Frankenstrat Question

[mxaniac]

I saw today that EVH has 3 new guitar models to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their debut album.

https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/evh-unveils-three-new-eruption-tribute-models

1978, I was 11 at the time and it was a pretty big deal. This got me wondering though, other than all the custom work Eddie did with pickup winding and potting and his lack of a tone knob what is so special about his strat? Was a fat strat unusual in 1978? Was a 25-1/2 scale guitar with humbuckers unusual? I really don't have a good sense of what was available in 1978 on the open market. Seems so commonplace to me now that it all seems over-hyped.

 

[Nagisa]

Re: Frankenstrat Question

Yea the guitar itself is pretty much cloned in every superstrat, and superstrats have since outperformed it in terms of fit. That said, it was like the first iconic superstrat and was played by one of the best rock guitarists of all time

 

[Aceman]

Re: Frankenstrat Question

A Strat with a humbucker was not common in 1978, but it wasn't that rare either....

A Strat with a Single HB, and a Floyd - THAT was rare....

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Frankenstrat Question

^^Eddie was basically the reason Floyd Roses became popular. I can't think of anyone to use it before him, and they didn't exist before '77.

 

[stupendous silly]

Re: Frankenstrat Question

I didn't know, or I knew otherwise: Eddie's Frankenstrat should't have a Floyd, but a classic strat trem of some kind. So happy to find an occassion to contradict you ACE

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Frankenstrat Question

Eddie’s original didn’t have a Floyd! It was added after the first album.

Still... even though I wasn’t born yet I can say that 1978 was a line in the sand.

Those are cool reissues (and will never get played like the SRV clones) but it really makes you appreciate that all you need is a body, neck and pickup(s) and you can rock.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Frankenstrat Question

The really cool thing about the Frankenstrat was that it was the antithesis of tone snobbery. Sure he may have added a few things to throw people off his trail, but he used it to prove that even with a cheap neck and a b-stock body you can grab the world by the ear.