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I spent about half an hour playing and checking out the Frankenstein
It's really a pretty cool guitar, but mainly because you know it's very similar to what Ed has and plays right NOW, and the history of what it copies.
First surprise? it feels like an old strat, much moreso than the guitars it spawned, it has a definite strat vibe
It played really well, action was fast and loose.
It did seem to be a much more 'live' guitar than the EVH's, but still similar in feel.
The neck is the same 1-5/8" shape assymetrical one associated with ed, very grungy. The trem has that totally loose bar like on all his guitars I've seen up close, you'd think it unplayable that way but he does it. The spring and claw seem installed like an afterthought. The pickup is super low output, I think it's more strat like than the 78 which I find to be almost P-90 ish. The electronics assembly is something that if you saw it outside a guitar you'd swear it was for the recycling bin. The 'tone' pot has virtually NO resistance to it, like it would free spin.
The body is where it gets interesting, it is really banged up it's surface cratered from burns dings and bizzare different layers of paint. The reflectors are cracked and broken with glue residue from them really prevalent. There is duct tape, painted over tape, some of the stripes have pronounced ridges. I expected it to be a lot heavier than it was. It is actually cleaner than the Ed guitars I've handled which were seriously grungy and rusty, these strings were even non-gangrene inducing. The distressing is also done in stages, to the body blank, black only, striped and finally red you can tell by the way the paint builds up , covers gouges, layers over old tape and the lines of the old stripes (the white was put on pretty thick and not sanded back I'm guessing. I was also surprised at how many screw holes it had in it.
Lot of cigarette burns as well. Huge couple of them one on the front of the upper bout, wonder if that's from nodding off playing with a smoke.
It was a fun experience, totally reinforced the 'tone is in your hands' I think it would be basically a useless instrument to anybody but Ed, but that is probably EXACTLY what he was going for, it truly does seem like it was created by a crazy man, completely unique, seemingly haphazard and utterly whacked.
I'd love to have one for the wall, it's an incredible conversation piece and a real representation of some important guitar history, you can literally see the evolutionary changes he made to it, if you look at it closely you can see all the remnants of the various paint jobs, including the original solid black he put down.
but at $25,000 it ain't for me or many others but out of the 5 they received 2 were sold and one reserved
It's really a pretty cool guitar, but mainly because you know it's very similar to what Ed has and plays right NOW, and the history of what it copies.
First surprise? it feels like an old strat, much moreso than the guitars it spawned, it has a definite strat vibe
It played really well, action was fast and loose.
It did seem to be a much more 'live' guitar than the EVH's, but still similar in feel.
The neck is the same 1-5/8" shape assymetrical one associated with ed, very grungy. The trem has that totally loose bar like on all his guitars I've seen up close, you'd think it unplayable that way but he does it. The spring and claw seem installed like an afterthought. The pickup is super low output, I think it's more strat like than the 78 which I find to be almost P-90 ish. The electronics assembly is something that if you saw it outside a guitar you'd swear it was for the recycling bin. The 'tone' pot has virtually NO resistance to it, like it would free spin.
The body is where it gets interesting, it is really banged up it's surface cratered from burns dings and bizzare different layers of paint. The reflectors are cracked and broken with glue residue from them really prevalent. There is duct tape, painted over tape, some of the stripes have pronounced ridges. I expected it to be a lot heavier than it was. It is actually cleaner than the Ed guitars I've handled which were seriously grungy and rusty, these strings were even non-gangrene inducing. The distressing is also done in stages, to the body blank, black only, striped and finally red you can tell by the way the paint builds up , covers gouges, layers over old tape and the lines of the old stripes (the white was put on pretty thick and not sanded back I'm guessing. I was also surprised at how many screw holes it had in it.
Lot of cigarette burns as well. Huge couple of them one on the front of the upper bout, wonder if that's from nodding off playing with a smoke.
It was a fun experience, totally reinforced the 'tone is in your hands' I think it would be basically a useless instrument to anybody but Ed, but that is probably EXACTLY what he was going for, it truly does seem like it was created by a crazy man, completely unique, seemingly haphazard and utterly whacked.
I'd love to have one for the wall, it's an incredible conversation piece and a real representation of some important guitar history, you can literally see the evolutionary changes he made to it, if you look at it closely you can see all the remnants of the various paint jobs, including the original solid black he put down.
but at $25,000 it ain't for me or many others but out of the 5 they received 2 were sold and one reserved
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