Lefty EVH style guitar, ESP, Kramer or ?????

[mozz]

Making a separate thread on this and would appreciate ALL feedback. Good, bad, ugly, i have no idea, i am not a expert, i can't help, i can help, i bought one new, etc. Just trying to find out more about this guitar. It's a lefty frankenstrat. I am going to say it is 40 years old due to the cracking, probably nitro as i think poly would still be in 1 piece.

I will post 3 pictures in each post wanting to keep the resolution high. I think it is a ESP/Kramer from 1984 and was a employee build. I will post everything i have researched so far to try to convince myself it is real. If you think it's a Hondo, let me know, i love a good argument. VH painted style guitars were made and sold by a lot of companies. I'm talking 82' at the earliest , Kramer, ESP, Fernandes, Tokia, Hondo, Edwards, etc. Too many to research. Kramer bought most of their parts from ESP japan but also had US and Canada suppliers. Kramer was the one who met EVH and Floyd Rose, many stories out there.


Body, different companies used different paint schemes, even different than the original guitar itself. Headstock paint schemes changed too. Included is the original Kramer ad. See the 2 swirly lines, only the ad had those, most i can find do not have those lines. Notice the headstock wide short white line, Kramer later changed that to a longer horizontal line to put the logo. Also notice the chopped pickguard and the top mount jack, they dropped both of those later.

Also, see the 6 holes where you would mount a regular trem, between the Floyd mounting holes. I have found lots of Kramers that i guess were set for 6 screw trems then converted to Floyds. Rememeber ESP made a lot of necks and bodies for them.

Pickup route, nothing special i can see and no writing, the Seymour Duncan Distortion pickup was screwed in here with 2 very short springs and screws.

Vol control route, nothing special again as it seems most companies used this exact or very similar route. This has the small piece of pickguard as the ad which again was dropped in favor of the rear route and no pickguard.

[tobijohn]

I know less than nothing about those guitars, but hoping you've got a barn find on your hands...

[mozz]

Top mount jack, later dropped, maybe a lefty Focus body? You can see the original white, small spot, so this body has no yellow, it was all white before fading, another reason i think it is 40 years old.

Closer up, you can see the white before it faded. Not many spots due to tiny pickguard.

More faded.

Those swirly lines i talked about earlier. Body appears to be painted red first, then yellow, then the black lines. There is no way somebody painted this in thier garage and matching headstock without coming out of a factory.

[mozz]

I know less than nothing about those guitars, but hoping you've got a barn find on your hands...

Not saying Eddie played it, it's lefty! The Kramer forum is not helping. They seem totally egotistical snobs they they know it is not a Kramer or ESP made guitar. Yet if i point out certain things, I hear crickets.

Guitar has some divots/fret wear and paint chips so i know it was played for a few years hard. Guy who sold it knew nothing as he had some banjos/P bass/Univox for sale also. I think the PBass was real fender, it did not say Mexico or USA, so maybe they didn't write that on the headstock. I may go buy it next week if he shows up again.

[mozz]

Neck pocket. It is marked L692P. I am assuming L is for lefty, 692, just a sequence number , P for prototype? I was told, (kramer forum) that is not a correct serial number so it can't be a Kramer, that's the type of attitude i get there. There's a close up of the wood, i don't think it's ash so maybe poplar or ??

Then we have "6964", it is where they chiseled out about 1/4" of wood. Could be "6984". The neck is 21 frets and most all i have seen are 22 frets, and there are filled screw holes in the neck, so maybe the boss said, don't take the good necks, use this 21 fret if you are going to build something.

Now you have this little divot, so you can adjust the neck. Some Kramers have it, some you adjust up top. I can't find any close ups of this to compare.

[mozz]

So on to the back, neck plate area, perfectly centered 5th hole, Kramers have this. Probably doesn't mean much.

So now, we go to the trem cover, no holes for a trem cover. Typical of Kramers with a original Floyd. Not many other bodies are coverless. It's things like this that make me think it's a Kramer body. And like i said, the neck paint is so close to the body with looks, theres no way this was pieced together. It was made together.

Closer look, no filled holes.

[BatUtilityBelt]

Looks like a fun investigation.

[mozz]

Body thickness, almost 1.75" Doesn't mean much except i think Hondo's/cheaper brands would be thinner. I do know the body weighs exactly 4 lb. So maybe it is alder?

Headstock. I do not know the difference between a hockey headstock and a banana. Maybe there is none? On the VintageKramer website he shows a lot of different variations. This looks like variation #1. There is also a angled and a straight and i don't know if they are talking angled from the fret board or angled from the center line? Kramer also made a George Lynch righty with a reverse headstock. Also something about the locknut shelf. All i know this has a Floyd L2 locknut which appears original. I will measure it whn i start putting the hardware back on.

Once again you can see the white on the paint under the tuner nut. It has really yellowed. Are Kramers know to yellow this bad?

[mozz]

Looks like a fun investigation.

Yup, it's totally apart, cleaning it and putting it back together. I think I'm gonna Reverb it for $1000 (hope). I may have to join Facebook as there are people who worked there 40 years ago who might remember neck pocket codes or who can give me a definite yes or know if it came out of that building.

[mozz]

Rosewood boards, not common on Frankies. But...on the ESP catalog from 1984, you can see 21 fret rosewood banana lefty headstocks, that were sold on the parts page. So these necks did exist. More on what i think is definitely a ESP parts build (most kramers) on the next installment. Also , heard they used real mother or pearl dot markers? I have no way to test, they aren't all exactly the same but how consistent is mother of pearl? Lot of stripes and the neck did clean up nice.

4 filled neck holes, maybe the 21 fret neck did not be the correct scale so they chiseled out the neck pocket? Redrilled the holes? Mabe the neck was a odd one? I don't know but it is 25.5" scale no doubt. Another thing, many pictures of Kramer necks have 4 extra holes, maybe builder error and they had to redrill? The 4 center holes look to have been for the building process, maybe when they spray it? Also the numbers "441" embossed, there could also be a higher up number, i can make out a "4".

Closer pic.

[mozz]

Neck. 3 piece neck. Typical ESP build.From that period anyway. I can see very consistent 3 piece neck Kramer neck pictures. I do have dimensions, will measure once again when i bolt it back up, was something like .800 1st fret, .925 12th fret, will remeasure.

Heal adjustment, there are some pencil marks but i can't make out any dates or letters.

Headstock again, backside, it appears to be a insert, but i think it was drilled from top with 1 size and drilled from bottom with another size? Maybe it is a insert. There were Guild tuners on it, not original, the stock tuners used a smaller screw, probably schaller or gotoh?

Headstock angle, vintagekramer.com talks about variations, i have no idea which this is.

[Tonray's Ghost]

I know less than nothing about those guitars, but hoping you've got a barn find on your hands...

Not saying Eddie played it,

I didn't see any cigarette burns

[toomanycats]

Absolutely fascinating thread. Admittedly, I'm an EVH 1978-1984 superfan. That period during which Ed started using a Floyd Rose and collaborating with Kramer represents a high water mark in terms of the quality of his musical output and the degree of mystique, even deification, which he obtained in the eyes of his appreciators and fans. I'll never be able to shake off the stupendous impact Ed made upon me in those years, when I was first starting to learn guitar, listening to those VH records, and seeing those images of Ed with those instruments in Guitar Player, Guitar World, Guitar For The Practicing Musician, and Circus magazine.

A couple years ago I bought an EVH Frankie Relic. It's a great guitar, though I don't play it often. I just needed to own it, as a way of feeling close to the period I just described.

Could the body of your guitar be maple? It looks awful light in color, as maple would look.

[mozz]

I know less than nothing about those guitars, but hoping you've got a barn find on your hands...

Not saying Eddie played it,

I didn't see any cigarette burns

Eddie with a cigarette is like Alice Cooper with a drink in his hand. Part of the lifestyle i guess.

[andrewsrea]

I am going off of memory, as I saw hundreds of Kramers in the music stores I repaired for. Looks like a USA Kramer Striker or Focus, pre-1984, before they tilted the humbucker and had a straighter string pull (less of a headstock tilt downward).

