EVH Striped Series Frankenstein Relic - Red/Black/White Reviews

great guitar plays and sounds great. has a nice sound to it love it

Its the gateway door back to your youth and its a totalinteractive experiance . In this crazy world we live in ,this is your ticket back to when times were good and grandmas were still around .
I have 43 guitars and this is the best playing and amazing sounding guitar out there . The feel is second to none,the neck is addictive ,you can put it down !!!!....Ed was great dont get me wrong, but this guitar had something to do with it , it makes you play better than you really are ...buy one already ,life is short!!!!

Sounds great and feels great. Love the way it plays.

If you are a fan of Eddie or his sound then you will not regret adding this guitar to your collection. It is not just a guitar, it is an experience. If you are not buying your gear from Sweetwater then you are doing yourself wrong.

I swear this guitar makes me a better player. New riffs come naturally. The D-Tuna adds another layer to any new riffs you come up with. This guitar feels like a natural extension of me.

The growls under high gain are awesome, when playing clean it sings like a choir. I find myself reaching to split coils, select bridges and adjust tones out of habit, but there is no need for anything as complicated as that, just turn it up, or maybe even once in a while, down, hahaha.

The strings are so easy to play, the neck is the most comfortable I've ever played. It is light and comfortable. I can play loud or soft and it sounds incredible.

It's almost as if this "Prototype" was built in order to address every issue I've encountered with every guitar I've ever played. Is every solution perfect? Nope. But as a whole does it work like a dream? Yep!

I am down to two guitars after giving away two others, and swore I was sticking to just one. Then I saw this one, pulled the trigger and am so ridiculously happy I did.

Get it, don't hesitate. Worth every penny and way, way more. The setup out of the box was perfect, picked it up, plugged everything in, checked the tuning and started playing.

It is my new obsession and it is always in the back of my mind counting down the time until I can start playing again.

I don't normally write reviews. But I want to thank sweetwater for the great job with my new Frankenstrat. This is honestly the best playing guitar that I own. The slick neck is something that I will need to get used to though. I do plan to modify the rest of my guitars with an oil finish on the neck. I absolutely love the feel. Thank you Derek!

Just had to add a EVH stripped guitar to my ever so expanding collection. This is a great relic guitar that pays tribute to the late EVH and is very well built.
As always great support by my Sales Engineer Chris Goldbach, with keeping me informed of when to expect my new guitar and checks to make sure everything is to my satisfaction after delivery. Cudos!!!

Eddie is the King - and there isn't a more recognizable guitar. The nostalgia and WTF moments just from looking at/holding and playing this guitar aside, underneath all of the Eddie aesthetics/mods, its a high end Fender/Charvel hybrid taking the best of both and giving them an aged feel without actually being aged (making the $ a little less abrasive given the fact that it's basically a Fender/Charvel custom shop feel guitar). The pick-up is punchy and loud and it does push the front of an amp a bit without being at all screamy hot, think articulate with a bit of volume related bite without feeling like the pick-up is coloring everything, more like the combination of everything going on with this guitar is really a tone all itself. The neck feels as nice as you would hope it does, even better actually.
I did give it a serious set up as the factory set up wasn't it.

My wife works in the medical field , and encourages me to buy guitars of my dreams , custom shops , vintage ..etc....OUT of the 167 guitars ive owned in the past 5 years ....THIS is my all time favorite ,..I have custom shops collecting dust and havent touched another guitars in 5 months. At 2 grand , its a down right steal . The neck is the best feeling necks ive ever touched and the overall feel is heavenly , I know Eddie was good and all , BUT im wondering if it wasnt partly this guitar , its the easiest ive ever played !!!!....BUY one now , you wont regret it

First of all i want to thank ray Gonzales for getting me a great deal on this,and helping me understand the floyd rose since i am new to it.im not a big evh guy but i can play alot of his stuff fairly and i had a striped charvel series when they first came out,but the floyd threw me off.anyway,first off the evh packaging is great and guitar was tunned one half step down and everthing was perfect
The reliic job is really well done d tuna seems cool.the neck is really fantastic and the pickup growls
And of course sweetwater double boxed it,but really impressed with the evh qc
I guess the only downside is no case or gigbag,but i got a cheap one so no biggie
I own alot of real nice gear.i cant put this down.i may even geek out and do the reflector knob,71 quarter thing,to make it look cooler
Great guitar,ty ray and sweetwater

Punchy mids, bright clean, Eddie inspired. Couldn't live without it.

My son saved for this guitar with his first job in the real world. The Frankie was all he talked about all summer. He was always watching videos and reviews about this guitar. When he finally had saved enough we called and talked to our Sales Engineer Sam and took advantage of 10% off promotion if you called to place your order. Sam is great! After every purchase I've made at Sweetwater, he always messages to find out if there are any problems or questions that I may have. My son is absolutely in love with this guitar and it has met all his expectations. It truly is a work of art that plays just as you would expect this iconic guitar would.

