big-phil Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 I've always wanted to do this also, just the paint. I have a Krammer striker 300st. Nothing special but I would like to paint it like God's guitar.....O, i mean Eddie Van Halen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 I've always wanted to do this also, just the paint. I have a Krammer striker 300st. Nothing special but I would like to paint it like God's guitar.....O, i mean Eddie Van Halen. It definitely adds cool points to just about any guitar, but at the same time you kind of set yourself up for failure (in my case, anyway) because people then expect you to play like Eddie. Once I belt out one of my mentally challenged versions of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", people normally walk away scratching their heads and mumbling "WTF?" under their breath I just finished painting the last coat of red paint. I found that I couldn't wait several more days for the paintto fully cure, so I broke out the files and sandpaper and tore up the body anyway. After about an hour of hacking on it, followed by another 3 1/3 hours of masking it was ready for paint. I can say with absolute certainty that the 5150 stripe job is MUCH easier to mask off than the Frankenstrat. Even after several hours of close inspection and scrutiny, I'm sure later I'll find a spot where there should have been a tiny little stripe or squiggle. I have a new found respect for the guys in the Fender Custom Shop who cranked out 300 of these things (Although I still can't get over the $25,000 price tag). I'll pull the masking tape tomorrow after work, and post pics shortly after. Right now I'm pretty much pooped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 Pulled off the tape today.... Back Side: Back side, with "BLING! BLIIIIIING!" in position: I still have to age the red paint slightly, and drill lots of random holes all over the body (Looking at the high res images reveals that his guitar is pretty much swiss cheese). More pics to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 XP i wanna see some holes in dat quarter. wicked job so far!! i know there's ONE THING that will always keep them being incomplete replica's wood grain. so unless those 25k guitars have the same wood grain, i can't see the justification in the 25k you'd have to drop on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 XP i wanna see some holes in dat quarter. wicked job so far!! i know there's ONE THING that will always keep them being incomplete replica's wood grain. so unless those 25k guitars have the same wood grain, i can't see the justification in the 25k you'd have to drop on it. Will commence with the defacing of government property ASAP I know what you mean about the wood grain. Large portions of the end on the guitar are exposed wood that looks like it has been used as a war club. The end grain is clearly visible. Sadly, most of the pictures I've seen of the Fender replica guitars show that the end grain from one guitar to the next is much different, as well as large variations in paint, holes, wear marks, etc. I would imagine that probably the first 30 or 40 in the production run were pretty close, after that they are more like "Van Halen inspired" rather than true replicas. Granted, they are still probably closer than mine, but I still wouldn't pay more than about $3000 for one. This guy bought THREE of them, sided by side, you can see quite a few differences between them. http://www.myevhfrankenstein.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 wow, i can see TONS of differnences in those 3 guitars. I guess they figured "Hey, no one would EVER be able to compare these SIDE BY SIDE, since they cost so much!" or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 I hope that guy bought his from out of state on the internet. Sales tax on $75,000 sure would suck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 As requested, one 1971 quarter, drilled full of holes: Front shot showing additional relicing of red paint: Rear shot. Reflectors are all stuck in place, as close as I could get them.... There is still a ton of detail work I need to do, as well as getting the pickup and electronics installed. Now I'm just waiting on the rest of the parts to show up in the mail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 lookin awesome man. if it was me doing it, you'd see me staring at those pictures of the replicas for HOURS pencil lining the entire guitar to lay out every single stripe and such in the exact positions. i'm so ocd about that kind of stuff.....i wouldn't even be PAINTING it yet because i'd be too busy trying to get the lines marked out perfect XP Kudo's to you for taking such a huge task and making it look amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 lookin awesome man. if it was me doing it, you'd see me staring at those pictures of the replicas for HOURS pencil lining the entire guitar to lay out every single stripe and such in the exact positions. i'm so ocd about that kind of stuff.....i wouldn't even be PAINTING it yet because i'd be too busy trying to get the lines marked out perfect XP Kudo's to you for taking such a huge task and making it look amazing. Thanks man! I debated on going all "OCD" and blueprinting all the stripes, but in the end, laziness won out and I just did it by eye. I'm not entirely sure I even got all the stripes the correct size, all the masking tape starts to look the same after a while The only one that really sticks out to me as a blatant FUBAR is the diagonal black stripe that runs along the back of the bridge. The quarter should be