EVH Frankenstein

[Soap]

Well you know the truth about diamonds, yet you still fork over thousands for them. They are common stones. Even if you did know how to cut/polish them, you'd have to pay thousands for the raw stone itself. The labor cost for finishing a diamond is minuscule relative to the artificially inflated price of the raw stone itself. Unless you are going to open up a diamond mine in Africa and bypass the DeBeers cartel, you are complicit in participating in a market where the supply/demand is artificially created.

And whatever you say about your wife being worth an artificially inflated price for a rock applies the same for someone purchasing an EVH. Maybe they think they are worth the indulgence. Who are you to judge how someone in America spends their money? I can point the same judgemental finger at you and your wife's diamonds.

Your pushing a view and I'm not nor never was.
You really should reread my former post carefully.
Read the highlighted quoted area of my former post.

If you read my post you would have seen I never once mentioned or eluded to one spending his or her money. As I stated and will do so again, I said "to each their own, I've never seen a guitar yet worth 25 grand, and I think most not all guitar manufactures are scavengers, and I'm a diy people."

Go back and read the highlighted quoted area of your post I quoted.
I honestly understand your view and your continued persistence to argue over it is entertaining none the less. I'm not sure what point your trying to make or prove since I formerly agreed with you. Even so, I applaud your efforts.

[SeventhSon]

Your pushing a view and I'm not nor never was.
You really should reread my former post carefully.
Read the highlighted quoted area of my former post.

If you read my post you would have seen I never once mentioned or eluded to one spending his or her money. As I stated and will do so again, I said "to each their own, I've never seen a guitar yet worth 25 grand, and I think most not all guitar manufactures are scavengers, and I'm a diy people."

Go back and read the highlighted quoted area of your post I quoted.
I honestly understand your view and your continued persistence to argue over it is entertaining none the less. I'm not sure what point your trying to make or prove since I formerly agreed with you. Even so, I applaud your efforts.

OK, so I'm not sure what your point was, but if i misrepresented your position i apologize.

Regarding "I've never seen a guitar yet worth 25 grand" that's just an odd assertion to make. Just look at past ebay auctions. Those guitars are obviously worth that much because someone bought it for that much. Maybe you wouldn't, but someone did, and that is all that is required to establish worth.

[LEOKV2]

The difference is that the "blessed" version will have a Certificate of Authenticity. You are not understanding the concept of "rarity". The limited edition's "rarity" will always be established by Certificates of Authenticity.

You could get framed Picasso at the mall for a couple of hundred (mostly the cost of the frame). Or you could get a limited edition replica from the Picasso estate for many thousands of dollars. While the latter is "just a fake" and will have been made by paid employees other than Picasso himself (who is long dead), it *will* have a Certificate of Authenticity that forever establishes its rarity.

Okay, but read what you're saying. Certificate of authenticity... SURE, but, of what? I mean, you can get a certificate of authenticity from anything, you can get a guitar, put a sticker on and make a certificate saying "yes, the guitar here was marked by ME, SeventhSon, and I hereby certify it's authenticity". I mean, if we're talking about KENNEDY'S SHIRT of course I want a certificate, or if it was EVH's guitar I'd ask him to write me something as proof. But in the case of this REPLICA, the certificate says, basically that Fender REPRODUCED the guitar and that EVH liked it. It also says that some dudes named PANCHO, PEDRO and JUAN spent some time scratching the guitar, burning it and having a blast removing the electronics. Don't get me wrong, I'M SURE there's much more to this cool new "aging" treatments that companies are introducing, but anyway, as good as a guy can get at aging an instrument, it still means it's NOT THE REAL DEAL and that you are getting a REPLICA! I have nothing against replicas, I'd love to have, say, a replica light saber from Star Wars or Darth Vader's mask or whatever, but we're talking about stuff that doesn't cost 25K I guess (although they probably do anyway). Or I dunno, a replica Picasso painting, but I'd think and treat it like it's just a replica, an ornament with no particular value other than to show that you like it. There's a HUGE difference between that and actually give ANY believe to it as far as "autheticity" goes, come on, it's just an expensive replica. Give me a ceritifcate of authenticity when we're talking about something important, like THE REAL THING, so it has a value, but for a replica? I might as well just show people the RECEIPT from GuitarCenter or whatever for 25K, that's it. People are actually paying 25K for a piece of paper that says "EVH says this guitar is pretty close to his guitar".

I think this whole "aging" and "replicating" new guitars to making them look used is kinda like a strange way of a "fashion flashback" in the guitar world. It's the guitar industry's way of saying "hey, the 80's are cool, you should use a mullet again!".

What's even more weird is that the companies market these aged guitars saying that you are paying to get the feel and comfort of a used guitar, showing rust, wear, scratches, finish cracks, etc. I'm sure you can get more comfort with a used guitar (specially if it's used by YOU and it has YOUR grooves and treatment) but hell, if I'm going to pay for a "new - aged guitar" and pay about 5 grand EXTRA for (yes, I love saying this) some dudes scratching my guitar... I'd MUCH rather buy a REAL USED guitar for much less money and be happy. Not my case though.