This bad boy pushes all the right buttons for me. So many things describe it. Hot rod, fun, butter, iconic, reliable, broken in baseball glove. It basically comes down to just being inspired again. Love it.

Absolutely legit. Get it if you can…………

Absolutely love this guitar…the neck has such a great feel, very smooth and feels extremely fast. Gotta admit it's very inspiring to play this guitar. Definitely recommend it. I have 22 guitars and haven't picked up any other one since I got this one. It's definitely in my top 3 for sure.

What's to be said. From working with James M then the inspection, then the delivery, the Guitar is great.

I don't care where they made it. It's spot on to a custom USA shop in quality.

It sounds exactly how you would want if you want the TONE.

Grab one. I'm willing to be you will love it.

The neck and jumbo frets are heavenly

I have wanted a Frankenstein guitar ever since I started playing guitar, but the ones they kept releasing ran almost $20K each! When this guitar was released, I set a goal to save up for it. After Eddie passed away, I wanted it more than ever. The day finally came when I could get my hands on one, and my god this thing is so comfortable and the EVH pickup is the hottest pickup I have ever played. Playing distortion on this guitar gives me goosebumps every time I strum the strings. Eddie will live on forever in his iconic axe as well as in his music. I could not be prouder to represent and spread the word of the god of electric guitar himself.

My dad bought Van Halen 1 when it came out and as a 10 year old kid, it kind of changed my life. I grew up in a family that played music constantly, but I never had a "guitar hero" until Eddie came along. He's the reason so many of us started to play guitar, and none of us...no matter how hard we try, sound exactly like him. I'd love to have his $ '07 Fender Custom Shop, but this is as close as I'm likely to get. The guitar plays very, very well...and even comes tuned half a step down, which was a bit of a "how cool is that?" moment. The single pick up, roaring through my Friedman is a time machine back to '78. It feels and plays a lot like my Charvel (same Mexican factory I suspect), which used to be my favorite until now. For everyone who gripes about it not coming with a case...mine hangs on the wall when it's not being played. Who'd hide this in a case? If you aren't in a Van Halen cover band, you probably aren't going to gig it anyway... I geeked out and bought a '71 quarter, some reflectors for the back and even rounded up some vintage Schaller tuners for it. I love it. RIP Eddie.

Feels like butter in my hands. Nice "worn in feeling". Plays like heaven. Sounds like perfection. Next to my American Ultra Stratocaster I don't see many if any quality issues though this is a Mexican made guitar. Hardware is amazing and durable and I can do dive bombs with ease. Drop D Tuna works great and the small adjustment knobs are amazing to help with a string or so you can hear that sounds out of place during a song. The lack of case is a problem as with a guitar of this quality should come with a hard case. Kind of mad because my daughters Jagstang only came with a fender gig bag. The same case that came with my ultra fits this guitar perfectly and I was able to use Sweetwater bucks to purchase a new one with some of my money too. All around great service, best price by far and knowledgeable sales people. True tribute to the best guitarist in my generation by far.

I have the Wolfgang SPecial Stealth with the same pickup. Everything about the Frankie sounds better. Hard to explain but it just sounds perfect for everything I play. Its super special. Maybe I got lucky with a killer setup from the factory, but it's now my best guitar.

Always great service from Sweetwater - Thank you Dave! Shipped and received this bad boy without issue. I let it acclimate for a day before I opened'r up. The look is top notch! Was like Christmas morning opening that case. The Feel is Fantastic. Action low and high up the neck is perfect to me. I can tell the frets will be better over time as it's brand spanken new. If you're a fan of Van Halen like me, been playing guitar since I was a kid inspired by the EVH GOAT, go get yourself one. I'm so glad I didn't pass this up.

When I ordered this I did not k ow what to think being mim. When it arrived you could still smell that paint smell like a new car . This guitar went beyond my expectations. It was set up beautifully and plays and sounds amazing. The attention to detail on this guitar is so cool. The action was like butter. Super easy to play and stays in tune perfectly. I ordered an Evh striped series case for it and had it shipped in it as well and the fit is pretty good . I guess my only gripe is a guitar of this cost should include a case or a good gig bag at the least but Eva is not the only company that does this anymore. Over all a great playing,sounding and looking guitar.

I've been a Van Halen fan from day one and I never in my life thought I'd have the frankenstrat but my daughter and Sweetwater help me accomplish my dream of having one and I want to think Sweetwater for their great service and helping me get this dream come true Long live Eddie Van Halen Johnny Jacobs AKa Plainview boy

I got this in July 2020. This guitar has been such a great addition to my collection. It plays great, it sounds great and it is just iconic. I think EVH/Fender made a great decision to release this guitar. Eddie Van Halen IS a true innovator. This guitar is the tinkering guitarists dream. Everyone knows Eddie was a tone guru and this guitar is a piece of such an amazing career.

