Story with the Axis?

[BennyD]

Whats the story with the Axis? Did EVH design this guitar for him or did Music Man design it and Eddie just kind of took it and ran with it?

 

[koogie2k]

Good question.....I would like to know myself although I believe it was a joint effort between EVH and EBMM. He only ran to Peavey.

 

[hbucker]

I had a funny "story" written for this but then my wife accidentally deleted it. It started with, "Once in a land long ago there lived a Prince named Edward..." Oh well. Here's the generic version...

EVH in about '89 went to Music Man (I'm not exactly sure what brought the two together) and worked with them to design his first truly signature guitar. He designed the body and I specifically remember reading an article where he said he "wanted to get away from the whole Strat thing" as far as the body was concerned.

The neck was an exact digital reproduction of the neck on his famous red and white 5150 guitar used from '84 on. It was a reproduction right down to the wear EVH had put on it through the years of touring and studio work. This guitar was in production for roughly 6 years and they produced about 1,000 of them each year.

EVH left Music Man in '95 or '96 to go to PV. At that time the Music Man EVH was discontinued but after a few months of retooling it was reissued as the Axis. Changes to the EVH that eventually made it the Axis were:
-The neck/fretboard is slightly wider at the base
-Pickup switch was moved from up by the neck pickup to down by the volume knob.
-The rear route for the pot cavity was made big enough for two pots and a switch where the route on the EVH was only big enough for one pot.
-A rear body contour was added to the Axis
-Various versions of the Axis were offered with different pickup and bridge configurations.
-They produce more than 1,000 each year now

The rest of the Axis is the same.

Why did Ed go to PV? That depends on which web board you post the question on. The official line from Ed is that he wanted to make changes to the guitar and going to PV was the only way he could have those changes made. (This is where the loyalists here will start replying with great disagreement... )

The Axis is very similar to the EVH especially since the pickups are the same. I've heard people say that Axis don't come close to what the EVH's tone was. Honestly, I've not played enough of the Axis' to make that observtion. I've played one that was great and I've played one that I thought was fairly dead.

I own an EVH and am quite happy with it. It's a great guitar.

Hope this answers some of your question.

And let's not get too carried away with the PV insults o.k....

 

[koogie2k]

Thanks for the answer....would have loved to have heard your other one though...hhehe.....no need to insult PV.

 

[BennyD]

No need to insult Peavey is right, I'm sure they uhh, make great guitars man. I think EVH went to Peavey because Peavey was willing to pay him more money for his endorsement. Just my 2 cents, don't quote me on that.

If the price of the recent Charvel EVH reissues is any indication, EVH is all about the money.

 

[VinceV]

re

Well, One of the reasons that Ed says he went with Peavey is that, EB was just unable to meet the production requirement that he wanted (total production #'s) he says that he was always getiing told, Man I want one of your guitars but the wait time is like 8 months. EB was unable or unwilling to sacrifice quality to up production. So the logical step was to go with Peavey (they already had his amps) and they were able to meet the production #'s he wanted. I have both an EVH and Wolfgangs and they are both great guitars, definite difference in the neck, and I don't think the pickups are the same at all. It's a personel opinion as to which you would like more. They are both fine instruments, but I would have to give the edge to the EB in Quality.

 

[Lew]

I have an old guitarist mag with an Interview with EVH,and he gave the same reason Vince posted.

 

[John C]

I figure I can fill in how EVH came to EBMM and verify hbucker's story, since I think I'm a bit older than most on this board (plus I have a large Guitar Player collection that my wife hasn't made me get rid of ).

EVH had a string deal with EB going back to the early/mid-80s for the "5150" string set (matched the Fender XL set of .009/.011/.015/.024/.032/.040 if I'm remembering correctly; regular .009 sets use a .016 G and .042 low E). I don't know if EVH only had a 5-year deal with Kramer or if they started missing payments to him which voided the deal (they went bankrupt right around that time), but that is when he started looking for another guitar company.

I flipped through the '91 GP story on the EVH signature, and evidently EBMM brought him a 1-pickup, Floyd equipped guitar (once the original Luke came out I have always visualized this prototype as a red striped 1-pickup Luke with a non-floating Floyd). EVH liked the quality but, as hbucker says, wanted to get away from the strat thing. EBMM hooked up EVH and Dudley Gimple, and the rest (as they say) is history.

As for how and why he left EBMM for PV, I haven't read anything to add to hbucker's or VinceV's posts.

John C.

 

[Jimi D]

There's a lot of speculation about who actually did most of the design work on the EVH/Axis - of course, Eddie claims that he pretty much designed it single-handedly, but Eddie makes a lot of claims, and his record of exaggeration and misdirection pretty much speaks for itself imho... Ernie Ball Music Man, being the class act it is, has remained silent on the issue over the years, but the bottom line is that Eddie needed a new Sig. axe and had a pre-existing relationship with Ernie Ball (as did his close friend, Steve Lukather). He and Dudley designed the guitar together, but Ernie Ball Music Man holds all the design patents, so I think that speaks pretty highly of Dudley's contribution, no matter what Eddie says in any interview... Also - despite his claims to the contrary - it's pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that the only reason he went to Peavey was for the money - Peavey gave him more $$$ per guitar sold, granted him the patent to the guitar itself (so he can actually have Charvel make Wolfgangs if he likes, come October), and promissed him huge production numbers compared to EBMM. It's a matter of record that Eddie didn't know that he couldn't take the EB/MM EVH design with him until after he had left Ernie Ball (there were lawyers involved, but the patents clearly belonged to EB/MM), and if he only left to get Peavey to produce his "redesign", he wouldn't have been so pissy about not being able to take the old design over to Peavey... my 2¢

 

[dan ratcliffe]

I have a copy of Guitarist (the UK magazine) from '95 that has a picture of Eddie sitting on a red Mini outside his studio playing an unfinished prototype Ernie Ball guitar. The headstock clearly says Axis.

I believe that a lot of the design (body shape) was Ernie Ball, and that Ed added the quilt top and the pickup selector position. It's just one of those EVH folklore things, where nobody really knows the truth. You hear allsorts about Ed's reason for leaving...

 

[dwf1004]

Danny, any chance of you scanning that pic and getting us a higher quality version than the one that vintagekramer.com has?

That...would...rule!

 

[dan ratcliffe]

Never let it be said that I'm not the man. Let me bam you guys up a rare treat!

Sorry that my scanner ain't what she used to be, but it is a little clearer than on vintageKramer.com. I'm guessing this picture was circa '93. Kinda lends credence to my own theory that Ernie Ball had developed the Axis, then gave it to EVH as his sig. guitar, but were able to keep it because it was theirs in the first place. A couple of mods later, bada bing, bada boom. I'd like to hear an official comment but then again some things are best left to the imagination. Anyways, I'd love an EVH regardless of who did what to it and my 2 Axes kick the nuts of all other guitars!!!

I'd love Ernie Ball to do a limited run of this guitar. The black hardware on the headstock rocks and I think the unfinished slab body is the sh*t!

I'll be making enquirie with a couple of mates over the next couple of days to see if they have better scanners than my old junk pile. If they do, I'll update with some better pics.

Darrell, I hope this rules enough!

 

[Jimi D]

One thing worth remembering here is that the original Albert Lee guitar was dubbed the "Axis" - this guitar was first shown at Summer NAMM 1986, and there were at least two others than the one played by Albert that were floating around prior to it going into production... Maple? 22 frets? Could this neck have been a leftover from the original development of those first ALs?

 

[hbucker]

Interesting. Thanks Dan.

Other notations: The body is an EVH style body based on locaton of the pickup switch. Also, the neck pickup is turned around like it is on a Wolfgang. I'm not real clear how this changes the tone. And it isn't unique. Several photos in mags from the early 90's show his main EBMM and other EVH's he was holding with the neck pickup turned around the same way.

I wonder what's up with that?

 

[dwf1004]

Dan, thanks for the pic....that time frame would have to be '90/'91, about the time of the guitar release, and before F.U.C.K was released (June '91).

Great job with the ;ol scanner...she may not be the greatest, but she got the job done! Thumbs up to you and 'ol Bessie!

 

[dan ratcliffe]

Question: Are the pickup casings put on to signify the direction the pickup should be pointing or is it merely random decorative effect? Without geting my two beauties out of their cases just to check the pole pieces, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head if there is uniformity to mine. I will get the magnifying glass out later.....

Jimi D, unless the original Albert Lee guitars had locking nuts, I doubt that it would be...

Was "Axis" the Ernie Ball working title for guitars, or do you think they've been trying to deliver the Axis brandname to the market as far back as the early 80s (the R & D of the Albert Lee would at least put a start date of 85, if not earlier).

Big business, eh? All them behind the scenes shenanigans. Can't be trusted, the lot of 'em!

 

[hbucker]

I copied that photo to my Photoshop program for further overanalyzation. The body appears to be one piece of wood that isn't finished. Notice the back isn't even painted black and there is no binding on it.

Looks like a production photo to show what the guitar would look like. I wouldn't even be surprised if it was a, "Before we go any further, how cool does he look holding it?" photo.

As somebody mentioned, the black hardware is interesting too.

 

[glockaxis]

That prototype looks awesome especially with the black trim motif. It would be even better if the natural body had black binding around it (instead of ivory). If they don't already, the company should make one like that w/ black tuners and binding.

 

[Jimi D]

Jimi D, unless the original Albert Lee guitars had locking nuts, I doubt that it would be...

Question: Which is more difficult - adding a locking nut to an existing neck? or building a new neck from scratch? And which route are you likely to pursue when throwing together a PoC proto?

Was "Axis" the Ernie Ball working title for guitars, or do you think they've been trying to deliver the Axis brandname to the market as far back as the early 80s (the R & D of the Albert Lee would at least put a start date of 85, if not earlier).

Axis was the name originally ascribed to the "Albert Lee" guitar, but despite being shown at summer NAMM in 1986, that "Axis" never went into production... Ten years later, when they needed a name for the post-Eddie EVH, Albert had made this original "Axis" his signature axe, so the name Axis was available, and they used it...

 

[Colin]

I forgot about this thread maybe BP or even soon DG (?) could shed some more light on this? info/proto photos? Please.

Colin