Comments on: Review: EVH Frankie Pickup Worth Every Penny

By: A&Z Guitar Repair

A&Z Guitar Repair — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 04:53:32 +0000

Installed the Frankenstein pickup in my PC-1. I like. Not quite as gainey as the Super 3 that was OEM on the guitar. The guitar is mahogany, with maple top and maple neck/fretboard and floyd rose bridge.

As stated, not as gained out as the Super 3. Notes tend to be more clear and less compressed. Harmonics are great. Cleans up with ease by simply rolling volume down on guitar.

I run a Soldano Hot Rod 50+ head thru a Dual Rec 2×12. Guitar covers alot of ground and the pickup compliments the setup well.

If you can justify the additional cost, I believe you’ll possibly find a new favorite pickup.

By: A&Z Guitar Repair

A&Z Guitar Repair — Thu, 05 May 2011 02:37:50 +0000

I’ve installed this in an ESP George Lynch Serpent guitar. It was also replacing the Screamin Demon. Has made a world of difference. Guitar is swamp ash with maple neck/rosewood fretboard.

Amazing is all I can say. I had a Robin Medley, with a swamp ash body, and it didn’t like the pickup, but the ESP does. Works well for all types of music. Sounds great overdriven, and cleans up well with the volume knob.

Planning on installing this in my Jackson PC1 next.

By: @Bob453

@Bob453 — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:27:38 +0000

Just a late followup on my original post. Got the pickup. Installed in an Ash-bodied, maple-necked Franky-style guitar, mounted on an angle in front of the bridge, no tone, 500k pot on the volume, OFR bridge. Dang it sounds nice! It loves it if you turn it up and hit it hard! I dial in my amp / tone by playing the first couple of bars of the main riffs from Mean Street (after the intro) when you hit that first open chord, it sounds really brown….and that's just on my Roland Cube!

By: WoodyTone

WoodyTone — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:21:01 +0000

What's your body and fboard woods?

By: WoodyTone

WoodyTone — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:20:01 +0000

Cool man! Glad you dig it!

By: Jon Hepworth

Jon Hepworth — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:04:55 +0000

got mine today after reading this and am blown away. Im normally a neck position Single Coil fan (Blackmore, Uli Roth etc) but also love the brown sound and am over the moon with this. Has transformed an RG partscaster I put together to replace the jem I sold. Am thinking of getting another to put into one of my strats now!! Also gout the Suhr Doug Aldrich neck pup to go with it and they combine like a dream!!!

By: Trev Morson

Trev Morson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:54:56 +0000

I just swappeed out my George Lynch SH12 Seymour Duncan Screamin’ Demon for the EVH Humbucker.. and OMG!.. this

review was right on. I tested it first through a cheap 5-watt practice amp with no effects or pedals. And wow!… I

have the EVH Brown Sound instantly!!

Next, was through my Peavey 6505+ rig and effects for gigs.. .. this thing is totally phenominal !! – All I had to

do was turn down the gain (PRE) on my two channels and adjust slightly, the pole pieces (higher) on the bottom end

strings. Natural Harmonices, tap harmonics and squeels etc.. ring out like a charm. I did notice I lost my 100%

clean sound and it is now a little dirty, but for me, that’s absolutey ok.

One thing I really like, is when you turn down the volume using the guitar volume knob, if you do the whole

extended “live” Eruption thing as I do in my band, then you start with the nice 316 with volume turned down and it

is quite exact tone/sound that Eddie uses.

Incidentally, I used a 500K linear POT – perfect for Catherdral etc..

My EVH Frankenstrat replica has a mahogany body, most humbuckers I have used over the years are on the low end and

a lot of bass.. but not the EVH Humbbucker.. it works perfectly with an excellent Brown Sound tone!!

Easy set up too, usual nickel betwwen high e-string and pole piece when pressed at the highest fret, and two

nickels for the low E. The EVH has a mystery ingrediant that my previous Seymour SH12 did not.. it oozes the

Eddie Van Halen sound PERECTLY!!

I am not just very pleased, I am 200% ecstatic.. no more tone chasing for me!!

Go get it, ..you WILL NOT be dissapointed !

And thanks for the review here.. I purchased it based on this review alone.

Trev Morson (Guitarist – Clasic Rock – gigging for 32 years)

By: Trev Morson

Trev Morson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:10:45 +0000

Based on your review, I just purchased the EVH Frankenstrat Humbucker and coincidentally.. it is replacing my George Lynch SH12 (screamin' demon), same as yours. I sure hope it works out for me, my Frankenstrat Replica has a body made of mahogany and the SH12 was little too bass'ey sounding. Seems the EVH pickup is hotter and I hope it has a brighter sound for me. Question: Can pickup's over time lose there magnetism and become microphonic?

By: Yek

Yek — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:49:32 +0000

Problem solved by disconnecting the wire to the tone control. Somehow they didn’t get along. I don’t use the tone control anyway.

By: Yek

Yek — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:25:01 +0000

Hi, I installed the EVH F’stein humbucker in my Strat’s bridge position.
While I love the sound of it, I’m amazed by the lack of highs (treble) in its sound. I wasn’t planning on using the pickup at clean settings, but it wouldn’t work anyway since it’s “darker” than the neck and middle pickups (single coil Lindy Fralins). Can other users confirm this?