I've had some things done to mine to make it "me". I have added the Dimarzio Injector neck pickup in place of the original dummy pickup. I have added the Mad Hatter "Lynch" Push/Push wiring system to switch between the bridge and neck pick ups and the Mad Hatter kill switch in black to keep that stealthy look to the pick guard (almost can't see it) I must admit it really sounds great. I added a FU-Tone 42mm brass block and trem stop which keeps this thing at pitch. I even added the 71' quarter. I believe Eddie would want anyone who has one of these to do what he did, play the $#!T out of it and keep tinkering with it and make it yours.

Speechless, badass, powerful, one of a kind, the real deal, an amazing guitar. I cannot say enough about this great piece of history I own. Relic or not, hands down an amazing sounding guitar that has rock n roll written all over it. And instant conversation piece. But most importantly it does all the talking. And everyone who hears it understands what it's saying. Thank you EVH. Rest In Peace and you will forever be known for the hard work you put into everything you did for the music world. Rock on forever. Frankenstrat is forever alive.

Outstanding guitar. Highly recommend buying and just enjoy the sound. Very fun to play and has a unique sound. One that will never leave my arsenal. The guitar is simple but extremely powerful. Thanks EVH for leaving your mark. I am very happy to own this guitar.

Great iconic guitar! The sound is incredible! Love it!

Worth every single penny. Sounds as good as it looks.

This EVH is the best guitar I have ever played. I played a Charvel once that compared to this. It belonged to Warren Di Martini. Thank you EVH or making this guitar for us. Mike @Sweetwater took care of me and it was delivered in great condition and set up great. No case sucks for the price. But who cares this is EVH and the note from Eddie that comes with it is awesome. This guitar is worth every penny.

A great guitar, the fake pickup in the neck position and 5 position fake switch in the mid position is different but all the grand design by king Edward the master musician.Overall I'm very happy with the guitar.

Was no feeling the guitar at first ! After a few minor adjustments and down tuning a half step sounds a lot more like Eddie to me, it really needs at Very least a gig bag just thinking it's come from Mexico to USA with no protection but a box would explain why some of these guitars didn't make it here it grade A condition because I've seen some very bad ones and some very good ones my suggestion if your not experienced enough to tell weather or not your guitar it 100% right take it to your local guitar shop and have them look it over over all killer guitar nice hand relic bomb neck frets awesome pickup it's awesome Floyd works good but stretch those string before locking it down you will really hate it if you don't lol

Its worth a long wait for this owesome guitar. I dont want to compare but for me its the best among all my collection. Sounds strong and neck is very easy to play and smooth.

Wonderful!

An excellent Tribute to the greatest musician on the planet...

Got mine after an 8 month wait. No biggie, was worth it.
However when I got it there was an issue with the way the neck was seated in the body. String were off center from the neck so hi E was sitting on the very edge of the fretboard. So sent it back and the guys at sweetwater made quick work of sending a new guitar right back out to me once they figured out the issue. (Manufacturing defect). Having issues tuning the new guitar. The original one was easier for some reason. The Floyd takes a bit of getting used to I get that but this one seems a bit more finicky. So going to call tech support back. They're awesome btw. They get right to it.

Plays like butter. A slight set up after I pulled it out of the box and we were rocking. It plays as well as my CS strat that listed for 2 1/2x as much. I love the thing, the d-tuna...the locking trem...all things I thought we're garbage before....I love them. I'd grab one before it goes up again in price...and it will.

I ordered this guitar in November and it just arrived. Pulled it out of the box and was blown away. The craftsmanship was outstanding and it felt like I had been playing it for years. I can't remember when I had so much fun playing a guitar. Pick screams, drop D and every Eddie sound I could make. The tuning was very stable and only need minor adjustments after an hour of rocking. It's was worth the wait!
A big thanks to Forrest and Sweetwater sales

Ordered back in November finally got it in june and was well worth the wait. I have the regular striped series and now this one and there is no comparison in looks! It nails the style and sound of the real thing!! Cant stop playing it!!

Got my EVH Frankie yesterday and I have to admit that the relic job the factory did on the body is very impressive. I have a relic'd Frankie that was made for me (will remain nameless) and the finish on that guitar looked so authentic. So, I compared the two and the Mexico EVH is spot on (there are some subtle differences). This new EVH Frankie plays great and has a very comfortable neck profile. The frets are polished nicely and I really dig the compound radius of the fretboard. The oiled finish feels exactly the way I like on all my maple neck guitars...a natural wood feel. My only gripe is, the dirty relic finish on the neck is overly done. The neck looks almost black and Eddie's Frankie never looked that dark. With that said, this EVH Frankie sounds Awesome! Harmonics really ring out and cleans up nicely when the volume in lowered. I gotta say, neck finish aside, I'm glad I ordered this guitar. As well as this guitar plays, it could become my go to axe.
Thanks to my Sweetwater Sales Engineer, Kevin Samuel for helping out with ordering this guitar. I know that this guitar is in high demand and I'm grateful that I was able to get one...Thanks Kevin!

