You wouldn’t believe what a … I don’t if it should be called a subculture or a cottage industry — whatever it is, there are a metric shit-ton of guys out there making appallingly detail-accurate replicas of Eddie Van Halen’s iconic “Frankenstrat,” from headstock cigarette burns to automotive reflectors on the back of the body.
“Frankenstein,” as Eddie generally calls it, was the original Partscaster; assembled from a B-stock body and neck with a modified PAF pickup salvaged from what must have been a particularly unloved Gibson 335 [the semi-acoustic Salieri of Van Halen guitar lore].
I’m starting to wonder if the 1971 U.S. quarter’s stock is rising among coin collectors as amateur luthiers hoard that year’s 25 center for the Floyd Rose bridges of their Frankenclones. Van Halen drilled a ’71 quarter into the body to help keep the bridge flush. Talk about a “there, I fixed it” moment, but it apparently works so I’ll just shut up.
Here are just three photos I especially liked:
