Meet Eddie at a music shop one day he said hey you play pretty good want to came back to my place and jam ,I said ya ok ,went to 5150 studio and jammed for hour's and then Sammy showed up with a case of beer and Valerie made us some sandwiches, and I don't remember what happened next because my alarm went off a woke me up?
Yes, Eddie is on the reeeally short list of change-the-game guitar players. It's not even my thing, really, but you know it when you see it. He completely invented an entire generation of hard rock players. But most of them (with exceptions) sound like they're stringing together their book of stunts. Van Halen never sounds like that. It sounds real when he does his thing, because it is *his* thing -- he is the original. And those don't come along every day.
Also, us metal/hard rock guys sometimes don't remember quite so accurately the popularity factor of evh. People who didn't dig our genre of music aka damn near everyone alive in 78, dug what eddie did. He made it cool to be heavy again. Hard rock was dead in 78. Everything was punk or disco in the us back then in 78. All the big bands of the late 60's early 70's had petered out and died. Only other players and metal guys dig rhodes malmsteen and the other shredders of that time. Everyone dug evh
It's a piece of music history and guitar design history. Eddie Van Halen's impact on guitar playing will never be matched, and is still felt to this day imo.
Amazing. It's like a less famous brother or cousin that has similar qualities to their 'superstar' sibling, this guitar has all the qualities of eddie's frankenstein, the 1984 and 5150. All built with the same philosophy and blue print, and eddies' best thinking at the time. And my god! It sounds fucking amazing. Big surprise to see this round little guy whip out so pretty impressive VH style licks and tricks!! Is it just me, or did this guy come as close to anyone on youtube getting the Van Halen 1 guitar tone?
RIP Eddie - this interview nailed it as the line ran from Jimi to Eddie, we will see who comes along next to move electric guitar forward once again. Cool look at one of EVH's actual touring guitars.
Love the back of headstock, red V scarf paint that bleeds into top of neck is the most unique and awesome feature of guitar. That little feature just screams USA Kramer!!!
A Kramer replica of Ed's Frankenstein guitar . Ive read a story or two of Ed spending a day at a Kramer factory to personally make/paint quite a few 5150 guitars .
See the six screws on the neck plate? That's a Paul Unkert build right there, 100%. We've researched a ton of these backups on Vintage Kramer, this one is legit, in terms of it being built by Paul and "maybe" being a backup. As far as Eddie ever playing it, eh, chances are no.
Absolutely an Unkert build. Ed did use these guitars on the Diver Down tour. There are vids floating around. Even if it was just for an encore. Who cares? Still very cool though
Agreed. He states Ed had it as a tour guitar for years. More like months or weeks. This would've been a backup for the Diver Down tour and given to Vitas in 82 as they didn't play MSG in 83. He played a completely different guitar for the South America tour in 83, played the Frankie for the Us Fest and 1984 album then the 5150 from there. There are loads of these guitars out there and nothing special about them other than Unk probably making it. There's zero wear on this one.
I don't think anyone will change music and bring attention to the guitar like Edward Van Halen did I seen every tour. Precious memories I will never forget
Great vid and rippin guitar player. That thing sounds sweet. i remember in 78...yep it was all Kiss all the time until the 1st VH record. Eruption was and is mind blowing. 42 years later and I still can't play it like Eddy but I'll keep trying.
It's amazing how a guy took some parts (with the original guitar) threw em together, to suit him and no one else. Grabbed some spray cans and put a crappy paint job on it, and made musical history! He didn't need a custom made guitar or a high dollar factory guitar either! Goes to show, you don't really need what you think you need!👍😎🎸🎶
If anything what really does matter is the neck, Kramer necks, especially from the 80s just feel great. The neck is the thing you’re actually playing, a shitty neck makes a shitty guitar.
I had an opportunity to hold his guitar one time, the thing that you first notice is how light it is! I remember thinking it felt like balsa wood or something! Super light!! (i think its alder) it was an honor to handle it!
I got to play his striped Wolfgang in Tokyo in '98. The thing that stuck out the most to me was how low the action was. Unbelievable that he doesn't get any fret buzz.
Form following function. Classic problem solving. I heard Eddie say once, "You don't write songs, you discover them", which shows he understands the true nature of reality. Smart guy.
Thank you Tommy, I enjoyed that a lot. I was a junior in HS in 78 and remember where I was when I heard the first VH album on cassette. Great memories. I hope to play as well as you one day (ha! I'm just starting at 59). Thanks again...8 yrs later.
