EVH-Custom Guitars

[UB637]

Hey guys (and gals),
I don't post here often but I read the forums everyday and I thought you all might be interested in this.
http://www.evh-guitars.com/

I wonder what kind of price tag these are going to have.

 

[Jimi D]

The licensing fees to FMIC for use of the headstock design alone must be astro-freakin'-nomical... These toys will be for the very, very well-heeled only, boy-o's!

 

[OrangeChannel]

Novelty items.

 

[PRSPlayer]

As a HUGE Eddie fan, I have to admit, I'm very disapointed.
It's a cool idea, but wouldn't you think they could have at least done the paint schemes more accurately?

I don't know who I'm more upset with ...
The guitar manufacture for such a horrible representation of Eddie's guitars, or Eddie himself for being associated with them.

 

[nobozos]

Hey guys, take it easy. I checked out the site, and noticed a couple things. First of all, the headstock says "Made in USA". That is the first of the new Charvel line that I've seen that is made in the USA.

Secondly, nobody has played one of these guitars, so I don't think it's fair for anyone to label it as a "novelty item" just yet.

As far as the headstock, I thought I heard somewhere that Fender owns Charvel now, but I'm trying to confirm that.

As far as the stripes not being done more accurately, I don't know what the hell more you could want. The man himself, Eddie Van Halen, is laying his own hands on the guitar and striping them himself. Just because he is not striping them as a carbon copy of the guitars he played in the past should make no difference. In fact, I would think a big EVH fan would be more excited about the fact that the stripe scheme on each individual guitar would be a one-of-a-kind EVH creation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as big an Ernie Ball fan as you will find, but the fact of the matter is that EVH himself never touched most of the EBMM/EVH guitars that came out of the Music Man production line. These Charvels are actually coming out of the hands of the man.

All I am saying, is give EVH a chance.

 

[PRSPlayer]

I just looked at the "gallery" and saw the man himself taping up those guitars! As many times as he's striped his own guitars, I'm sure he hasn't forgotten his own paint scheme.

Just my opinion, but I've always heard that Eddie has had this thing about people copying his panit schemes. He's prohibited all of the custom shops from creating replica's, or even providing EVH panit jobs! Having said this ... I think the lack of accuracy is deliberate on his part.

That's okay .. It just makes me appreciate my accurate Charvel VHII that much more.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

This is all quite curious. I thought that EVH had an exclusive deal with Peavey? Maybe we might see him on stage with an EBMM at some point?!

 

[OrangeChannel]

Hey guys, take it easy. I checked out the site, and noticed a couple things. First of all, the headstock says "Made in USA". That is the first of the new Charvel line that I've seen that is made in the USA.

Secondly, nobody has played one of these guitars, so I don't think it's fair for anyone to label it as a "novelty item" just yet.

As far as the headstock, I thought I heard somewhere that Fender owns Charvel now, but I'm trying to confirm that.

As far as the stripes not being done more accurately, I don't know what the hell more you could want. The man himself, Eddie Van Halen, is laying his own hands on the guitar and striping them himself. Just because he is not striping them as a carbon copy of the guitars he played in the past should make no difference. In fact, I would think a big EVH fan would be more excited about the fact that the stripe scheme on each individual guitar would be a one-of-a-kind EVH creation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as big an Ernie Ball fan as you will find, but the fact of the matter is that EVH himself never touched most of the EBMM/EVH guitars that came out of the Music Man production line. These Charvels are actually coming out of the hands of the man.

All I am saying, is give EVH a chance.

Fender does own Carvel and Jackson too. All you have to do to confrim that is go to the Fender website, the links are there to prove it....that inda made me sad when it happened a few years back.

As far as these Charvels go...It's totally fair to call it a novelty item. Basis for that would be the fact that it's a dead rip stylistically of something he created 25 years ago, plus the cost to obtain it will be high as well. I mean personally I wouldn't play a striped axe because Ed did, that's his thing. Also the whole available based on Ed's schedule thing is disconcerting....say you want one of these but he won't put the bottle down long enough to stripe it for you. Not to mention that I still think this whole reunion tour is a cash cow as is anything associated with it, like these charvels. We need to face the facts here...Ed needs cash bad.

 

[nobozos]

After reviewing my previous post, I realize that I may have come off a little harsh toward you guys, so let me say that that was not intentional.

I would also like to say that I respect all you guys right to your opinion, and that any post that I put up in no way is an attempt to put anybody down. I may occasionally disagree with some of you, but it doesn't mean that I am trying to slam anyone.

That being said, I have to respectfully disagree with you OrangeChannel.

I'm not sure what is behind the move to Charvel. It seems to me that since he currently has a Signature Series guitar with Peavey, that he would have first offered his stripe jobs to the Peavey Custom Shop.

Please understand that there a lot of EVH fans on this board, myself included, that don't appreciate the slams toward EVH. I don't know the guy, so I don't know if he is drinking more, or less, or whatever. I will say that if I had a bout with cancer, got divorced, and watched my last album tank, I may have a couple drinks myself.

If Ed needs money, what the hell else is he supposed to do? He is a guitar player. That is all he has done his adult life. If he needs money, he makes music and goes on tour. Is he supposed to look at his bank account, realize he needs money, and go get a job a Taco Bell?

I personally think that all the stuff he is doing right now is great for all the Van Halen fans that have been with the band from the beginning, including this Charvel deal. Yeah, the guitars are going to be expensive, but at least they're out there to buy. He doesn't have to take time out to stripe guitars himself. He could have commissioned an artist to do it for him, and made exact replicas of his previous stuff.

