EVH Introduces Wolfgang® Hardtail and Wolfgang Special Hardtail Guitars

Owned a Wolfgang special edition for 10+ years one volume control, 3 phase pickup switch, and a Floyd Rose Tremolo, with a D tuna and I F#@king love it. Never thought I would see the day Eddie would build a guitar without the Floyd Rose. If you wanna rock and stay in tune it is hands down the best thing on the market. Hell I can’t think of many songs he plays where he dosen’t use his tremolo. Maybe he’s gonna do some chicken pickin on the next album. God’s honest truth I don’t care if he builds and acoutic series I just wanna here the man play one of them.

A guitar with any VH association should have stripes.

I don’t feel there is any point in making this guitar, if you are going to mess with a lock nut, you might as well use the floyd. It doesn’t bend up anyways and doesn’t go out of tune, so why make this?

I have been a guitarist for 30 years. In my honest opinion, Ed should revert to what worked best….Strat style guitar, 1 piece maple neck, 1 PAF in the bridge, 1 volume pot, floyd rose and an old 100 watt super lead plexi dimed out on every knob. KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

@Tom……comparing a Wolfgang with an Epiphone is like comparing a filet mignon with a burger from. McDonald’s.

@freddiegirl: I recently bought a used Jackson Dinky for my daughter (for $130). I’m not a connoisseur (and I haven’t owned an electric guitar for 13 years), but I’m immensely pleased with it. Now if only my daughter would show more interest!

I credit Eddie with getting me to pick up the guitar…and I blame him for causing me to give it up!

Don’t think I’ll ever get my hands on a piece of hardware like the Wolfgang.

@freddiegirl, I`ve never been able to find a decent one that I can afford, but my fave all time guitar is the Shocking Pink Ibanez Jem. I think it looks great, love the little pyramid neck inlays etc. I`ve just bought a black 1987 Ibanez 540s, as a fun second guitar (which I might customise). I had a Charvel, but it was a cheap one and it really didn`t like staying in tune. I love my vintage white EVH Wolfgang, great neck and comfy/light body, but still look out for the purple Peavey Wolfgang. I had the Peavey guitar that followed the Wolfgang, in black cherry sunburst but had to sell that…damned economy. I loved my JS1000 too, that had the best floating trem I`ve used, but had to sell that too! I couldn`t sell my Wolfgang though, that would just seem like the wrong think to do, what would Ed think?

I have a question for all you “guitar experts”…why did EVH screw a quarter on his Frankenstrat? I’ve always wondered.

@ 3Hater
How do you about the Karl Sandoval polka dot Flying V (Randy Rhoads’)? I’ve always thought that guitar was sweet!

1) I own an EVH Gear Wolfgang Special. It is probably the nicest guitar I have ever played, and is definately the nicest axe I own.

2) For the people talking about why Eddie is changing woods, or not staying true to what he did before? Recognize something: tastes change. He also introduced the Stealth which has an Ebony fingerboard, something he didn’t do before. He’s EVH – he could play a cardboard box with strings and make it sound good. It’s not **JUST** the instrument, it’s the person playing it. If you don’t like it? Don’t buy it, or, design something better.

3) He is an innovator. If his ears and body tell him that a change in wood, or a fingerboard, or a design are going to work for him? Who cares what it’s made out of? Who cares why he is choosing to explore? We, the fans, are ultimately the ones who win when the new album comes out, and we also win if we are in the market to buy a new guitar.

Signature guitars are NOT for the masses. The original Wolfgang was 3 grand, which kept it out of the realm of being an “affordable” guitar. So, they changed it to a flat top body, called it the Special, and now it is available to us.

“Well, it’s nice, but I don’t really like dive bars…”

Now you have a hard tail.

“Well, it’s nice, but I can’t stand maple fingerboards.”

Now you have ebony.

“Well, it’s nice, but I want a Wolfgang version of a Les Paul.”

Now you have the USA Custom.

Because of the changes to these guitars, they become more appealing to the consumer, and thus, more money gets into Fender’s hands, and more options can be created.

