This is the "Real Deal" 2007 Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilt EVH Eddie Van Halen Frank

[Seshmeister]

I'd love to play one for 30 mins just to see how it feels but what a heap of shit.

Interesting he said the action was incredibly low.

[Kristy]

$25,000???

[Seshmeister]

I think they are worth more than that now, that was how much they cost retail when they first went on sale.

To be fair it must take a lot of work but it is all a bit crazy.

There is a 1997 Gibson Slash "Snakepit" signature guitar selling for $100k.

https://reverb.com/uk/p/gibson-custom-shop-slash-signature-snakepit-les-paul-1996-1997

[Kristy]

People who buy that shit are not players but just bored collectors with too much money on their untalented hands. Back when I worked in a music store some asshole paid over $12,000 for Gibson L-5 that he never intended to play buy rather place inside a display cage so his other rich untalented asshole buttfucker friends could see for themselves what a asshole he was.

Look where Hendrix's Woodstock Strat is today

[Kristy]

Oh, and speaking of buttfuckers. This just churns my stomach

[Kristy]

If they ever do a reissue of this guitar, this is the one I want:



Trevor Rabin's early 60's Strat. I'd so put that in a case and be a smug asshole about it.

[Terry]

Not to sound TOO much like a nitpicky cunt, but I have memories of when I was starting to play guitar in the early 1980s, and seeing pics of Ed's guitars that he was using mostly for live work from 1978 through 1983 and thinking back then how cool it would be to play THOSE guitars.

I bought a Charvel San Dimas in 1990. Basic guitar: two double coils, standard Strat-style non-locking tremolo, one volume knob.

Come 2005 or so, started looking to get a second guitar. At that point, I think it was Charvel who was starting to sell San Dimas-style models with the designs of those iconic EVH / CVH-era guitars. I recall they were running for $1,500 or so back then.

While that price was a little higher than I wanted to spend for a second guitar, it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility for me financially. I was seriously considering the model that looked like the guitar Ed was playing around the Van Halen II period...the black one with the yellow stripes. Plus, I knew from owning one for ages that Charvel makes quality guitars: even their lower end stuff in terms of price are still quality guitars.

In the end, I went with an Ibanez for my second guitar and had my 1990 San Dimas mildly upgraded in terms of the wiring.

I didn't get the EVH replica because...well, it's a replica. Even a replica that pays minute attention to detail is still a replica. The point being that I used to daydream in my early teens about playing the actual guitars Eddie was playing, and playing an Eddie Van Halen replica now obviously isn't the same thing, to the point where the prices of the replica are pretty much irrelevant in terms of my desire to actually own one.

That being said, I have read a lot of comments from a lot of players - both amateur and pro - regarding the Eddie Van Halen Wolfgang series guitars, and literally all those comments were positive.

[Seshmeister]

I think typically the EVH stuff is way cheaper and better than the San Dimas these days.

I also think there is a big difference between getting a replica frankenstrat , doubly especially that one, and getting an EVH Wolfgang.

I feel slightly awkward playing a Wolfgang through my EVH amps in front of an audience but I have done it few times. I wouldn't dream of ever playing one of those replicas in front of an audience though unless you are in a tribute act it would seem ridiculous fanboy stuff.

[Nitro Express]

I think typically the EVH stuff is way cheaper and better than the San Dimas these days.

I also think there is a big difference between getting a replica frankenstrat , doubly especially that one, and getting an EVH Wolfgang.

I feel slightly awkward playing a Wolfgang through my EVH amps in front of an audience but I have done it few times. I wouldn't dream of ever playing one of those replicas in front of an audience though unless you are in a tribute act it would seem ridiculous fanboy stuff.

The Fender factory in Mexico probably makes the best guitars for the money. That’s where the run of the mill EVH’s are made. I picked up a EVH 5150 Deluxe guitar. It doesn’t look like a VH fanboy guitar and it’s got the thin Charvel styled neck and not the Wolfgang neck. The newer ones have the cool cutoff button. Mine has a ebony fretboard so it’s a bright sounding guitar but you can dial the brightness down using the EQ pots on the amp. But the EVH stuff is well built. I’ve never had a problem with a 5150 amp other than tubes wearing out. The EVH speaker cabs are great. The guitars are no-none sense work horses. I like the EVH EL-34 5150 amps. I think they have a warmer sounding crunch channel and the high gain channel is still decent. If you are more into a heavy sound than a classic rock sound and want better reliability a 5150 loaded with Sovtek 5881 tubes will go to hell and back. Probably the most reliable power tubes still made and they sound great in high gain amps. They will sound like an old Fender clean. Not the greatest for Classic British tones.

