Scaling using inkscape and cross product :
I think that if the results in this article are right, they will make many people angry. Principally those who bought an extremely expensive replica from evh fender. I found a way to approximate the length of the magnet used in Eddie’s Super distortion or the early frankenstein pickup. I couldn’t find a picture where you were able to completely see both ends of the magnet. With the bee however i got lucky and found a picture which is clear enough and where you can see both ends of the magnet. Why ? because the super distortion used a brass plate.
Original dimensions :
First i had to look into the original dimensions of the dimarzio super distortion which are there :
Cross Product :
in our picture the length of the plate is 51,32mm in reality it is 2.7inch which is 68,58mm
In our picture the length of the magnet is 42.87mm
The calculus :
51,32 68,58
42,87 ????? 42,87 x 68,58 / 51,32 =57,28mm
2.25 inch in mm = 57,15mm
2.5 inch in mm = 63,5mm
57,15 is almost the same as 57,28 the difference is probably due to the fact that in the picture the guitare isn’t entirely flat and leveled with the objective. 57,15mm is 2.25 inch.
The final confirmation :
Now we know that the magnet of the frankenstein humbucker measures 2.25 inch and it is a short magnet ! This will allow us to know which type of magnet it is.
if you remember our old post about the es-335 from which comes the magnet here is what our es-335 expert said : According to Charles Gelber which owns the es-335.com website and which is a specialist about those guitars : from 58 to 61 the es-335 usually got Alnico 2 (or 4) magnets that measured roughly 2.5″. Between 61 to 64 the es-335 usually got Alnico 5 magnets and those measure 2.25″. This is the reason why dating this es-335 is the key to the frankenstrat tone.
Between 61 and 64 it usually was alnico V or II but for the 2.25″ it should normally only be ALNICO 5 :
Source : https://www.es-335.com/2019/03/14/paf-theory/
WE FINALLY FOUND IT !
Seymour Ducan released a van halen humbucker called the im1. “i’m the one” alnico V 15.2k trembucker (trembuckers are always hotter so it should be around the 14k-14k4 alnico V). This humbucker was short lived and now we can suspect why.
The EVH Fender issue :
I own a version of the limited edition frankenstein humbucker signed by Eddie and the magnet is clearly 2.5inch long. If the bee humbucker is really the frankenstein humbucker prototype, then there seems to be a big issue somewhere. I’m not saying it is the case (i’m going around some suppositions) but who knows perhaps that Eddie swapped his pickup when he gave fender EVH the originals to replicate them ? Or perhaps he forgot that when he became old at some point he changed the magnet or the humbucker from the frankie ? We know that a weak alnico 2 2.5inch magnet should sound like a short alnico V magnet and that’s perhaps what they tried to do. Why did they do it this way ? no idea. The magnet from the bee isn’t the same as the one in the fender evh frankie, but this should be not the case as the bee humbucker is the first version of the frankenstein humbucker :
Another possbility :
We know that seymour duncan are the one which cloned and tweaked Ed’s humbuckers. It is possible that when he came to them to replace the hex screws for regular screws and pole pieces plus adding black bobbins, they didn’t have 2.25 inch alnico V magnets. There are many variations of the short alnico V magnet. Many say that a degaussed (weak) 2.5 inch long magnet sounds like a short alnico 5 that would be the reason they went for it. Another reason might be that Eddie just decided to swap the magnet over duncan’s recommendation and because he liked a degaussed version of a long alnico 2 magnet they just changed. We will never be sure. However, it seems that this pickup with the 2.5inch alnico 2 is the humbucker of Women and Children First. Before it, it was probably the short alnico V magnet.
Van Halen and Specs 
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