Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

[Mr. B]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

Guitar Center is letting people play a 25 THOUSAND dollar guitar, just to try it out ???? If I was shelling out that kind of cash I would want one no one had even breathed on! Of course you could probably throw that thing down the stairs and not make a noticable difference.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

Build all the frankenstrats you want. But don't forget the most important part of the equation. The Marshall. That is so often overlooked it's not funny.

It's like going out and building a race car so you can drive like Mario Andretti. Aside from the driving skills, you still need the right engine in the car.

 

[rumbleinbriton]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

I did some digging on Google and found this:

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/archive/index.php/t-1476792.html


and the pickup was an almost-melted half-power Gibson PAF from an old ES335 he'd had lying around.


So the pup in the Frankie maybe really had a shorted coil, and had LESS output than a typical PAF?

 

[waylay00]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

Well, I got to play this one here in Memphis yesterday (http://www.martinmusicguitar.com/). I'm a friend of a guy who works at the shop, and it wasn't very busy yesterday. Surprisingly, he let me sit there and play it for almost an hour through a little Bogner Shiva combo.

As soon as I plugged it in and hit that first note, I was in tone heaven. Regardless of price, this has to be one of the best pickups I've ever played. I used to think that tone can really only be had through the fingers and that I would never be able to get Ed's tone, but this guitar (more importantly, this pickup) proved me wrong. It was immediate brown sound, with not even that much gain dialed on the Bogner.

I switched to a James Tyler (loaded with a JB in the bridge) to see if it was just the amp that sounded so good, but nope, it sounded no where near as good.

Then again, it's a $25,000 guitar, so it better be sounding good.

 

[roadstar II]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

This is all ridiculous. You want instant EVH tone? Buy an Ernie Ball Axis. He designed the guitar, Dimarzio helped him design the pickups, and I can say that this guitars nails EVH better than anything else will.

I agree 1000%
IMHO the B-1 custom wound dimarzio EVH in the EBMM sounded so much better than the frankie pup anyway and after playing frankie that night i think the EBMM is a superior guitar as well:beerchug:
the evh frankie felt like a typical strat and nothing special honestly
try to play one if you can you wont be impressed at all:thumbsdow
that boogie bodies neck on it is very typical strat not at all like his first strat neck which had a extra wide nut and was very thin front to back like a ibanez wizard neck or old charvel san dimas

 

[roadstar II]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

Build all the frankenstrats you want. But don't forget the most important part of the equation. The Marshall. That is so often overlooked it's not funny.

I would rather spend 25K on that marshall than the frankie

 

[roadstar II]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

Well, I got to play this one here in Memphis yesterday (http://www.martinmusicguitar.com/). I'm a friend of a guy who works at the shop, and it wasn't very busy yesterday. Surprisingly, he let me sit there and play it for almost an hour through a little Bogner Shiva combo.

As soon as I plugged it in and hit that first note, I was in tone heaven. Regardless of price, this has to be one of the best pickups I've ever played. I used to think that tone can really only be had through the fingers and that I would never be able to get Ed's tone, but this guitar (more importantly, this pickup) proved me wrong. It was immediate brown sound, with not even that much gain dialed on the Bogner.

I switched to a James Tyler (loaded with a JB in the bridge) to see if it was just the amp that sounded so good, but nope, it sounded no where near as good.

Then again, it's a $25,000 guitar, so it better be sounding good.

????
it sounded like a lot like tele to me through a high gain amp
very weak and trebly?

 

[roadstar II]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

Guitar Center is letting people play a 25 THOUSAND dollar guitar, just to try it out ???? If I was shelling out that kind of cash I would want one no one had even breathed on! Of course you could probably throw that thing down the stairs and not make a noticable difference.

I have known the main sales guy there for quite a long time otherwise i doubt i would have been able to try it

 

[roadstar II]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

FWIW, i tried my CC wired in parallel just for S*#ts and giggles and it sounded quite close to the EVH broken paf
give it a go it is easy and totally reversable

 

[jmh151]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

I agree 1000%
IMHO the B-1 custom wound dimarzio EVH in the EBMM sounded so much better than the frankie pup anyway and after playing frankie that night i think the EBMM is a superior guitar as well:beerchug:
the evh frankie felt like a typical strat and nothing special honestly
try to play one if you can you wont be impressed at all:thumbsdow
that boogie bodies neck on it is very typical strat not at all like his first strat neck which had a extra wide nut and was very thin front to back like a ibanez wizard neck or old charvel san dimas

The EBMM OOOZES EVH in every way- its tone, ability to get artificial harmonics, brown sound, etc... If you plug an EBMM Axis into a Marshall, with maybe a little booster in the front and and delay, you are going to get VERY close to EVH- the rest is in the fingers. Ernie Ball/Music man had been working on and repairing the Frankenstrat and 5150 guitar well before they signed EVH, so they knew exactly what he wanted in a guitar, and how he wanted it to sound.

The Peavey Wolfgang pickups were a little too dark and hot.

The one thing Fender, as well as other companies that do relics, has not been able to adequately duplicate is the color of bare wood after years of abuse- such as SRV's replica,Rory Gallagher, EC's Blackie, and now the EVH.

 

[SoundAt11]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

????
it sounded like a lot like tele to me through a high gain amp
very weak and trebly?

