Frankenstrat. I couldn't not.

[Prostheta]

Okay, here's a quick rundown on screw removal. There are certain caveats on making the process as invisible as possible. I didn't quite go down this route myself; I forgot that I had screws to remove before I shot the first paint. If anything this shows the limitations of the process or more accurately how it isn't always 100% perfect.

Cut a ~50mm/2" length of brass tube with an ID larger than the screw.

 

Chuck it vertically into a vise of some kind.

 

Using a file, cut a series of triangular teeth with a flat facing "into" the cut when rotating anti-clockwise, or against the direction of the screw you're removing. 

 

Use a locating template with a hole cut matching the OD of the brass tube. Centre this over the hole to guide the cutter until it creates its own grooove.

 

Drill anti-clockwise until the cutter has cut a hole deep enough to remove the guide template. Drill in several stages, cleaning out with a vacuum, compressed air or whatever. The cutter will not evacuate the waste, so you have to, hence the burning with me not doing this religiously.

 

Eventually the screw will either work loose with the cutter or the plug takes it out entirely.

 

The caveats here are obvious. If you're removing a plug from a part with a finish, the heat will likely cause issues around the cut. In my case the heat melted the shellac and took the thin base coat off, no big deal. To finish off the repair, ideally you need to be able to make matching plugs of the same wood as the workpiece with matching grain direction. Not always easy when making small 6mm diameter holes like this, as the grain would be across the plug and not along it! Let's see how that works out, however it's not a big issue. The repair will be under the tremolo plate and paint anyway. Either way works as long as the repair holds the replacement screw correctly.

The teeth on my cutter were trash, hence the rough repair. I do this so seldom that I haven't dialled in the correct tooth profile to my mind. I aimed for a 90deg presenting face to the wood so that the cutter is more likely to cut than scrape. I still get resistance and burning within the cut but I suppose it could be worse, The cutter shouldn't take a lot of work to advance, and if it does then re-evaluating the toothing is worth the thought.

[Prostheta]

Well, I've fallen afoul of the rattlecan curse again. They truly do suck. Two cans of acrylic in, and I'm still not at a stage where I'd say that I'm happy with the buildup. I'm going to have to knock back this coat with some 240 grit and consider going over everything again with a third can. Egggghhhhhhh.....

I'm actually wondering whether matte and satin paint are more difficult to get working since they have a fraction of flatting agent along with the paint and solvent. I would imagine that it's hard delivered sufficient product cleanly when you've got all this other crap as part of the delivered volume. I might just get a gloss can and see if that produces an better and easier result. This satin is too flat for my liking....I doubt that it will shine up as much as I would hope.

[Drak]

Didn't Eddie use Schwinn bicycle paint or something like that?

BTW, I think I know why you did the b/w instead of the r/b/w.

So you didn't have to put all those reflectors on the back.

[Prostheta]

Hah! Yeah, those retroreflectors were a bad idea. They were installed with the intent of reflecting stage lights into the audience, however since retroreflectors send light straight back to the source (yay, geometry) they likely just resulted in a bunch of pissed-off lighting guys riding on the spots.

My understanding is that Eddie used Schwinn paint for the red, which seems to have been a two-part process; a pearl undercoat with a translucent red over that. It goes some way as to explaining why so much of the black is visible through the red (more than normal since red isn't usually very good at block colour) and why it wore back to a pink in places over the white.

The real reason is that I don't like the insta-relic that has become so popular. Brainless quick processes that really don't apply themselves to the way that wear and time work on a finish. If I were to go full on RWB Frankie, every single bit of aging needs to be done chronologically and in sequence. First, the wood itself needs to be aged. Then the time spent as a black guitar must be realised before the white goes on. That is to say, a little life will be added to the black before I stripe up and go for the white. Like a tree, the history is written in the rings between the layers. If you carefully relic a month-old guitar that's fresh out of paint, when you go in to the wood, you're exposing month old wood. Equally, the whole thing needs to work as an aging instrument, not simply as a fake 40yr-old guitar that continues to age exposing fresh non-40yr old interior.

