Peavey EVH Wolfgang

The Peavey EVH Wolfgang guitar series is the result of the collaboration between guitarist Edward Van Halen and Hartley Peavey's company, Peavey Electronics.

Peavey included the following endorsement in their advertising: "For as long as I've been playing guitar, I've always been searching for a certain feel and tone...I've experimented by tearing apart and reassembling hundreds of guitars in different ways searching for these qualities. Although I've ruined a lot of great guitars by having done this, I have learned what it takes to make a truly great guitar. The Wolfgang, after years of trial and error, (for me) is that guitar. Our collective efforts in designing the Wolfgang guitar have resulted in a versatile, quality-crafted guitar that feels great, sounds great and is truly inspiring to play. I've already put mine to the test in the studio and on tour and now it's your turn."^[1]

The EVH stands for "Edward Van Halen" while Wolfgang is the name of Edward Van Halen's son (born in 1991).

History

Since the late 1970s, when Van Halen regularly performed on the Pasadena club scene, and with the release of Van Halen's self-titled debut album, Edward Van Halen's guitar tone—nicknamed the "Brown Sound" for being full yet distinctively aggressive and articulate—had been widely acclaimed. It immediately set a standard for guitarists all over the world.

To achieve the legendary "Brown Sound", Edward Van Halen employed a variac to limit the voltage of his Marshall guitar amplifier while still allowing the volume to be at its maximum. He also used a custom-assembled strat-like guitar with a PAF humbucker (taken from a Gibson ES-335) mounted directly to the guitar's body. Van Halen's infamous Frankenstein (a.k.a. the "Frankenstrat") guitar laid the groundwork for most of the custom guitars he played throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Prior to working with Peavey, Van Halen had worked with and endorsed Charvel, Kramer and Ernie Ball Music Man.

Production of the Peavey EVH Wolfgang began in late 1996 (after a year-long development process) and lasted until 2004, when Edward Van Halen and Peavey parted amicably.^[2] Production of the Wolfgang guitar (along with other Peavey models) occurred in a dedicated Leakesville, MS plant but was moved to Meridian, MS in early 2003. Van Halen had also developed three amplifiers with Peavey, starting in 1991.

In 2009, Edward Van Halen announced the release of a new Wolfgang guitar built by Fender but only carrying his own "EVH" brand label. The newer Wolfgang retains many of exactly the same attributes as its Peavey-built predecessor.

Models

In some senses the Peavey EVH Wolfgang guitar picked up where the Ernie Ball Music Man EVH model left off. The body was made of basswood and often had (like its predecessor) a maple cap. This combination is considered by some, such as renowned luthier John Suhr, "the Holy Grail of tone."^[3] The Ernie Ball model, however, used a 1/8" figured maple cap, which is itself less likely to change the overall effect of the tonewood. Peavey Wolfgangs had maple caps ranging from 1/4" to 5/8".

Many Peavey Wolfgang owners have incorrectly adopted the terms "Standard" and "Deluxe" and applied them to their guitars. Though common, these terms were never officially used by Peavey. Wolfgang owners were simply seeking a way to distinguish between arch top and flat top model Wolfgangs and maple cap and solid basswood model Wolfgangs. The word "Deluxe" was used by Peavey, but only to describe Custom Shop models.

Edward Van Halen playing a sunburst first year quilt top model in 2004.

Peavey EVH Wolfgang

The original and top-of-the-line model. Made in the USA. It featured an arched (carved) top, body binding, two knobs (volume and tone), three-way pickup toggle switch, two Peavey/EVH-designed humbucker pickups, oil-finished bird's eye maple neck and fingerboard with dual graphite reinforcement rods, ten-degree tilt headstock, and Schaller mini M6 tuners (with either pearloid or ivory colored buttons). Two base versions were offered: a solid basswood model and a solid basswood/maple cap model. (The maple cap was 5/8" before carving.) Each version could come with either a licensed Floyd Rose tremolo with D-Tuna (d-tuner device) or a tune-o-matic bridge and hard tail piece. Solid basswood Wolfgangs were offered in gloss ivory and gloss black; solid basswood/maple cap Wolfgangs were offered in various transparent figured maple finishes (sunburst, amber, red, purple, blue, green, cherryburst, and black cherryburst) as well as vintage gold and seafoam green. Very occasionally a rejected maple top was painted either gloss black or gloss ivory.

Peavey EVH Wolfgang Special

Peavey and Edward Van Halen's attempt to make a "budget" version of the Wolfgang that didn't compromise quality in parts or craftsmanship. Made in the USA, and first offered in 1998. It featured a flat top, masked "faux" binding, one knob (volume), three-way pickup toggle switch, two Peavey/EVH-designed humbucker pickups, licensed Floyd Rose tremolo with D-Tuna (d-tuner device), oil-finished hard rock maple neck and fingerboard with dual graphite reinforcement rods, straight headstock, and chrome tuners. Two base versions were offered: a solid basswood model and a solid basswood/maple cap model. (The maple cap was 1/4".) Each version could come with either a licensed Floyd Rose tremolo with D-Tuna (d-tuner device) or a tune-o-matic bridge and hard tail piece. Solid basswood Wolfgang Specials were offered in gloss ivory, gloss black, vintage gold, gloss purple, and sunburst; solid basswood/maple cap Wolfgangs were offered in various transparent figured maple finishes (amber, red, purple, green, sunburst, and black cherryburst). Very occasionally a rejected maple top was painted gloss black; it still retained its masked "faux" binding, however.

