EVH Striped Series ’78 Eruption with Maple Fingerboard Electric Guitar – White with Black Stripes Relic
On the cover of Van Halen’s 1978 eponymous debut album, Eddie Van Halen thrusts his black-and-white striped Strat®-style guitar towards the camera as if he’s showing you the future. He played this guitar on his unprecedented and mind-blowing “Eruption” guitar solo, thus its nickname, and almost immediately, this monumental instrument became a timeless icon, symbolic of a paradigm shift in guitar-driven rock and roll.
Back when this trailblazing album first appeared, nobody had ever seen or heard a guitar like that because no such guitar ever existed. What was this? You couldn’t buy one.
That’s because he made it himself. The 22-year-old Eddie Van Halen had the mind of not only a great musician, but also of an innovative inventor—a constant tinkerer who was always messing with his gear. Eddie would say it was out of necessity as no off-the-shelf guitar had the features he needed to really do his job and realize his full potential. So, he took matters into his own capable hands — refretting the neck, installing a humbucking pickup which he potted in paraffin wax, as well a single master volume knob (famously labeled as “Tone”), brass nut and tailpiece from a ’58 Strat, cutting out and mounting his own homemade black and of course, coming up with iconic striped motif.
The all-new EVH® Striped Series ’78 Eruption guitar combines many of those famed mods along with modernized features and a relic treatment.
The Stratocaster®-style body sports Eddie’s famed white-and-black-striped paint job and has been paired to a quartersawn maple neck with a hand-rubbed satin urethane back finish. The 12”-16” compound radius maple fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets was designed for fast and furious playing styles with maximum comfort, while a heel-mount truss rod wheel makes for time-saving neck adjustments.
A single EVH Wolfgang® humbucking bridge pickup provides classic Eddie Van Halen guitar tone – from crystal cleans to fat and rich mids and lows, while the brass nut and six-saddle vintage Fender® Stratocaster synchronized tremolo bridge with a 43mm brass block allow for authentic EVH tone.
Other features include a skirted white Strat-style volume control knob (labeled “tone”) with 500K EVH Bourns® low friction pot and treble bleed circuit, black pickguard, chrome hardware, oversized strap buttons, EVH neck plate and larger, ‘70s-style licensed Fender Strat headstock with gold EVH logo.
General –
- SERIES: Striped Series
- ORIENTATION: Right-Hand
- COLOR: White with Black Stripes Relic
- COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: MX
Neck –
- HEADSTOCK: Large ’70s-Style Licensed Fender® Strat®
- NECK MATERIAL: Quartersawn Maple
- NECK FINISH: Hand-Rubbed Satin Urethane
- NECK SHAPE EVH® Modified “C” Backshape
- NECK CONSTRUCTION: Bolt-On with Graphite Reinforcement
- NECK THICKNESS: .790″ at 3rd Fret & .810″ at 12th Fret
- FINGERBOARD RADIUS: 12″-16″ Compound Radius (304.8 mm to 406.4 mm)
- FINGERBOARD MATERIAL: Maple
- POSITION INLAYS: Black Dot
- SIDE DOTS: Black
- NUMBER OF FRETS: 22
- TRUSS ROD NUT: Heel-Mount Truss Rod Adjustment Wheel
- STRING NUT: Brass
- NUT MATERIAL: Brass
Body –
- BODY: Basswood
- BODY FINISH: Lacquer
- BODY SHAPE: Other
- BODY MATERIAL: Basswood
Hardware –
- BRIDGE: 6-Saddle Vintage-Style Fender® Strat® Synchronized Tremolo with 43mm Brass Block
- TREMOLO BLOCK: Brass
- PICKGUARD: 1-Ply Black
- PICKUP COVERS: Black
- CONTROL KNOBS: White Stratocaster®-Style Skirt (Labeled “Tone”)
- HARDWARE FINISH: Reliced Chrome
- TUNING MACHINES: EVH®-Branded Gotoh®
- STRING TREES: Single Wing with Tall Metal Spacer
- STRINGS: EVH® Nickel Plated Steel (.009-.042 Gauges)
- TREMOLO ARM: Vintage-Style Tremolo Arm
- NECK PLATE: 4-Bolt Standard
- STRAP BUTTONS: Oversized
Electronics –
- BRIDGE PICKUP: EVH® Wolfgang® Humbucking
- PICKUP CONFIGURATION: H
- CONTROLS: Volume (500K EVH® Bourns® Low Friction Pot) with Treble Bleed Circuit
- SWITCHING: None
