Evh Frankenstrat? FrankenTele?

Freddy-Bl00D

So everynight i look at gear on al those lovely sites where the photos are very shiny and its better not to ask for the price.... Then i just remind myself that the plastic is still on my american deluxe strat whom i purchased about 2 weeks ago... But thats the problem!! Im too scared to even take the guitar to band practise!! and gigs ore out of the question (my mates Ibanez RG dissapeared at a gig), anywhere theres crowds and violence my guitar wil be in danger!!!

So i saw a pic of the Van Halen Frankenstrat and i thought that would be a killer guitar that i'd use to beat somebodys face in at a gig ( if neccesary) and the guitar would still look and feel the same... Obviously mutilating my americam deluxe wont happen... But how about:
-Fendet Strat Neck (with Floyd Rose Route)
- aftermarket unfinished Thinline or Tele body (which you route for FR yourself or at your local music store)
- Floyd rose
- horrible paint job (paint it, mask it evh style, repaint it, relic it whatever...)
- a few old fender japan HSS pickups

I already imagine a few people complaining about the floyd rose ? i am breaking a few rules in guitar moral values but i believe this could be a awesome guitar for facing the clubs, pubs and biker gangs out there...

Any advice would be cool... Any 'are you insane' speeches from the elders are also welcome...
This topic is just me thinkong out loud.. With oppikoppi coming up im way too broke for another guitat ☹

Oh and check this link, this guy built a killer frankenstrat clone
http://frankenstrat.wordpress.com/

Jack-Flash-Jr

What do you plan to do with the Deluxe? Resale? Otherwise get the mutha out there - it's built to burn!

AlanRatcliffe

+1. They are made to take punishment. No use having a nice guitar if you're not going to use it. Sure, it'll get dings, scratches, beer and sweat on it, but that's part of the job and your guitar is you tool. If you do play some really rough venues regularly, pick up a cheap "beater" for those gigs.

As for theft - that happens all to easily with a lot of your gear - mics, pedals, etc. - not just guitars. Rather just be more security conscious as a band (especially at setup and loadout).

Freddy-Bl00D

Never haha!!! Im currently using it in the studio.. Won't ever sell her she's my soul mate... Ive always wanted to do a lil guitar build and this seemed like a good excuse/idea... I know in time the strat wil become banged and bashed but its abit much to take in this soon..

Im also a student at Campus of performing arts (COPA) which means my guitar will be out everyday surrounded by other guitars in small halls and cramped practise rooms... Headstock has hit walls, body has been hit by cymbals... Cases gets knocked over... During your break times you jam in the sun etc. if my Strat will get banged up it will be with Pride and Glory in the frontline of war... Not like this...

So i'll rather build a relic frankentein fender that can face cosmetic wounds and has awesome pickups etc. Instead of buying a cheap guit that i'll dislike... The build will also fill my desire to construct a 'partcaster'

IceCreamMan

what american deluxe u end up getting (colour) and what price you pay? post pics

why u buy a dluxe and not a regular american standard? ie what made you pay the extra coin?

tonerider

Freddy-Bl00D wrote: Any advice would be cool... Any 'are you insane' speeches from the elders are also welcome...
This topic is just me thinkong out loud.. With oppikoppi coming up im way too broke for another guitat ☹

Build it yourself! I'm a Van Halen fan too and have built (read assembled) many guitars like this over the years. here's my current workhorse. It might not look it, but this axe is thrown around all over the place, and regularly falls over and so on. Bolt-ons like this are cheap to put together and last forever, and once you have the frets, action, whammy and pups sorted can be the best guitar in the world!

This one has:
Genuine US Floyd Rose
Tonerider Rocksong bridge and City Limits combo
Schecter one-piece quarter-sawn maple neck, jumbo frets, 12" radius
Warmoth 2-piece swamp-ash body

rich365

AndreM wrote:
Freddy-Bl00D wrote: Any advice would be cool... Any 'are you insane' speeches from the elders are also welcome...
This topic is just me thinkong out loud.. With oppikoppi coming up im way too broke for another guitat ☹
Build it yourself! I'm a Van Halen fan too and have built (read assembled) many guitars like this over the years. here's my current workhorse. It might not look it, but this axe is thrown around all over the place, and regularly falls over and so on. Bolt-ons like this are cheap to put together and last forever, and once you have the frets, action, whammy and pups sorted can be the best guitar in the world!

