Guitars Eddie Van Halen's first guitar, purchased as a child from
Sears and Roebuck, was a
Teisco Del Rey. He played the guitar in his elementary school band, The Broken Combs. He later bought and briefly used a
Gibson ES-335, also because of its association with Clapton, though he damaged the body while modifying it and it later became cannibalized for parts on numerous other home-build guitar projects. He also owned an
Ibanez Destroyer that was used extensively on the debut
Van Halen album. Originally used in its natural wood finish, he later painted it white and made several modifications to the electronics. After recording the album, he used a chainsaw to drastically modify the body shape, cutting a deep V into the bottom of the guitar, and painting it in a similar way to his later, more famous,
Frankenstrat. Inset into the V he hand-carved teeth and set two eyehooks and chains; the new distinctive shape led to it being nicknamed "The Shark". He only played it for a short time in this state, however, as the modifications changed the tone of the guitar in an unsatisfactory way; he did retain the guitar for the rest of his life. The final state of the Shark can be seen on the cover of
Women and Children First, where he posed with the guitar.
Frankenstein Van Halen is most associated with a custom guitar he built from parts, commonly referred to as the
Frankenstrat or
Frankenstein. According to Eddie's son
Wolfgang, Eddie did not have a name for the guitar, but the case said "Frankenstein", which he considers official. Originally pictured on his band's
self-titled debut album, the maple neck cost $80, while the ash body was bought for $50 as the wood had a knot in it. The tremolo bridge was originally taken from a 1958
Fender Stratocaster and was later replaced with a
Floyd Rose tremolo. He frequently replaced the neck on the guitar, going through a number of different ones through the years, and the pickup configuration was also frequently changed. In its most commonly used configuration, the guitar had a single functional pickup, a
Gibson PAF bridge pickup from his ES-335, which he
potted with paraffin wax to prevent feedback. The middle pickup was removed and in its place, he had stuffed a non-functional selector switch and random wires, while the neck pickup slot was replaced with a red single-coil pickup that was also non-functional. The original selector switches and tone knobs were removed, and the volume knob was replaced with a knob labeled "TONE". The Frankenstein, as shown on the cover of
Van Halen I, was originally painted white with black stripes, but was recoated with
Schwinn red bicycle paint in 1979. In 1982, Van Halen made his first guitar endorsement by launching the Baretta model with
Kramer. This partnership lasted a decade. In the mid-1980s, he purchased a
Steinberger GL2T guitar. Its distinctive switch-operated vibrato system can be heard on the
5150 album. From 1991 to 1995, Van Halen worked with Ernie Ball / Music Man, developing the Music Man EVH model guitar, which was later renamed the Axis after the partnership ended. In 1996, Van Halen teamed up with
Peavey, where they developed the
Peavey EVH Wolfgang; this relationship lasted until 2004, when Van Halen joined forces with
Fender, initially releasing the Edward-endorsed Art Series guitars under Fender's Charvel brand and later developing the EVH brand. In 2006, Fender created the "Frank 2", a near-perfect production replica of the original Frankenstrat; Van Halen later claimed that when presented the two guitars in a blind comparison, he had some trouble picking out the original home-made guitar from Fender's production replica. For Van Halen's 2012 tour, and early 2015 television appearances, he used a Wolfgang USA guitar with a black finish and ebony fretboard. For the 2015 tour, he used a white Wolfgang USA guitar designed by Chip Ellis, featuring a custom
kill switch.
Settings Van Halen's first string endorsement deal happened around 1989 when Ernie Ball launched the 5150 EVH line of guitar strings. The gauge of the strings differed slightly from typical electric guitar strings at the time, which were 9, 11, 16, 24, 32 and 42 (in thousandths of an inch) - the EVH Ernie Ball strings measured 9, 11, 15, 24, 32 and 40. After this endorsement deal ended, guitar strings became part of the Fender EVH line and are now sold as EVH Premium Strings. Van Halen used a variety of
pickups, including 1970s Mighty Mites, which were made by
Seymour Duncan and were copies of
DiMarzio Super Distortion pickups. He also used
Gibson PAFs, one of which was rewound by Seymour Duncan in 1978. In an interview with
Guitar World in 1985, Van Halen stated that his guitar sound style which he called "brown sound" is "...basically a tone, a feeling that I'm always working at ... It comes from the person. If the person doesn't even know what that type of tone I'm talking about is, they can't really work towards it, can they?" In an interview with
Billboard magazine in June 2015, he stated that with the expression "brown sound" he actually tried to describe the sound of his brother Alex's
snare drum, which he thought "...sounds like he's beating on a log. It's very organic. So it wasn't my brown sound. It was Alex's." In 2007, the first EVH branded amplifiers were produced by Fender, followed shortly after by a limited-edition "
Frankenstrat" inspired guitar. In 2009, they continued to press forward on the guitar front by releasing the Wolfgang-inspired EVH guitar line. The brand has since expanded to include additional guitars and accessories. Van Halen was awarded three patents related to guitars: a folding prop to support a guitar in a flat position, a tension-adjusting
tailpiece, and an ornamental design for a
headstock.
Keyboards The first recorded keyboard work by Van Halen is "
And the Cradle Will Rock...", written and performed on a
Wurlitzer electric piano through a
Marshall amp. The riff for "Dancing in the Street" (on
Diver Down) was written and performed on
Minimoog. "
Jump" and "
I'll Wait" were written and performed on an
Oberheim OB-Xa, while "
Dreams", "
Why Can't This Be Love" and "
Love Walks In" are with
Oberheim OB-8. Eddie also wrote "
When It's Love" and "
Right Now" on keyboards. During the 5150 and OU812 tours, Eddie Van Halen would play keyboard parts live while Sammy Hagar played the guitar. From the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge tour, Van Halen played guitar throughout the concerts, while the keyboards were played backstage by touring keyboardist
Alan Fitzgerald up through 2012. ==Style and influence==