I like the idea of the ratty Strat that made it all happen. The RWB Frankie was just the one that caught the most of the spotlight when video killed radio.

[Drak]

19 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

The real reason is that I don't like the insta-relic that has become so popular.

I'm totally on-board with that observation.

If the masses have caught on to it, you can count me right out, I wouldn't get anywhere near it.

And I would never use a guitar with a reflector on it, much less a dozen slapped and crammed onto it.

Gives me the heebs just thinking about it.

I mean, when things get to this level of mass consumption and hysteria...

[Prostheta]

Well, I made the pickguard "suitably poorly". I made a start on distressing it using a combination of many things. A large knife, screwdrivers (tappy tap tap), files, a roll of cloth sandpaper end-on, grey Abralon, garnet shellac, some screws, a box of old drill bits and a lighter. Even thought it's already pretty heavily distressed, there's a long way to go with polishing and generally smoothing harsh areas of wear that years of playing dial back. Consideration was put into directional types of wear, such as impacts from typical picking styles and constant use of the volume pot. A few burns were placed where you'd imagine Eddie might have dropped or placed a cigarette whilst playing and working on the guitar. Corresponding burns were added into the black paint alongside the pickguard. Dabbing with shellac adds in that unknown shmoo mojo, especially between stages of adding wear and polishing. Flame polishing the plastic during distressing softens out harsh edges and does what constant light wear from clothes and touch naturally take back.

I've used the Eruption Super '78 as a reference, even though this was on the understanding that the builders didn't even get their hands on Frankie (from what I am aware) and even if they did, it certainly wasn't in the black and white form! There's always going to be a great deal of personal license on how one recreates the VH1 Frankie, and I feel that the line is very very wide of what should be correct, is unknown or simply not required by all but the sniffiest of cork monomaniacs. I went for the RWB era Frankie headstock shape as opposed to the larger Fender-style, have gone for standard Gotoh tuners than vintage Schallers, 22-fret neck, etc. The guitar isn't a decoration or talking piece, it's meant to be a player so those decisions were made solely out of personal license. There's WAY too many people who spent excess time mass debating about the finer details, which - whilst fine for historical research - are just not a priority compared to playing your damn guitar.

Four of my reference photos of the Eruption Super '78.

[Prostheta]

I'm unsure as to what white to use, however I'm leaning towards RAL9003 Signal White. The final aging process will add in an ambering, so starting with a warm white would defeat the purpose. After all, the areas of Frankie that are worn through to the white show a reasonably clean bright white.

[Drak]

I like those pics, it made me realize how much the white would have faded by now.

Which I really like, that aged and faded and slightly yellowed white, much better than a real pure white.

If I was doing that, I would probably have to spend an entire afternoon adjusting and tinting white to find that look.

Just looking at it, I couldn't just vomit up a color recipe.

I would have to try a few mixes to find and discover what blend would look like that.

Its interesting looking at the back at the trem pocket, how narrow the area around the block is.

I've never installed or used a regular trem, it's always been Floyd or nothing for me.

So the area around the block is generally fairly wider.

[Prostheta]

It's been a learning experience for me also. Strats are hella basic, but have a lot of very specific caveats and quirks. Looking into original manufacturing techniques, the artifacts of which can be used to identify true vintage examples (which Frankie was not, of course) has been fascinating. Some Strats have razor-edge belly contour to top distances. Very cool.

[Prostheta]

I think I'll have some difficulty doing the ambering. I was thinking of a little smoking, but that's not easy of itself.

[Prostheta]

This looks like a better colour reference. 

https://www.eddievegas.com/store/details/1962-ORIG-OLYMPIC-WHITE-FENDER-STRATOCASTER.php

Then again, expectations of what a relic should look like seem to be different to reality these days, what with pre-reliced commercial instruments being so prevalent.

[Muzz]

Has anyone tried sticking a white painted body in a cupboard with a UV light cooking up some authentic slightly mottled amber goodness?

