Metropoulos Forum

Hey guys,
So I've seen this guitar floating around youtube, and I was wondering what y'all thought of it. It looks too good to be true, because it's a reverse engineered 25k Franky going for like 1500 , and I can't really tell what it sounds like because he's not playing through the best EVH setup, but from what I can hear, it sounds pretty good! Thoughts? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUZMWqeYNm0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stay frosty, fellas!

Neat.
I like how they disclose "northern ash" but fail to give a actual target weight. Not that this matters to me as it may some people.
The weight gives an idea of at least the density of wood used for the replicas. Which would put some people at rest a little.
And its the weight and density that separates swamp from northern-which are exactly the same tree anyway.

The whole roasted neck thing also rubs me wrong. I feel its "fad inspired" to get into the whole toasted neck thing.
Only person to ever have a roasted neck from the old days was Jimi-but that happened AFTER he was done playing it
Does look nice though all tanned down like hot blond in a bikini.

But cool to know where to get a super strat put together right.
What are these running $ wise???

Brutal. Whats with those neck bolts?

dirtycooter wrote:Neat.

And its the weight and density that separates swamp from northern-which are exactly the same tree anyway.

two different species of wood

Fraxinus americana Hard Northern White Ash
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result ... lant=FRAM2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/sy ... .cfm?ID=46" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraxinus_americana" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fraxinus pennsylvanica Swamp Green Ash
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/sy ... .cfm?ID=48" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plan ... n/all.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraxinus_pennsylvanica" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and to make things even more complicated I found this quote
Taylor [280] describes a rare white ash (F. americana) × green ash hybrid in an area near Ann Arbor, Michigan, where both species occur.

vanhalen5150 wrote:Brutal. Whats with those neck bolts?

what do you mean about the neck bolts?

It was my understanding swamp ash was fast growth ash that was more sufficiently fed through moist or wetter soil and less dense due to faster growth. So good to know. I am not far from Ann Arbor-maybe this species is the "unobtainium" franky was made from (now watch this jack ass comment spread to legendary heights and Ann Arbor get stripped of all its ash trees by rabid loggers with red white and black chain saws )
Hell most of the ash here in lower Michigan has been devestated by the emerald ash borer. There cuttin a shit ton of dead ash out not far from me cause of this issue. Damn Ballchinnian ash borers

I noticed those pointless neck bolts too. Maybe Ed stripped originals and replaced with bigger ones??
I dig the concept the dude used on Brad Paisly's custom teles where he uses inserts in the neck heel iself and the neck bolts are star or hex head machine bolts-super rigid solid! Stiffer than a wedding cock according to Brad.

ErickC wrote:

vanhalen5150 wrote:Brutal. Whats with those neck bolts?

what do you mean about the neck bolts?

On the 25k. They are not screws. They are bolts that are supposed to go into a metal housing. Like your speaker bolts. Look at the ends seen sticking out of the disassembled neck/body.

People have been using machine bolts on guitar necks for a while now. You have to put these inserts into the neck (you can get the parts at home depot or order kits online) that let you tighten down the neck much tighter than wood screws. Supposed to get better sustain this way, sounds more like a neck-through-body. Didn't know the 25k frank had this.

I thinks its a fantastic idea
also can see where it could avoid or make better than having to use the dreaded

SHIMMAFICATION!

That tightness in that spot is detrimental to tone and sustain

SteadyEddie wrote:People have been using machine bolts on guitar necks for a while now. You have to put these inserts into the neck (you can get the parts at home depot or order kits online) that let you tighten down the neck much tighter than wood screws. Supposed to get better sustain this way, sounds more like a neck-through-body. Didn't know the 25k frank had this.

and YJM's strat - bolt inserts...

I dont see any inserts on the Frank neck. How do they stay there? I thought they need to go on the other side of the material like in a cab? If you put them on the pocket neck side, wouldnt the bolts pull them away from the neck itself? Not to mention the strings pulling from the opposite side?

Sounds like a good idea, but maybe I'm thinking of totally differnt hardware?

My only thought is that if they can build and sell one for $1500, I should be able to do it for 1/3-1/2 that price...so why don't I?!

Tx for posting....

The inserts are kinda like the pressed in floyd mounts but they have large screw threads instead of being pressed in.
The bodacious sized threads on the insert grab way more wood-more like those engineered power lags for timber bit even more so. The bolts thread right into the insert.
That insert grabs way more meat to hang onto