2021 Frankenstein

andy_k

2021 Frankenstein

It’s coming up on a year now since we lost him, and boy has it turned out to be as shitty a year as last year.

All my plans went right out the window, and life was turned upside down for me, as I’m sure it has for everyone.

Losing Ed last year seemed to just pile on the agony, and I have tried everything to stay positive, my music doesn’t seem to flow anymore, so I constantly seek inspiration by building stuff-anything that might spark an idea, help me practice or just take my mind off current events which grind me down.

When Ed died, I built a 78 Frankenstein in reverse colours as a bit of a tribute, and just having it sitting there made me want to play. It wasn’t meant to be a replica, and came out nice but far from perfect, I didn’t have all the right parts, but it got me playing more and the EVH Frankenstein pickup sounds awesome.

I have been building these things for years, always with a twist because it feels wrong to play a replica, and I don’t need something hanging on the wall, so I decided to re build something from a few previous attempts, and get it physically as close to the real thing as I could.

This one has a one piece Northern Ash ( heavy ) with a knot in it, just like Ed’s.

The grain is so pretty, I didn’t want to do any paint, and by accident I found a way to get some ‘ghost’ stripes going on, which aren’t always visible.

The cavities are all as close as I could get, the pickup is a hard mounted, long legged Seymour Duncan distortion, and the neck pickup is a dummy.

I wanted to use a real Floyd, and once I had got it set up right I had to swap necks with a chunky hockey stick neck from a previous build, for the locking nut.

I have just spent the morning re shaping it to a slightly asymmetric carve, and it feels so good now.

The finishing touch was a 1971 quarter, and while I was fitting it, the motto struck me, ‘Liberty’ it says, and ‘in God we trust’, and right now I feel we have lost the first, and the second never existed for me  anyway. 

I have been playing it for the last couple of weeks in band rehearsals, I wouldn’t use it live, but just having something fun to play, that is set up well has been great for me, I’ll just carry on and just wanted to have this one finished for the sad anniversary.

RIP Ed, I miss you.

The first neck.

The ghost stripes

The Knot

The mottos.

Full frontal.

The back of it.

Brio

That is simply awesome. I liked the sad face in the first photo...

andy_k

Thanks, I appreciate it.
 The first neck was really nice, and the headstock just summed up how I felt,but I didn't feel confident I could fit a FR nut neatly, so the transplant was done from an earlier build, which had a body from the same manufacturer, I thought it would be an easy straight swap, but like everything else on this particular guitar, nothing lined up.
I decided to use oversize stainless screws, which were a bitch to get in, and they won't be coming out again in a hurry-a very tight fit.
Theres something a bit weird about this guitar, so much of it is unnecessary nonsense, but has to be there for an authentic Frankenstein, and although the pickup isn't right, it works very well in this instrument.
My others have almost every variety of Duncan, and I think a magnet swap on this one would make it identical to an EVH Frankenstein pickup, which is probably the perfect one for 'the sound'.
I'm talking a range of the following:-
Duncan distortion (this one)
Duncan Jeff Beck
Duncan Screamin Demon
Duncan custom / 59 hybrid
EVH Wolfgang
EVH Frankenstein
Duncan customshop 78
Duncan Dimebucker
Lawrence Dimebucker
Gibson Burstbucker
Dimarzio X2N
Dimarzio Tonezone (in a walnut esquire tele, my gigging guitar )
Usually I pair the bridge with a working neck stacked humbucker and a push / pull, or Push / Push, on a Frankenstein, but on this one I wanted an authentic 'dummy' in there, which should actually have a negative effect, in that it must have some pull on the strings, I don't really notice anything, but there will be some effect there.
I have tried various body woods, with swamp ash being the lightest, and I have a Musikraft Frankenstein which is a dead on replica, and the body weighs as much as a large planet, this one is a less accurate shape, but is slightly lighter, and is a good match for the chunky ( heavy) neck, I'm not a fan of the skinny necks and have used Allparts SMO Fat necks on others.
I made the back asymmetric which makes it very comfortable, and there is something to the extra mass you get with a hockey stick headstock, my favourite version of the original Frankenstein, is the one pictured on the pin up with the Steinberger and the 1984 in a pile.
I have a love / hate relationship with Floyds, and having them set up to dive only can be a real challenge, and floating really changes the way I play, so on this one I took extra care to get it to work, because when they work they actually can stay in tune forever, a useful trait for a working instrument.
I use it for daily play and rehearsals, but haven't got the balls to use it in a gig situation - invites too many comparisons which nobody can live up to.
I'm looking forward to the tribute gig that Pete Thorn has got planned, he has done a lot of work to do Ed's music the justice it deserves, and I think it will be a fitting tribute.
The first time I heard Ed was on the Beat it solo, so I was a bit late to the party, but his sound and style has been an influence on me from that day, there is nobody better, IMO.