Eddie playing a sunburst Strat modified in this same way from the club days. I've wondered if Frankie wasn't really the sunburst Strat and the bumblebee from VHII was the only Boogie Bodies guitar.
that coin thing never made sense to me, it would be useful if he floated the trem slightly, not if it was actually decked right against the body. That or the neck sat too high in the pocket and he had to jack the action up.
I drew that guitar on every binder and desk (even my jeans) as a kid in the 80s. Looks great.
At 15, I saw him play it 3rd row center stage in 1980... afterwards, I couldn't hear for 2 days..
@@cclark3905 That’s awesome. You probably paid $25 to see that show. By their last tour you would have been lucky if you paid $2500.
@@RogueA.I.
Nobody had big money like $25 dollars back in the early 80's.
🤣😂🤣🤣😂
My first VH concert was only $10 and general admission too (means you can sit or stand where ever you claim first dibs by getting there first).
Arenas eventually stopped doing general admission seating after the Who concert in Cincinnati in 1980.
But some promoters still do GA for smaller shows.
Like the one recently in Houston (Nov 2021).
Is the framerate choppy in some parts for anyone else?
Might be youtube still rendering the higher resolution
Yeah kinda
Yes around 3:40
Yeah very
Yeah, it's really bad. I started watching this on my phone, thought it was that, switched over to my TV, looked even worse there.
My favorite part about these guitars, and there’s a video somewhere showing this, is that EVH wasn’t able to tell the difference between his original and the first one produced for him from the custom shop until he wrote on the neck of the real one
They've got it replicated down to the cigarette burns on the headstock. The dirt or stains on the neck and headstock looks like oily dirt. Maybe from working on the old VW beetle that he worked on . The reflectors are like the ones on my cargo trailer.
@@johnnyola2205 That’s the story I heard too, from an interview with him.
I think the cigarette burn on the headstock on the original one was bigger, though.
Probably the closest we'll get to tearing apart a Frankie...great job
It's just my opinion, but:
*a custom shop replica represents exactly the opposite of what the frankenstrat is supposed to be*
This said, I'd like to appreciate the effort Trogly put into this, specially on the demo. Nice job, man.
Oh my god, I’ve NEVER been this excited from a notification. 😱
Hey! Another EVH fan named Zane
@@zanem4526 Oh, cool! Likewise!
I'm not a hard rock / metal guy, but GOD DAMN, Eddie was a true master guitarist.
28:45 heart attack right there lol
🤦♂️
Yeah - don’t want it getting banged up!
@@BigBlueRabbit lol
I remember the Guitar World magazine this was talked about it. The custom shop did EXTENSIVE work on it, like super detail down to the smallest detail. My high school self drooled over it, and now they have that one relic evh that's around. I really want to grab one.
And to think Eddie paid $50 for a rejected "second" ash body, and $80 for the neck.
This guitar series is a work of art by the master crafters at Fender. That said, here’s my take on it: $25,000 will buy you the illusion of holding Eddie’s actual guitar. For many, it’s worth that & more. I don’t knock it at all, but the way I see it Eddie made it for himself, so if you want to get the feeling of walking a mile in Eddie’s shoes you’d have to build your own guitar out of cheap parts as you outgrew the ones you could buy because of the vision you have about your playing. Personally, I’m not a fan of expensive guitars. I own a Fender Tele & a fretless Fender Jazz bass (both Mexican) and I love them, but I have a no-name cheap flying V that I call “the lab” because I use it to experiment with pickups, pots, knobs, bridges, and other gear. It was 1/4 the price of my tele & JB, but it’s also something that no one else has & it has the ‘tone’ & makes the sounds I want for how I play, and I’m certain Eddie would totally dig it. That, in my view, is how to own a Frankestein guitar - or in my case, a ‘Franken-V.’
The double-sided tape for his picks, he was one of the first to start throwing them into the audience as he was playing (not losing them). When standing GA (General Admission) was still a thing in arenas, I remember people would make a b-line for the side of the stage where Ed would stand to increase the chances of catching one. I've see full out pitched battles for them that would make a mosh pit seem like a bible study class.
