My Frankenstrat Build

I contacted Kyle at Divebomb Inc, and ordered one of his pickguard kits.  It comes with the authentic 11 hole Strat pickguard, already hacked into a size that only covers the control cavity.  The pickguard is B/W/B in its cross section, and is already covered on the backside in aluminum foil-style shielding.  Kyle includes an authentic 500K volume pot made by CTS.  This is the exact same company and pot that Ed used on the original Frankenstrat.  And in true EVH fashion, the pot is topped not with a “Volume” knob, but with a white Strat “Tone” knob.  This knob is a thing of beauty, too.  It’s one of the few pieces that I won’t have to dirty up or relic.  Kyle shipped it to me in absolutely FILTHY condition!  And I LOVE IT!  I would recommend Kyle and DiveBomb Inc to anyone looking for Frankenstrat or other EVH guitar parts or kits.  His work is extremely high quality.

The assembled pickguard

The backside of the CTS 500K volume pot

The dirtiest tone knob around!

I purchased a standard chrome Strat neck plate from Warmoth.  Ed used a neck plate off of an early 1960’s Strat, and it had the serial number 61071 stamped into it.  As this neck plate is obviously already taken, I will be using a 4mm numerical stamping kit, and punching the number in myself.  In a manufacturing flaw, the second digit on Ed’s guitar appears to be slightly crooked, so I will have to compensate for that also.

Warmoth also supplied me with the 3 way switch, again unwired, that will sit in the middle pickup cavity.  I was able to get an accurate reproduction made by the same manufacturer that Ed used, CRL.  It looks great, and looks identical to the original, all the way down to the external spring.

Both of these pieces will require EXTENSIVE relicing and rusting, especially the switch.

Other miscellaneous parts that I got from Warmoth include a wiring kit, copper shielding tape, the input jack and jack plate, and screws in various sizes.

A shiny new neck plate, sans serial number

An authentic CRL 3 way switch, sans rust

Other misc parts from Warmoth

Yep.  Ed put truck reflectors on the back of his guitar, and would flip the guitar around during his stage show and let the lights from the lighted Van Halen sign hit them.  So, since we’re doing an accurate recreation, we gotta put ’em on too.  I was able to locate replicas that are spot-on off of eBay, and they are accurate down to the actual direction of reflection.  I never would have thought that it was this hard to find truck reflectors, but it was!  Also, since we’re doing a 1982 Frankenstrat, and Ed broke one of the reflectors in half on the 1981 Fair Warning tour, we’re gonna have to break one too!

Truck reflectors that will become guitar reflectors!

I was able to find on eBay an accurate recreation of Ed’s unwired Mighty Mite single coil.  The seller is another EVH junkie like myself, and can be found on the Halen.com forums under the name “YMI5150?”.  I strongly recommend doing business with him.  His construction is top notch, and he shipped out VERY promptly.  It’s a non-working version, which matters not, since it won’t even be wired up, and it looks great.  Ed used an old Mighty Mite single coil pickup in the neck position, with a red phenolic cap.  It’s a rare pickup to say the least, and has a distinctive color and texture, which made this find even better.  I can’t say I’ve ever paid for a non-working electronic component knowingly before, but you can’t beat the appearance.  Like all the components, I still have relicing to do with it, but you can’t tell the difference between this and the original.

Mighty Mite single coil

Mighty Mite single coil

Since we’re doing a remake of the 1982 version of the Frankenstrat, we’re going to use a Floyd Rose with the fine tuners and the locking nut.  Normally this bridge comes in chrome, gold, or black, but I was able to find it in a special make called Antique Silver.  This means that the Floyd Rose already looks 20-25 years old.  It looks dirty, scratched, and beat up.  I love it!  This is a great piece, and it comes with the whammy bar, the spring claw, all the springs, the locking nut, the string retainer, and the bushings.  It’s so complete that even the bushings, the bar, and the locking nut are in that great Antique Silver color.  It really gives an authentic look to it.  However, Ed didn’t use bushings during his construction.  He used Old School Floyd Rose screws, and actually used black screws that didn’t match the bridge.  Accordingly, I purchased the original black screws and will use these instead.  Also, even though the bridge looks great as-is, I plan on relicing it further, to give it more of Ed’s touch.  All of the black pieces will need a great deal of destruction.

Floyd Rose in antique silver

Floyd Rose in antique silver

Before I do any kind of relicing or construction or painting of any kind, I want to highlight all the parts that will go into the construction of this monster.  So, since I’m still waiting for the body and neck to arrive, I’ll start with the components.  Here we go!