July Guitar World...

[tojoro]

...with the Rhoads cover...I know...big suprise coming from me! Anyway, in the Tune-Ups section there's a one page feature entitled "Search and Destroy" about the Ibanez Destroyer that Ed used on the debut.
There is a real neat live pic of him with it, (Dave is in the background) before he "Halenized" it.
They provide a link to the guy's site and though this exact pic isn't there, there's another of Ed with it, as well as some with a Strat.
Killer vintage shots:

http://www.marvinrinnig.com/gallery.php?op=Van Halen

[tojoro]

Yeah buddy! The largest prints go for $475!

[jhale667]

Saw that...it actually looked pretty cool before it got "sharked"... it was like Hetfield's, before James ever knew it was cool....lol.

[sadaist]

Saw that...it actually looked pretty cool before it got "sharked"... it was like Hetfield's, before James ever knew it was cool....lol.

The white one Hetfield used in the 80's Master of Puppets era is my personal dream guitar.

Someday.

[sadaist]

Although it's kinda big for Eddie back then. Dude couldn't have weighed more than 125. The Fender fit perfect. The Ibanez is too big for Eddies frame.

[TAKIN WHISKEY]

It would be nice if Guitar World had an article talking about how Ed's guitar sound is still perfect for Dave. A picture of them hanging out casually in the studio.

[Hummarstra]

Although, we often think of the Frankenstrat, this is THE guitar that really defined the brown sound. I believe it was used on ATBL, YRGM and a lot of Women and Children First. Probably the best sounding guitar he recorded with, imho.

[tojoro]

My bad, I should have copied the text here, for the benefit of those interested:

Guitarists attempting to duplicate Eddie Van Halen's elusive brown sound ahve gone to great lengths to build replicas of his trademark b&w Frankenstein guitar, but many overlook the fact that Eddie recorded half of the album with an Ibanez Destroyer. The fat, ballsy tone of this mid-70s Gibson Explorer copy is heard on RWTD, YRGM, JC, FYLT & OF.
The Destroyer allowed Eddie to create sound effects that he couldn't reproduce on the Frankenstein, such as the high pitched metallic scrape on the RWTD intro, (performed by swiping the strings between the stop tailpiece), and the stuttering effect on the solo to YRGM, (produced by setting the neck pickup volume at 0 and flicking the pickup selector switch).
Eddie drastically modified his Destroyer shortly after recording VH by cutting a large V-shaped chunk out of the body below the bridge. While Eddie loved the guitar's new look, (nicknamed "the shark"), the experiment adversely affected the guitar's tone.
Recently unearthed color photos of VH performing at the Starwood night clup in Hollywood in January of 77-taken by noted rock photographer Marvin Rinning-reveal that Ed made minor modifications to the guitar before recording VH. While the Destroyer shipped with a clear, light-amber finish that made it's Sen (Japanese Ash) body look like Korina, Ed had the body, neck and headstock painted white. He also replaced the Gibson-style "top hat" knobs with knobs from a Strat and swapped the original chrome-plated bridge for a gold-plated unit.
The chrome-covered pickups appear to be stock, which suggests that the secret to VH's sound was more about his fingers and not some magical Gibson PAF humbucker.

From the San Dimas Charvel resource website:
The star shape was first invented by Wayne Charvel cutting bodies to resemble the hacked Ibanez Explorer of Edward Van Halen's. Wayne dubbed it the "star" guitar probably due to the shape but supposedly also due to Ed being a rising "star." It was one of the first custom shapes of Charvel Mfg and a lasting tribute to Wayne Charvel's innovations and EVH's legacy of guitar design (whether he meant it or not).

~T.