[mozz]

It's a yellow wood, could be maple. Pretty sure it's not ash, basswood or mahogany. The weight of 4lbs drew me to being poplar.Maple is tough to put screws in without a pilot hole. I will research this further. Neck where the holes are and unpainted area, shows yellowish wood, maple. The neck pocket where there is no paint, shows yellowish wood, almost exact as the neck, so the body could be solid maple.

Something else i just found, where the whammy bar goes, it is routed out a bit for clearance. From the vintagekramer page. Now i think this is a Sports body, still early 84' and other parts point to that also as will be shown later.

"From Steve Z, former Kramer Employee
"I was working at Kramer when FR's were being installed. It wasn't really a Sports (maker of Kramer bodies from 1981-1985) problem as much as a variable finish thickness problem. The only way to make sure it cleared was to cut the finish right down to the wood but not so much that you could see it when the bridge was in the normal position. Sometimes the wood needed to be cleared out. The pocket needed to be a little bigger near the arm for the Floyds. Eventually Sports would get revised templates and ship new bodies that didn't need much tweaking, but we had to use up the bodies that were in house first. The same thing with the neck pockets and sometimes the PU pockets where the screws would hit the body.""

Cleared out on whammy bar lefty side. Hand chisel marks are the same as the neck pocket marks.

Next is the ESP neckplate, no serial number. Seller on Reverb claims these were from 48th Street NY shop, which was a custom shop who would build what ever you wanted with ESP parts. Also the screws show very little wear, as you slight wear the screw heads the more you remove the neck.
"These are 4 Rare ESP stamped neck plates from the 48th Street NY shop. They are Chrome. Great condition for their age. These are from the standard 4 bolt strats built in 83-83. Thanks "https://reverb.com/item/60793472-4-esp- ... hrome-rare

[mozz]

I am going off of memory, as I saw hundreds of Kramers in the music stores I repaired for. Looks like a USA Kramer Striker or Focus, pre-1984, before they tilted the humbucker and had a straighter string pull (less of a headstock tilt downward).

Baretta also, there are body shapes on the Vintagekramer page but seem so similar. This does seem to have more rounded edges and bottom. Yup, i have read about the tilted humbucker route, seems they made both and Eddie liked the slanted better. Also read that a lot of Seymour Duncan pickups were used, but one worker says he remembers the distortion was used more, not the JB or 59'. Still saying 84' early. Looking up the company called Sports, whom made bodies, there is also LASIDO which was out of Canada?

[mozz]

Bolted the neck back on. There is hardly any side to side play, which you usually have to center the strings on the fretboard edge and center over the pole pieces. Nice tight fit but not too tight. 2 pictures of that. Last picture is bolted back together. Later today i will zoom in on some hardware and see what else i can deduce.

[mozz]

Appreciate everyone throwing knowledge and hints out there, every little bit helps. So far i am thinking early 84', Sports made body, ESP neck. Lefty, so maybe made at the 48th street place as a custom order. Not sure on the maple body as i think it would weigh more than 4lbs. Screw holes look perfect as maple doesn't strip out nowhere nearly as much as a light wood. But on the other hand, if it was assembled and the screws never taken out, they would look nice too. Hardware next.

Edit: I did put the radius gauges on it, it is a solid 10" radius all the way through. The neck measures .800" on the first fret, back of the neck to the rosewood, .940" on the 12th. I think that's how you measure, not to the top of the fret.

[mozz]

Floyd. This is rusty, not real rusty just i can't turn the allen screws. 3mm for the string locks, won't budge, i have them sprayed with WD40 so waiting for that to work. The 2.5mm for the intonation are ok.

Working now, the wd40 did the trick.

Pivot screws, chrome plating coming off.

Floyd a bit rusty.

Logo, there are variations of this.

Block, brass with chrome plating 42mm, there are variations of this also.

Block, no patent numbers, year of 1984, 85 up has patent numbers engraved.

Of course, made in Germany, early ones had stickers. Almost forgot, whammy bar screws in, another early only sign.

[mozz]

Cleaned up, oiled, it is a few hour job for a complete disassembly. I'm sure i could do it a lot faster once i knew what i was getting into. Doesn't seem like any wear, which is good.

