A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

[jerryjg]

"(No,)... the original (going back to VH! and II) was a body he bought from Wayne Charvel and a neck ordered through Charvel from Boogie Bodies (now Warmoth). Back then Wayne Charvel ran a repair shop/music store and marketed some replacement parts under the "Charvel" name. As a side bar, Wayne Charvel and Dave Schecter both used the same company as a source of financing for their businesses. It's possible that the body EVH bought might have been cut by Schecter instead of Charvel or could have been cut by Wayne Charvel at Schecter's facility; if you believe Grover Jackson (who bought out Wayne Charvel in 1978) the routers that Wayne bought had never been used. At any rate lets call the body a "Charvel" as EVH simply asked Wayne for the cheapest body he had in stock and Wayne grabbed it from the bottom of the pile.

That Charvel body and Boogie Bodies neck was the VH1 white and black Frankenstrat. The black & yellow guitar body and neck were Charvel in-house made by Grover Jackson. Evidently EVH didn't like the ash body and went back to the white & black guitar. By Women & Children First EVH had repainted the white & black guitar with the current red, black and white finish. The guitar had many different necks; EVH would break them or they would need refretting while they were on the road and he would just swap necks out. By the time he signed with Kramer in 1982 he got necks from them and put them on the original body."

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

My only question is WHO ****ING CARES...

I mean I'm not trying to hate or anything but does it really matter where or how he got the guitars he has? I mean is it important to note who sold him the piece and where said piece comes from?

I thought the whole mystique / cool factor of EVH was that he used any random piece of cheap, falling apart guitar he could get his hand on and turned it into a legend by playing said gear in a new and exciting way. The guitar itself is the LEAST important part of the equation.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

"(No,)... the original (going back to VH! and II) was a body he bought from Wayne Charvel and a neck ordered through Charvel from Boogie Bodies (now Warmoth). Back then Wayne Charvel ran a repair shop/music store and marketed some replacement parts under the "Charvel" name. As a side bar, Wayne Charvel and Dave Schecter both used the same company as a source of financing for their businesses. It's possible that the body EVH bought might have been cut by Schecter instead of Charvel or could have been cut by Wayne Charvel at Schecter's facility; if you believe Grover Jackson (who bought out Wayne Charvel in 1978) the routers that Wayne bought had never been used. At any rate lets call the body a "Charvel" as EVH simply asked Wayne for the cheapest body he had in stock and Wayne grabbed it from the bottom of the pile.

That Charvel body and Boogie Bodies neck was the VH1 white and black Frankenstrat. The black & yellow guitar body and neck were Charvel in-house made by Grover Jackson. Evidently EVH didn't like the ash body and went back to the white & black guitar. By Women & Children First EVH had repainted the white & black guitar with the current red, black and white finish. The guitar had many different necks; EVH would break them or they would need refretting while they were on the road and he would just swap necks out. By the time he signed with Kramer in 1982 he got necks from them and put them on the original body."

Not really news is it? This has been around for a while.

 

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

Yeah but Eddie is just confirming everything for us.

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

Wait a #&%ing minute! Does this mean jerryjg isn't Eddie Van Halen?

This place sucks.

 

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCdGFkj_vi4

This was pretty cool!

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

Honestly if anyone of us cobbled together a guitar like that we would be considered idiots! It's not the guitar, its not the pickups, it's his playing. Any of us can build a better guitar for under $400.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

Honestly if anyone of us cobbled together a guitar like that we would be considered idiots! It's not the guitar, its not the pickups, it's his playing. Any of us can build a better guitar for under $400.

i built something technically better

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

exactly. "OMG A WARMOTH STRAT NO WAY LOL"

the guitar doesn't make you sound good; you make the guitar sound good.

 

[Aceman]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

Stop hating! while agree with the who cares crowd - this thread is obviously for fanboys.

As much as I'm not about the minutia of the hairs on Ed's nads any more than I am about the wind on the pup, if you want to get that deep about it, Party On Garth!

So please continue Jerry, what does this tell YOU about the mighty VH?

 

[jerryjg]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

Yes, well.. The thing is..we are now involved in a revelation about teh truth..least as close as we'll ever get to it, given that Ed may or may not know himslef.This speculation has been going on for along while now, and theres been finally some definitive information, and this is like one of the immortal guitar gawds, so we're in on some history happening here in the sence that we are on the cutting edge of what has been talked about, and will be discussed for along long time to come. Ya see, it appears this guy who wrote waht he wrote , which were the commments I posted , is wrong..and [edit]-*the original vintage 50's Strat EVH owned initially with the Rosewood fingerbaord neck a with either the Mitey Mite or the Super70 pickups VH-1 album was recorded with( that and the Ibby Destroyer) ..and so its very exciting to finally break the shroud of mystery after all this time and reach something fairly conlusive so,I don't think its going all hogwild with this considering its groundbreaking information here and about a living legend its not actually more of the same old stuff about which to not be concerned about like some of you guys may think . Its pretty exciting , in my book, and I dont think its been said maybe once so thats why I reposted about it.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

Stop hating! while agree with the who cares crowd - this thread is obviously for fanboys.

Fanboys? How hard do I have to hammer EVH to not be a fanboy?

 

[cohara41]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

My only question is WHO ****ING CARES...

I mean I'm not trying to hate or anything but does it really matter where or how he got the guitars he has? I mean is it important to note who sold him the piece and where said piece comes from?

I thought the whole mystique / cool factor of EVH was that he used any random piece of cheap, falling apart guitar he could get his hand on and turned it into a legend by playing said gear in a new and exciting way. The guitar itself is the LEAST important part of the equation.

