Back then Gibson frets were much wider, and a little taller than Fender frets. Fender was still using super narrow short what we now call "vintage style" wire in the 70s. Hence why he preferred Gibson wire.
Ed's approach to tapping and the sound he created sounds totally different than the sound created by Harvey, Lenny Breau, Chet Atkins, etc. All of those guys tapped but their approach sounded nothing like what Ed would come up with.
Harvey did not play Eruption but Harveys tapping style is the same as Ed's.
If someone thinks Harvey just tapped one or two notes then they are wrong.
Harvey was tapping arpeggios in melodic blues lines with classical overtones because tapping classical Bach/Vivaldi like arpeggios is easy because of just the tapping technique ala the end of Eruption.
Steve Hackett was tapping Bach/Vivaldi like arpeggios in the early 1970s as well.
What Ed did with tapping is nothing that hadn't been done before but Ed did come up with the end of Eruption himself but that was inspired by Harvey Mandel.
Someone shows someone else a technique or someone picks up a technique from another player and then it's up to them to run with it themselves which is what Ed did.