@Jay
I was gonna say something when I heard Trog say 'lost picks'.
But I read the comments first.
Because I figured someone beat me to it.
My friend caught one of those VH picks Eddie flicked to the audience back in the early 80's.
He only let me hold it once... after begging him to let me hold it after he showed it to me.
And yes GA seating was so much fun back in the day.
I paid $10 for my first VH concert.
I'll never forget running down the ramp to the floor and getting within the first 10 rows.
The security guard that opened my door was late opening.
Or I would have got front row.
I heard rumors that guys would pay the security guards to open their door first.
Those were the days!
I was so disappointed when DLR picked up a bottle of Jack from the stage floor and started slamming it.
Because I could see the bubbles and foam on top. So I knew it was tea.
Real whiskey doesn't bubble and foam!
🤗
Did you get to see VH before they broke up after Nineteen Eighty Four?
I'm glad i did!
I was also lucky enough to see AIC open for VanHagar in the early 90's too.
Such a great episode and quite a surprise! The footage on the details demonstrates just how far the Fender Custom shop went into this creation. Well done.
What a choice of guitars to review, thank you Trogdog, and welcome back Troglodytes!
there used to be a great Fender video/film where Eddie and the luthier talk through the process of making the limited edition Frankensteins, the cigarette burns are real, the dude who recreated the patina, and I think actually built all the guitars and worked out timing for how long to let the cigarette burn haha. It used to be on youtube and was in two parts, I would imagine it is still around if you haven't seen it
Also the original neck for the Frankenstein, Eddie said he found in the dumpster in the back of a guitar shop when he was getting his first custom guitar made! What an insane story for a legendary guitar!
Between this and Brian May's Red Special (trem made from motorbike kickstand parts, neck HAND-WHITTLED with a penknife by May from a mantelpiece!) this is true rock & roll.
Eddie Van Halen purchased the reflectors at a truck stop back in the day.. they typically would be mounted on a semi. Not a bicycle
And the brand is SAFELITE.
Right on..
My friends built and setup these guitars and they are amazing!! I played one and it was the best playing Van Halen guitar I ever played - and I have played them all.
The reason the quarter is further back away from the Floyd is that in the mid '80s when it had a Kramer hockeystick neck Tom Anderson did some work on it - including moving the bridge. Apparently it was so far out of position it would have been impossible to intonate properly when Eddie recorded the classic albums with it (well, the ones once the Floyd was installed). So it did actually sit under the base of the Floyd at one time, but became purely decorative once the bridge was moved.
@Kyle
Thanks for clearing that up.
Because I know for a fact the quarter was under the Floyd when I saw VH back in the early 80's (pre-hockey stick).
So I figured there was a reason it wasn't under the Floyd anymore.
Since we're sharing trivia:
That bottle of Jack DLR drank during concerts back in the day was just tea.
I could see the bubbles and foam in the bottle when he grabbed it from the stage floor and started slamming it down.
I instanlty became one 15 year old disappointed, and disillusioned Rock-N-Roll fan, at that time.
Because I knew that real whiskey doesn't bubble and foam.
What else about the Rock-N-Roll lifestyle was an illusion?
🤔
But Eddie, Michael, and Alex rocked the arena!
So, I didn't remain disappointed for too long.
🤗
Yea that’s mind blowingly insane that the Fender Custom Shop would take on such a project, hats off to them.
Loved all the details. Priceless if you plan on building one.
I had the honor of playing one, it's a absolute beast
This will help so many EVH guitar builds in the future and help answer questions on the smaller details of the guitar. Oh and Trogly, did you know at one point (late 1978) Eddie placed a Gibson logo on the headstock? In some photos of the original you can see it. When Fender made these in their custom shop in 2007, I didn’t think they were going to add that. I enjoy your channel 🤘🏻
No one else on earth could have pulled this off. This is one of the best ones you've ever done. Someone somewhere right now is thinking of refinancing their house. Beautiful. If you can, keep this one for the museum.