[Seshmeister]

I love my EVH 5150 III head, what's not to love about an amp where you don't need a distortion pedal and only need the gain at 1 o'clock? I've been gigging it since it came out, never had it above 10 o'clock volume but its been completely reliable.

Only issue for me is the well known one that you can't really use the clean channel live because it shares the volume with the crunch channel and so it's no use live if you wanted to switch between the two during a song.

[Seshmeister]

Only issue for me is the well known one that you can't really use the clean channel live because it shares the volume with the crunch channel and so it's no use live if you wanted to switch between the two during a song.

Fuck just noticed they have fixed that in the new ones, credit to them for listening to customers. I wonder if I can get that done to mine as a mod...

[Seshmeister]

Wow further reading and people have been modding the amp themselves like this for 8 years, I never thought to look.

[Terry]

I think typically the EVH stuff is way cheaper and better than the San Dimas these days.

I also think there is a big difference between getting a replica frankenstrat , doubly especially that one, and getting an EVH Wolfgang.

I feel slightly awkward playing a Wolfgang through my EVH amps in front of an audience but I have done it few times. I wouldn't dream of ever playing one of those replicas in front of an audience though unless you are in a tribute act it would seem ridiculous fanboy stuff.

Which, I've never played a Wolfgang, but were I to play one and liked how it felt/played, I wouldn't have any reservations about buying one. Certainly far less reservations than buying one of those EVH classic replicas, which as you say unless one is in a Van Halen tribute band...just EVH idolation to an extreme...like, I've spent more than a bit of time over the last 40 years learning Eddie's licks, and even I wouldn't want one of those replicas, although I suppose people do. I just remember seeing a clip of John Mayer with one of those Franky replicas playing Panama live onstage and he looked goddamned ridiculous.

I've also heard a lot of complimentary things about the EVH amp line as well.

I haven't played in front of an audience for almost thirty years now, so the two guitars I have - the old San Dimas and the newer Ibanez - are more than sufficient for my needs as a player these days (in point of fact, I'm thinking about getting a run-of-the-mill nylon string Spanish-style acoustic, because I rarely play my electrics and don't currently have an acoustic). The newer Ibanez, which has a Floyd Rose, cost me slightly less than a thousand...and truth be told it has spent more time in the case than being played, because I love my San Dimas. And my 15 Watt Peavey amp and my half-dozen pedals suit me fine...I'm not playing out professionally, so I don't need a rack-mounted effects board, and I don't need the Marshall stack I had thirty years ago anymore...most of the time when I do drag my San Dimas out of the case and play for a bit, I don't even plug into the amp.

All that being said, I still DO kinda want that EVH Art Series Bumblebee guitar, though... ; )

[Mushroom]

I own the $1700 Frankenstrat and the $900 Bumblebee. Those are last year’s prices. They’re already creeping up in price to $2000 and $1100, respectively. There is a point they get overpriced according to each own’s budget and for what they are really worth. I am shameless. I would play either one at a rock gig. It could be a conversation piece and I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks. I wouldn’t play at a blues gig because the form doesn’t follow function in that setting.

[Nitro Express]

I own the $1700 Frankenstrat and the $900 Bumblebee. Those are last year’s prices. They’re already creeping up in price to $2000 and $1100, respectively. There is a point they get overpriced according to each own’s budget and for what they are really worth. I am shameless. I would play either one at a rock gig. It could be a conversation piece and I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks. I wouldn’t play at a blues gig because the form doesn’t follow function in that setting.

I just play what I feel like playing at the time. Lately it’s been a Les Paul Standard. I went through a Telecaster phase. If I want a wiggle stick I will either grab one of my Kramer’s or the EVH 5150 Deluxe.