I tend to think that this whole thing, the guitars, the tour, everything is something that Eddie is doing to give the fans what they have wanted.
The reason, well, sadly is that I think maybe he knows something about his health that we are not all privelaged to. I think it's possible that he wants to give back to his fans before it's too late. I think the man deserves our respect for that.

 

[dan ratcliffe]

did you guys check out the build gallery?

I thought the wallpaper in my house was bad!!!

the thing is though, if you've heard the bootlegs, he's playing that guitar on Humans Being and while its cool he's doing the stripes thing again, I think the guitar doesn't sound that good....

having said that though, if i had the cash, i'd go buy one.

 

[PRSPlayer]

Yeah, I too am a little surprised that Peavey wasn't the first to get Eddies blessing on a striped model. I thought that, back in the day, it was Wayne Charvel who started putting out the striped model without Eddies consent (?). I've read articles where Eddie says he threatened to sue Charvel if they didn't stop making these guitars (?)

And yeah ... I don't think Eddie would be taping his own guitars (a limited run at that) in an effort to make money. Yeah, I'm sure he will ... but if that were the purpose, mass production would be alot more profitable.

And whether Eddie stripes them himself or not ... I really don't care for them.
I guess I'm just used to seeing the old paint scheme all these years. I dunno ...

 

[PRSPlayer]

On a positive note ... I LOVE those necks!

Oh yeah .. any word on what pickups are being used?

 

[OrangeChannel]

Nobozos....I respectfully agree with your right to disagree....I thought, hmmm maybe firing off two words with no backing wasn't the best thing to do. In truth I was never the hugest fan of EVH, tho I can't help but admit I've been influenced by him in various ways. Maybe you're right about the health problems....and it could be he wanted to make amends with everyone that he sorta turned his back on....I just find it odd that with all the threats of lawsuit that suddenly he's doing his own thing with the stripes thru Ebay nontheless, and not with a PV piece. Kinda Odd. Really odd. Notice the EVH logo is the same one PV uses too. Let's hope for everyones sake that this isn't the end for him and he'll be kickin' it into the future....Lastly I didn't mean to offend any of the diehards on the board....just mho. Thanks guys.

 

[NorM]

An unoffical source told me that for this tour Ed is blacking out the logo on all his guitars and amps. Also that his information was first hand. That's a cool rumor eh? Anyone here seen one of the shows yet?

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Just been looking at pictures of the VH tour on Sammy Hagar's website and the Peavey logo is visible clearly on the Wolfgang he is using.

http://www.redrocker.com/2004vhtour/061904/061904_pics3.html

 

[PurpleSport]

Definitely looks like a one-off kinda thing to me, so I wouldn't get too worried about these getting mass produced and cutting into his Wolfgang action. I've seen pics of him using some striped Wolfs in the past, plus, I seem to recall hearing they opened up a whole new facility to meet the demand for the axe when it came out, and I'm sure this and EVH's litigious nature over his alleged "trademarks" were all taken into account by both sides when the contracts were drawn up. Hartley Peavey does not strike me as a guy who'd take something like that lying down, and his company is huge enough to probably even be able to sue EVH into the next dimension...

Seems like a promotion geared more towards hardcore fans and guitar collectors, the latter being the ones who'll probably be the ones who snap up the bulk of them. If I was gonna spring for one of these (no thanks, unless maybe at the very least he actually used it for a bit on a tour), I personally wouldn't have a problem with them all being unique, as it would make 'em truly one-of-a-kind items done by the man himself. I wonder how much of the painting he actually does, or if he just tapes 'em up and lets the factory do the rest? Hmmm....

As for the names on the amps being covered up, aside from when the 5150 first came out, I think that's probably been the case for years to make for a slicker stage look - I've seen lots of bands do this, even over the almighty Marshall logo. However, on the last tour he did have the P-word on his cabs written in Sanskrit, which was simultaneously puzzling and quite cool at the same time to me.

What will be interesting to see is if Ed's become altrustic at all since his cancer treatment and donates any proceeds of the sale of one or more of these fiddles to charity like Vai does, or if he just pockets the dosh and slinks away to buy his own golf course...

Lastly - and I can't believe I'm saying this, 'cause I'm not exactly the most stylin' kinda guy - that wallpaper is indeed a horror show (lions? tigers? bears? ostriches? there's a whole Mongolian game reserve up there!), esp. with that gothic dinner table set and wrought iron lamp! Obviously he doesn't spend too much time in the dining room entertaining guests - somebody set that boy up with a Queer Eye for The Straight Guy makeover!

 

[SGMan88]

I really want to see the price tag on these custom axes!

 

[Shnook]

An unoffical source told me that for this tour Ed is blacking out the logo on all his guitars and amps. Also that his information was first hand. That's a cool rumor eh? Anyone here seen one of the shows yet?

That's completely not true. Or at least it wasn't when I saw them play last month. I clearly saw Peavey on the the headstock of EVH's Wolfgang, and the Peavey logo was on the corner of the amp cabinets.

As for why Ed had Charvel do stripes and not Peavey, maybe it's because this is a 25 year anniversary deal and Ed certainly wasn't playing Peavey guitars back then.

I'm gonna try not to comment on all of this until I see a price tag for one of these guitars. I imagine they'll be priced way out of the VH guitar fans price range, and geared more toward well off collectors. Ultimately, a guitar like this without EVH slapping some tape on them shouldn't cost more than $1600 or so.

 

[hendmik]

I just remember, interview after interview, Ed being pissed that so many "kids"copied his guitars. Then he does stuff like this. I don't get it. Don't get me wrong, I don't fault him for trying to make some money on the design he ownes, but he seems to want it both ways. Don't copy him, but buy the copies he makes.

 

[nobozos]

The first EVH Art series guitar is on Ebay, bidding starts at $5150.