About half a year following the tragic death of rock ’n’ roll icon Eddie Van Halen, his legend lives on through the famed Frankenstrat, a monster of a guitar created by combining a Northern Ash Stratocaster body with modified pickup routing to fit a Gibson PAF humbucking pickup in the bridge.

The Frankenstrat is widely recognized by its flashy red body, aggressively striped over in black and white — custom painted by Van Halen. The paint job is considered the guitar’s “finger print,” as each one is identified by different striping.

One particular Frankenstrat owned, signed and heavily used by Van Halen made the news after it was placed up for…