I heard that Eddie's original motivation for the guitar was to get a les Paul sound on a strat type guitar. He gets such a hot sound where things like pinch harmonics just scream. And the strat design provides a good setup for technical playing. That sort of what I'm looking for in my next guitar.
yeah, gibson had dual humbuckers, a fatter sound. And fender stye guitars have Single-coils, just have a Thin sound and squeal too much. And he wanted a floating Trem system like on a metal guitar. So just combined it all on a fender knock-off body and added a kramer neck, lol.
Sorry but Edward NEVER!! used floating tremolos!....he HATED them!....hence why every guitar he has made or contracted to make as a signature model all had Floyd s that rested flat on the guitars surface!!...He hated battling with a floating term to stay in tune....😁
In 1989 I saw a comercial for Kramer Guitars, with Eddie Van Halen sitting at a bonfire, playing an orange Kramer Sustainer. I loved the look of the guitar, it looked really cool, so I went out and bought one. 32 years later, I still have, and love that guitar, it was the guitar I learned to play on, and it`s one of the best guitars I have ever played, and I`ve tried them all. The sustainer is absolutely brilliant, and is the perfect " Metal Guitar ". The built in sustainer, simply adds another dimension to your playing. I highly recommend it, and if you want to get one, het The American model, and not The Korean.......you won`t regret it.
The more plausible story (as told by one of the old Kramer employees) was that Kramer was asked (possibly by Eddie) to make a couple guitars for his friends, who happened to be John McEnroe and Vitas Gerulaitis. This was around 1983. McEnroe's was pretty cool, Pacer Imperial done in a camo finish with a reverse headstock. The story was that they started making the guitar, until some inquired, "Isn't McEnroe a lefty?" Thus they used a right handed neck upside-down, long before any Kamikaze guitar. The infamous "Frankie Ad" guitar was the guitar that Ed made at the Kramer factory. The neck was by accident - Paul Unkert made a copy Destroyer guitar, probably not realizing Ed didn't really like the guitar after he hacked it up, and at the time Ed didn't like shiny guitars. So after they finished the body - which was actually a maple Walker Pacer body - Eddie thought it would be cool to slap the neck from the Destroyer copy. Thus the Kramer "Frankie Ad" guitar was born. I'm pretty sure that neck was then eventually transferred to the HFT guitar as the stripe pattern looks identical.
Wow! What a thrill to see this-I didn't know the Vitus story at all- I remember these Kramers though. That ad back in '83 where Ed says "the finest guitar you can buy today" he is holding one of these-this actual one? I don't know-but yeah-you get the idea. Thanks for posting.
I don't remember Ed straightening the pickup in the Kramers... but the 6 bolt with rubber gasket gives it away as a pre 84 build. probably a spare Ed wasn't too high on..
I was into Deep Purple, Zeppelin, ACDC and all those bands when I heard my first Van Halen song. It was Mean Street. I couldn't figure out what was going on with that intro and was hooked big time. The guitar work on Women/Children First is his best, IMHO and Diver Down a close second. Just listen to Fools and try and dispute that claim!
DD holds a special place in my heart. The album that for me into VH and that album works. Works well. Tons of nuggets on it. I have it second to FW then VH1.
How interesting! I too was a Kiss fan and then during High School "Running with the Devil" came out. Eddie was my favorite after guitarist after that. Thanks for the great history on this guitar.
Thats a really cool historic piece of history, thanks for showing it off. But for me (OK, I'm predjudiced...) his original Frankenstrat had a '62 PAF in the bridge, though technically those were the first of the "early patents." To me that guitar has never been equalled because of that pickup, it was super bright, yet not shrill, if you go find EVH videos of him playing "Eruption" and you notice the bridge pickup is double black and you look close and see how warped the bobbins are, that was his PAF from his 335 '62 that he ripped the pickup from. The bobbins are warped because Eddie potted it way too hot and the bobbins partially melted. I don't know who has that guitar now. Eddie was a real tinkerer kinda guy, and all you guys who say he had no enfluence, well every guitarist doesn't exist on his own. Even Charlie Christian who gave us just about every rock lick you know, didn't come from a vacuum, he had his enfluences but he learned from them and made his own statement. If you want to get technical, finger tapping was invented by Harry DeArmond way way back in the 40's. Eddie is a true guitar god and stands on his own, his idols were Hendrix and Clapton. Bless the man, he is an example of stepping out of the box, playing his own soul power and not copying anyone but himself...
For all the people commenting about others being more influential than eddie are idiots. Randy Rhodes, Dimebag, Malmsteen and all the rest are great players I love them but evh started it all for those guys. What you have to realize about evh was the technology advances he made and made popular that we use everytime we play. No one used a floyd rose before eddie. No one dipped pickups to eliminate buzz before evh, hell no one ever thought of throwing a humbucker in a strat before evh too.
