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 Eddie Van Halen Frankenstrat tribute 
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After Eddie's passing I have been watching a lot of youtube videos, I was always fascinated by his playing and how he could make sounds no one else could. In several interviews he talked about his Frankenstrat guitar and how he got the sounds out of it.

He was a real innovator, something he says he learned from his father, he combined elements of a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Stratocaster into one. He started with a two piece Ash body, that was made by Boogie Bodys in Puyallup. It was a factory second because it was made from two pieces and it had a knot in the lower horn.


Anyway, he first played the guitar in plain wood (with nothing but a sealer for finish). He then painted it gloss black with some Schwinn lacquer bicycle paint

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Later he taped it off and painted it with Ford Wimbledon white paint, he also swapped out the sling attachments for eyebolts, he had a problem with the strap coming loose due to his playing style

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Then on a rainy day in late March 1979, while upset over several things (concert tour dates, the rain, who knows what else) he taped the guitar off again and sanded parts of it, then added a pearl white base coat and the transparent flame red Schwinn bicycle lacquer.

This is the original, picture take at the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art last year where it spent several months on display. This gave the general public a chance to get a good look (and detailed pictures) of the guitar.

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There have also been a few dozen or so tribute guns painted in the Frankenstrat style.....but none of them tried to accurately capture the haphazard way in which the guitar was painted

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I am going to attempt to mimic the look of the original with all its flaws. I am going to do this by painting and aging the stock, just the same way in which the original guitar was...

I am starting with this beech wood 10/22 wood stock

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Now there have been thousands of tribute/clones built over the years, including 300 very close replicas from Fender, but most of those builders never got a chance to see the guitar like we can now.....

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Sun Oct 18, 2020 7:28 am
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:popcorn:

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Last edited by Gman on Sun Oct 18, 2020 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.



Sun Oct 18, 2020 7:43 am
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Oooooh . . . this could be really cool!

Gotta admit, I was wondering why the hell this was in the DYI section when I saw the thread title. Now I'm just excited!

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Leave it cleaner than you found it.


Sun Oct 18, 2020 7:47 am
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A life long friend of mine posted this the other day.
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Sun Oct 18, 2020 8:51 am
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SUBSCRIBED!!! Do your manic Casey :wink05:

Nice tool boxes Andy. :bigsmile:

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Sun Oct 18, 2020 10:42 am
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As you can guess I will be posting this project on my blog....eventually, so I made an intro graphic

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Actor portrayal, Action figures sold separately, You must be at least this tall to ride, Individual results may vary, Sales tax not included, All models are over 18 years of age, upon approval of credit, Quantities are limited while supplies last, Some restrictions apply, Not available with other offers, At participating locations only, Void where prohibited, Above terms subject to change without notice, Patent pending.


See my blog: http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/


Sun Oct 18, 2020 11:03 am
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BTW, this guy from Canada has investigated this guitar and how it was painted down to some very minute details, even the paint, which Eddie bought from a Schwinn bicycle dealer near his home in Pasadena....he was still living with his folks at the time


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Actor portrayal, Action figures sold separately, You must be at least this tall to ride, Individual results may vary, Sales tax not included, All models are over 18 years of age, upon approval of credit, Quantities are limited while supplies last, Some restrictions apply, Not available with other offers, At participating locations only, Void where prohibited, Above terms subject to change without notice, Patent pending.


See my blog: http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/


Sun Oct 18, 2020 11:06 am
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The first coat of black is on the stock

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While the paint was drying I went to work on collecting the other parts

As stated above, the Frankenstrat used eyebolts for the sling

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so I picked up some small eyebolts, that will look the part

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only problem is these are too shiny, I needed to remove the zinc coating

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I used muriatic acid to remove the zinc

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They look authentic now

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next I went through my 10/22 parts and found a butt plate, screws and an old aluminum barrel band that had some good wear on it

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Actor portrayal, Action figures sold separately, You must be at least this tall to ride, Individual results may vary, Sales tax not included, All models are over 18 years of age, upon approval of credit, Quantities are limited while supplies last, Some restrictions apply, Not available with other offers, At participating locations only, Void where prohibited, Above terms subject to change without notice, Patent pending.


See my blog: http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/


Sun Oct 18, 2020 11:48 am
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Subscribed!

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Sun Oct 18, 2020 1:11 pm
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The black paint is dry, now time to make some stripes...Just as Eddie did, I am using regular size masking tape and 1/8" pinstripe masking tape

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We wont be able to duplicate exactly the stripes on the guitar due to the stock having different curves and hardly any flat space, not to mention much less surface area. So I try to get most of the key elements

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next goes on the Wimbledon White paint

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Actor portrayal, Action figures sold separately, You must be at least this tall to ride, Individual results may vary, Sales tax not included, All models are over 18 years of age, upon approval of credit, Quantities are limited while supplies last, Some restrictions apply, Not available with other offers, At participating locations only, Void where prohibited, Above terms subject to change without notice, Patent pending.


See my blog: http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/


Sun Oct 18, 2020 5:56 pm
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The Wimbledon White paint is on

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I started to remove the tape, but the paint wasn't fully cured yet, I'll give it a few more days

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Actor portrayal, Action figures sold separately, You must be at least this tall to ride, Individual results may vary, Sales tax not included, All models are over 18 years of age, upon approval of credit, Quantities are limited while supplies last, Some restrictions apply, Not available with other offers, At participating locations only, Void where prohibited, Above terms subject to change without notice, Patent pending.


See my blog: http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/


Wed Oct 21, 2020 6:55 am
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Keep up the good work Casey.

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"You are either with us...as Americans. Or, You are against us. There is no IN BETWEEN." ???

"We cannot negotiate with those who say, 'What's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable.'" JFK

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”

-Ben Franklin

MadPick wrote:
I don't think you beat your children enough. :ROFLMAO:


Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:09 pm
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tape removed

Image

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Then I start sanding out the tape marks and add some wear....Eddie had it painted white with black stripes for a year and 1/2

Wet sanding with 2000 grit sand paper....also using some 600 grit

I purposely sanded through the paint in some areas

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next step is to tape it off again, this time using gaffer's tape (like duck tape, only a different backing and leaves no sticky residue) and paint the red

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Actor portrayal, Action figures sold separately, You must be at least this tall to ride, Individual results may vary, Sales tax not included, All models are over 18 years of age, upon approval of credit, Quantities are limited while supplies last, Some restrictions apply, Not available with other offers, At participating locations only, Void where prohibited, Above terms subject to change without notice, Patent pending.


See my blog: http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/


Sat Oct 24, 2020 3:25 pm
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In an Murphy voice, looking good Louis. :bigsmile:

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"You are either with us...as Americans. Or, You are against us. There is no IN BETWEEN." ???

"We cannot negotiate with those who say, 'What's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable.'" JFK

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”

-Ben Franklin

MadPick wrote:
I don't think you beat your children enough. :ROFLMAO:


Sun Oct 25, 2020 7:46 am
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Progress is being made, this is after about 6 or 7 light coats.

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As you can see there is still black stripes visible under the red.

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This was also the case on the original guitar

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I probably should have used more pearl white base and just left some areas with a light base coat. A few more coats and I should be close

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Actor portrayal, Action figures sold separately, You must be at least this tall to ride, Individual results may vary, Sales tax not included, All models are over 18 years of age, upon approval of credit, Quantities are limited while supplies last, Some restrictions apply, Not available with other offers, At participating locations only, Void where prohibited, Above terms subject to change without notice, Patent pending.


See my blog: http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/


Wed Nov 04, 2020 8:43 am
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