I've got an alder strat with a completely maple neck and it's very Tele-ish sounding in the bridge, very treblely and low bass and mids. Unplugged, it's thin and honky. I'll blame the all-maple neck for most of that, the maple fretboard being the main culprit. Mine is a hard-tail, so it's going to sound more tight than the trem version, but I shudder to think how bright Eddie's must be acoustically with the all-maple neck, hard-ash body (super bright), and a big Floyd Rose on it. The angle bridge pickup is almost a necessity, as there's just not enough bass in a standard humbucker spot on a Strat.
And I'm using an INVADER bridge with 10's through a bassy amp with a beefy 12" Celestion.
It's simply the construction of these Strats that make a thin, twangy bridge position so common.
The fact that Eddie was playing through a wall of 4x12 cabs and had great EQ guys in the booth, is a huge part of his massive sound early on.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

I also have an alder body, all-maple neck Strat. It is anything BUT thin. That sucker is fat fat fat. It's had a CC, Brobucker, DiMarzio PAF and a Super Distortion in it. If it gets any fatter it's gonna think it's a Les Paul. LOL

It's not just the type of wood, but the pick of it as well. Some alder planks may be brighter than others and some darker. My neck happens to have the Warmoth boat contour which is huge and that may contribute to the big sound as well, there's more wood there than traditional profiles.

Position of the pickup in relation to the bridge makes a difference as well. Too close to the bridge and it will sound thinner. Too far away and it'll get too dull and undefined. You have to find the sweet spot.

IIRC, the Floyd block on these is brass. That should warm it up, which is why brass was used in the early Floyd days to begin with.

Edit: I actually have 3 alder, all-maple neck Strats. Neither of them sound thin.

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

I also disagree. I own and came across a lot of fat strats. And I would not say that fat strats (even with all maple necks and "bright" body woods) are thin.

Indeed, one of the best guitars I ever owned is a hardtail walnut warmoth that I myself have assembled. I have a brobucker in the bridge of that guitar, and it produces a very defined but thick tones. Another favorite of mine was a hard ash body strat with an all maple neck. It was bright but not thin at all. CC was producing great EVH tones in that guitar.

B

 

[waylay00]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

????
it sounded like a lot like tele to me through a high gain amp
very weak and trebly?

Well for one, the Bogner Shiva I played isn't a high gain amp, relatively speaking.

Maybe you were hearing something else, but the EVH I played sounded very thick.

 

[Majestic]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

The EBMM OOOZES EVH in every way- its tone, ability to get artificial harmonics, brown sound, etc... If you plug an EBMM Axis into a Marshall, with maybe a little booster in the front and and delay, you are going to get VERY close to EVH- the rest is in the fingers. Ernie Ball/Music man had been working on and repairing the Frankenstrat and 5150 guitar well before they signed EVH, so they knew exactly what he wanted in a guitar, and how he wanted it to sound.

The Peavey Wolfgang pickups were a little too dark and hot.

Oh boy. The EBMM pickups have MORE output than the Wolf pickups. It's just that their accentuated frequencies are different.

The EVH/Axis body shape is an original EBMM design, chosen by EVH out of their database.

The pickup that Blucher tested....yes.....the 0 Ohm pickup....was at the TOTAL OPPOSITE end of what Eddie went with. In the end, Eddie was obsessing between a Tone Zone, and "modified" Tone Zone with Symmetrical coils. Both are mega-powerful pickups. Lukather got impatient, told him to "just pick THAT one", and thus, the EVH/Axis has a "symmetrically wound" Tone Zone in the bridge position.

At more than 17k, ONE of that pickup's coils has as much DC resistance as the entire EVH pickup. It's an absolute mushy sledgehammer compared to an Alnico 2 PAF, even with but one of the coils slightly overwound.

The frets on the guitar were similar to ONLY ONE of his "favorite" necks. The rest of his necks are fretted with jumbo frets, or at least 6105s (ie. the Wolfgang frets).

The real treat on the EVH/Axis guitars is the actual shape of the fingerboard. it goes BEYOND just the basic thickness of the neck at each individual fret. It's more than that. Not until I had my local luthier rip out the frets for some REAL EVH frets could my eyes comprehend the goofy plane going on during different stretches/frets of the neck. His "wear marks" are in that laser-scoped fretboard, and are weirder than most think.

I own two EBMM guitars, but neither one is even close to being "vintage Eddie". More like 1991 sludge-fest. The pickups are the next to go!

Let's not get hung-up on the bag of lies from that Guitar World/Player interview from 1992.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

I'm flabbergasted.

Fender makes a copy of a PARTS GUITAR, charges $25k, and people have actually bought the ****ed things?

And here I thought the Page LP was ridiculous.

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

I would not buy it as well.

Actually with that money, I would be assembling 25 fat strats from USACG parts with an original floyd and duncan custom shop pickups. Then pick the one I think sounds best, and sell the other 24. :dance:

B

 

[rumbleinbriton]

Re: Played the re-issue EVH frankenstrat last night at GC (duncan related)

FWIW, i tried my CC wired in parallel just for S*#ts and giggles and it sounded quite close to the EVH broken paf give it a go it is easy and totally reversable

Good idea - apparently when a HB is wired in parallel it SERIOUSLY reduces the output - to about that of a single coil? That might explain the low output.


Edit: here's roadstar's other thread on this:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=112331