Ed's Franky (beneath the paint)

[rdodson]

Yeah, forgot about the HFT one. But yeah, those were custom one-offs compared to what you see at the Hollywood GC and so forth.

dude the VH kramers were poplar i dont get why that is so hard to beleive?

There were two sets. The 5150 and 1984 and then there were the bazillion factory made backups.

Exactly...the 5150, the 1984 and the Hot For Teacher were one offs that had little to do with the production model Kramers and the dozens (if not more) red, white and black striped back up Kramers. The Sports company was providing the bodies for Kramer during the early days of Ed's association with Kramer and there is no reason to believe that they provided Kramer with only Poplar bodies. The only reason that anyone claims that the 5150 was made out of Poplar is that they have seen the "Secrets of the Kramer 5150" YouTube clip and they accept the unfounded opinion that the guy that made that video has that the 5150 was made of Poplar. I wish someone would take that clip down...it has some good information, but the poplar theory is just an opinion with nothing to back it up.

Basically the guy in that video falls prey to the mindset of "Well the production model Kramers used "X" and "Y" so therefore the 5150, the 1984 and the Hot For Teacher must have been made of "X" and "Y". That is just wrong. The deal is that the three main Kramers that Ed used most often which were designed, built and used for the first time on the 1984 tour were completely custom made instruments that were completely different than any production model Kramer ever made, up to and including the Gibson/Kramer "1984" model.

[JimiJames]

Always needing strings, rockstah & I had stopped into Valley Arts to restock. We checked out the usual guitars & amps and sifting through some necks (that were in a barrel ?) and several bodies. Mark handed me a (Basswood) body with a raised eyebrow. I immediately noticed how light it was. The body was also light in color and had a real smooth feel. You could leave fingernail markings without trying too hard. It was like Balsa. A very light Basswood run. I wondered how the bridge posts were going to hold up over time.
This was sometime after the Allan Holdsworth seminar (w/Chad Wackerman & Jeff Berlin), prior to his next appearance with Eddie. He was using his Charvel's, but I am not sure what they were and recall he liked Basswood in a Q&A. He might of had a proto-type Ibanez AH-10 with Ebony IIRC came into production 1984, so very possible. Those were a very light Basswood. Again, just before Eddie's appearance with Allan on stage several months prior. Allan had his processed/rackmount sounds that make Ukelele sound good.

Here is a Poplar body that was made by Fender's - soon to be Custom Shop. It is off the HM Strat model, but a square (Tele) body. Marketed for Budweiser; it was red and had Bud DRY in huge letters plastered on the front, so that had to go. I stripped it down, filled the whammy cavity & repainted in lacquer. Installed a heavy duty solid brass hardtail. I used an '89 Eric Clapton "Blackie" mid-boost circuit and EVAN's (SRV studio) pickups, but I had to do a lot to get it to sound beefy and gig with.
Overall, I doctored up this Poplar body the best I really could. It still fell short of my expectations.
Basswood & Poplar are lacking something in frequencies. A hollowness ???
It needs something?... Bookmatched or a complimentary body style or the right hardware. Gets to be high maintenance :-/

The neck was sold, so this Poplar body is headed to the butcher block, and being converted to a full size Stratocaster. Keeping the center intact to hold the 25.15 spec, and building up around for the new contour. Either Alder or N. Ash is fine.
Or, do what Suhr (EVH) is doing. Keep the (Basswood) Poplar and glue on a Maple top !



I'm not a builder, but from a play'ears side I really think Basswood or Poplar aren't that good on their own unless
they are getting help from somewherez...

[Tone Slinger]

Cool geetar JJ

I agree about basswood and poplar. Either species, on their own, really do seem to offer up a non distinguished tone........the plus side is that they match well with a WIDE variety of amplifier/speaker types, but the down side is they 'tend' to lack that elitist next level when partnered with the right amp.
I always go back to Blackmore when considering body wood. The clear ash strat he used (alot on 'BURN', Cali Jam '74, 'Stormbringer' and the first Rainbow album) had that extended bite and top end clarity as compared to say the ' Made In Japan' and the later Rainbow albums (Alder). I REALLY hear alot of Ed's tone (and playing technique) on much of Ritchie's earlier work.

[garbeaj]

Cool geetar JJ

I agree about basswood and poplar. Either species, on their own, really do seem to offer up a non distinguished tone........the plus side is that they match well with a WIDE variety of amplifier/speaker types, but the down side is they 'tend' to lack that elitist next level when partnered with the right amp.
I always go back to Blackmore when considering body wood. The clear ash strat he used (alot on 'BURN', Cali Jam '74, 'Stormbringer' and the first Rainbow album) had that extended bite and top end clarity as compared to say the ' Made In Japan' and the later Rainbow albums (Alder). I REALLY hear alot of Ed's tone (and playing technique) on much of Ritchie's earlier work.