Peavey EVH Wolfgang & Wolfgang Special Deluxe (Custom Shop)

The Peavey EVH Wolfgang Custom Shop operated from January 2002 to December 2004. It was run by four highly talented craftsman, each with a different area of specialty. The Custom Shop launched with a contest held via Van Halen's official website. Twelve unique Wolfgangs were given away throughout 2002—one every month.

Two custom models of the Peavey EVH Wolfgang.

Approximately 285 Custom Shop guitars were produced in Leakesville, of which 92 of these were made to fill specific orders while the rest were built for the "Wolfgang Vault".

Another 130 specific customer orders were produced in Meridian after mid-2003 as well as another 70 guitars, many of which are not really true Customs as they were using up remaining materials inventory. Some guitars where the only upgrade is a rosewood fretboard is technically called a Custom Shop, but most really are not. Edward didn't want the production guitars to have rosewood fretboards so the only way they could produce them like this was to call them Custom Shop guitars.

Thus, approximately 500 Custom Shop guitars were built from 2002 through 2004, some 220 of them being specific customer orders (Approximately 50 of those were ordered and/or purchased by guitar collector Geoff Knapp. These and many more are pictured at his website, Rock'N Roll Weekend).

Peavey had an area at their website for people to "build" (and order) their own Custom Shop guitars. The basic options that anyone could select were; the body wood: top wood; fretboard wood; fretboard inlays; bridge type; hardware color; top color or graphic and matching/standard headstock. The body wood options were basswood (standard), alder, ash, mahogany, or even koa or korina which weren't standard options. Bridge options were a stop tail bridge or a Floyd Rose Tremolo system in chrome (standard), gold or black. The Special models came with the birdseye (not hard rock) maple neck, which was an upgrade from a production special. For the fretboard you could select Birdseye (standard), Rosewood or Ebony. For the inlays they had pearl or black dots (standard), EVH Blocks, Tribal Flames, Skulls or no inlays at all. For the top you could select flame maple (standard), quilted maple, koa or none (solid body construction). There were about 30 colors to choose from including graphics and a custom graphic option.^[4]

Peavey EVH Wolfgang Special EXP

First offered in 2002, the Peavey EVH Wolfgang Special EXP was a Korean-made version of the Wolfgang. It contained no markings to differentiate it from USA models, but there were several deviations. The Wolfgang Special EXP had a 1/20" quilt maple veneer top and came in four transparent colors: amber, maroon, blue, and sunburst. The body was made of solid basswood and had a masked "faux" binding. Like the USA Wolfgang Special it featured a flat top, one knob (volume), three-way pickup toggle switch, two Peavey/EVH-designed humbucker pickups, licensed Floyd Rose tremolo with D-Tuna (d-tuner device), hard rock maple neck and fingerboard, straight headstock, and Grover mini tuners (a feature unique to this model). Aspects of the Wolfgang Special EXP were inferior to its USA counterparts; the neck had no graphite reinforcement rods and was finished with a satin poly rather than a natural oil, and the majority of the hardware was much cheaper in quality. A hard tail version was not offered.

Serial numbers

USA-built Peavey Wolfgangs typically had serial numbers that started with "91" followed by six more digits. Late-run USA Wolfgangs had serial numbers that started with "50" or "51". A very few prototype models had serial numbers that started with "1". Though Peavey Wolfgang owners have often sought to find a corroboration in the serial numbers of their guitars and the year in which each was built (similar to the system Gibson uses), there was no such information contained in the serial numbers. There was also no code specific to Custom Shop models.

Peavey Wolfgang serial numbers were stamped on the back of the headstock between the tuners. Edward Van Halen's signature and the headstock patent number^[5] were both branded just below the serial number. Early Wolfgang models (1996–1998) contained the term "Pat. Pend." in place of the patent number. Korean model EXP Wolfgang Specials had serial numbers printed in black on the back of the headstock.

Work with Charvel and Fender - the EVH brand

After parting with Peavey, Edward Van Halen joined forces with Charvel to produce replicas of various striped guitar models, the Charvel EVH Art Series.

In 2007, a single run of 300 official replicas of his original Frankenstein guitar were made available by Fender under the EVH brand, in strict collaboration with Edward Van Halen. The guitars were priced at $25,000 and had a massive demand.

After the 2007-08 concert tour, the evolution of the Wolfgang became available to the public, with the EVH Wolfgang (in 2008) and the EVH Wolfgang Special (in 2010), as well as an amplifier series and several guitars accessories and merchandise.

References

1. ↑ "Van Halen @ Olho Nu (Edward Van Halen guitars)"
2. ↑ "EDDIE VAN HALEN And PEAVEY End Long-Term Partnership - Dec. 21, 2004"
3. ↑ "Suhr Guitars Information on Wood - Expanding the Experience of Tone!"
4. ↑ "Van Halen Peavey Custom Shop Wolfgang Guitars at Rock'N Roll Weekend"
5. ↑ "Patent USD388117 - Guitar peghead - Google Patents"

External links

• Peavey Instruments
• The EVH Art Guitar Shop
• EVH Brand Guitars, Amps and Musical Products.