Details of Eddie Van Halen’s New Guitar Line on Tap From Guitar World

Eddie Van Halen takes his guitars seriously – very seriously. And if his description of his latest line of guitars is any indication, it’s going to be one fine axe.

Van Halen says the new EVH Wolfgang guitar from Fender is “a culmination of my 35 years of experimenting with guitars. Everything that I’ve destroyed, stumbled onto, learned and experienced in my journey to get to where we are now is in this guitar. And there is a lot more to come.”

The new guitar is expected to show up in stores sometime early next year, and although no price has yet been mentioned, it is probably safe to assume that it will be a bit beyond the reach of the average garage band guitarist. After all, Van Halen describes the new instrument with such statements as “The tolerance of things on this guitar is like NASA standards. It had to be tight, and it had to be quality. Le Mans is probably the most important race on the planet. It’s 24 hours—a grueling, brutal race. There’s a reason why an Audi R8 won that race three years in a row [2000–2002]. Those guys did what we did with this guitar. They paid attention to every damn detail. You can’t say, ‘Oh, that will do.’ No, it won’t do.”

The EVH Wolfgang looks nothing like the striped “Frankenstein” we are so accustomed to seeing slung across the veteran axe man’s shoulder. It has a much more refined appearance and is suggestive of how the offspring of a Gibson Les Paul and Fender Stratocaster might look if they managed to reproduce.

When asked about the possibility of new music coming in the future, Van Halen said that more will be coming, although he was not specific. His concerns right now seem to be centered around his son Wolfgang who is finishing up his last year of high school, as well as his upcoming marriage in June. “We’ll pick it up after that,” he said.

The complete interview appears in the February issue of Guitar World, on sale December 16. An exclusive video documentary featuring Eddie Van Halen on the making of the EVH Wolfgang guitar will appear on the CD-ROM that accompanies each issue. Collectors will be able to choose from four different Eddie Van Halen covers of the February issue.

For more, check out Guitar World.