I thought it was a junked up Kramer?

What's even funnier about the $25k thing is that Eddie states (in the promo DVD put out by Fender) that he made the original from a $50 Boogie Bodies body from the seconds pile and an $80 Boogie Bodies neck.

I think he turned the same guitar into a "Kramer" by installing a Kramer neck (hockey stick style). I don't think he kept the same necks on for very long. No suprise Fender did'nt copy the original one to which he applied a "Gibson" logo on the headstock.......

This stuff is so well documented on the www it's amazing.

i had a charvel back in the mid-80's, but really had wanted a kramer. whatever happened to them? is charvel still around? i've been out of electric guitar circles for around 15 years...

Recently sold my original ESP George Lynch Kamikaze . I bought it new in 1986 for $1100. Sold it for $1300

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1183032812.jpg

Did you replace it with something a bit flashier? ;)

Hey, it was very fitting back in my "big hair" days.:D

Actually, before EVH had the Fender copy come out, he was making custom Charvel paint jobs and selling them on eBay for pretty silly money, but nothing like $30k. What I learned in an interview with him on the Fender thing was that a lot of the "secrets" to the brown sound he revealed in interviews in the 80's were lies to throw people off. In the more recent interview he says he did the opposite of a lot of what he said he did to his amps and guitars back in the day.

Anyway, the Frankenstrat has nothing to do with any Kramer. He just added Kramer necks later on, as he was always swapping necks on that guitar. He had nothing to do with Kramer until around 1982-83, when Dennis Berardi, pres. of Kramer, ran into Ed's guitar tech on a flight to LA. That started the whole thing.

Back before Kramer got real big, Dennis and the three other big wigs there were still driving around to music stores in the NJ/NY/PA area to pitch their guitars. One night they came into the store where my then guitar teacher worked (Dave Phillips Music & Sound in NJ). They had with them one of the Baretta prototypes. My teacher begged them to sell it to him and they finally did for $500 cash right there. That was a very sweet axe, but was later stolen when his house was burglarized. I've played so many Barettas that were made months or just a year later and the necks were totally different.

Then, when EVH started making the Ernie Ball axes, they actually took the neck from his Frankenstrat and measured every mm of it with a laser, programmed the machines with that info and so each neck felt just like his old worn one. Totally 180 deg. different from the old Baretta neck. I've owned several of each and there is no difference in the necks at all between the Ernie Ball guitars (unless the owner wore them down further). But the Barettas were all hit or miss.

LOL. Yes, that green knob is too much.

yep

Thats not my actual guitar. Mine had black knob and hardware. Hey now, I had some sense of style!!;)

Wasn't the story that Brians dad built that guitar for him when he was a kid?

Hey, I have an old Charvel strat in the closet... is it worth a bagillion dollars yet?

His dad and him workd on it together... supposedly the body came from an old chimney mantle or something. You kind find out all about this stuff on the internet these days.

So the question is, if NONE of the EVH guitar was Fender, why the **** do we have a Fender replica of it???

My fist guitar was an Ibanez RG570, all black with EMGs. That was a real fast playing guitar with an ultra slim neck; i kind of wish I never sold it because I cant do half the stuff on my strat that I was able to do on it. Either that or my dexterity sucks because im a 35 year old geezer

Nardis Custom Amps makes "Nigel Tufnel" faceplates for Marshall amps (an "autograph" plate for the JCM800), plus Master MV faceplates that "go to 11".

Money

Before Fender announced they were selling the Van Halen guitar, Id never read anything anywhere saying the original guitar was a Fender.

Charvel's maybe?

http://www.evh-guitars.com/

AFAIK, there is no Fender marking whatsoever on the EVH replica. I don't even know if the guy who's doing the guitars is a Fender employee or if he and EVH got Fender to put up the money and facilities for the project. Actually, the original Frankenstrat, the one on the cover of VH I, before he painted the guitar red, has but Fender part on it - the bridge. That was before Floyd Rose has come up with his locking system. Pretty amazing stuff when you listen to the first few VH albums and realize he did all that stuff without a locking bridge and nut and kept it all in tune. Blows my mind.

Ed put the Floyd Rose on the Frankenstrat sometime during the VHII tour, IIRC, but it was the version without the fine tuners then. Anyway, I don't think the original guitar was Charvel either. Charvel was a custom shop in those days, run out of the founder's garage. I think Ed paid him a visit and picked the body and neck from a pile of rejects, which were made by Linn Ellsworth and Boogie Bodies.

Then he tossed in a pickup from a Gibson ES-335, Schaller tuners, the Strat bridge, cut his own pick guard out of some plastic stock and thus was born the original Frankenstrat. A real beater, but the magic is in the hands that play it.

I thought Id read that the guitar was a San Dimas Charvel body dozens of times, but I defer to Rick for anything VH related. Maybe it wasn't a Charvel, but I know I've never heard of any association between EVH and Fender before the announcement of this guitar. I guess it depends on whoever is paying him the most $$$.