Black springs and claw, wait, "rare" black springs and claw, are the springs rare? They just seem oxide coated, such as the trem screws are.

Here you can see the small route marks for the arm clearance, i guess it would have been hitting, so the above employee was right.

Stainless screw in trem arm, non magnetic. Chances are they dropped stainless after a while.

[mozz]

Jack, not Switchcraft but who knows what they were using, i've seen a lot cheaper on Squiers and others.

Pickguard, could be part of a full pickguard someone ran through a bandsaw, has rounded edges, probably a one time thing. It's not a mirror copy of the ED Kramer ad. Knob is just a plain vol knob fender style, printing is small though, has American splines, not Asian. 24 vs 18.

DImarzio pot, 500k, Centralab, brass split shaft, date code of 8403, 24 splines. Early Jan 1984, so it fits in with other items of the early 84 year. This is another reason i don't see this being a partscaster or built later.

Seymour Duncan DD-M, which is a duncan distortion, made by Martha. Early pickups had the winders first initial. Hence Martha. Supposed to be 16k, I am measuring 8k red and white wires joined and ground. One of the coils is open, damm. These were potted pretty good so i hope i can fix that if the winding is on the outer layer. If not i can rewind it.

Double creme, i thought Dimarzio had a copyright on double creme and nobody was allowed to use that, have to check on that also.

[andrewsrea]

It's a yellow wood, could be maple. Pretty sure it's not ash, basswood or mahogany. The weight of 4lbs drew me to being poplar.Maple is tough to put screws in without a pilot hole. I will research this further. Neck where the holes are and unpainted area, shows yellowish wood, maple. The neck pocket where there is no paint, shows yellowish wood, almost exact as the neck, so the body could be solid maple.

IMG_20241025_112024297.jpg

Something else i just found, where the whammy bar goes, it is routed out a bit for clearance. From the vintagekramer page. Now i think this is a Sports body, still early 84' and other parts point to that also as will be shown later.

"From Steve Z, former Kramer Employee
"I was working at Kramer when FR's were being installed. It wasn't really a Sports (maker of Kramer bodies from 1981-1985) problem as much as a variable finish thickness problem. The only way to make sure it cleared was to cut the finish right down to the wood but not so much that you could see it when the bridge was in the normal position. Sometimes the wood needed to be cleared out. The pocket needed to be a little bigger near the arm for the Floyds. Eventually Sports would get revised templates and ship new bodies that didn't need much tweaking, but we had to use up the bodies that were in house first. The same thing with the neck pockets and sometimes the PU pockets where the screws would hit the body.""

Cleared out on whammy bar lefty side. Hand chisel marks are the same as the neck pocket marks.

IMG_20241025_110707720.jpg

Next is the ESP neckplate, no serial number. Seller on Reverb claims these were from 48th Street NY shop, which was a custom shop who would build what ever you wanted with ESP parts. Also the screws show very little wear, as you slight wear the screw heads the more you remove the neck.
"These are 4 Rare ESP stamped neck plates from the 48th Street NY shop. They are Chrome. Great condition for their age. These are from the standard 4 bolt strats built in 83-83. Thanks "https://reverb.com/item/60793472-4-esp- ... hrome-rare

Popular or Yellow Pine?


IMG_20241025_112255107_HDR.jpg

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[mozz]

Wow, came across this website with a lot of pictures and info on Eddies guitars, what a timeline. Website is not complete but there is a lot right now.

https://vanhalengear.com/frankenstrat/

[mozz]

String retainer, this looks stainless too, no recesses for the screws.

L2 locking nut. Left handed, smaller size. There was paper of some sort underneath that didn't come off in 1 piece, so it is going to need a shim, i have some brass shim stock.

Locknuts, not the very early type but the standard type.

Now back to the pickup, the screw coil is open. I guess this was double parchment color and has turned to yellow after 40 years.

Wires look good. Going to take this apart and hope the wire break is on the outer turns.
Edit: found the broken wire, took off a few layers and resoldered and we are back to 15.3k. I lucked out, a few layers should not affect anything, it's a pretty hot pickup.