Eddie has said “The Wolfgang better outlive me.” The guitar has no chance of doing that if poor sales and lack of interest (besides to those collectors who can dump 25 grand into a single guitar) cause it to be retired.

Personally, I’m all for him making as many of these things as he sees fit, and if he chooses to ever make one in Trans-Blue? I’ll be the first one in line to buy it.

In the meantime? The guy has been doing this for 35+ years, and it is BECAUSE of him screwing around, and changing things up that we respect him.

Let the guy continue tone chasing – who knows what it might lead to next? My guess is somewhere awesome, the way it always has.

My main guitar is a mahogany neck-through Strat (not Fender), Floyd-equipped, with the SD JB pickup in the bridge position. The only other stop in the signal path is the volume knob. No prizes for guessing where I got that idea. The neck is thin and flat, like an Ibanez Wizard.

Ed traditionally got his sound from hotly wound PAF-type pickups in a swamp ash body (the Frankie), plus a “sen ash” body which is similar to poplar or alder (the Ibanez on the first album). On balance, the JB and the mahogany body produce a sound that, to my ears, is similar to the more traditional PAFs in the woods that Ed used back in the day. Mahogany is a darker, rounder-sounding wood, which smooths out the shriller tendencies of the JB. I fell in love with this combo when I first tried the short-lived ESP Mustaine model.

So that’s what I use. I first fell in love with the guitar because of that Van Halen sound, which is a major factor in my gear choices. I tend to like that early/mid-80s tone the most–circa Diver Down and 1984. It’s a less distorted, more open tone that reveals the intricacies of Ed’s touch. I’m not nearly that good, but I try to emulate that quality instead of piling on the distortion to mask the flaws in my playing.

*ed note – Ed used the 1971 quarter with Floyd Rose trems also – per WikiPedia.

Musician? Song-Writer..

You know, Edward brought one guitar with him that had a volume “knob” inset within guitar-body, a disc-shape, inside a round cap, with an indentation where the finger-tip may be placed. Is that his creation? When is he going to release that?

Am I the only one who thinks the headstock on the EVH Wolfgang is just plain ugly? what were they thinking when that was designed?

@freddie…

I love the Jacksons and I’ve found them very consistent as well as Ibanez! I have some of EVH’s Peavey’s from the Special in flat purple, red EXP, yellow USA made special(Sounds awesome!) as well as a Ibanez, Les Paul, Kramer Focus 1000(first guitar ever) home made EVH musicman, Meanstreet Frankenstrat, a Vai Jem in white. I’m currently breaking in a new Kramer Pacer Classic which right out of the box is a great guitar!

I’ve found no matter what I use, I can get the sound I want or just sound likeme no matter what I use!

I heard somewhere that EVH loved Les Pauls so I’m not surprised!

I like @FreddieGirl would love to own some of ED’s gear! and yes its too expensive! D;

Good thing I was “Getting Ready” foe this. I tell Ill put my 15yr Peavey Wolfgang Against the Fender Wolfgang anyday. I played four Fender Wolf’s. They look like the PV but feel like the Music Man. They are nice but way overpriced. Used to be he wouldnt release a guitar. Unless he played it on tour 1st. Now hw just throws em out every other month. I do like the look of the one that set up like a Les Paul. The Custom I think its called. Now thats really a diffrent Wolfgang. Not rehashing the same guitar over and over.

I’m more excited about the smaller 5150iii amps and cabs.

nice geetars, but my favorite VH guitars are still a couple of beat up old kramers I had, and most importantly, the Ernie Ball models. Best guitar ever.

@F’n Rockstar, yep. No disrespect to Edward, and since I haven’t played the new EVH models, I can’t say with certainty, but when I compare the Peavey’s with the Ernie balls, the EB’s win, hands down. I see the EVH Standards are more reasonably priced, but I still prefer the EB’s. I like the body shape and I’m not a fan of the chunk missing out of the headstock on the EVH’s. All in all, I would rather scan craigslist for old kramer or whatever I can find of bits and pieces and do it in the true spirit of EVH. Do it yerself.