This is a replica of one of the most famous and easily recognized guitars ever, Edward Van Halen's Franken strat. Eddie's guitars, song writing and more importantly, his guitar playing abilities not only defined the 80's but left many guitar players frustrated when trying to copy his style and learn his licks. EVH is one of the most influential guitarists ever and a true music pioneer. Listen to "Eruption" or any Van Halen album to appreciate how much Eddie turned the guitar playing world upside down upon his arrival. These days, a single volume, one pickup, Floyd Rose equipped guitar is common fare thanks to EVH…back then it was revolutionary.

This guitar was built using an alder Strat body and a banana headstock neck that I purchased from Warmoth. Upon getting the body, I routed the bridge pickup route to accommodate a slanted humbucker and purchased all the necessary hardware to complete the project. The body and headstock face of the neck were painted white (low-tech spray can auto paint) and after drying, were taped and sprayed with red paint. After further drying the body and neck were then taped everywhere except where the black was needed and finally sprayed with black paint. Although the pattern is not identical to EVH's I was very pleased with how it turned out.

For assembly I carried all the parts to my friend/luthier Fred. After he assembled the guitar Fred loaded in the electronics. A Seymour Duncan antiquity bridge pickup (one of my favorite pickups) was wired directly to the 500k Dimarizo volume pot and like EVH's the pickup was mounted directly to the guitar body. A dummy (not wired) strat pickup with red cover was added in the neck position and a selector switch (not wired) was placed in the route for the middle pickup. Fred even drilled out a quarter and installed it as per Eddies.

After bringing her home, I added the final touches by relicing the finish, adding cigarette burns, adding the eye hooks for strap buttons and of course dirtying the maple fretboard. The guitar sounds as good as she looks. It was as much fun to build and paint her as it is to play her.