EDDIE VAN HALEN “Frankenstrat” Guitar

The Frankenstrat was Van Halen’s attempt to combine the sound of a classic Gibson guitar with the physical attributes and tremolo bar functionality of a Fender Stratocaster. An early version of a Superstrat, the guitar was made from a Northern Ash Stratocaster body, with pickup routing which Van Halen modified to fit a Gibson PAF humbucking pickup in the bridge position.  The guitar has a maple neck and fretboard, chrome hardware, and was painted with a white over black design. This gave the appearance of a white guitar with black stripes. Later, red was painted over the original black and white. This now gave the appearance of a red guitar but was, in fact, just a third color sprayed over the original design. It has a standard six-string setup and a Floyd Rose tremolo.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, many guitar companies tried to capitalize on Van Halen’s popularity by manufacturing Frankenstrat replicas. In 1979, Eddie replaced the original black pickguard with a white pickguard and added a Mighty Mite single coil with a red phenolic bobbin on neck. He later replaced the white pickguard with a cut up black vinyl record, covered the back with aluminum foil, and replaced the Gibson humbucker pickup with one from the “Bumblebee” guitar. In 1981, he replaced the vinyl record with a trimmed piece of a 3-ply black Fender pickguard to cover the control cavity. To confuse imitators, he screwed a three-way switch sideways into the middle position cavity, replaced the previous humbucker with a Seymour Duncan pickup, and replaced the neck with the “Bumblebee” guitar’s neck. In an interview, Eddie admitted the single-coil pickup and middle switch were not connected to anything.

DISCLAIMER

Rock n Roll Collectibles is not affiliated with the artists, their management company or any manufacturer of real full-sized musical instruments. Model names and artist names are used for comparison purposes only. None of the miniature instruments are exact replicas. Colors and designs may vary slightly as the fine detail is hand airbrushed. The miniature guitars are NON-playable and for display only.