Not to sidetrack too much on Blackmore and Ed, but maybe you could do a thread where you breakdown specific licks that you hear from Blackmore that Ed plays and give examples like me and Bill have done with the live Cream/Clapton connection with Ed's playing? I just don't hear it

[Strat78]

I think Blackmore was one of the first to move those index finger two/three note chords around while riding the A or low E string. Ronny Montrose used it, then Ed with RWTD, Unchained...., then all those 80's bands did the same thing but without any swagger or swing, i.e. Dokken or Rhatt etc...though Jake E Lee pushed it to a new zone.

[garbeaj]

I think Blackmore was one of the first to move those index finger two/three note chords around while riding the A or low E string. Ronny Montrose used it, then Ed with RWTD, Unchained...., then all those 80's bands did the same thing but without any swagger or swing, i.e. Dokken or Rhatt etc...though Jake E Lee pushed it to a new zone.

That was done well in advance of any of those players...virtually all of them stole it from Brian Jones and Keith Richards on nearly every early (pre-1968) Stones song in standard tuning. The open G stuff in the later Stones stuff like "Brown Sugar" was just an extension of that.

[jnew]

Agreed about Poplar bodies. Ok at best but doesn't make a favorite by any means. Basswood is quite dull and is soft but with a quality maple cap, can sound pretty good. Ash or Alder seem to be the go to woods for one wood bodies. Mohagony and Korina are really good too and Maple caps on them make great tones IMO.

[EJSLPlexi]

Agreed about Poplar bodies. Ok at best but doesn't make a favorite by any means. Basswood is quite dull and is soft but with a quality maple cap, can sound pretty good. .

yeah I LOVE my EBMM axis and it definitely sounds much better than "pretty good"

[jnew]

I glad it works for you. I just appreciate the shape of those things but set up well, they're good players.

[jnew]

Oops. I meant to say that I "cannot" appreciate the shape of those things. I hate the shape actually but yes, they can play pretty good.

[GilmourD]

Agreed about Poplar bodies. Ok at best but doesn't make a favorite by any means. Basswood is quite dull and is soft but with a quality maple cap, can sound pretty good. Ash or Alder seem to be the go to woods for one wood bodies. Mohagony and Korina are really good too and Maple caps on them make great tones IMO.

I have a 2004 Peavey Wolfgang Special without a maple top and I certainly wouldn't call it dull. It's probably my most harmonically rich guitar.

I have two Teles currently (used to have three, but sold that one). My older one is poplar and the newer one is a swamp ash Warmoth body. Both have 3-saddle ashtray bridges. They sound very different (the ash obviously has that zing that ash does) but the poplar body has this full-bodied twang that I love. The one I sold off was alder and was meh...

There's a lot of variation between trees or even planks from the same tree. There's a shared general characteristic, but you can still get a good chunk of wood or a not so good chunk of wood.

Right now I have three guitars I play out with, one being my Wolfgang (standard tuned). The other is my metallic orange HSS Strat with a Floyd which is alder (1/2 step down) and my old Frankenstein (standard tuned) which has a basswood body originally from a Fernandes LE-2 and a Customwoods 5150 neck. I'm currently building a "what if Eddie didn't paint Franky red" with a Locke Custom Guitars ash Azusa body drilled for the Floyd for my second 1/2 step down guitar.

[plexified]

Korina is one of my favorite woods and it sounds great with laquer . Funny enough is that I find the Basswood is very similar when incapsulated in the resin dip , like Kramer did in the 80's and the Ripley is a prime example with a maple neck. It is a barn burner . Without that super hard finish much like what was used in the 50's to seal strats , its kinda dead sounding. BUT with that coating , it screams and is super resonant at high volumes in particular. Its a resonant superstar imho.

[jnew]

Good one Plexified. I hadn't thought of that but a hard resin finish would be a great catalyst to springing some liveliness into a a basswood body.

[chrisom]

Here is one man's opinion on the cost, sound, use and 'why' of tonewood selection by guitar manufacturers. A bit drawn out, but it covers most all woods used today and provides some interesting insight. Watch it and see if you agree...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mVmFlzksMCE

[GilmourD]

Here is one man's opinion on the cost, sound, use and 'why' of tonewood selection by guitar manufacturers. A bit drawn out, but it covers most all woods used today and provides some interesting insight. Watch it and see if you agree...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mVmFlzksMCE

Man, that video is making the rounds this way. Somebody over at the Seymour Duncan forum tried to use that video as proof that MIM Standards and Custom Shop Masterbuilt guitars are the same exact thing minus price tag.

That guy is mostly wrong. Sure, some things are indeed overpriced, but there's A LOT he doesn't take into account.

And he also references Scott Grove... Whether you side with him or argue against him you're on the losing side of the battle... That guy's just... I can't even think of words that describe him properly.