Dimebag maybe, but Randy was completely different from Eddie and he was around right when Eddie got famous too.. so no, Eddie started nothing for Randy.
Van halens first record came out 3 years before rhodes and ozzy released their first album. As far as listeners are concerned without evh in 81 no one would have given a damn about hard rock/metal bands by 81 w/o evh in 78...
Really, because everyone gave a shit about Black Sabbath before EVH was a thing, so all of the Sabbath fans (which were tons, Sabbath was a huge band) were looking forward to Ozzys solo release.
Is that why ozzy couldn't get a record deal and no one wanted him? Is that why the last 2 or 3 Sabbath albums didn't sell for shit? As far as die hards go, yea a few may have given a shit but overall no. Metal/hard rock of the early 70's died. Evh made hard rock commercially viable again. I'm sorry, that's not opinion those are the numbers.
Thomas R. Bowen No one wanted him? His album was a massive hit, and it was heavy metal, not hard rock, heavy metal was extremely viable in the late 70's, early 80's.
This guitar IS THE REAL DEAL. It's not a fake, it's not a copy, it's THE REAL DEAL. This guitar was made at the Kramer factory by a Paul Unkert, who as the artist relations luthier for Kramer guitars in the early 1980's. There was about 6 guitars that were made for Eddie. There was also another guitar made by Unk that was in the Kramer ads when Eddie first joined Kramer, then there was another one made that was used in the Hot For Teacher video. The second generation of Eddie's Kramers were made by Billy Connolly (who has since passed away). Eddie's famous 5150 Kramer was built by Billy and painted by George who worked at the paint booth. I could go on and on about Eddie's Kramers but I don't feel like typing it out. But that guitar Tommy has is definitely legit.
Tommy is a GREAT guy and a pleasure to buy from....a real class act. His staff is equally professional and knowledgeable. I have been going into guitar shops, around the world, for over 30 years and The Music Zoo is in my Top 5. What a store....
awesome...I love the "Kramer" years & it'd be cool to play that guitar just once. I bought a shop standard one when I was like 18-19. they didn't have a red one on the rack so I got the next best thing, a black one, got some yellow gaffer tape & joined a band. some of the best times of my life with that guitar...thanks for the post
Wow - that’s awesome! I wanted to play the drums when I was 12 yo (because of Neil Peart), but EVH made me want to play the guitar. I got my first guitar In 1984 and quickly learned that it was going to take me a long time to get to where I wanted to be and that I could never play like him. Years went by and my taste for VH vanished as I learned about tons of other music and guitarists. But these days I would love to own a Kramer - they have an interesting business history. My first electric was a MIJ SSH Fender strat with a locking Kahler tremolo and Seymour D live wires - a great reflection of the guitars of that era. I still play it, even with all of the quirks it’s got through a lifetime of use.
Agree. Eddie Van Halen has made his place in rock history right at the top alongside other guitar greats who changed youth and pop rock and western culture. He really did have a massive impact that can't be overstated. If he was a British subject he would've been Knighted to become Sir Edward Van Halen, Knight of the realm.
I love this. I Frankenstein all the guitars I know are keepers. Not for live, but to have one to pick up for a certain genre. So many people worry about tiny scratches or dings. If they ever got close to a touring guitar they'd see how beat up they are.
You LUCKY @$$!! I'd get an adrenaline rush just touching it!!! If I had this, it would probably heal my handicap, beings Eddie is a guitar God!! The Eruption would be massive!!
2:50 is the best . . . shows back on headstock with red triangle scarf that bleeds into skunk stripe on neck. Now THIS was a Kramer!! Built in USA, Cannot wrap my mind around Gibson not producing a USA banana headstock USA Baretta??!!!
Wow! What a treasure and amazing story. I'm glad it wounded up in your hands instead of some random collector who never played it. Just Knowing that Eddie's DNA is on this Guitar must feel amazing.
That is a great video and great story telling video. I hope they make a movie about Eddie one day, or about the band, but focus on Eddie and his part in it. I hope they spend like 300 Million budget and do it Right!!!
If it was 82 or 83, this was probably the "replica" that was made to look like his Frankenstrat, made from a Kramer body, etc. It probably was pretty new and he probably wasn't touring with it for "years". His prototypes were made around then.
@@cherbutler85 Yeah, he had a bunch of Kramers that he toured with after he retired the Frankenstein but it still was likely the 84 tour or later. Not 82 or 83. He was still using his OG Frankenstein on the 83 tour.