[Robert Burns]

Thanks for that review! My Brother in law and i were just talking about
the "Franky". He said..."unless i had $500K to spend on Guitars, i
would never buy this one". (this coming from a VH super Fan, who owns
all 3 of the "Art" series!)
But both of us agreed... For $25K..thats 2 PRS Private stocks...
and 3 Charvel/Jackson Custom shops! But, i agree...if i had 3 Million
in the bank, one of these would be on my wall too!
IMO its a $900 guitar though. (Fender probably only has $450 into them!)

[sandbag]

There's no way that guitar costs even 5k to make....Guitars don't get that much better over the 2500 mark anyways....imo

[Joe_Steeler]

Guitars don't get that much better over the 2500 mark anyways....imo

Generally that is a semi-accurate statement but before you get too far I want you to try a Fender Masterbuilt Strat or a PRS ME or 513 or perhaps a Tom Anderson Drop Top and get back with a modified statement.
There is some shit out there that once you play it you KNOW it is good.

Now $25k for a beat up to hell and back is flat out cookie.

[CharvelRocker]

I view it like this: If I had the money to buy one, I would buy it, and enjoy it, as it is one COOL guitar. Plus I would think it would be cool to just play one. That said, you can't buy mojo. You can buy looks, but not the "feel" an instrument gets when you build it/modify it like that and play the hell out of it.

[SeventhSon]

Okay, but read what you're saying. Certificate of authenticity... SURE, but, of what? I mean, you can get a certificate of authenticity from anything, you can get a guitar, put a sticker on and make a certificate saying "yes, the guitar here was marked by ME, SeventhSon, and I hereby certify it's authenticity". I mean, if we're talking about KENNEDY'S SHIRT of course I want a certificate, or if it was EVH's guitar I'd ask him to write me something as proof. But in the case of this REPLICA, the certificate says, basically that Fender REPRODUCED the guitar and that EVH liked it. It also says that some dudes named PANCHO, PEDRO and JUAN spent some time scratching the guitar, burning it and having a blast removing the electronics. Don't get me wrong, I'M SURE there's much more to this cool new "aging" treatments that companies are introducing, but anyway, as good as a guy can get at aging an instrument, it still means it's NOT THE REAL DEAL and that you are getting a REPLICA! I have nothing against replicas, I'd love to have, say, a replica light saber from Star Wars or Darth Vader's mask or whatever, but we're talking about stuff that doesn't cost 25K I guess (although they probably do anyway). Or I dunno, a replica Picasso painting, but I'd think and treat it like it's just a replica, an ornament with no particular value other than to show that you like it. There's a HUGE difference between that and actually give ANY believe to it as far as "autheticity" goes, come on, it's just an expensive replica. Give me a ceritifcate of authenticity when we're talking about something important, like THE REAL THING, so it has a value, but for a replica? I might as well just show people the RECEIPT from GuitarCenter or whatever for 25K, that's it. People are actually paying 25K for a piece of paper that says "EVH says this guitar is pretty close to his guitar".

Mine wouldn't be worth much because I'd be one of thousands of nameless unofficial replica builders now and in the future. These in fact sell all the time on eBay (when they are not pulled).

An official Franky replica would be one of 300 in the world. So it's rarity factor now and in the future is established. Are they worth 25K? Not to me. But they are worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

Do you know what a lithograph is? It's a replica of a painting where the printing plate is made from a photographic negative. Once you have the printing plate, you can print off *limitless* copies of a piece of art.

So you could buy this...

http://westpalmbeach.craigslist.org/art/352567320.html

of which, if there is a COA, you know that there will be 1 of 500 in the world.

or if that's not your bag, you can probably find an identical lithograph from the same printing plate that is NOT accompanied by the official COA and it will sell for much less.

So, yes, you are really buying a piece of paper that says you own 1 of x in the world. The piece of art (or guitar in the case of Franky) is just an excuse to create an officially recognized COA.

Seems silly yes. But the market has proven time and time again that people will pay top dollar for perceived rarity and uniqueness.

[SeventhSon]

There's no way that guitar costs even 5k to make....Guitars don't get that much better over the 2500 mark anyways....imo

Probably true. But you could say the same about a Picasso (apologies for the tired analogy). An object's worth often has little to do with the cost to make it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3604616.stm

Again, this guitar has nothing to do with being an awesome playing musical instrument or some magic combination of special raw materials. It's *primary* reason for existence is to be 1 of 300.

[LEOKV2]

Mine wouldn't be worth much because I'd be one of thousands of nameless unofficial replica builders now and in the future. These in fact sell all the time on eBay (when they are not pulled).