This one has:
Genuine US Floyd Rose
Tonerider Rocksong bridge and City Limits combo
Schecter one-piece quarter-sawn maple neck, jumbo frets, 12" radius
Warmoth 2-piece swamp-ash body

Nice guitar man, it just oozes playability. The pup combo is definitely going to give you a good Van Halen sound.
Is the Floyd sunken? Looks like it.
You say the neck is Schecter. Really? Do they make parts too?
Lots of phones. Is that a VOIP phone on the right with the 2 green lights?

tonerider

rich365 wrote:
AndreM wrote:
This one has:
Genuine US Floyd Rose
Tonerider Rocksong bridge and City Limits combo
Schecter one-piece quarter-sawn maple neck, jumbo frets, 12" radius
Warmoth 2-piece swamp-ash body
Nice guitar man, it just oozes playability. The pup combo is definitely going to give you a good Van Halen sound.
Is the Floyd sunken? Looks like it.
You say the neck is Schecter. Really? Do they make parts too?
Lots of phones. Is that a VOIP phone on the right with the 2 green lights?

The Floyd Rose cavity has been routed and the neck is definitely Schecter. They used to be a parts manufacturer and assembled high quality kit guitars. One of their most famous kit guitars were the black Telecasters that they assembled for Pete Townsend from The Who (http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/schecter.html). I bought my neck at Sam Ash in NYC in 1995 for around 40USD. I don't think they sell parts anymore, but I could be wrong.
It is a voip phone yes. I use it to communicate with other Callcentric users in the US.

Freddy-Bl00D

IceCreamMan wrote: what american deluxe u end up getting (colour) and what price you pay? post pics

why u buy a dluxe and not a regular american standard? ie what made you pay the extra coin?

I got the transparent red (only available on the ash body) the feel and comfort just blew me away!!! I played a few highway one and standards but as soon as i plugged the deluxe in i fell in love!!! Especially the ash body! I payed about R13K for her.. I'll see if i can post pics from my iphone...

AndreM wrote:
Build it yourself! I'm a Van Halen fan too and have built (read assembled) many guitars like this over the years. here's my current workhorse. It might not look it, but this axe is thrown around all over the place, and regularly falls over and so on. Bolt-ons like this are cheap to put together and last forever, and once you have the frets, action, whammy and pups sorted can be the best guitar in the world!

This one has:
Genuine US Floyd Rose
Tonerider Rocksong bridge and City Limits combo
Schecter one-piece quarter-sawn maple neck, jumbo frets, 12" radius
Warmoth 2-piece swamp-ash body

The idea of building one myself has popped up... Are there still schecter parts available?
Im thinking of using warmoth parts or Musikraft... Definetly want a floyd

Freddy-Bl00D

AndreM why do you have 5 phones on your table? Popular guy haha

Bob-Dubery

Freddy-Bl00D wrote: So i saw a pic of the Van Halen Frankenstrat and i thought that would be a killer guitar that i'd use to beat somebodys face in at a gig ( if neccesary) and the guitar would still look and feel the same... Obviously mutilating my americam deluxe wont happen... But how about:
-Fendet Strat Neck (with Floyd Rose Route)
- aftermarket unfinished Thinline or Tele body (which you route for FR yourself or at your local music store)
- Floyd rose
- horrible paint job (paint it, mask it evh style, repaint it, relic it whatever...)
- a few old fender japan HSS pickups

That might work out more expensive than your strat if you're going to get a reasonable quality body. Sometimes it costs money to look cheap.

Why not get a strat copy (Cort or some such), bung a decent neck on that and hack away?