+1, and why not more interest in his amps, pedals, cords, picks. Ect

 

[WhoFan]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

It's been said before Wayne Charvel never cut any bodies or necks himself but branded custom made parts with his logos and put the guitars together after paint...

Eddies Black and White original Frankie was painted red for the 1979 VHII tour... it still had the 6 screw trem for the beginning of the tour but by 1980 had an early Floyd on it..

The Black and Yellow Charvel from the cover of VHII was shipped to Ed with a Brass 6 Screw trem on it... the headstock was painted black... and after the VHII LP cover photos were taken ED covered the Charvel logo with a piece of tape... That "Bumble Bee" Charvel was fitted with an early Floyd before his Frankie got the neck and Floyd off it towards 1980.... Many PU's, necks and bridges were tried on the Charvel Bumble Bee and Ed could not figure out for the longest time why it sounded thinner then his Frankie... In the end the main issue with it's brighter tone was Charvel had routed the single humbucker slot really close to the bridge... in some later shots of the guitar with a full sized FRO on it it almost looks like the trem is sitting on the PU... I'm surprised ED never had the PU moved forward... in some late 90's photos from 5150 studios there claims to be a Tone pot hidden in the back of the guitars electronic route, i assume to try and cure the bightness the guitar was known for...

If you look at some 25 year Aniversary Charvel's released a few years back they also had the humbucker routed really close to the bridge

it has come to light that even Pete Townhend's Shecter and Griffin Teles of the early 80's were all most likely Boogie parts guitars with Shecter and Griffin logos on the headstocks... Griffin told me himself he used Boggie Bodies and painted them himself... and Shecter at that time was a parts supplier not a guitar maker who had factories like Boogie make them batches of bodies and necks...

 

[kramer.geetar]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

I honestly can't believe people still argue about this. Anyways, the original black and white Frankie was northern ash Jerry, this has been stated many times and thats why the $25k replicas are northern ash. There is no magic about the guitars themselves, its all in the mans fingers. Tone does not come from your wallet. Having said that almost any vintage type overwound PAF will get you close to his tone. More specifically....

Northern ash + '78 = early VH
Poplar + 80's JBJ = 5150 era

I don't care much for his tone now. I know he's moving on and it'll never happen but I want the guy to build another POS guitar from scratch, go back to basics, dust off that old Plexi for f*ck sakes and give us the tone that had balls and made all of our mouths drop. Too bad he's turning into an endorsement whore, everything from strings to cables, to picks and so on. When was the last time you saw Ed use a wah extensively? Now he's got his own sig even for that! Don't get me wrong I love Van Halen, both Roth and Hagar eras equally and its one of my favourite bands.

If you want more geeky stuff and some fun reading take a look at this

http://wwwc.dcns.ne.jp/~epi/english.html

Lots of good stuff there.

 

[jerryjg]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

I honestly can't believe people still argue about this. Anyways, the original black and white Frankie was northern ash Jerry, this has been stated many times and thats why the $25k replicas are northern ash.
.

Nope. VH-1 was recorded ona vintage 50's swamp ash (soft southern ash) Start with a Rosewood neck and a Super70's most likely , or Miety mite pup. Thats the new exciting discovery we are in on the ground floor of.
Also, the 25.000 Fender ressiues are NOT hard ash, but soft ash. Makes a Huuuge difference.
Soo0, see, there alot of misinformation to be cleared up.I gotta thank Joly for turning me onto what a great player EVH is(was) asue I honestly wasnt at all into him awhile back.
Anyway, After the VH-1 Studio album with Eruption( taht was recorded also on the Korina Ibby Destroyer), I guess he built the Charvel/Boogie body hard ash Start that everyone used ti think was used for the VH-1 studio, as you still do.That was the red and whit one, the famous oen being reissued by Fender-the origianl Frankie.

 

[kramer.geetar]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

Must of been a magic Ibanez Destroyer then, considering Eruption and other songs on that album used a whammy bar and the Destroyer is hardtail and no I don't believe he down tuned his E string to make it sound like a divebomb. Also you can distinctly hear 2 different types of guitars on that album. What I think you're messing up on is the bridge that the original Frankie has came from a '58 Strat actually. Also if the black and white Frankie was not used on the album, why did he already have it before recording and is on the album cover?

 

[jerryjg]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

Actually I think Mythbusters could go into an isobaric acoustic chamber with an osscilioscope, a wavefrom genertaor and a frquency analayzer and determine the exact constituents of the guitar based upon a replication of the exact sound pattern. That may happen one day 100 years from now .

 

[kramer.geetar]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

One thing I'll agree with you is that the Frankie could more likely be southern ash because I recall now that people were commenting how light the $25k replica felt...that is if they made it the same wood as the original and even Chip Ellis stated the replica is made from southern ash.

Now how much that actually matters if its northern or southern ash is not important. No one will nail that tone dead on unless you're EVH. So debating and getting pissed off at each other over this tiny details is worthless and I don't wanna do that.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: A bit more Info I found on EVH early guitars

well this is going to sound funny as hell but i can get dam close to that VHI sound with my 1999 MIM Standard that has a Duncan Custom in the bridge and with some of my amps i have, a little Delay here and there as well as reverb to nail the recorded sound.... plus the common EVH Flanger and Phaser sounds.... that cheap ass MIM guitar is Bright but still with some good lows...

many people for some reason will say Eddie never had Delay and reverb on his studio amp rigs so they don't have it on their amps when trying to play VH stuff.... but the end VH recording is wet as hell and most likely added at the desk!!!! i think thats the seceret to nailing the end recorded tone a lot of fans miss... if you can get a guitar and amp set up close enough, add some reverb and a touch of delay... it is on the recording even if it was not part of his Marshall rig...