Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

[rumbleinbriton]

There have already been 2 good threads here in SD regarding the pickups in EVH's Ibanez Destroyer which was used to record 5 of the songs on the first Van Halen album (RWTD, YRGM, JC, OF, FYLT). It's near certain that guitar used the stock Super 70 pickups, which have about a 7.9 output with A8 magnets.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=112176
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=144682

It's been found that the first VH album was recorded over Aug-Sep 1977.

The Destroyer was not "shark-modded" until afterwards, and the strat did not get the white+black stripes and maple neck until after the recording. To the best of a lot of research, the strat used on the actual VH1 recording looked like this... black w rosewood neck, and zebra pickup... at the time they were in the studio (this picture was taken 3 mos prior)

So what is that zebra pickup that we have all listened to on Eruption, Ice Cream Man, ATBL, etc?

For years we've been told it was something like a "rewound PAF from a 335", right? Well, that may have been what EVH used on the 1978 tour with the white+black franky, but what was really used on the actual VH1 recording in the studio?

It's very likely a Mighty Mite model #1400 Vintage humbucker...

http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr234/japanstrat/MightyMiteVintage2.jpg

... and if you listen very closely to how it has much of the same high-mids as the Destroyer pickup, there's a very good chance he may have modded it with an A8 magnet from an Ibanez Super 70.

Wayne Charvel was selling Mighty Mites, so it's obvious that Ed had access to these pickups.

Apparently Seymour Duncan also worked for Mighty Mite around that time?




A huge discussion thread (with LOTS of pics) can be found here, with some of the better stuff coming in towards pages 7 & 8:

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=22048
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[Mr 9finger]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

hmmm. Veddy intertesting. Good thing I'm not an Ed tone chaser. Seems like you poor guys chase your tails more than anything.

 

[Archer_of_Fish]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

hmmm. Veddy intertesting. Good thing I'm not an Ed tone chaser. Seems like you poor guys chase your tails more than anything.

No kidding. Not being a VH fan has kept me sane.

 

[Stratovarious]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

That thread was awesome !

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

They really do go nuts over that stuff. While the detective work involved in what they are doing can be a lot of fun, I think they overlook the importance of the amps and speakers.

Depending on the guitar, I've gotten VH tones with 59's, PG's and CC's but in all cases it required a Marshall and celestion speakers

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

Was variac used on the first album?

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

Marshall Plexi, a cab with greenbacks 20 watters...a phase 90 of the old school generation.
What ever guitar with some push to it, play!
Cannot give you the mans skills though, but well....
Must be insane scrutinising this stuff so much.....just play....I have heard alot of different setups giving that kind of tone, it is also an attitude thing....and just playing and playing alot....
He poured himself into it...cannot replicate that like ever!

 

[jerryjg]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

Its pretty obvious to all this that Edward Van Halen himself is very gaurded about what he did or didn't use.
Its a secret that he won't ever tell, if he even recollects it all himslef, so Van Halen tone chasers are left pieceing together the real story by whatever is availble to them.This includes pictures, clips, Heresay, testimonials, and judging the sound and compareing and contrasting it.
First thing that was saidin the thread posted directly above is that a few pickups (59, CC, etc.) ca get you darn close to the vh-1 franky sound.
Lots of guys say it doesnt matter too much as far as guitar bodies. No need to replicate the wood exactly or even the neck. This would definitly be self evident if it turned out that the original Franky was really a '58 Strat with a Rosewood neck.
People want to nail that original VH-1 sound, and I wonder why exactly? Is it because the sound is so greta, or Legendary, or both. Obviously Van Halen Himself moved away form that specific sound to a difgferent kind of tone on the next two albums after VH-1, if that tells you anything.

Anyways..
I'd like to know which of the two Super70's wrere used on VH-1 in the Destroyer, the bridge or the neck, or both? I know he does that toggele switch thing very fast, but I'm talkimng the general playing of leads and cords.

 

[rumbleinbriton]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

Mavashi - yes, the variac was used on the first album

Rid - a big part of the sound has also turned out to be the JBL D-120 speakers. 2 isolated tracks from RWTD have turned out, one with the Celestions miked, the other with the JBL's which added a lot of high-end.

The preamp in the Echoplex as well as the MXR eq has also been found to contribute to the VH1 sound. But this forum is specifically about PICKUPS.

jerryjg - it would seem the Destroyer was stock at the time of the recording, so it's likely he was using the bridge pickup with the Vol turned down on the neck pickup for the stutter effect on YRGM. This is mainly how Ace Frehley did that (Ace actually seemed to be a bit of an influence on Ed)


But the big question is WHY analyze this sound to near-exactness? I think some of us want to have THAT sound in our arsenal and be able to use it in the way WE want to use it!

