Pre-Tarrif Item at Pre-Tarrif Pricing! Open Box Unit.
On the cover of Van Halen’s 1978 eponymous debut album, Eddie Van Halen thrusts his black-and-white striped Strat®-style guitar towards the camera as if he’s showing you the future. He played this guitar on his unprecedented and mind-blowing “Eruption” guitar solo, thus its nickname, and almost immediately, this monumental instrument became a timeless icon, symbolic of a paradigm shift in guitar-driven rock and roll.
Back when this trailblazing album first appeared, nobody had ever seen or heard a guitar like that because no such guitar ever existed. What was this? You couldn’t buy one.
That’s because he made it himself. The 22-year-old Eddie Van Halen had the mind of not only a great musician, but also of an innovative inventor—a constant tinkerer who was always messing with his gear. Eddie would say it was out of necessity as no off-the-shelf guitar had the features he needed to really do his job and realize his full potential. So, he took matters into his own capable hands — refretting the neck, installing a humbucking pickup which he potted in paraffin wax, as well a single master volume knob (famously labeled as “Tone”), brass nut and tailpiece from a ’58 Strat, cutting out and mounting his own homemade black and of course, coming up with iconic striped motif.
The all-new EVH® Striped Series ’78 Eruption guitar combines many of those famed mods along with modernized features and a relic treatment.
The Stratocaster®-style body sports Eddie’s famed white-and-black-striped paint job and has been paired to a quartersawn maple neck with a hand-rubbed satin urethane back finish. The 12”-16” compound radius maple fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets was designed for fast and furious playing styles with maximum comfort, while a heel-mount truss rod wheel makes for time-saving neck adjustments.
A single EVH Wolfgang® humbucking bridge pickup provides classic Eddie Van Halen guitar tone – from crystal cleans to fat and rich mids and lows, while the brass nut and six-saddle vintage Fender® Stratocaster synchronized tremolo bridge with a 43mm brass block allow for authentic EVH tone.
Other features include a skirted white Strat-style volume control knob (labeled “tone”) with 500K EVH Bourns® low friction pot and treble bleed circuit, black pickguard, chrome hardware, oversized strap buttons, EVH neck plate and larger, ‘70s-style licensed Fender Strat headstock with gold EVH logo.
SPECIFICATIONS
Neck
- HEADSTOCK Large ’70s-Style Licensed Fender® Strat®
- NECK MATERIAL Quartersawn Maple
- NECK FINISH Hand-Rubbed Satin Urethane
- NECK SHAPE EVH® Modified “C” Backshape
- NECK CONSTRUCTION Bolt-On with Graphite Reinforcement
- NECK THICKNESS .790″ at 3rd Fret & .810″ at 12th Fret
- FINGERBOARD RADIUS 12″-16″ Compound Radius (304.8 mm to 406.4 mm)
- FINGERBOARD MATERIAL Maple
- POSITION INLAYS Black Dot
- SIDE DOTS Black
- NUMBER OF FRETS 22
- TRUSS ROD NUT Heel-Mount Truss Rod Adjustment Wheel
- STRING NUT Brass
- NUT WIDTH 1.6875″ (42.86 mm)
- NUT MATERIAL Brass
Body
- BODY Basswood
- BODY FINISH Lacquer
- BODY SHAPE Other
- BODY MATERIAL Basswood
Hardware
- BRIDGE 6-Saddle Vintage-Style Fender® Strat® Synchronized Tremolo with 43mm Brass Block
- TREMOLO BLOCK Brass
- PICKGUARD 1-Ply Black
- PICKUP COVERS Black
- CONTROL KNOBS White Stratocaster®-Style Skirt (Labeled “Tone”)
- HARDWARE FINISH Reliced Chrome
- TUNING MACHINES EVH®-Branded Gotoh®
- STRING TREES Single Wing with Tall Metal Spacer
- STRINGS EVH® Nickel Plated Steel (.009-.042 Gauges)
- TREMOLO ARM Vintage-Style Tremolo Arm
- NECK PLATE 4-Bolt Standard
- STRAP BUTTONS Oversized
Electronics
- BRIDGE PICKUP EVH® Wolfgang® Humbucking
- PICKUP CONFIGURATION H
- CONTROLS Volume (500K EVH® Bourns® Low Friction Pot) with Treble Bleed Circuit
- SWITCHING None
