I want one too.
I wanted one from just after the moment the needle hit the vinyl, just after the siren sound, just after the pounding bass just when the opening riff of “Runnin’ With The Devil” kicked in. I wanted that sound, that tone…the “Brown Sound”.
So like most guitar playing Van Halen fans I took my current guitar ripped out all those unnecessary pickups hay Ed only needs the one so do I, all those useless tone controls does anyone even touch them, covered it in stripes – tape not respray hadn’t reached that level yet – and then stuck a Floyd Rose in it. My first exercise in guitar customisation or vandalism as you might look at it and my own Frankenstein – well it did have two new bolts in it’s neck.
Of course it didn’t sound anything like the tone from that debut album, well I didn’t have Ed’s exact setup my pickup wasn’t the same model as his and I didn’t have the mythical modded Marshall – which wasn’t modded but bog standard apart from US valves but I bet his didn’t pick up Radio Moscow – And then there was the major factor – I don’t have Eddie’s fingers 🙁
So even though I had “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” down pat, I didn’t have the Holy Grail.
But Eddie’s Frankenstein started my interest in messing about with guitar customisation, putting together parts, re-wiring the electronics and finding a guitar that was exactly how I’d like, something off the peg models just never seemed to match up to, which lead me to a part of Phoenix the “well to do locals” would never set foot in.
I’d still like a Frankenstein and Ed’s come out with his own “first time, an official, by-the-numbers, Eddie Van Halen approved replica” but where the first one cost $130 for the body & neck with rest of the hardware being ripped of other guitars he owned this one is priced a little higher at $25,000.00 – a touch out of my price range at the moment. Might just have to get round to picking up a body, neck, some Krylon style paint cans, a Floyd trem and make my own 1978 inspired creation…It’s Alive!!!!
Early ’80s Van Halen heaven, down to every last detail.
For the first time, an official, by-the-numbers, Eddie Van Halen approved replica has been made of the guitar that Eddie played at the height of his band’s popularity. There is no doubt that Frankenstein, as it is known, is one of the most recognizable guitars in rock ‘n’ roll history. Lutheir Chip Ellis has recreated every stripe, every fret, every screw hole.
Not only are the ash body, maple bolt-on neck, and Schaller tuning machines exact in their materials and specifications, but the electronic wiring, unique as it is, has been replicated with almost frightening precision. Seymour Duncan gave the pickups, both functioning and cosmetic, the same treatment Eddie gave them, right down to the wax dipping! You won’t get any closer to Eddie’s famous “brown” sound with any other guitar. Eddie went so far as to say that this replica feels and sounds even better than the original.
Have you seen Junior’s grades? Chip Ellis admits that he may have gotten into this more than anyone should. Made in Corona, California this guitar has been through a 2-stage aging process. It was relic-ed after being given the original black and white paint job, seen on the original Van Halen tour, and relic-ed again after the red paint was added!
Everybody Wants Some Eddie is a self-proclaimed “tone chaser,” and was constantly experimenting with his guitars. He recalls a time he had taken his guitar apart 30 minutes before a show, and when reassembled, he couldn’t get the Floyd Rose tremolo to sit flush against the body. He asked for a quarter, which he drilled a hole through, and then screwed it onto Frankenstein so he could jam the edge of it under the bridge. He later fixed the bridge, but the 1971 quarter remains. You’ll find a 1971 quarter screwed to your Frankenstein replica, as well.
Eddie and the band bought road reflectors at a truck stop and stuck them on the back of Frankenstein so that at the end of the show, when the blazing Van Halen emblem came down, Eddie could reflect beams of light out over the crowd. Although the company that made them is no longer in business, you’ll find nearly identical road reflectors on the back of your Frankenstein replica.
You’ll also find matching cigarette burns, rust spots and every nick, chip and worn spot, just like Eddie’s. This guitar matches the looks, feel and sound of Frankenstein. The maple neck features an authentic EVH broken-in matched feel. When Eddie first saw the replica, it was so much like his original that he had to write something on the back of his guitar’s neck so he would be sure he could tell them apart. Sorry, we can’t repeat what he wrote here, but we can offer you this amazing opportunity to own a legitimate piece of music history.