I can’t believe you tore down this beauty 🤷♂️
(Beat it 😂)
Glad he didn’t clean the neck 😆
according to the builder, the company that made those reflectors (which he got from a truck stop) went out of business decades ago. To find them is a huge amount of dedication on the part of the builder. The most detail oriented part has to be a small piece of gaffer tape which Eddie accidentally left on the guitar when he painted it back in 78-79. The builder noticed this when he was inspecting it and you can see it on the replica at around 9:20 on the middle pickup section.
The story goes, from what I've heard, is that the neck pickup and the misplaced switch were to throw off companies trying to make unofficial replicas of the early frankenstrat after the what happened with some of his other guitars
R.I.P Eddie
"I'm not a big biking reflector guy"
I'd be concerned if you were
For it to be truly authentic all the bodies used to replicate the Frankenstrat would have to be "seconds" from Charvel like the original. You know the story, they were seconds because they had knots in the wood were not up to standard. Eddie didn't care about that and he wound up creating one of the most iconic guitars and made some of the coolest sounds ever on it. Great video and review of this gem.
Love how $100 imports and collectable works of art both have to go through the same procedure of disassembly on your workbench.
Thank you for doing this video, it was awesome. I bought the Mexican Frankie for 1,899.00 now they are 1,999.00. Still at the higher price it is well worth it. I have 6,000.00 strats CS that I love but this is my new favorite at this time. It does have Mojo and likes to be played hard, stays in tune and the neck is butter to play. Buy one if you can.
Boogie body became Warmoth. I fretted some of the best necks in the world there.
Amazing they hand designed it 300 times in the custom shop. So much detail and care.
Damn he got really good at playing guitar over the year
RIP EVH 1st one of my favorite guitar dudes ever, bootcamp ended in San Diego in Jan 1980 with my tapedeck and head phones got some tye stick and Hawaiin went to rheend of a jetty listened all day long like 5 times. One of the best days in memory in my life. Van Halen Van Halen hell yea to live in the best time of earth's history musically when creativity to extreme was real not made up on a computer..
Wow! Trogly getting his EVH on! That's cool.
Very surprised you took it apart. I remember the videos when these came out, really wanting one and knowing I’d never have one. One minor nitpick - the guitar parts on “Beat It” aside from the solo (I.e the riff) were actually played by Steve Lukather.
19:36 It's broken because Eddie was trying to attach that contraption of his that allowed to play the guitar horizontally (notice the screw holes). He later installed it in his Kramer 5150.
What a fantastic video, thank you. I was smiling all the way through it. That you have the nerve (to be frank, the experience and expertise) to tear apart a work of art only makes it better. How else will we know that Fender did such an incredible job on details like aging screws! And the sound - you should be very proud of your playing these days, Mr. Trogly. I’ve been following your channel since almost the beginning, you have advanced from “enthusiastic “ to “accomplished” as a player! Thanks again for your hard work on maintaining such an informative and entertaining channel.
Amazing guitar trogly!!! I'm so glad you got your hands on one of these. Thank you for these amazing guitar documentaries!!! Can't wait to check out the museum when you get that going!!!
Who ever did the aging was awesome,I agree
Fender did way better relic job than Gibson
I wonder if it smells like cigarette smoke.
Funny how evh made it with cheapest of parts, now they making for 20k 😂😂😂
When I used to build plastic model kits, the junker car with primer gray panels, a flat tire, and a big ol dent in the passenger side door was the biggest challenge.
Cheapest parts? I'd hardly call a Floyd Rose, a Seymour Duncan pickup and Schaller tuners cheap...
It turns out that those reflectors were very hard to find. They were truck reflectors from back in the 70s. And that quarter is apparently very difficult to find as well. It turns out that there were limited minting of those 1971 quarters. All in all more of the mystique that is EVH.
Rest in peace Eddie: that one guitar and 10 fingers changed the world of rock ‘n’ roll.
Those quarters are relatively easy to find and the reflectors on the replica are not accurate
@@adamhlava6970 ...
According to Edward Van Halen, it is ridiculously accurate. Down to the reflectors.
Dude in 1971 Denver made 258,634,428 quarters..