Freddy-Bl00D

X-rated Bob wrote:
Freddy-Bl00D wrote: So i saw a pic of the Van Halen Frankenstrat and i thought that would be a killer guitar that i'd use to beat somebodys face in at a gig ( if neccesary) and the guitar would still look and feel the same... Obviously mutilating my americam deluxe wont happen... But how about:
-Fendet Strat Neck (with Floyd Rose Route)
- aftermarket unfinished Thinline or Tele body (which you route for FR yourself or at your local music store)
- Floyd rose
- horrible paint job (paint it, mask it evh style, repaint it, relic it whatever...)
- a few old fender japan HSS pickups
That might work out more expensive than your strat if you're going to get a reasonable quality body. Sometimes it costs money to look cheap.

Why not get a strat copy (Cort or some such), bung a decent neck on that and hack away?

The desire to do a project guitar is a big reason, i already have pups and wiring harness and el cheapo hardware the only exspense will be body + neck + floyd and for the refinish...

Bob-Dubery

OK. I could see myself importing a nice Warmoth body and a good quality neck and sticking that together. Then when the barbarians storm the stage I'll look that the bitsacaster with those nice imported parts, think "sod that!" and grab the MIA and bash heads with that instead ?

Wizard

I ended up effectively doing that.
Getting a cheap looking, dinged guitar and replacing the important tone bits to obscene spec.
Sounds deadly ... and yet wouldn't notice if there were another ding in it.

You can't damage bridges, pups, tuners, nuts, electronics etc very easily .. can you?

tonerider

Freddy-Bl00D wrote: AndreM why do you have 5 phones on your table? Popular guy haha

1) On the left - office phone
2) Second from left - mom's old phone, since dumped - broken!
3) Third from left - my regular cell phone
4) Fourth from left - my old Nokia e66, was busy setting it up for mom - has since replaced phone 2
5) VOIP Phone - make free calls and talk for hours with other people on the Callcentric network and save hundreds of rands! Join the network for free, get your buds and family members to join too. Everyone gets a free telephone number and then you can all enjoy free telephone. All you have to do is buy a VOIP phone (about R500.00), plug it into your router, set it up and away you go!

So one regular office phone, my cell phone, and a VOIP phone - AND I'm as popular as ever! :?

tonerider

Freddy-Bl00D wrote: The idea of building one myself has popped up... Are there still schecter parts available?
Im thinking of using warmoth parts or Musikraft... Definetly want a floyd

Schecter has never exported parts, only their own brand of guitars. The started out as a parts supplier but only distributed in the US. I guess I got lucky when I bought my neck. It had apparently been buried in the back of their store for years so it could be a neck from the 70's or early 80's for all I know. It had never been used though since there were no screw holes in the heel. It has the "Schecter Guitar Research" logo stamped into the wood of the heel. You sometimes see one here and there on eBay when you search "Schecter Neck" but the prices for the old ones are just unreal.

If I were to give you good advice it would be to purchase a neck and body from the same manufacturer. The really good manufacturers will ensure that their necks fit snugly into their own bodies and that scale lengths and heel depth and screw holes are correct. Musikraft is very good. I've owned a lot of their stuff before and can vouch for them. Likewise with Warmoth and WD, but just stay away from overly pretty flame or curly maple or birds-eye necks. You don't need this for it to be a great neck. Sometimes the pretty necks warp because of the knots and irregularities in the grain pattern and does not make for a stable neck (Note sometimes). A good piece of stable quarter-sawn maple plank is all you need for a great neck.

With bodies, try to get a laminated 2-piece for the same reasons as above.

Stay away from Mighty Mite parts since they ALWAYS drill the neck mounting holes out of alignment and not to Fender specs. This makes it difficult to marry parts to fit nice and snug together, to get the neck to sit just deep enough in heel pocket and at a nice angle (without having to use shims) to make for a nice action, meaning that the pickups are set middle distance in their adjustable range and that the strings are about 10 - 15 mm from the scratch-plate.

I can ramble on but it might get boring! ?