I love this guitar. It took 7 months to get here and was well worth the wait. It sounds great, looks great and the neck feels perfect. A big thanks to my sales engineer Erik Bothwell. I can't say enough good things about Erik and Sweetwater. Thanks!!!!!

After waiting over 6 months I finally got the EVH guitar and it was well worth the wait. As usual for Sweetwater it showed up in packing well beyond what others offer. Even the hardshell case was wrapped. Just to open the case and see how amazing this thing looks was worth it! Then to play it is even better. Plays flawlessly, perfect action and setup was spot on. One of the best feeling and playing guitars I have played in my life. . Thanks to the Sweetwater team and my sales rep Kurt Martin for always going above and beyond!

I couldn't be happier with this purchase. This piece of art looks and plays finominal and if your on the fence about getting it do not hesitate you will be kicking yourself down the road for sure. Thanks to Kurt Martin for being a great help with getting me my new favorite guitar. Sweetwater Rocks

Well I have had this one for a month now So I thought I'd give it a quick review.(Had to wait for a while for one.) The day Eddie passed I was at the local store when I got a text saying Eddie had passed. I looked at the wall of guitars where they had one for sale. i said to the guy "bet that goes up a few hundred now huh?" (It didn't) That night I was thinking Why didn't I buy it? So the next day I went over to pick it up and it was gone, so I ordered one from Sweetwater. Many months later I finally got it. 1st thing I noticed was a very distinct paint smell. Its odd but not anything to complain about. I unpacked it and a quick tune and gave it the once over unplugged. Immediately I noticed how easy the harmonics pop on it. Then I started to get the feel of the neck. I have to say the neck on this one is really something. Its my favorite part of this one. So A quick plug into my Blackstar 60 and gave it another once over. It passed all the tests. Sustain weight Balance Clean Distort Etc, Overall great guitar and worth every penny. Get one RECOMMENDED

Nothing bad to say at all

The EVH Frankie relic is a very nice guitar and with a couple simple mods a very great Guitar Plain and simple

I'm a child of MTV, saw Van Halen 'Jump' video during my teenage years and was gobsmacked about how cool it was to be a rock star... effortlessly, slinging solos and rockin' the screen. The guitar was emprinted on me. The style, the sound, the look. I wanna be a rock guitar dude! I've been playing for 30 years, I own a dozen guitars, I expect perfection when playing a guitar.... everything that affects the playability.... action, fretwork, stability. I was drawn in to Eddie's endorsement that the equipment better stand up to his high standards.... and it does. I've played mine for a month now, and after small bridge adjustments...(like any new guitar)....it's breaking in nicely. Then, I started paying attention to the detailed look of the guitar (after it's playing perfectly), small relic details, and realized that a proud professional helped build this and made sure I'd be excited. I'd like to make a big shout out to the manufacturing team that is building these great guitars and delivering dreams in a box! We appreciate it, and we love you. I'm very happy with my purchase, and I hope you are too.

Great guitar!. Surprisingly amazing forever sustain. Intonation perfect. Was in tune when I got it. Sounds awesome dialed up. Looks fantastic too. Thanks to Michael Duncan at Sweetwater for helping me get one.

i echo the praises sung by most of the reviewers on the SW site - the fit, the finish, and the playability are amazing. I attend NAMM and EVH Gear annually, and this 2020 "Frankie replica" is about as good as it gets - they've perfected the art of the relic and the striping.

OK, more than that, i want to call out JAMES MASTERSON, my personal sales engineer, for not only helping me to source this guitar, but to have it arrive w/in 24 hours of KING Edward's passing. These Frankies have been back-ordered forever, and JAMES manages to get this from Indiana (to me in Los Angeles)within 24 hours of Edward Van Halen's announced passing. [side bar: it was James who reached out to me 15 min after the news hit, to let me know...]. 2020 has been a horrible year politically, public healthwise, and Neil Peart and Kobe Bryant's passing. EVH being gone is beyond devastating.

What gives me hope is knowing that Companies like Sweetwater and James, in particular, continue to work to provide such unheralded service at a time when the world seems so dark.

Thank you Sweetwater! and Thank you James :)
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This guitar is FLAWLESS., its an absolutely remarkable guitar that i cannot put down, its great all the way around. I own a regular striped series evh and this relic version , although primarily a similar guitar, blows the striped series away. Asa collector its great, asa player its a dream, combined its all you can ask for. Many many thanks to Nick Beach who went above and beyond to ensure my satisfaction and to make sure i was happy. Got the evh molded case to go along with it at his recommendation and its a perfect fit. :)

I just got my Frankie Relic and WOW!!! The neck is pretty dark but feels awesome. I know it's a reproduction but it is the closest to the original that most can afford...It plays and sounds great! Now to add a few things to customize it...('71 Qtr, burn marks, etc)
Thanks to Nate @ Sweetwater for helping me out, Great Communication thru the whole process!

