Metropoulos Forum

Came across this last night.

Thought some folks here may either be interested or at least get a kick out of it.

Amazing, painstaking effort appears to have gone into it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Frankenstrat-projec ... dZViewItem

Some guys can really do nice replicas for sure. I've always wanted the Frankie, but in its original white/black paint scheme. I dunno, I've always dug that thing with the black pickguard and all. Would love to have a copy of his Destroyer too. I just can't afford the asking price for most full replicas. Of course I do realize there have been many hours of work put in to those, but hell..some of 'em cost more than a boutique amp!!

Just a bit of a shame it's swamp ash instead of hard ash, as that would make the perfect replica body for someone who's into that.

Bainzy wrote:Just a bit of a shame it's swamp ash instead of hard ash, as that would make the perfect replica body for someone who's into that.

I thought swamp ash is a good sounding wood, is hard ash better sounding?

BrownSound1 wrote:Some guys can really do nice replicas for sure. I've always wanted the Frankie, but in its original white/black paint scheme. I dunno, I've always dug that thing with the black pickguard and all. Would love to have a copy of his Destroyer too. I just can't afford the asking price for most full replicas. Of course I do realize there have been many hours of work put in to those, but hell..some of 'em cost more than a boutique amp!!

I've never seen anyone do a Destroyer. That would probably be pretty cool. Nowdays, the Ibanez Destroyer he used are somewhat collectable so it would be a shame to even carve one up.

Few years back (6 years), I sold a cherry burst Ibanez Rocket Roll II neck thru V (Post lawsuit) of mine. Beauty guitar. Sweet tiger maple top. Most awesome neck I've ever played. When I bought it new in 82, it was one of 3 in Canada. I could barely give it away. Now, they're worth a fair dollar according to some of the Ibanez collector sites I've read, if you can even find one...and I have not seen one on eBay or around anywhere.

http://www.guitartechcraig.com/ibanez/8 ... /82rr2.jpg
The RR400CS in the pic.

...and I lament, a 1970 and 1973 Marshall 1987x...all original...don't even like to think of what I sold those for...still kick my ass over that!

One could likely cheat I suppose and use an Epiphone but most sound enh already, and carving a chunk likely wouldn't help.

Agreed, the prices for most of these replicas are high. I suppose diy is the most cost effective approach.

AnotherBrother wrote:

Bainzy wrote:Just a bit of a shame it's swamp ash instead of hard ash, as that would make the perfect replica body for someone who's into that.

I thought swamp ash is a good sounding wood, is hard ash better sounding?

I'm not really commenting on the way they sound, just that hard ash would've been more *accurate* to the guitar that's being copied. Some people debate about what wood that guitar is, but if you've ever had a hard ash body you can pretty easily tell from pictures of Eddie's guitar that it was hard ash. Not to mention the sound properties that are apparent in recordings, and people who've worked on the guitar also saying it's hard ash.

Couple interesting things. This may put to rest the discussions of Van Halen's Ibanez Destroyer and the type of wood it was.

Notice the slightly misleading wording on the finish of the guitar...I'm sure many mistook this when considering or purchasing the guitar back then.

http://ca.geocities.com/vresmoc@rogers. ... troyer.jpg


The other thing I've always found interesting when people are chasing the EVH tone off of VH1, many overlook that he used the Destroyer for most of the record. I don't think it had a custom wound pickup but rather the white, stock Ibanez (V2 or whatever they called it...like a Super PAF spec) series pickup.

The Ash, the guitar itself, fixed bridge/tailpiece, and this higher output pickup may attribute to some of that thick, compressed sounding sustain he had.

Anyhow...food for thought maybe?

That's probably why the guitar tone doesn't really change from song to song - both his Frankenstrat and Explorer had Hard Ash bodies and PAF style pickups.

Bainzy wrote:That's probably why the guitar tone doesn't really change from song to song - both his Frankenstrat and Explorer had Hard Ash bodies and PAF style pickups.

True enough. I do think the Strat is noticeable at times. Particularly on WACF...more noticeable just how much chunkier what sounds to be the Ibanez is and what track(s) it's on.

This guy does some killer replicas

http://www.frankenstraat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=97

The cig butt is a nice touch...