@@timcarter1164 The red reflectors and the oblong reflectors have the wrong patterns inlaid in them. The real ones are made by Cortina. These are not Cortinas. Ed was mistaken on that point.
@@adamhlava6970 ...
Always willing to be shown when I'm wrong. And while I agree, at that price point that guitar should be perfect, we are getting nitpicky about the pattern in the reflectors on the back of a guitar which has absolutely nothing to do with the sound or the playability and blah blah blah. Now, again at that price, everything should be exactly right. But considering Chip did it all through pictures, I'm still pretty impressed.
Just finished the video at 1.5x speed, slowed it down in the play demo, it sounds beautiful. Thank you for documenting these guitars!
This pickup (=13.77k) is closer to a Dimarzio Super Distortion (=13.68k) than a typical P.A.F. (7.75k - 8.15k). In an interview of Eddie I read somewhere many years ago, he said that he unwound a pickup and wound it to a different bobbin that was stuck on a turntable to rotate at 33 1/3 rpm. Then he put it to 78 rpm to do it faster but the pickup was tossed off the turntable to the wall and he started all over again in slower speed. Maybe he unwound a Super Distortion and wound it to a P.A.F. bobbin, because Super D. has allen pole screws and this one has a slug coil and a flat screw coil like a P.A.F.. Many Eddie fanatics support the idea of the VH1 tone being a Super Distortion and not a P.A.F..
You out-did yourself on this one, Austin. This has to be your best yet. Outstanding on the detailed analysis of this axe. Never have I seen this done before on such an iconic guitar; an eternal hurrah on a great journey thru time, effort and detail! Way to go, as well, Fender!
The dots are rosewood. The bar threads in to the escutcheon.
It's funny that in an interview, eddie said that he actually preferred playing with the replica rather than the original.
A superb re-creation of the iconic guitar that put Eddie in the spotlight and hearts of his fans. Nicely shown Trogly!
I love your channel and glad I found it. I worked at Kramer from 84-88. I painted half the guitars in that period. I had one of eddies actual guitars from 81 that had a crack from the tremelo but I traded it for a studio Les Paul. One of those "shouldn't have done that" moment. But this brought back some memories. The quarter he must have added later cause it wasn't there at that time.
F A N T A S T I C ' ' ' ...what a tone' what a sound ...sooperb' video ...we've all heard the stories about the Frankenstrat and now we see all the detail up close' great video surprise, thank you Mr Trogly, Rest in Peace Eddie.
This is something i never thought you would review
I was surprised when i saw this notification
It all started with a late-night email from a viewer...
@@Trog as I would guess many reviews do! 😂
I love it! One of the most iconic hard/heavy rock guitars used a classic 335 humbucker on the bridge.
As a 35+ year VH fan, I found myself smiling the entire time.
EVH needs to get off their butts and make a Fender Custom Shop version of the legendary Kramer 5150 guitar which Edward actually used longer than the Frankie, both in the studio (1984, 5150 and OU812) and on tour. The 5150 guitar was Edward's guitar of choice during the 80s and he retired the Frankie because of it. That's saying something.
Watching you disassemble the Relic Frankie triggered me hard because of all the attention to detail they made into cloning the original. I was thinking "is he going to re-align the screw heads again when he re-assembles it?" Triggered hard. lol
The tremolo was a prototype installed to Frankie. Maybe why it looked different. Edward didn't like pulling up on the tremolo bar. He only dive bombed. The tremolo was set up to prevent pulling up, but gave him plenty of room to dive bomb.
Thanks for the video. For the first time I noticed Edward's fingerprint on the side of the switch from when he "pressed It" into place while attaching it to the body. Detail upon detail. I could look at this guitar for hours upon hours and still find new things to gawk at.
They did :) it's called the 5150 series.
