![]() Eddie pulled the PAF pickup from his Gibson ES-335 and secured it in a gaping hole near the bridge. ![]() The experimentation and legend continued to evolve. One of his early goals was to maintain elements of the Fender body while exploiting the power of the Gibson humbucker pickups. We’ll try to stick to the more substantiated claims in this account.Īs he continued to grow frustrated with the limitations of off-the-shelf guitars and his own modifications, Eddie made a critical purchase from the Charvel team, acquiring a cast-off Boogie Bodies Strat-style body and a maple neck/fingerboard for $130. The tale of the “Frankenstrat” or “Frankenstein” guitar is fraught with rumor, dubious memories, misquotes, and drunk history. See the full list of notable Eddie Van Halen guitars below. Eddie designed and built much of his own gear throughout his legendary career. Later in his career, after starting his own brand of “EVH” gear, he played primarily EVH Wolfgang guitars. What Guitars Did Eddie Van Halen Play?Įddie Van Halen is most known for playing his self-built Frankenstrat guitars. We have attempted to capture the spirit and relative accuracy of the main guitars, amps, and effects Eddie used throughout his career. Some of this disinformation was fueled by David Lee Roth’s early advice to EVH to lie during interviews and Eddie’s desire to keep some of his gear configurations and solutions secret. There is a gigantic asterisk on the following chronology: The information shared by Eddie, an unreliable narrator, and the hundreds of professional and amateur biographers who have attempted to document his gear accurately is riddled with inconsistencies, contradictions, and gaping holes, as it should be with the story of any mastermind. Photo by Abby GillardiĪll legends deserve to harbor elements of mystique and wonder, especially Eddie. Unapologetically unique, Eddie forged his own style and sound which has influenced countless guitarists worldwide over nearly five decades. He’s truly one of the few icons who changed the way we perceive the guitar as an instrument. The impact of his life’s work in Rock and Roll has played an astronomical role in shaping the way we play and even build guitars today. Keep an eye out for our full interview with him in the coming days.Innovative in every sense of the word, Eddie Van Halen, known affectionately by many of his fans as EVH, was an absolutely revolutionary guitar mind. Though Bratta would leave White Lion – and the music business entirely – shortly after the release of Mane Attraction, he remains one of the most highly-regarded guitarists of his era. That might make me sound like a dick, but after being told I sounded like him, that I was copying him, and all this shit, it meant a lot to hear that he liked what I did, and that he respected it." "Eddie said a lot of nice things to me that day," Bratta went on, "and I’ll take them to my grave, but I’ll tell you this, I was touched enough to where I had to leave the room, go to the bathroom, and cry. Here I am, standing in the studio, watching Eddie Van Halen sitting on my amp, jamming out on guitar. ![]() He came in, and he was sitting on my 5150 amp. I got to meet him once when he came into the studio during the recording of Mane Attraction. "What I will say is that when I talked to Eddie, he didn’t agree. ![]() "Now, I’m not the type to use Eddie’s name for whatever – especially since he passed away – but I will say that Eddie complimented me, and that he didn’t agree," Bratta shares. Van Halen, Bratta tells GW, was dismissive of the notion that the latter player was merely an EVH clone. It got to the point where I met Eddie once, and I asked him, ‘Does it freak you out that I play like you?’ I thought that because it had been drilled into my head by magazines and stuff." "Once I became established with White Lion in the ‘80s, I got a lot of shit from people who said I was aping his style," Bratta says. His admiration of Van Halen aside, though, Bratta was, understandably, less than thrilled when accusations of stealing Van Halen's style were lobbed in his direction upon White Lion's commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s. Eddie Van Halen performs with Van Halen in Chicago, Illinois on Ma(Image credit: Paul Natkin/WireImage)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |