Eddie Van Halen’s 1961 Fender Stratocaster

Eddie used this guitar for a period of time in 1976 and 1977. Initially, the guitar was a sunburst model, featuring a rosewood neck, with what appears to be a small headstock. This detail would place the date of manufacture in the early 60s because by the mid-60s Fender started producing Stratocasters with larger headstocks.

Interestingly, the logo on Eddie’s Strat was placed very oddly, closer to the middle of the headstock as opposed to the bottom, where it would usually be. This could point out that this was either a replacement neck or a neck that was refinished.

Logo placement on the headstock of Eddie's Stratocaster.
Logo placement on the headstock of Eddie’s Stratocaster.

We also see that the neck has a fatter slab fretboard, which is typical of Strats made before August 1962, which is when Fender moved to thinner veneer fretboards.

As far as the pickups, the Strat had two single-coil pickups, and a humbucker in the bridge position. According to Eddie, this humbucker was a Gibson PAF.

So I bought a ’58 Strat years ago when we played high school dances, and Dave and Al just turned and started throwing sticks at me! They said, “Don’t use that guitar — it sounds to thin!” You know, single-coil pickups. They had a real buzzy, thin sound unless I used a fuzz box, and that’s even worse. So I sold that and then two years later I bought a router and dumped a Gibson PAF pickup into a ’61 Strat. It got very close. All of a sudden the band said, “That’s okay, It doesn’t sound like a Strat anymore.”

Young Wizard of Power Rock” By: Jas Obrecht Guitar Player (April 1980)

Usage, Mods

The guitar was first seen in the photos taken by Mervin Rinnig at Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood in December 1976. These photos are available on Mervin’s website – Van Halen – Whiskey & Starwood 1976 – musicfoto.com. At that point, as already noted, the guitar had a sunburst finish.

By the next time that Eddie appeared with the guitar, which was in early 1977, he had repainted the whole body white. The photos of the guitar in this state can be seen on Bo Shannon’s flickr page.

From that point, it becomes unclear what exactly happened to this Fender Stratocaster. Eddie was seen playing a black Stratocaster in 1977, with a pickguard and a neck that was most likely taken from this guitar. It is believed however that the body was the same body that Eddie bought at Boogie Bodies, and eventually used to make the Frankenstrat. All this is perfectly explained by John Burgess in the video below,

It’s unknown what happened to the parts of Eddie’s 60s Stratocaster after he assembled the Frankenstrat fully, with the custom pickguard and a new maple neck. He probably played around with the old parts for a while and eventually disregarded them.

The only part that seemed to have survived is the neck plate, which Eddie potentially used on the Frankenstrat. This is purely a guess based on the fact that the Frankstrat plate reads “61071” – which is a serial number of a 1961 Fender Stratocaster. Based on what we know about this guitar, it could’ve been made in 1961, and it’s obviously highly unlikely that Eddie had another 1961 Stratocaster at the time when he was assembling the Frankenstrat from which he could’ve taken the plate.

Feedback

GroundGuitar counts on your criticism and feedback. In case you notice anything wrong with the information posted on this page, or you have knowledge of something that you would like to share, be sure to leave a comment below.

In case you want to talk to me directly and privately, please use the Contact Form and I will get back to you as soon as possible. (Dan)

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
4 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Daniel Leeds
Daniel Leeds
1 year ago

Given the headstock logo the neck could have been a replacement

Don Ward
Don Ward
1 year ago
Reply to  Daniel Leeds

Not a replacement, but refinished by Wayne Charvel, who did not have the knowledge to install a headstock decal properly for vintage Fender back in 1976. The decal is also a 1967 era logo, which was all Wayne must have had – Wayne did subcontractor work doing refins for Fender at this time.

Daniel Leeds
Daniel Leeds
1 year ago
Reply to  Don Ward

Ah ok

David Boudreau
David Boudreau
9 months ago
Reply to  Don Ward

Hi Donny, Eddie says in the Jas Obrecht YouTube interview that he traded in his 1961 Fender Stratocaster at Norman’s Rare Guitars as a partial credit for the ‘58 & ‘59 Gibson Burst transaction.