Question: Edward Van Halen's Greatest Guitar?

[clarathecarrot]

First off I am no aficiando..?

I say Ed is a contender to not only go into the R&R Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen/ Musician (allready has), but also as a man who was one of the worlds greatest guitar builders.

I say, he has solidified his place by changing the worlds..(other guitarist) approach to playing the guitar. That is a given.

I say, he has done the same as far as the constuction and innovation of the guitar creation.

I want to know from a few professionals around here, (if possible).. is this as beautifull of a guitar as I think it is ?

I say the Gibson SG, The Les Paul Hollow Body, The Strat and Telecaster etc...are inovations of greatness, is this in the same league as these great ever lasting guitar shapes and styles and versatility,sound, etc... It is not one of those guitars that is simply a shape of a Volkwagon or Jack Danield body, it is a stand alone masterpiece.

Does it play and deliver as well as I think it does. I think, and in the flat black, it is absolutely user friendly and just look like a beast.and beautiful machine.

Is it called the Wolfgang what is it..?

Please help us maroons..?



If this can be dumped into a already existing thread I don't know about please feel free to do so I am not attempting to, -one up- anyone.

[crowhue]

Dont think its in the same league, although its a great guitar. It borrows too much from the classics rather than innovates.

[jhale667]

The Wolfgang Stealth model he's been playing of late is the coolest version I've seen (or played) of the series IMO, but agree it's more an upgraded combination of features of the classic designs that he's custom-spec'd to meet his requirements than a seperate beast. Diggin' the Ebony fretboard on the Stealth, though!

[ThrillsNSpills]

The Wolfgang Stealth model he's been playing of late is the coolest version I've seen (or played) of the series IMO, but agree it's more an upgraded combination of features of the classic designs that he's custom-spec'd to meet his requirements than a seperate beast. Diggin' the Ebony fretboard on the Stealth, though!

The dark one with the rosewood neck gets a hell yeah from me. It really looks like it can deliver the goods.

[ThrillsNSpills]

I like the old Kramers with the thin necks as well.

[ELVIS]

The Wolfgang is a great feeling and well made guitar that combines elements of both a Stratocaster and a Les Paul...

It's modern and up to date, but also traditional in it's design...

Not really my cup of tea, but they are very nice...

I think the blonde looks very cool...

[Nitro Express]

Right now I have five Wolfgangs. All mine are Peaveys. I have two standards. Two specials one with a Les Paul styled bridge and tail piece, and an export model made in Korea. All are good guitars. I never really cared for the looks of the Wolfgang. I think a Les Paul custom is one of the most beautiful guitars owned one years ago an frankly never liked playing it. I think SG's are ugly but love playing them. I love Strats. Gigging I found myself reaching for the Wolfgang. It's just a reliable user friendly guitar that sounds good through just about every amp. It also cleans up well with the volume knob. The pickups can sound like a thick Telecaster or they can rip your head off. It's one of those guitars you can just leave around. It can fall off the couch onto the wooden floor and not have the head stock snap off. Kids can fuck around with it and not break anything. You never have to redo the wiring because it's top notch from the factory. In fact, the Wolfgang is the only guitar I ever bought that I have left the electronics, setup, and everything else totally stock. Your grand kid will be playing it because they are just that durable and well made. Wolfies are not collector items or something to hang on the wall and admire. They are well built tools to get a job done and they do that well.

Playing a Wolfgang for me reminds me of a Telecaster more than a Strat or Les Paul. It's a beefy chunk of wood with a maple neck on it. I would liken it to a Telecaster as well. The Stratocaster and Les Paul get all the attention but look how popular the Telecaster has been through all the decades since the 1950's. Some great players won't play anything else. The Wolfgang will be the same. It will have it's following and you will see a Musicman Axis or Wolfgang type guitar being sold even when Ed is long gone. Super strats for that matter. It was Ed who put a humbucker in a Strat and was the first to use a locking tremelo. He invented that style of guitar.

[Diamondjimi]

I wonder if Ed got the idea from seeing Robbie Robertson's guitar back in 76?

[ZahZoo]

Sorry but don't view EVH as any sort of guitar innovator... maybe the most famous version of Dr Frankenstein of guitar parts assemblers.

Ed wasn't the first to slap a humbucker into a strat body... He didn't invent the floyd rose system... just an early adopter who was famous. Ok, I believe Ed invented the D-Tuna... give him that. He didn't invent pickup winding, wax potting nor low friction pots... Unfinished necks... nope. 5 or 6 ply binding... nope.

The EB Music Man, Peavey Wolfgang and EVH/Fender Wolfgang are all hybrid Les Paul/Stratocaster off-shoots. He incorporated top parts and pickup windings to suit his style. The pickup placements and attaching directly to the body are just variations that he adopted... not invented.

The guitars are excellent instruments... but nothing about them is anything new nor invented by Ed.

[Nitro Express]

Sorry but don't view EVH as any sort of guitar innovator... maybe the most famous version of Dr Frankenstein of guitar parts assemblers.

Ed wasn't the first to slap a humbucker into a strat body... He didn't invent the floyd rose system... just an early adopter who was famous. Ok, I believe Ed invented the D-Tuna... give him that. He didn't invent pickup winding, wax potting nor low friction pots... Unfinished necks... nope. 5 or 6 ply binding... nope.

The EB Music Man, Peavey Wolfgang and EVH/Fender Wolfgang are all hybrid Les Paul/Stratocaster off-shoots. He incorporated top parts and pickup windings to suit his style. The pickup placements and attaching directly to the body are just variations that he adopted... not invented.

The guitars are excellent instruments... but nothing about them is anything new nor invented by Ed.

I think Ed would agree with you. He would just say there wasn't a guitar on the shelf that had the features I wanted and I didn't have the money to buy it anyways so I make my own. Ed always points out a lot of his techniques and sound comes from the simple fact he didn't have the money to buy things so he got really creative with what was available to him out of necessity. Where he's innovative as hell is in his actual playing.

[ZahZoo]

I'm not sure about the money part... he parted out a 59 Les Paul gold top of which allegedly one of the pickups from the LP ended up in the bridge position on the first Frankie.

Now old LP's weren't anywhere near the sick value they are today... but a 59 LP back in the early-mid 70's still wasn't cheap by any means.

[jhale667]

I'm not sure about the money part... he parted out a 59 Les Paul gold top of which allegedly one of the pickups from the LP ended up in the bridge position on the first Frankie.

Now old LP's weren't anywhere near the sick value they are today... but a 59 LP back in the early-mid 70's still wasn't cheap by any means.

IIRC the PAF pickup in Frankie came out of the ES-335 (likely not as pricey as LPs even then) the band told him to "either get some sunglasses of a new guitar" because it was Roy Orbisons's instrument of choice at the time? I also seem to remember him saying in yet another interview he got a couple of '59 LPs AFTER they started making money...

[Diamondjimi]

Ed's '59 Flametop...

[lesfunk]

My fave is this one simply because it's what he played the first time I saw VH live

[Golden AWe]

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

[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.