Guitar Gear Forum

I know these have been done hundreds of times through the years. But, I just wanted to share the build of an EVH Frankenstrat that my son and I are doing. He's really excited about doing this, and it's something I've been wanting to do for many years.

This is what we started with. It's a Musikraft body that someone had painted red, but never finished. So, he sold it to me.







2 more coats of black.



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Then came the taping for the white coat.

Like a surgeon!

My son has a knack for the details!

The white coat completed!

Then came the relicing of the black and white version. I gave my son a blade and various grits of sandpaper. I was a bit frightened!

Got some of the relicing done. It's so difficult trying to simulate years of wear and tear!

Cool project!


Will it reflect light in a cool way?

Thurston wrote:Cool project!


Will it reflect light in a cool way?

Yes it will! I'm also creating a set of hands to play it, because we all know that is where the tone comes from.

Very cool, ledvedder! I loved helping my dad out with projects when I was your son's age.

Here's a quick and cheap tip for getting more realistic relicing, (I am knee deep in a relic partscaster build at the moment) - brown shoe polish. Smear some into the wood, let it sit, then buff it out. A few coats really help to bring out the amber hue that results from it having been played for 30 years. It also doesn't go very deep into the wood like a traditional stain, so you can always sand it out and start over if you aren't digging it. Also great for dirty-ing up a pickguard.

itchyfingers wrote:Very cool, ledvedder! I loved helping my dad out with projects when I was your son's age.

Here's a quick and cheap tip for getting more realistic relicing, (I am knee deep in a relic partscaster build at the moment) - brown shoe polish. Smear some into the wood, let it sit, then buff it out. A few coats really help to bring out the amber hue that results from it having been played for 30 years. It also doesn't go very deep into the wood like a traditional stain, so you can always sand it out and start over if you aren't digging it. Also great for dirty-ing up a pickguard.

Thanks! I was planning on doing the brown shoe polish trick on the bare wood spots when I finish scraping away the paint. Gotta give it years worth of muck and cigarette smoke! I've used the shoe polish to darken a Mighty Mite neck that was way too light, and it worked great.

Cool

That's awesome man! So cool. I should do something like this with my son…

Maybe an EVH inspired flying V...

Looks like it's coming along nicely!

It's starting to reflect light in a cool way!

Whoa! Great job!

New neck from Musikraft!

Some more progress. We did the cigarette burns, crud in the pickup cavities, tuners and nut.

Sweet project man!

Great job and the grain on that neck is gorgeous.

That's looking sessy!!!

Still coming along great!

Looks killer!

Did EVH's actual guitar have a birdeye neck, or is that a stylistic change?

Are you going to age/dirty up the neck?

Looking good so far!