I have several EVH guitars and this thing is the best. I love them all and own about 30 guitars, but the EVH brand has it right. They offer the best guitars, dollar for dollar, on earth. The neck on this one is epic. Extremely playable and it sounds awesome! Best guitar I have ever owned. Hands down! The time they took to make the stripes and relic this guitar has to be astounding. Mine is flawless. All my EVH's are actually. If you don't want a guitar with a dummy pickup that doesnt work then by all means, don't buy a guitar that is clearly advertised to include "a dummy pickup that doesn't work." This is a tribute to Eddie and his guitar that he built in which he installed a "dummy pickup that doesn't work." It's not over the top. It is exactly what they intended and it is awesome. The guys at Evh were also nice enough to design about 12 other models for those wanting 2 functional pickups. Nick Lamendola helped me with this purchase and was great as aways. Sweetwater rocks!

I just got mine today. It took about 6 months, but after all, there is a pandemic going on. It may not be the $25,000 guitar from a few years back, but wow!

I've only played it through my practice amp so far, but it sounds great. It really has the early-Edward midrange bite.

The D-Tuna works great, and the neck is great too. The strings needed to be stretched for obvious reasons, but after they stretched, I re-tuned and locked the nut. I've been whaling on it for a while now, and it's holding tune going back and forth from drop-D to standard (430 Hz) with lots of bends and whammy action. Oh...the volume pot they used is awesome for volume swells-- very smooth.

The appearance is great too. They do a great job, especially for a production instrument. Setup-wise, it could play a little better, but I still give it five stars...

Just received my EVH Frankenstein, after waiting 7 months or so. My Sales Rep. Adam, who is quite up to mark on everything I have purchased, from Sweetwater over the years...Thanks Adam.
Ok,craftmanship on the EVH, was everything it's written up to be. I was quite impressed when I opened the box. I was curious about one thing...the neck was very Dark in color...not that it bothers me. Prior to purchasing the EVH Frankenstein, I also had previously purchased The EVH Head Amp 5150 III S EL34, Along with the EVH 5150 III 4x12.along with a couple of EVH Pedals....Now, if this doesn't get me the sound of EVH ...then me and Eddie, have some serious things to talk about....I love the setup......It sounds awesome...so far...

Customer.....Jim C...From NY

If you didn't grow up with posters of this guitar on your wall it's safe to say that you might not appreciate this guitar like us that did. For us that did this is the closest we will get to owning this symbolic piece of rock history without 1. breaking the bank
2.Having to try and make one ourselves and it looks like total crap. So it would be easy to say this guitar is a pile of crap so read above statement again to clarify

VHI was one of the first albums I purchased as a kid. And when Eruption came on I was hooked. Eddie's guitar has always been on my list and EVH finally made a great replica that I had to have. Ordered it in January as soon as I saw some reviews from NAMM. Got it this past weekend and played it non-stop. Very happy with the guitar. Great neck, great pick up and the paint job is fantastic. It's not "exact" to the original Frankenstrat but it is close enough for me. A few small differences in the paint job make it a one of a kind. This is the third guitar I've purchased from Sweetwater. Dave Snow has been great to work with. I can't imagine going anywhere else to buy my gear.

I believe I was also one of the first to receive this guitar and I cannot thank my rep Josh enough. The guitar has totally exceeded my expectations and sounds and plays like a guitar twice the price. Incredibly easy to play and I feel it inspires you to play better as crazy as that sounds. Pickup runs hot, very much like the Shark guitar. Thank you Sweetwater and thank you JOSH!

God Bless, I was one of the first to receive this. My rep, Mike Soper is the best.
The feel of the relic'd compound radius neck can't be put into words.
The pickup smokes!
Worth every penny.
Do not hesitate to buy this beauty!

Packaging for the Frankenstein replica was great! Nice and secure, it arrived early and ready to play with a quick tuning. I almost wasn't sure what to expect with the D-tuner but it does it's job well, swapping between E and drop D tuning with ease. Still got to work on dive bombing! I plugged it in and first thing I played, unchained, sounds just like I just put on the song.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I think Van Halen, this is the guitar I see. No, it's not the precise exact everything that was on eddies guitar. And it doesn't try to be. But it looks more than authentic enough to get the point across. It's got the dings and the scratches and the dirt. The metal parts have a worn thing done to them. It's very cool.

I dont have to worry if I bump it into something or if I scratch it...that just adds more coolness.

And it's a really nice guitar in practice. It's stable, the neck is really rounded over and smooth and mine even has a flamed fretboard and birdsye back which was not something I was expecting. It's not like an ernie ball neck or anything but it's there.

It rips too. I have been playing it through my Friedman JJ-100 on the BE channel and this is extremely satisfying.
Everything you need, nothing you dont. It's that thing.

The setup it arrived with is the setup I'm playing and it's great. It came with very low action without any issues.
It plays great and stays in tune. I had to buy an EVH case as it doesn't come with one. And the block in the floyd is puny...that's something I think they need to revise. For over 2 grand, put a good brass block in it and finish the job. Afterall, I had to BUY a case...