I like that headstock shape better than the standard strat shape. Vitas seemed to be the kinda guy who liked to party. I suspect that he and Ed and John hung out and became party friends. Thanks for sharing!
Myself and Jackie wired the one for the Hard Rock Cafe in NY dedication. I'm sure any of you who worked there will remember the day. That includes you George.
Amazing! Thanks for sharing. How low is the action out of curiosity? Like a feeler/sparkplug gauge under string at 1st, 12th, and 22nd fret. Love Eddie but never touched one of his guitars.
Sicko chops! That pickup sounds warm- like all his Kramers- I'd be curious if you ever can identify it; if its a 59 or customcustom or what... What can be ascertained about the magnet, wire coil type/ gauge, DC reading... Thanks for sharing!
There was a 10yr gap between Hendrix and EVH, two guys who reinvented the way rock guitar was played. Nearly 40yrs later, and that new player has yet to emerge.
Fully agree with everything you said ! I was a quasi guitar player At that time as well and it was like I was proud of my bicycle and he came roaring in - with a jet fighter ! Or I had my slingshot And he has a turbo flame thrower !
I should try that extra bolt trick on the plate holding the neck to the body on my guitar when I get the chance. I recently bought a Kramer Pacer as a project guitar, and I wanna make it into a workhorse.
Gene Simmons of KISS was the first Kramer player I saw in the late seventies. I remember playing a heavy ass metal neck Kramer with the forked head stock in 79.
I’ve never seen a cross between his Frankenstein and a 5150 Kramer for that matter ever seen a picture of him playing that guitar. It’s probably a relic’s fugazi.
Is the pickup a stock pickup from the Kramer 5150 factory ? Eddie went to the factory one day to personally make a bunch of 5150 guitars for an upcoming tour . I bet this was one of them
I remember Eddie saying that he wired the humbucker to the volume control and then to the Jack. Mainly because he didn't know how to wire a guitar. He said the selector switch does nothing and the single coil doesn't work. I'm pretty sure it was this guitar
Hello!. I have a Japanese Krammer Focus guitar from the 80s, but I don't have the key to its tensioner. Could anyone tell me what is the model of this key? Greetings from Brazil.
This is an awesome little piece and studying Eddie Van Halen and his ways can teach you about being an artist in any discipline: he served his own vision and made his tools work for him in an uncompromising way. Not to bad with the eruption Tommy! Next video, let's see you sit in as shortstop for the Yanks!
When Eddie got his deal with Musicman he figured that it would be a good idea to have his old Kramers overhauled by Musicman since they knew what they were doing and the guitars themselves were getting pretty busted up. His famous 5150 Kramer had suffered a headstock break but he kept the part of the headstock which was snapped off, so the headstock was repaired but the people at Musicman put a "Musicman" sticker on the headstock covering the Kramer logo. EVH wasn't impresed with that move. img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/5150rob/five_775.jpg The Headstock of Eddie's actual 5150 guitar, you can see the break and the residue where the sticker sat, note also the seventh tuner, needed to keep the guitar roadworthy with a snapped off headstock
Those springs on the floyd are not set correctly. Even Eddie used the springs straight in line not with the two out springs on an angle. They only have equal tension if they are all straight.
well..my friends their at Music Zoo..the Kramer guitar..out sold Fender and Gibson...combined...all through the 1980's...now I'm a guitarist..been playing since 1973...and I'm a former student of Burklee ...today and really the past 10. years or so..the guitars coming out of Indonesia..China..Mexico...all top professionally quality...and I would say even better crafted than the originals...all. briantly crafted...professional quality...
A friends friend used to work for Kramer,and hand deliver Eddies guitars 🎸 to Eddies door 🚪,Val would make dinner 🥘,and they’d play dollar poker all night.
I understand but that is why I did not mention the 1971 quarter. The dude said in his summary that Eddie played this guitar on tour and I am saying he NEVER played anything but the originals which he still owns. Kramer made the Baretta like the pre-5150 guitar and this is not it. I think the first different guitar he played was the Steinberger. He didn't even play that 7 knob (Pacer?) Kramer made later. I saw him in 80, 82, 84 and 86 and was a VH NUT. The Kramer was rear loaded, no front rout
if memory serves me correctly I think he eliminated the use of the neck pickup in his franken-collection, more of a fool me once type of thing, gotta love them bridge humbuckers lol, personally I'd use neck pickups; single coil or humbucker, for more of a presence boost to my sound, unlike the killer boost I receive from the bridge position either way I love Kramer and what they had brought forward for versatility
