11/19/2022 0 Comments S gear 2 van halen settings![]() ![]() Inside his guitars, Edward bypassed all tone controls and wired his pickups with only one volume control, valued at 500K Ohms. Because of the sonic characteristic changes that the Floyd Rose made, Edward opted to stick with guitars that used standard tremolo bridges in the studio and use Floyd-equipped guitars for live shows. As a result, the mahogany-bodied Boogie Stratocaster design (which was also actually thicker than a standard Stratocaster body) helped add sustain and counteract the “thinning out” that occurred with the Floyd. Edward’s complaint about the Floyd Rose design was that it would cause the tone to be a little thin and bright. His first guitar to incorporate a Floyd Rose was of course another custom Edward creation, this time featuring an all-mahogony body built by Boogie Bodies, and a Gibson PAF wired straight to the volume control. Edward also admitted to killing a few pickups in the process as the wax sometimes burned through the coil windings when left to soak for too long a period.Įdward utilized the tremolo bar quite heavily and was the early adopter of the famous Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo system. The idea was that the paraffin wax would prevent the subtle movement of the windings that caused feedback. By loading a magnet from a PAF Gibson into a DiMarzio pickup and then rewiring it by hand, Edward eventually found a suitable tone he liked and that was the final pickup used for the guitar and the Van Halen II sessions.įor future guitars, Edward would mount his pickups directly to the inside body of the instrument, his feeling being that the pickups would work as “one” with his guitars and therefore sustain would be increased.Īnother interesting Edward idea revealed in the April 1980 issue of Guitar Player was that he dipped many of his pickups in paraffin wax to reduce feedback noise. In fact, the true pickup he used was another custom Edward-creation. The pickup used for the recording sessions was not the one seen in the photograph on the Van Halen II album. On Van Halen II, a Charvel-bodied Stratocaster with its single rear humbucking pickup now rear mounted (this was Edward’s idea according to the April 1980 issue of Guitar Player) was used. The bridge on this first guitar was a standard Fender tremolo bridge from a 1958 Stratocaster (Note: other reports I found on the Internet have claimed that the guitar body itself is from various other years – 1965 shows up most often). ![]() ![]() While he admitted using all different types of pickups, Edward’s preference at the time for replacement pickups (besides Gibson PAFs often taken from ES-335s) were those made by Seymour Duncan.Įdward’s guitar used on the first Van Halen record was a 1959 Fender Stratocaster (January 1981,Guitar World) body updated with various parts. His necks were often maple “cap” necks, a two-piece design as used on late 60’s Fenders which softened the sometimes overly-bright one-piece maple necks. In addition, he also worked with Seymour Duncan on custom Seymour Duncan guitar pickups. In Guitar World’s January 1981 feature, Edward revealed that he in fact had a preference for unfinished maple necks as well as Gibson PAF pickups. Though it went through various parts including different necks (a Kramer neck was put on it around the 1984-era), Edward’s basic guitar construction formula for his recording and various stage guitars, was a simple one. ![]() Let’s look into how what he used in the early days of Van Halen.Įdward’s most famous guitar used for Van Halen’s earliest recordings was his white and black striped Stratocaster-style guitar pictured on the cover of Van Halen’s self-titled debut album. Edward’s sound from that era has been dubbed the “brown sound”. As we moved into the 80’s, it seemed everyone had become an Eddie-clone, with their custom hot-rodded guitars strat-styled guitars and Marshall 100 watt tops. In a period where rock guitar had become stagnant, Edward burst onto the scene like a fireball. Growing up listening to earlier-era Van Halen, I was awestruck by the raw, pure rock sounds that Edward produced from his guitars. Edward Van Halen’s technique, tone, and style are legendary. ![]()
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