You can play this guitar as is and it's awesome, OR you can do a few small upgrades and make it even better.
But it's an excellent guitar overall. Much better than I ever expected.

And look at it...

The design of the guitar may look spot on but there is some things they messed up on such as the paint
so its not 100% accurate detail

You may justifiably ask, why would somebody pay 2K for a made in Mexico guitar that's scratched and scuffed, with a non-functional "dummy" neck pickup, that doesn't even include a case?

Admittedly, I don't have a straight up rational explanation. I certainly don't feel the need to help fatten Wolfie Van Halen's coffers any further.

As the owner of an EVH 5150 Standard, I am very impressed with the brand and judge these guitar as superior to Charvel, Jackson, and Schecter instruments I own that are similarly outfitted. The EVH 5150 Standard begrudgingly forced me to put aside my cork-sniffy, tonewood inclined opinions and admit that I do NOT hate basswood. In particular, the necks of the EVH guitars are exceptional and the "Wolfgang" humbucker is truly a stellar pickup.

In the Summer of 2022 I had the opportunity to briefly inspect an EVH Frankie Relic, and the unique juxtaposition of high quality combined with the feel of a broken in old glove left a deep impression on me which I haven't been able to shake.

But the real reason why I pulled the trigger on the EVH Frankie Relic is deeply personal and emotional. My justification for the purchase is best made through reference to music and images that are inextricably intertwined with my psyche. Why does an American patriot fly the stars an stripes? Why do some people tattoo "Harley Davidson" on their body? It's this kind of connection that I feel to this guitar. The first six Van Halen albums are my musical Hexateuch. They're sacred to me.

This guitar is magical. I've read rave reviews about the virtues of this instrument, with many commenting about how light and resonant it is, the incredible sustain, the stellar feel of the neck, off the chart playability, and the righteous tone. If I hadn't read all these things I would be inclined to believe I'd simply gotten a really good one, because all of what I've read is in fact true about the particular Frankie that is now in my possession. It is a ridiculously good instrument, with perfect fretwork and a wonderful spongy feel set up in E flat tuning.

It's not just an eye catching wall hanger thrown together and designed to emotionally appeal to fans of Eddie. Frankie is actually the best superstrat I've ever played. It has the supremely comfortable, broken in, and perfectly set up feel of a Custom Shop Fender, and if you've ever played one you know what I mean.

Somebody didn't say, "Let's make a guitar that visually pushes the buttons of all these boomers, one they simply can't resist on an emotional level. We'll throw it together as cheap as we can, then charge them a boatload for it." Rather, the brainchild of this instrument said, "This is the formula for a perfect guitar. We'll build it right. It's not going to be dirt cheap, but it will be reasonably affordable. The visual/emotional appeal will be the icing on the cake."

To give a comparison between the Frankie relic and my EVH 5150 Standard:

The 5150 Standard sounds fatter and more rounded, almost like a Les Paul, which is kinda unbelievable considering it's a basswood guitar with a bolt on neck and a Floyd. It' a great sounding guitar by any measure, and admittedly more versatile than Frankie by virtue of having a humbucker in the neck position as well as a tone knob. I mean, I can do Clapton's "Woman Tone" on the 5150 Standard, make it sound like a Tele in the middle position, and get those Billy Gibbons Pearly Gates neck pickup tones.

By way of contrast, Frankie is more focused and precise. Frankie is open, clear, and breathy, while being simultaneously capable of aggression and raunch. It is forceful and full, yet articulate and nuanced. It is an incredibly musical sounding guitar, a fact that is clearly evident even when unplugged. Honestly, what it sounds like, no bullsh*t, is Eddie on Diver Down and 1984. While the 5150 Standard is a great sounding guitar in general sense, Frankie sounds distinctly like a clone of Eddie's exact tone in the early 80s. I gave the guitar 4 1/2 stars only because it lacks versatility.

There's something weird that happens when I play Frankie. While it definitely has to do with the overwhelming sensory effect of the visuals and feel, there is a profound psychological weight it imposes. The net result is that I'm almost forced to play in the style of Eddie when Frankie is in my hands. Is that a bad thing? That's up to everyone to decide on their own. But for me personally, it's the combination of a feeling of Christmas morning, the best drug you ever took, the enthusiastic naivety of adolescent romance and aspiration fueled by surging hormones, and of reaching for something intangible and actually grasping hold of it (a woman, a motorcycle, a sword . . . choose your own iconic and mythic object of reference and symbolic meaning). It takes me to an innocently happy, wistful, mentally intoxicating place . . . one that is well worth the price of admission. I don't know if I'll ever have the nerve play this guitar live. Frankie may be like porn . . . something I take great enjoyment in privately. ; )

Patience paid off with this one. I was skeptical to drop four digits on a Mexican Strat with a Floyd but the price makes sense when you see the guitar. THE NECK IS GREAT!!!!! The fretboard edges are well rolled, frets are well dressed, the oiled/worn finish is smooth and fast, and the profile is fast yet reasonable even for someone like me that prefers chunkers. The Floyd works fine, d-tuna worked fine (I removed it), sounds great, the relic job is fantastic, and it just looks wicked on the wall. I docked it half a star because mine had two cross threaded fine tuners. I was able to sort them out rather easily but not everyone would be able to.