An official Franky replica would be one of 300 in the world. So it's rarity factor now and in the future is established. Are they worth 25K? Not to me. But they are worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

Do you know what a lithograph is? It's a replica of a painting where the printing plate is made from a photographic negative. Once you have the printing plate, you can print off *limitless* copies of a piece of art.

So you could buy this...

http://westpalmbeach.craigslist.org/art/352567320.html

of which, if there is a COA, you know that there will be 1 of 500 in the world.

or if that's not your bag, you can probably find an identical lithograph from the same printing plate that is NOT accompanied by the official COA and it will sell for much less.

So, yes, you are really buying a piece of paper that says you own 1 of x in the world. The piece of art (or guitar in the case of Franky) is just an excuse to create an officially recognized COA.

Seems silly yes. But the market has proven time and time again that people will pay top dollar for perceived rarity and uniqueness.

Sure, I do understand perfectly what you're saying, but in my ways of thinking, and it's not that I don'r appreciate art or whatever, I'd much better buy an original painting from another artist worth $1500 rather than a litograph, having whatever COA's it may have or not. You can buy "rarity", sure, but rarity is determined by stupid things in some cases like, a guy says "we're only going to make 100 copies of this or that", knowing they could easily make 200 copies. It's just a marketing technique I guess. Rarity can be bought and it's very subjective actually, but what you CAN'T buy is "mojo" as CharvelRocker said, and I'd much rather buy the mojo of an artist's painting impregnated with real oil painting brushed into a canvas, that's priceless. But a copy is just a copy. To me, the fact that Fender is selling this replica guitar with a paper that says COA is not a justification for ANYTHING, and so are the "aged" guitars at Gibson, it's just a way of making profit out of people, mostly fans and not really musicians, and it may be "okay" to some people, not to me. I guess that people who buy replicas or artificially aged guitars think differently and they have powerful reasons too, I'm not against that, I'm just looking at things from a different perspective here. I can accept that maybe a guitar, say a Mustaine signature KV1 with Dave's real signature on it with a COA to proove it, can be very worthy as a collectable, or even better, one of his guitars played on a determined tour with a COA, but I won't pay "top dollar" for some guy replicating the wear and tear of the original guitar on a brand new KV1. I'd rather buy a new one and add my personal wear and tear. A certificate, to me, is worth a lot and it adds a lot of value to the object if we're talking about the REAL object itself, like, say, a piece of the SpiderMan suit used in the film or stuff like that. But a replica, with or without a certificate is on a whole different league. To me? Not worth 25K, I'd only pay 5K if I were a real fan with money to spare. But for the real Frankie? I'm not a fan here, I don't even really like Van Halen, but sure, that thing could sell for much much more.

Remember, this are all my opinions, from my point of view, so this subject is very arguable on many factors that I'm sure other people have. Plus, there MUST be some people buying this stuff, I don't think Fender or Gibson would spend so much publicity and time if they didn't sell much.

[SeventhSon]

it's just a way of making profit out of people,

Bingo. And this surprises you because...? News flash...Fender and Gibson are for-profit coprorations.

[hippietim]

I want to know who died and named EVH a deity or soon to be holy man.
Tim, I agree with you on many subjects but this is just gay man!!

Way to take something out of context and misrepresent it! My point was addressing why some random luthier's version ain't worth squat compared to one with Eddie's approval.

I don't think he's holy nowhere did I imply that. But on the subject of a replica of *that* guitar there is no greater authority - his blessing is essential to the value of that run of guitars.

BTW, that guitar isn't worth $25k to me either. There are lots of things that ain't worth the asking price to me, a $12k PRS private stock, a $5k Diezel, a $500 Bogner 1x12 cabinet, etc.

[mhalsey]

Ultimate addition to your guitar room? Really? Actually, the COOLEST addition would be to have THE REAL Frankenstein or Blackie. But, really, what's cool in having a replica? Specially if it costs 25K? I get you point though, but I'd much rather have cheap replica of these guitars as an ornament, like, a poster or something, but not worth 25k... please.

I asure you, if I were filthy rich... I'd buy EVH's real guitar, his pilow and his shoes and display that (or something). But not spend cash on a replica, no way.

Yes, really. Why not? Common sense dictates that if you or I suddenly became filthy rich, and I mean FILTHY rich, we would buy all kinds of overpriced, stupid shit, i.e., guitars, cars, blondes, etc., etc. You gotta admit that, dude. If not, you are in deep denial, my friend.

[SEEGERMANY]

I'd be all over it if "it" was bigger and redder

[Chasbo]

Semi off topic, but for me the ultimate addition would either be Paul Kossoff's LP or Lifeson's white 355. That said, as a filthy rich guitar weenie, I would not mind blowing some cash on some of these replica's that are available. The idea of what something is "worth" is all relative to the amount of a persons bank account. To me, not a huge EVH fan, this replica isn't worth a fraction of it's 25k price tag, but that sort of thing might change if money wasn't a factor.

In any event, that was an excellent review of the instrument you tried. Thanks for taking the time to write it up for us!

chuck