@@DukeHard I am lucky enough to own one. It was my childhood dream to one day own one of his signature series guitars. The original striped series just didn’t do it for me. I’ve seen a million Bumblebees, “clean” frankenstrats (the red white and black one modeled after the paint scheme of the Frankie), and the classic B&W from Van Halen I. I’m not a huge fan of the Music Man, later Wolfgang, styled guitars. They just don’t do it for me. When I came across the 5150 series? I honestly wasn’t even a huge fan of 1984/post-Roth era Van Halen work, or his choice of guitars for that matter, but seeing that kind of made it come full circle for me. It called to me. I played it, and bought it and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. The only thing I hate is for a 1,300 dollar guitar (they go for 1,999 now, from what I’ve assessed), they could at least hook you up with a hard shell case. I went ahead and bought one, just because it was a pretty monumental moment for me and represented pretty much every single reason of WHY I got into playing guitar. I’m not a crying man, but I purchased my 5150 a month before Eddie’s passing, and you’d better believe I shed a tear. Couldn’t believe he was gone. Still can’t, and it’s been a year now. But it gives me more of a reason than ever to continue to study the school of Edward, in his memory. Long live the king. Much love ✌🏽✌🏽
@@xavierwalker3645you are lucky! the 5150 Kramer is my favorite. I have a 1984 Pacer imperial with an original style Floyd Rose because of it. Keep rocking!
@@DukeHard The 5150 series strat isn't a straight replica of the Kramer (for obvious reasons). The obvious and most glaring difference between the Kramer 5150 and the EVH 5150 series is the number of pickups; which aligned with Edward's later tastes, but steps away from the famous single humbucker/single volume knob that was the hallmark of the Kramer Pacer/Beretta guitars.
No. I'm talking about a museum quality relic guitar like the Frankenstrat, but what the Kramer 5150 looked like in 1986 during the 5150 World Tour. Look at the guitar in Live Without a Net. All of it's scrapes and blemishes. The worn out paint on the arm rest portion of the body. Do it all. lol
@@swordmonkey6635 they made The 5150 striped guitar
I can't believe you bought one of these. I was fortunate enough to see one in person back in '07 at Chicago Music Exchange.
That sounded awesome Austin.I get frustrated playing EVH sometimes,not because it's hard he just has that sound that's hard to replicate(for me anyways).Great video.
Watch Seymour Duncan repair Slash’s pickups and then get back to me!
Wow. $2000 guitars sound expensive to me...I can't imagine having the balls to take apart a $30,000 guitar. (I didn't even know a guitar could cost that much!) You sir must be seriously experienced in the luthier biz. Thanks for the guitar porn. It's insane the level of detail the Fender people went to in aging even the tiny screws, and recreating the most immaculate level of detail. Thanks for giving us an eye into that incredible workmanship.
Bro I just bought a Squire Jaguar for like £340 and I'm afraid to mod it
Everybody gangsta until trogly takes eddie van halens guitar apart
Great tear down. Just surprised Trogly managed to resist getting the lemon oil out.
About the "cigarette burns" i'm most certain that is actually a cigarette burn. As a heavy smoker myself that ruined its fair share of wood appliances and headstocks i know a nicotine and tar stain when i see one ahahahaha.
Either was that or it was that or the guys on custom shop had some magic juice. Which it is not impossible because their techniques of aging are almost the same as a lot of diorama and modeling guys uses (i build car models i recognize some)
soldering iron?
Eddie made his first Frankenstein guitar for about 500 bucks and a little elbow grease and its a converted Strat that was painted white with black stripes…25K is just ridiculous but there are some suckers out there will lay down the dough just to say they have it however I will say that my $950 striped series that came out later on as an affordable version for the rest of the world it is the only guitar I bought that I never had a mess with and plays awesome with stainless steel frets
Fender did a beautiful job replicating that guitar. Now that I've said that I can't see paying $30,000 for that pos or any relic for that matter.
New appreciation for Trogly watching the shredding. Well done!!
Thanks for this Trog, very very cool.
26:00 If you’re playing the “Beat It” riff for reference that’s great, but Ed only did the solo. The rest of the guitar tracks were done by Steve Lukather.
DIDN’T HEAR YOU MENTION THE CRAZIEST PART!:
The humbucker actually doesn’t produce ANY electrical output when they hooked it up to the volt meter…so by all means it shouldn’t work at all! They had to do side wizardry. Guitar world has an amazing write up on it if you can track it down
Love my “working man” EVH Franky relic ! …tuned down half a step it really gets the vibe. It’s not 100% accurate, basswood body, not original Floyd, etc. Been chasing the EVH tone since 78’ …..it really gets close and it’s a ton of fun to play ! 😎
@davis
Do you boil new strings before putting them on like Eddie did too?
