Kramer Frankenstrat Finished!!

[metalchurch]

Just for the record, I did not build any of these guitars. They were mostly from Vintage Kramer.com I posted them mainly for some eye candy to jazz up the page a little bit, and to practice with my new toy. ( I learned how to post pictures today.) I have pictures of my guitar further down in this page.

[metalchurch]

Eddie's Original Frankenstrat, his '5150', and his Steinberger w/ an EMG 81-85 set

[metalchurch]

My first pic's I ever posted!!
I'm trying to get the size a little bigger to show more detail.

Anyway, I'm going to be posting pictures of this Kramer EVH that I'm working on during the building stages right up to completion.
I have the neck about 90% done. I didn't take any pic's of it before I started working on it. I wish that I did.
Here's the neck in it's first stage of Clearcoat.
I know that the striping is off, but this is a Reverse neck and it's also going to be lefthanded, so it is not an exact copy. I was not trying to totally Replicate this guitar, only get the spirit of it and put my own ideas to it.
The neck I used was a Mighty Mite, and it was routed for a 'Rear Mount' Locking nut.
So I had to fill those holes in with a wooden dowel.
And to hide the plugs, I painted the back of the Headstock, like Eddie's '5150' and '1984' Kramers. I used a vinyl Kramer Logo in Gold letters.
It is a nice touch anyway, I think.


The camera flash is crappy,I apologize.

[URL=http://imageshack.us]

Here is a picture of a Kramer '1984' Re-Issue, so you can see where I got the idea to paint the back of the headstock. Mine is taped off more rounded at the neck scarf, unlike the '1984' which comes to a slight point.
And, you can see the 2 holes on the '1984' neck that I had to fill in on mine.

[bassist_25]

Pretty sweet. The Kramer logo looks awesome. Did you do the Steinberger in the top two photos, Joe?

[metalchurch]

No the first 2 photo's were from the VintageKramer site. They were basically my test mules for my first picture posting. I had a rough time figuring out how to do it.
This guitar will be a Lefty, and it is being modeled after the guitar in the middle of the picture.
Glad you like it so far.

[Banned]

That's looking really sweet. Can't wait to see how it turns out! Are you going to make it totally authentic with cigarette burns on the headstock and multiple trips to rehab?

[metalchurch]

I might do 'Left Handed' Cigarette burns, since it's a lefty.
No rehab stints, rehab is for quitters!

[Charltor]

Looks awesome man! We've got to re-do my stratobastard sometime. Can't wait to see it complete!
Just don't put the gay reflectors on the back like the real one! LMAO!

[MeYatch]

How did you make the logo?

[metalchurch]

I bought the Logo, from a guy online, who specializes in Kramer, and EVH logo's.

Dave, whenever you're ready to rip into the Stratobastard, let me know. I'm all for it.

Here's a picture of the body that I'm using. Still waiting for it to get here.
I hate the Sea Foam Green color, it's awful.



Shot at 2007-07-18

[metalchurch]

I took the masking tape off, to check for overspray, and to re tape it at the scarf joint. I'm going to tape it about 2cm back from the original mask, so I can 'step-up' the clearcoat, so there isn't so much of a ridge where it was masked at. I still need more clear on it, and lots of wet sanding and buffing.
I just did a mock up to see what it would look like.

Here she is:

[onegunguitar]

Looks awesome Joe! Too bad it's a Jackson tho!! Hahaha!! J/K,I just had to fuck with ya!!! Can't wait to see the finished product!

[SpiritualSadist]

Looks Great

[old Skool]

Looking good Joe...and Jacksons rule!!!

[metalchurch]

I got the neck angle figured out. I had to shim the front of it.
I have the bridge pickup cavity routed out. I bought a real Dremel, what a difference!
I have it all built and got the bugs worked out. Strung w/ GHS 8-38 and tuned to Eb. This thing plays like butter, I'm very amazed how good the action is. It went together very fast, with minimal adjustments, so I couldn't be any more pleased. Found a Charvel Model 2 neck plate for it also.

Here she is, The Mutt amongst My Three Kings:




I still have some more routing to do to the neck pickup cavity, and the middle one, where the 5 way will sit.

[bassist4life2004]

I gotta say that im more impressed by the Rhodes V's in the background, sweet guitars man.

[metalchurch]

Thanks man. Those are actually King V's. Both of the wings on them are symmetrical, the wings on the Rhoads have one longer than the other.
I built the Black one about a month ago, and the Bullseye about 2 years ago.
I bought all the parts that I needed and put them together.

[metalchurch]

I'm gonna play it for a few days, and make sure everything is ok, and then tear it down and get it ready to paint. In the meantime, hopefully I get the black pickguard, and find a bridge pickup. Looks like a yard sale special right now. That ugly ass Green paint just kills me. Looks like 'School House Green'
or some Turquoise color on the Tu-Tone paint jobs of the 50's.

[metalchurch]

I got the body sprayed today finally. I got the masking tape today also. I'm hoping to get the red on it tomorrow sometime.

[metalchurch]

I got the Red painted on this morning. It's starting to look like what it's supposed to now. The stripes on the Front are similar to the Original guitar, but the ones on the back I did freehand.
Once this dries, I'm going to lightly wet sand it, and tape it up for the black stripes.

[metalchurch]

I got the Black Stripes sprayed on a few hours ago.

[Punkinhead]

Nice man. Looks freaking sweet.

[Charltor]

coming together nice man, by the way what kind of paint are you using???

[Colton]

coming together nice man, by the way what kind of paint are you using???

I'm curious as well. Those guitars look great man.

[metalchurch]

I wanted to use automotive paint, but I couldn't get the gun and compressor in time. I'm using Dupli-Color Spray cans from Autozone. It looks good, but it takes a while to fully harden and dry. The Clearcoat is gonna be the real pain waiting to dry, because I'm gonna put around 20 thin coats on it, as opposed to 1 coat if I had used a gun.
Thanks for all the kind words everyone, I really appreciate it.