sitting about halfway on this stripe, whereas mine sits almost entirely on it. I guess it's about 1/2" off. Thats what I get for masking and painting at almost 1:00 am on a weeknight Oh well, it's probably still closer than some of the replicas that Fender is putting out. I should have all the electronics sorted out and installed sometime this week. I'll get some more pics up once it's all done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 if you really want to get ocd, the stripes on the back right (looking at your picture) are also a bit off ^^ oh well, you still have quite a bit of "aging" left to do all over ^^ I like it though. It's coming along quite nicely, and faster than i thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted October 31, 2007 Author Share Posted October 31, 2007 if you really want to get ocd, the stripes on the back right (looking at your picture) are also a bit off ^^oh well, you still have quite a bit of "aging" left to do all over ^^ I like it though. It's coming along quite nicely, and faster than i thought I noticed that too, even as I was taping it up I was thinking to myself "Hmmm, there should be more space between these...." I think that side of the body kind of has the stripes compressed together a little too tightly because of the misplacement of the diagonal stripe on the front. Thats the worst thing about trying to copy one of these exactly: One strip in the wrong location screws up pretty much every other strip you add after it. Oh well I got it put back together today an was able to play it a little. I added some longer spacers under the pickup to bring it closer to the strings than it was before, and it toally woke up a pickup that previously sounded kinda weak. This thing is a beast now, pinch harmonics are super easy, and the tone is total early VH. I need to work on the amp side a bit to refine the tone a bit more, but the guitar is definitely there now. I got the 3 way switch in the mail today too, and found it wasn't the one I wanted after all. The ebay add only showed the backside of the switch, which looks just like the backside of a vintage CRL switch like the one in the real Frankenstein guitar. The front side of the switch though, which is the part you can see in the control cavity, looks completely different than the CRL switch. So I ordered the right switch, and will play the hell out of this thing until it shows up. More pics: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 that thing look soo bad ass. but now you have to take it outside and tap it on the concrete a bit XP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted October 31, 2007 Author Share Posted October 31, 2007 that thing look soo bad ass. but now you have to take it outside and tap it on the concrete a bit XP It would be a shame to get that red paint all over the concrete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X64v Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Looks awesome man. I've always liked the look of beat up old guitars far better than new shiny ones (better fretboard feel, too, if they're actually old and worn). Just keep playing on it 'til the frets are nice and smooth.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnutthehutt Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 Schweeet. So can you make me a George Lynch when you're done with Franky? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 2, 2007 Author Share Posted November 2, 2007 Schweeet. So can you make me a George Lynch when you're done with Franky? I probably could, but I think the wife would file for divorce if I start another guitar project anytime soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 so, i noticed this really late BUT last four digits of my starbucks partner number 5150 police jargon for "we've got a crazy and we're bringin him in" (basically) I think that means I'm a crazy. (also the name of that guitar, noice) Next update from you better be WICKED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 so, i noticed this really late BUTlast four digits of my starbucks partner number 5150 police jargon for "we've got a crazy and we're bringin him in" (basically) I think that means I'm a crazy. (also the name of that guitar, noice) Next update from you better be WICKED also one of the names of their albums and tours, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted November 2, 2007 Author Share Posted November 2, 2007 Next update from you better be WICKED I'm still working on it I was able to find some white and black duct tape at Home Depot, so I have the tape in the trem spring cavity and the small chunk of black tape on the end of the body. I'm still waiting on the right switch to show up in the mail. When I pull the strings to put the neck pickup and switch in, I'll probably pull the whole bridge out so I can beat it up a little too. Chrome is a hard thing to age without making it look like it was just intentionally aged with a wire brush. I'm thinking sme kind of chemical might work better, like Naval Jelly or some kind of acid to etch into it a little, simulating the acidity of genuine mung, sweat, and finger cheese. I might have to take up smoking for a few days as well, either that or let the wife use the headstock as an inscence holder until I get the right burn marks. I'm going to wait until it's all finished before posting any more pics, because most of the work I have left to do is pretty subtle stuff compared with the work on it so far. Hopefully can get it finished up this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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