According to this, it's a collaboration between EVH and Fender

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/EVH-Eddie-Van-Halen-Frankenstein-Replica-Electric-Guitar?sku=513703&src=3WFRWXX

Shuie, I think the first real Charvel Ed used was the black one with the yellow stripes on the VHII jacket.

BTW, I read some interview with Ed where he said he recorded everything on the first three albums that didn't have whammy bar stuff with the cut up Ibanez Destroyer you can see on the cover of Women & Children First.

I've got a Guild D-35 acoustic once played by Ferdinand Porsche. Any takers for $25K? Comes with Porsche logo. :) Also, a case of Kenny G guitar picks for $10 ea.

Who are we criticizing, the people who make these products available or the people who buy them?

Sherwood

When you put it that way - I guess neither. These companies will only produce what the market demands - and if someone gets a kick out of spending $30k on a guitar, more power to 'em I say.

I know I certainly can't throw the first stone........


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1183072828.jpg

(No - that's not a $25K replica. It's the product of an 80's BC Rich, $40 in spray paint and one "liquid experience" too many.

Victor, I have the same Ernie Ball VH model, though in turquoise with a KILLER quilt and I have the same Les Paul with the same amber finish. What's with the rosewood neck on the EVH striped one?

The bumblebee looking thing was originally an 80's BC Rich - that is the original neck it came with (it's actually pretty good) so after modifying the headstoch (now hockeystick kramer style), I left it on.

Like I said, too much "Jimi Liquid".

There's now an easy payment plan for the EVH Frankenstrat. Just $22k down, and 5 small ($600) payments and that baby is yours! :p

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-CHA-2205150-000.html

What a rip I saw one on ebay the other day with a buy it now price is 22.5K

Yeah, but it's used now.....could be scratched up.

Just as long as the seller didn't leave any cigarette burns on it.

Can you imagine? Ohhhhh the humanity! ANd what if someone updated the 1971 coin to something else of incorrect vintage? The tone could'nt possibly be the same.

More exploitation. Here are my strats:

The one on the left is a completely bastardized and abused '90s Bonnie Raitt signature that I bought used 10 years ago and have set up early '60s style. It will get either a Dakota or Fiesta Red respray soon. The one of the right is a stock (for now) early '05 EJ signature, essentially setup like a '54.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1183606704.jpg

I've never seen a bridge pup slanted that way.

The body was routed and the pickup was reversed 10 years ago when I got it. Everything was upside down, Hendrix style. I need a new pickguard to put it back right. The tremelo was swapped also (see the route on the bass side). Its a complete basket case, and its not a particularly great piece of wood, but it has a date stamp in one of the cavities indicating it was made on my birthday so I've never thought to sell it, swap it, or throw it out.

This month's Guitar World magazine, has EVH on the cover...
fresh from rehab, sporting short locks and a tan. He actually
looks pretty good.

The interview is him promoting his new EVH line, which is
manufactured and distributed by Fender. Specifically, he is
promoting his new 5150 III amplifier...which he says is improved
in every way over the previous 2 generations. Has a different
look and grill too it.


While on the topic of gear....another important question for Guitarists / Porsche fanatics
is whether to spend $24,000 in an attempt to sound like Brian Setzer...
or buy a nice 87-89 G50 911...

hmmm...decisions decisions.

This:

http://www.samash.com/images/homepage/feat1_0706.jpg

Or This:

http://www.performance2and4.co.uk/img/3284cpetp.JPG

This is precisely the crap I'm on about. Where will it end? And - why is it priced the same as the EVH thing?

BUY THE 911!!!! :D

Some things are completely out of control. Oh well, if you've got the money, and it makes you happy, somehow...

Because people will buy it. Gibson did it with the Jimi Page Les Pauls and the Clapton Crossroads 335 ($13k) two years ago. Fender raised the bar to $25k with the Clapton strat last year. Fender owns Gretsch, so why shouldn't they get in on the action?

Im not real up to date on vintage Gretsch stuff, but Im pretty sure you can still get a really pristine vintage Orange 6120 for less than $20k. Thats where all of this stuff falls flat on its face for me. These are copies that are being sold for as much or more than the real vintage instruments.

I say buy a real vintage piece. The vintage guitar market is in a correction phase right now and there is a lot of good stuff out there. Unlike the 911, there is a very good chance that vintage guitars will actually appreciate significantly in the next year or so. They are also a lot more portable and easy to get your money back out of whenever that time comes around.

I recently sold a real original 1956 Gretsch DuoJet for $4K which was appraised by Gruhn guitars for $6K.

The guitar market is REAL soft right now, I really can't see anybody buying these new inflated artist models for $20K+.

What is the true cost to really build one of these things? It just seems completely unreasonable.

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lol..who is that guy, sonic?