I'm lazy. So I stopped boiling them long long ago.
Only Trogly has the guts to tear down a $30k guitar!
I almost cried when he did that😂
@@Ub3rGr00SS I would be too overcome with anxiety that I'd put something back incorrectly. Recording the process helps, but just imagine what could happen if a dog barked or a kid came barging in while handling a pickup. Twitch and it's gone.
@@thejeffersonlee lol
And yet use a marker to connect a strap and then damn near drop the thing. You're one of a kind Trog!
By far the best review on EVH on youtube (with also a little clean playing) very enjoyable
RIP King Edward!
This is incredibly useful for those who are considering building their own tribute Frankenstrat. Thanks!
That’s one of my dream guitars!
Even so called FINE ART is shite until the artist is revealed.
Nice to see this up close!
Makes perfect sense that Fender made it. It's their body shape and headstock design. At the end of the day, it's a modded Strat.
But they still couldn't get the neck to fit perfectly in the pocket, there's massive gaps visible 🤣🤣🤣
@@claudevieaul1465 are you taking about the repro, or what Eddie built? Either way, it's faithful to the original and sounded and played? Well, I think history is our judge on that one.
@@claudevieaul1465 and so?
Trogly's in the HOUSE!!!
The House of Pain
Brilliant effort to take apart a guitar of that value. I was considering buying one of these when they were released. I knew it was crazy money but it’s a crazy guitar that actually got me into playing in the first place. RIP Ed. The legend will last for many generations of guitar lovers.
Nice video. Love EVH’s music and the frankenstrat looks great. The only thing I can see wrong, for historical purposes, the Beat It riff you play at 25:48. Eddie played lead guitar on the song. Steve Lukather from Toto played that part. Other than that, great vid. 👍
Yup, was thinking the same when he played that.
@nb
Ya Quincy Jones hired Eddie to make a solo for Michael.
Eddie never touched the rhythm riffs.
Probably the most recognized guitar in the history of rock. I always wanted to see the internals of one of these, just to see how he actually set it up.
Thanks Trog what a treat never thought I'd see one of those up close and personal 👍🤘
That was the one thing that players like Steve Vai had over Eddie. They could pull up their whammy bar. Eddie's tremolo was right to the wood, which is CRAZY to think about, as he was the most dynamic player I have ever seen next to Hendrix! I wonder what Eddie would have done with an upwards pulling tremolo. He could have written the book on it. I often think of the Whammy pedal and how easy it makes the note go down and octave or two, but that is not the same as ACTUALLY pulling down the bar an octave or two. Eddie was pure excitement in the search of the sublime. And MAN did he find it.
AMAZING!!!!! Thank you for this one!
One of the best videos you've ever done. The detail you went into was excellent (as ever) and you were clearly impressed by the feel and sound of the guitar as well as the detail that went into its construction. The detailed info about how the trem block was set really surprised me - thanks for making such a great video.
I thought Eddie filmed himself playing Eruption on each of the 300 and that is what should be on the disc.
Holy shit that would be amazing if true, show us the disc content Trog!
It’s most likely all the same interviews from guitar world with Eddie and the builders. I think they’re on RUclips somewhere.
I just checked and he personally played Eruption on all of the Super '78 Eruption models, a different beast.
No, he did that with the 78 Eruption relic.
Yeah that was the 2020 eruption relic that he did that on, there was only 8 of them 🤯
Didn't know you had it in you to pull off some proper EVH style playing, but you nailed it!!! And I appreciate you taking apart yet another very expensive guitar for your viewers. Very cool!
Proper? Poorly executed, made me cringe. If you can't pull it off, don't record it.
This is insane
Wow, my favorite video of yours by a long shot! Thanks for doing this and taking the guitar apart to show all the details. I think Chip Ellis worked on these. Amazing replica!