Love Song for Frank

[Oren]

Several months ago I had the opportunity to purchase a "Frankenstrat" made by a local craftsman to exactly duplicate Eddie Van Halen's guitar that he built from parts, and used on his first album and tour. I looked forward to spending some quality time with the guitar that he made famous, but was shocked to find that the instrument (at least by modern standards) was garbage.

It felt bad, played bad, and wouldn't stay in tune. Keep in mind that the fellow who made the guitar constructed it accurate in every detail. It turns out that Eddie made all that amazing music with a really nasty guitar...

So I decided to re-build the instrument with modern components - and with (hopefully) more care and attention to detail than Eddie applied to his original project. I'm very pleased with the result.

The folks at "Guitaraholics Anonymous" expressed interest in following the process, so I took photos of each improvement, and recorded a track based upon a "Quarterly Review" song. The song is a one-sided conversation: me talking to Frank (the guitar) about our relationship...

[MarioD]

It sounds like you and Frank are getting along just fine!

Great chops as usual and your vocals are top notch.

Two thumbs up.

[Moon]

Doesn't only looks great, but also sounds great !!

Great music from the hands of great musicians ! 

Moon

[Oren]

Mario - Frank and I are getting along very well, thanks!

Moon - Thanks for listening...
              (too bad I don't know how to "shred", but that's not Frank's fault... )

[folderol]

Looks good - sounds good.
That's seems an incredibly steep angle in that pickup view

[Oren]

Thanks for stopping by, Will... 

Yes, the pick-up angle has since been set to a more reasonable position.
 I attached the pick-up directly to the wooden body of the guitar - rather than to the plastic pickguard. This allows the pickup to resonate more naturally with the rest of the guitar... but screwing the pick-up directly on to the body makes adjustments in height and angle quite time-consuming...

[offthewall]

 
Worthwhile project, longhair.
All sounds great ... mate   

 
James

[Oren]

Thank you, James!