Question: Edward Van Halen's Greatest Guitar?

[clarathecarrot]

So what I guess I am hearing is..Like a custom hot rod builder Ed is using existing parts and chopping them into a new item based on existing technology..?

His Kramer guitar is not like Les Paul who designed the head stock shape the body shape thickness the amount of curve on the front body to give a certain sound, Ed doesn't create a guitar from scratch to be his..?

I am sure Ed has the technical skill to do these things (wants to keep his fingers out of the sanding machine) but to be honest did Les Paul actually carve with saw and do all wood working tooling on his signature guitar or just dictate to the crafters what he wanted..?

Some say that if you don't do all work involved you aren't a builder. I mean you would have to plant the trees and wait 75 years to get that destinction..lol..

I believe no one is actually a true builder 20 lifetimes couldn't get those skills all down to the, masters degree.

[ELVIS]

So what I guess I am hearing is..Like a custom hot rod builder Ed is using existing parts and chopping them into a new item based on existing technology..?

Yes...

[clarathecarrot]

and .. thanks to all here, very informative.. for us consumers, on this players forum.

[lesfunk]

I think his greatest guitar innovation is heard on And The Cradle Will Rock, Hammond via guitar amps

I thought it was a Wurlitzer electric piano...

[jhale667]

If I had to pick one guitar over the years it'd have to be the VH II "Bumblebee", since that's the 1st guitar I ever saw a pic of him with, the one that (along with my sister constantly playing the albums) originally made me want to play guitar...I saw that and was like "I WANT ONE OF THESE!!" Still one of the coolest guitars I've ever seen. I like the B&W version of Frankenstein better too, and that was the 2nd guitar I ever saw him with.

[twonabomber]

i like the EBMM's. not really a Strat, not really a Paul, something a little different.

[indeedido]

The Wolfgang series really came about because he liked the shape and feel of a Tele, but that wasn't rock n roll enough for him. So it got modified to the shape we know today. Now with the set neck, he's married the Tele and Les Paul kind of vibe. I don't like the tiny headstock but that's just me. Ed may not have invented the guitar but no doubt he revolutionized it. There wasn't exactly a big boom of after market parts until after Edward. Charvel, Jackson, Seymour all blew up with the SoCal craze that was to come. Dimarzio exploded. Ellsworth, Warmoth etc. No one more famous took a humbucker and put it into a strat than Edward. The 80s became a huge custom build era thanks to Edward. Heck without his innovations or just luck we'd all still be getting Gibson, Rickenbacker and Fender crammed down our throats with no other big brands to choose from.

[jhale667]

Heck without his innovations or just luck we'd all still be getting Gibson, Rickenbacker and Fender crammed down our throats with no other big brands to choose from.

True, and we'd have way less options to choose from... no flatter fretboards, reduced pickup options, no (or less) attention to wood selection, the Floyd Rose probably never would have taken off.. his contribution to guitar-building alone is staggering.

[kwame k]

The Wolfgang series really came about because he liked the shape and feel of a Tele, but that wasn't rock n roll enough for him. So it got modified to the shape we know today. Now with the set neck, he's married the Tele and Les Paul kind of vibe. I don't like the tiny headstock but that's just me. Ed may not have invented the guitar but no doubt he revolutionized it. There wasn't exactly a big boom of after market parts until after Edward. Charvel, Jackson, Seymour all blew up with the SoCal craze that was to come. Dimarzio exploded. Ellsworth, Warmoth etc. No one more famous took a humbucker and put it into a strat than Edward. The 80s became a huge custom build era thanks to Edward. Heck without his innovations or just luck we'd all still be getting Gibson, Rickenbacker and Fender crammed down our throats with no other big brands to choose from.

Outstanding post

[Jenkins III]

Since I got into the band in '91 through my awesome cousin, that was the time that Ed had the Music Man, and while the first record I heard was Pasadena Civic '77, the first video I remember watching was "Live Without A Real Lead Singer" (1986). I always dug that Kramer, more than the Frankenstein, and I still love the look of the Music Man.

Since it was what sprung him on the world, I guess it's gotta be the one on the first cover...which turned into Frank.