Seymour Duncan has launched new Eddie Van Halen stripe options for its Custom Shop Frankenstein Pickup Collection, the company said Nov. 10.
Buyers can now pick from four versions: Red, Black & White; Grey & Black; Black & White; and Bumble Bee. Each design copies the striped paint on Eddie Van Halen’s early guitars, according to Premier Guitar.
The Red, Black & White pattern comes from the later version of the Frankenstein guitar. The Bumble Bee finish copies the black-and-yellow guitar Wayne Charvel built for Eddie in 1978. The Black & White finish matches the Frankenstein’s earlier look. The Grey & Black finish draws from the Charvel Art Series models, which Eddie Van Halen striped by hand
All three pickups get the new looks. The Frankenstein Custom replicates the pickup in the original Frankenstein guitar. The Frankenstein Plus is a hot-rodded version with more output, harmonics, and sustain. Eddie Van Halen developed and approved it in 2013.
The Frankenstein Classic draws on the early P.A.F. pickup tone heard on the first six Van Halen albums. Eddie also approved this model later in his career.
Seymour Duncan and Eddie Van Halen began working together in the late 1970s. Years of tone work followed. In the early 2000s, the Custom Shop rebuilt the pickup from the Frankenstein guitar, then made two more versions that stand for different stages of his sound. Eddie Van Halen signed off on all three. They have sold through the Custom Shop for years as the Frankenstein pickup collection.
In a launch video, Seymour Duncan shared how he first heard Eddie Van Halen. “I was listening to Jeff Beck, I knew Jimi Hendrix. Then all of a sudden I hear this young guitar player doing all of these cool hammer-ons,” he said.
“When I first heard him, I thought, ‘God, who is this guy?’ He loved experimenting. He loved that part of it; that is why I wanted to be a part of the pickup side of it,” Seymour Duncan said.
All three pickups are on sale now. The Seymour Duncan website has more details.