It's this tinkering and deep-analysing mentality that not only brought us guys like Ed, but also people like Seymour Duncan, Joe DiMarzio, Lindy Fralin, Robert Keeley, Mike Fuller, Dave Barber, etc...

The $25,000 EVH replica guitar is mainly the guitar as it had evolved to about the mid 80's. What's going on here is to try to figure out the strat that's on VH1 as it was recorded in Aug/Sep 77. And it looks like a Mighty Mite #1400 Vintage humbucker, possibly with an A8 magnet taken from a Super70, may be the pickup on half the songs on that 10+ million selling, game-changing album. Call it the "EVH77" ?

 

[jafo]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

$25,000... every time I see that, it explodes my mind... Has anybody ever bought one of those things?

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

$25,000... every time I see that, it explodes my mind... Has anybody ever bought one of those things?

Saw a "used" one for sale not long ago for $19k.

I chuckled to myself.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

Saw a "used" one for sale not long ago for $19k.

I chuckled to myself.

You have to be on some pretty powerful drugs to to drop that kind of change on ANY guitar, let alone a replica of THAT guitar. The original maybe. Clones, no way.

 

[Thunder]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

Hello Forum Members

I'm new and happy to be here as well! I'd like to share something. I have a
70's ash body Strat, maple neck, brass nut vintage Fender trem loaded with a 78'. And through an MXR 6 band, script phase 90, modded Jubilee 2555 with a Roland
Space Echo in the loop, I can conjure up the VH1 tone no problem. And with some
tweaking of the bass and mids VH2 up to WACF. The 78' is 'it'! I've had several SD
pickups through the yrs and they all sound great and sound as described. I also say
from experience that when Seymour or MJ tell you something, it's on the money!

 

[Thunder]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

Almost forgot...PLAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT! ED put alot of attitude and passion
in his playing!

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

I have to digress here and say tell you all a convo I had with my girl the other day. I was telling her how Eddie said incendiary remarks on Howard Stern, and that I gave EVH a pass because he himself is an icon, he just happens to be a living icon.

I then went on to explain how there were places on the internet where people discuss everything about Eddie down to little details they saw in photos and all the legend and lore behind it. I said to her she had no clue how much obsession he inspires. Then I see this thread, and I really have to show this to her. Spares me the enegery of searching through Plexi Palace.... lol.

btw, I didn't know he used a Super 70s. Oh can I throw in that I think Super 58s are kinda underrated.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

Saw a "used" one for sale not long ago for $19k.

I chuckled to myself.

I saw that too, but there were too many scratches and worn spots on it, so I decided to pass...



















:jester: :stooges:

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

How did this thread get stars next to it with a rating? I don't think I've ever seen that.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

There have already been 2 good threads here in SD regarding the pickups in EVH's Ibanez Destroyer which was used to record 5 of the songs on the first Van Halen album (RWTD, YRGM, JC, OF, FYLT). It's near certain that guitar used the stock Super 70 pickups, which have about a 7.9 output with A8 magnets.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=112176
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=144682

It's been found that the first VH album was recorded over Aug-Sep 1977.

The Destroyer was not "shark-modded" until afterwards, and the strat did not get the white+black stripes and maple neck until after the recording. To the best of a lot of research, the strat used on the actual VH1 recording looked like this... black w rosewood neck, and zebra pickup... at the time they were in the studio (this picture was taken 3 mos prior)

So what is that zebra pickup that we have all listened to on Eruption, Ice Cream Man, ATBL, etc?

For years we've been told it was something like a "rewound PAF from a 335", right? Well, that may have been what EVH used on the 1978 tour with the white+black franky, but what was really used on the actual VH1 recording in the studio?

It's very likely a Mighty Mite model #1400 Vintage humbucker...

http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr234/japanstrat/MightyMiteVintage2.jpg

... and if you listen very closely to how it has much of the same high-mids as the Destroyer pickup, there's a very good chance he may have modded it with an A8 magnet from an Ibanez Super 70.

Wayne Charvel was selling Mighty Mites, so it's obvious that Ed had access to these pickups.

Apparently Seymour Duncan also worked for Mighty Mite around that time?




A huge discussion thread (with LOTS of pics) can be found here, with some of the better stuff coming in towards pages 7 & 8:

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=22048
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.
.
.
.
.

well all i can say is wow. im a huge VH nut........but this might just be a little too far. but good facts tho

 

[theodie]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

How did this thread get stars next to it with a rating? I don't think I've ever seen that.

I have no idea and actually, that is the reason I showed up in this thread.

 

[frankentone]

Re: Van Halen franky pickup: mystery solved?

check this out guys..
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=154395