[Prostheta]

I'm sure that they have, however the choice of paint needs to be pretty specific as modern paint often has all sorts of inhibitors added. Acrylics and polys tend to be pretty resilient compared to old school paints as far as I understand it. UV might affect colours more than white. I want to aim for a combination of paint aging and general grime. I'm leaning towards shellac, but I'm unsure how best to spray it. I don't have the gear, so I may need to do some tests with a spritz bottle. After all, this isn't a consistent or smooth finish I'm aiming for so this might work as long as it's a super low cut like 1/4lb or less. Enough that it's almost like spraying alcohol on its own. Heavier cuts are more likely to leave ring spots I bet. Testing needed.

[Bizman62]

5 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

UV might affect colours more than white.

Remember the old computers? About 20 years ago I used to sell paper holders made out of plastic, one of the colours was named "Computer White". I don't know if it would ever get the wee-burned shade in sunlight like the monitor housings did, though. Anyhow, the plastic parts of computers seemed to yellow faster than the painted steel, partially of course because usually the case was hidden into a doorless cabinet in the desk, leaving only the plastic front affected to sunlight.

The question is, how much difference is there in polyurethane paint compared to the ABS? Will it yellow similarly in sunlight/UV rays? This blog says it will: https://www.bowerpowerblog.com/solution-yellowing-polyurethane-master-bed-makeover/

[Prostheta]

I think in the case (no pun intended) of old computers, it was fire retarding chemicals within the plastics of electrical items migrating to the surface and reacting with UV. Bromine seems to come to mind, however it doesn't entirely seem logical given how toxic that is. Anyway.

I'm pretty certain that the paint I am using (it's a Maston product) will be pretty resistant to yellowing with age. I don't like the idea of adding a discrete clearcoat over the top since the original never had that either, plus I suspect it would affect how the general distressing process turns out and also monkey around with how the finished instrument ages with time. I'll do a test piece and see whether smoking it works by masking some white test piece and comparing between smoked/unsmoked. That should be the most natural and realistic ambering with super thin amber shellac being either a supplemental or merely backup plan.

[Prostheta]

I can't really given sources for these photos as I've been hoarding for years. Some are probably doing the rounds whilst some may be rare. Who knows? So these are some of my source photos for understanding how aged Frankie was by '78.

These appear to be genuine, and the first one provides evidence as to why there are random screwholes in the back of Frankie. 

 

At this stage I am looking for information on how worn the black coat was before the white went on. The biggest guide here is that the striping was done prior to their first real heavy touring cycle. Before then, Frankie was played at local venues and parties and saw nowhere near the sort of abuse as it did when it went on the road. That would lead me to think that I don't really need to distress the black prior to the striping.

Thoughts?

[komodo]

Here it is much earlier, maybe 74-75. Notice the Gibson logo he put on the head stock. I'm not sure there was much play on it if any as a black guitar? Did he acquire the Mighty Mite body and neck, paint and assemble what we see here?

Next pic is one of the oldest I've seen of VH. They're standing on grass! It really reminds me of my high school bands first legit show, very similar to this. I was stringing up the first guitar I'd ever built while everyone else was packing out to the show. I played it's first chords live for our first song, maybe 500 people and 15 kegs.

EDIT: I'm not sure of the accuracy of the dates above. Watch this guys vids (he has many). He really goes down the rabbit hole.

 

[Prostheta]

Very cool! I believe that the body was purchased with a sealer coat, Eddie painted it black and gigged it for a while.  I've been through those videos also! I think it was mentioned that it was definitely Frankie and not another Strat painted black. I'm unsure how long it was black for, however I imagine it wasn't too long. I spent a lot of time examining Met photos of the (replica?) Frankie trying to ascertain whether the black coat was chipped or damaged significantly prior to the white. Apparently the white coat was quite heavy so I imagine there'll be a lot of edge tearing and ridging. Hopefully that tearing doesn't bite off more than I am ready to chew  

I've noticed that Frankie never seems to flash up glossily in photos, which I presume is down to a satin-y finish, poor laying of the black layer (likely) or general scuff wear knocking back the gloss. Not sure whether I will do that before the striping and white layers as the overall distressing will encompass this anyway. I'm thinking that a cut with rottenstone/tripoli will be enough to bring back any gloss to a flatter and more uniform sheen. Much better than using high grade sandpaper or Scotchbrite equivalents to do this, even though those will have their place.