Honorable mention to Ed Nystrom and Sweetwater in general for getting me this and getting it to me in one day (in tune I might add).

Now...time to start modding to make it mine because that's how Eddie would want it.

The guitar is near perfect and the neck feels amazing!
The only issue are the newer Floyd special is complete garbage. Would not stay in tune. And they use the cheap import version of the Wolfgang pickup. After swapping out some parts it's now a solid 5 out of 5. Love it!

Very cool guitar. Breaks my guidelines of no relics,(did have a Blues Jr relic,) and don't need signature models,(wait, I've had at least 8, lol.) Very light, incredible neck, pickup covers a lot of range. Volume pot is a bit too easy to turn, I've bumped it down by accident a few times. Micro tuners seem rather stiff and not quite as smooth and linear as others I have had. Very cool guitar that plays great.

It is a great looking guitar. Like many others have stated: it's not an exact replica, but pretty close! I love the detail, like the feel of the tape layers. The only con is that my fretboard and neck are really dark. Almost too dark. I understand that it is supposed to looked "grimed" up from years of playing, but compared to a lot of other people's Frankies, it's dark. Other than that, I am very satisfied with it!

I love this guitar. It looks cool and plays great. I already like playing it better than my Wolfgang Special.

The only problem with this guitar is the color of the face of the headstock. It is too dark and doesn't match the neck. It is the only part of the neck with sealer or varnish applied which is probably meant to protect the EVH logo, but it was a bad decision. It looks like it was over baked in the oven compared to the rest of the neck.

Luckily this guitar begs to be modified further to achieve an even more authentic Frankenstein look. It took me around an hour to remove the tuners and sand off the dark color and logo from the front and top of the headstock, and I have never done anything like this before. The tuners came off in 10 seconds. The guitar was back together and re-strung by the end of the day and now it is exactly the guitar I wanted.

It's a shame they ship with the headstock looking the way it does, but it can be fixed fairly easily.

This guitar does not nail Eddie tone.

I have several that do...and I have one of these purchased when they first came out.

The pickup is too dark...you won't get the glassy articulation...it doesn't cut.

If you buy this I'd advise putting a seymour duncan 59 in it...

However...it's a fair representation of the asthetic...it just needs tweaks...

I couldnt give it a good rating for multiple reasons. 1) The price. I understand its a Eddy Van Halen guitar and a piece of history but to not even get a gig bag? As Joe Biden would say: "Come on man!" 2) The D-tuna. I followed the tuning instructions exactly as written and the E string is always flat when activating the D-tuna. And yes the strings are properly stretched. In my opinion it's better to just manually tune down the E to D. 3) And this is probably my biggest gripe. The volume knob. When I roll back the volume knob it's rolling back the tone as well and sounds muffled. Thats totally frustrating. I don't have this issue with my strats or Les Pauls. Now for the good things. The guitar looks and sounds awesome and the neck is great. You can really let your fingers fly on this thing.

If you guys want me to build you a crap modified guitar, with non-functioning pickups let me know. I get the whole legacy guitar thing, but this is pushing it .

Title speaks for itself, you WILL love this guitar! Sweetwater? Not so much.

The Bad News... DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT allow Sweetwater's luthiers to touch your prized possession! Just order it and have it sent without their "sales engineers" talk you into allowing them to set up your guitar. Take it the way it comes setup from the factory. I can NOT believe how bad these folks screwed up a $2000 guitar. I asked for "Eb" tuning. I get "D" standard tuning, which guess what makes the D-Tuna when activated? I ask for the lowest action possible without buzz. What I get are strings so high above the fretboard that the guitar is completely unplayable! (Imagine one of those cheap child toy guitars with nylon strings, ya it was THAT bad). The tremolo was not floated correctly and the space between the tremolo and the body was around 4mm high, and diving down towards the body at the end of it? I did not receive the allen hex keys or a tremolo bar with this guitar, what the??? I spent $300 on a supposed "Plek" job, and absolutely no documentation regarding it was included with the paperwork to prove it was actually performed or what the results were? The volume pot when increasing from 0-3 "scratches and hisses" and from 4-10 the volume very rapidly go to full ON by around level 7. Oh, and the volume pot shaft is loose and wobbles a bit? So much for the set-up and final inspection from the "engineers" employed there. Based on how my guitar arrived and with missing parts, it is IMPOSSIBLE these folks did any sort of QA inspection before it left their hands. Even worse, they took what was probably a great set up from the factory and destroyed it. Some folks, err I mean "engineers," should be immediate FIRED over this..!!!

