Frankenstrat Templates How To Keep That

He equipped the Frankenstrat with a PAF (patent applied for) pickup removed from his Gibson ES-335, potting the pickup in paraffin wax to reduce microphonic feedback (an older technique).

King Crimson fan.

Posted Oct 10, 2017 11:52 AM n nnn n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n 22 n n n n n nn n nn n Eddie Van Halen was asked on what was it like building his iconic Frankenstrat guitar, to which he told Music Radar: Let me start at the beginning.

When I first started playing guitar, I was at the local music store, which wasnt even a music store, it was kind of like a Radio Shack that also sold musical instruments, it was called Lafayette Music.

I fell in love with this hollow-body 12-string because of the neck, and the first thing I did was I took six strings off, because it was a 12-string, and I didnt want 12 They didnt have what I wanted in the store, so it had already started there Then, I got a paper route; we didnt have any money and my parents couldnt afford to buy us equipment.

So what do I do I take the chisel to it right away Because I wanted a humbucking pickup But in Pasadena, there were no Les Pauls with a humbucker in them.

There was one store in northern Pasadena - a Les Paul came in and they called me right away, Hey, weve got a Les Paul I walk in and I go, Ah, shit It aint the kind Clapton plays It didnt have humbuckers.

So, of course, I hunted down a humbucker, took a chisel and made the hole bigger and crammed it in there.

I was lucky enough to solder it back properly, then I painted it black and added binding.

The funny thing is, I only changed the bridge pickup and left the P-90 neck pickup.

Since my right hand was covering the bridge pickup, when I played people were going, How the fucks he getting that sound out of a P-90 Because thats all they could see.

Little did they know that Id stuck a humbucker in there Focusing on how Fender entered the story, Eddie said: From there, I bought a Strat, and the rest of the guys in the band hated the way it sounded And I couldnt really handle the hum, so it was just a logical marriage to - with the humbucker - cross a Gibson with a Fender.

Frankenstrat Templates How To Keep That

Because I loved the vibrato bar, and that was probably the most difficult thing; trying to figure out how to keep that thing in tune.

Everything from the bridge to the tuning peg had to be perfectly straight.

The only reason a tremolo goes out of tune is because of friction.

When you bring the vibrato bar down and if the string angle is wrong then its not gonna slide back to its original position.

A lot of accidents.

Like the one-pickup thing wasnt intentional.

Summing up his approach to gear in general, Van Halen said: If youre happy with what you have then fine, but if not then do something about it.

Even if theres something about my car I dont like, or anything for that matter, Ill change it, until I like it.

You can check out the specific Frankenstrat components below via Wikipedia.

Body and neck Van Halen bought the Frankenstrats ash body and maple neck for 130 from Wayne Charvel and Lynn Ellsworth, who sold Boogie Body bodies and necks.

Van Halen was able to purchase the factory second body at a discount price of 50 due to a knot in the wood.

The 80 neck had jumbo fret wire, and its truss rod was adjustable at the heel.

Bridge and pickup The guitarist originally used the Fender tremolo system from his 1958 Fender Stratocaster, adding the Floyd Rose later.