Unless Mighty Mite and (Wayne Charvel's?) Boogie Bodies were related in some way, the body was not Mighty Mite. A MM pickup (or several) made their way through Frankie at various points, but this is again another one of those hellaciously contentious things that everybody likes to opinionate on the the Nth degree purely to try and own their little part of Eddie. The story goes that he passed through BB and picked up a second hand body and a neck, the assembled guitar was even played with its natural sealer, then played black and finally the VH1 form. Let me check photos later....

[Prostheta]

I'd say that these reference photos are genuine, unless it's a copy whose string alignment was also WAAYYYY off.

 

[Prostheta]

Good reference photo for striping and how the guitar was wearing on tour....

It clicks the lotion on its skin to embiggen.

 

[komodo]

7 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Unless Mighty Mite and (Wayne Charvel's?) Boogie Bodies were related in some way, the body was not Mighty Mite. 

 http://www.sparkslinger.com/guitars/BoogieBodies/boogiebodiesinfo.html

They made bodies for Mighty Mite, Charvel, and Schecter.  Lynn Ellsworth says EVH had a mahogany body. I'm not sure if he's indicating that Frankie is mahogany, but I have heard that it's a light body. Most ash is pretty heavy unless it's swamp ash. 

EDIT: I also found this (very last comment at the bottom of the page). Of course it's internet here say, but it doesn't sound off.
https://www.woodytone.com/2010/11/19/evh-frankie-wood-mystery-deepens/

[Prostheta]

Wow, excellent little piece of history there! I absolutely never knew any of that. Very cool, except that Warmoth are built on theft and bad practice....

Frankie is Ash. It's commonly referred to as Northern Ash and not Swamp Ash, but then again SA is not a species and just a property of Ash growing in specific wet conditions that comes in super light. It might be a specific species of Ash that grows light in those conditions, but I've not done my research. I think I had this conversation about Ash a while back either here or elsewhere?

That second link is typical Internet. Wood "drying out" under stage lights doesn't ring true since the fraction of water in wood isn't huge and varies regardless of sealing unless you hermetically cast it into a block of epoxy or whatever. Wood does seem to lose a little weight but not to the point of transforming a heavy Ash body into one that feels like light Swamp Ash! Water content of wood rises and falls, and should really be at 6-9% before made into a body. It will continue to be at that content through its service life with slight reduction in time due to cell degradation changing its ability to hold onto water. A heavy piece of European Ash (like mine) would become lighter if torrefied, but not drastically so....unless charcoaled!

[komodo]

RE most of the second link: yes of course. That's insane. What I was referring to was at the very bottom of the page, in the comments section. The gent says he worked at Tom Anderson and had Frankie for awhile.  He says "definitely Ash" and that it wasn't that heavy.  Every single mention of Frankie by anyone who has held it says that it is light. Certainly any two blocks from the same log even can be different weights, this just seems to be a particularly light piece. 

RE Swamp Ash: I've used it on many guitars, and it's so different from other Ash it's almost hard to believe that it's the same wood. It almost reminds me of Balsa!

[Bizman62]

I've also read that "Swamp Ash" is the same species that has grown in a wet place. Logically thinking the lightness is obvious: If the tree can live there it will suck quite a lot of water into its cells so most likely the cells are bigger than those of a tree growing on poor/dry ground. The growth rings may also be wider. So when the wood is dried and the water is removed, the rest is pretty lightweight and soft. In Finnish there's a word "räkämänty" (snot pine) for pine lumber that has grown so fast on rich soil that the wood isn't suitable for purposes that require strength against the weather, such like window frames. That said, swamp pine is very dense high quality wood but that's because our swamps aren't too nutritious and pines don't like water. They grow very slowly on swamps.

[Prostheta]

I might build a Jaguar from Swamp Ash. Always wanted to do that, and I'm wondering how well a Floyd might marry up with that style. I absolutely agree amount wood density varying greatly; Sapele for me has been both punishingly-heavy and sometimes airy-light. A bit like humans