The Good News is... This guitar, once I spent 1.5 hours setting it up correctly with the proper tuning, action, lowered and floated the tremolo correctly it plays and sounds like no other guitar I have placed my hands on in the last 30 years! The neck fits my hands perfectly. A perfect fret job from the factory on every single fret. The EVH 9s play like 9's, but sound like 10's. The EVH pickup is exactly what you would expect from it and to sound like... the tone, responsiveness, attack and clarity from every single note... perfect! The online photos do not do the relic job any justice. This guitar looks like it has been to hell and back, like its been gigged with for the last 20 years. The neck was a little bit darker than I would like, but still goes well with the over all look. Eyelet strap hooks would have been a nice touch Fender, but easily solved by a trip to the hardware store. This guitar not only sounds and plays awsome, but is a beautiful piece of instrumental art. Many guitars I have had over the years would "fight" me when playing them. No, not this one. My hand immediately became one with this neck and played it with an ease that I have never found before.

I have a friend who plays in a local rock band take it for a test drive last night. He was only going to play it for 1 set, but ended up playing the entire night with it. Said he had 0 complaints and one of the best guitars he has ever played.

Sweetwater Customer Service - They fortunately did quickly make things right. Michael reimbursed the $300 Plek job, thank you. He actually emailed me the before and after Plek inspection's results within 24 hours of calling in my complaints, thank you. Sweetwater is sending the OEM missing tools, tremolo bar, and replacement volume pot, thank you. Fingers crossed about that. But if I was still living in the US I would have just returned the entire guitar and said let's try this again shall we? But living overseas made this impossible without having to pay another round of large shipping fees and having to wait another 2-3 months for turnaround.

Attached are a few photos of how this guitar arrived from Sweetwater. I did purchase a nice Fender case for it, which I would recommend. A bit strange Fender that a $2000 guitar does not come with a hard case??? Not a big deal, but in one of the photos you can see where they drilled the hole for the grounding wire the did not clean the burrs up at the factory. This should have been taken care of during production. These are not low end guitars, right Fender?

Would I recommend this guitar? If you are struggling to get the EVH tone you have been looking for, then YES! If you are looking for a guitar that feels like "home" when you play it, then YES! If you are looking for a replicated piece of rock history that you can pass down to your children, then YES! This is a FIVE STAR GUITAR..!!!

Would I recommend buying it through Sweetwater? ABSOLUTELY NOT..!!! If I had to do this purchase all over again, I would shop in a guitar store to select from hopefully several available. Then if the guitar is not set up the way you like it, then do it yourself or have a local trusted professional do it. In the end, Sweetwater handled the after purchase very well and professionally. That was much appreciated, thank you! But on the front end, Sweetwater needs some serious work and personnel changes a.s.a.p. Sweetwater... How could I ever trust purchasing such a high value guitar from you folks again?

My wife bought me this guitar out of the blue and i was really shocked that she would spend her hard earned money on something for me with everything going on in this world. With that being said i had high hopes that this would be a great guitar especially with a price tag of 2 grand, with no case. Well right out of the box it had a card under the strings saying that this fine instrument had a 55 point inspection done by 2 inspectors, Noah S. and Madalyanlo. Obviously these two inspectors dont know what they are doing, because this thing was not ready to play. The floating trem wasnt setup right, the spring adjustment was letting the trem bottom out on the body which greatly effects the action and intonation. Once i got that adjusted there was fret buzz on the high E string, so i had to adjust the bridge. Really disappointed. Now lets talk about the overall build of this guitar. The Floyd Rose Trem is a 4 gen with the cheap out side thread whammy bar, I replaced the coupler with a gen 2 coupler that has the threaded whammy bar and no slack. The drop D is a joke, never brings back E. Hangs up when trying to engage. It seems the more i break this guitar in the more it goes out of tune, May have to replace the entire trem setup to keep it from going out of tune so much, trying different strings first though. The body needs to have the cutout for the tremolo system, they cut corners there along with finding a pick up where the poles line up with the string spacing. Made in Mexico so that tells me that EVH wanted to not pay so much for each build so they could profit more. My suggested listing price for this guitar is $900.00. And a rating of 5 out of 10.

I always wanted the Custom Shop version but couldn't justify that kind of cash outlay so when this one popped up I gave it a whirl.

Bottom line... it sounds nice. The pickup is hot, but my HSS Strat can get me close enough when needed.

It's just everything else I couldn't deal with. The neck needed sanding.... seriously, it was rough....C'mon Man ! The stain on the neck is waaaay too dark in my opinion. The cavities around the pickups, springs were not finished.
It does not come with a case. I expect more for my money.

This is the 3rd Mexican Fender product I've had issues with... Princeton Reverb without a Fender logo on the front of the cab and Fender Meteora with the pick up issue.

I had Frankie for 3 days... I sat and pondered it and there's no way it was worth almost $... with a case to me. I sadly returned it.

My Sweetwater engineer Adam was cool about it. I'm just super bummed that EVH/Fender/Sweetwater let this get past QC and feel it's worthy of a $... price tag without a case. Guess I'm not relic guitar kind of guy.

Good Luck !!

Rest In Peace Eddie