Eddie Van Halen’s Peavey EVH Wolfgang
Around late 1995 Eddie signed a deal with Peavey and continued where he left off with Music Man. The new guitar that he built with Peavey was named after Eddie’s son Wolfgang and looked very similar to the Music Man model – but featured some improvements and changes in the design.
Specs
The company continued using the same type of wood (basswood), with some models featuring maple tops. As opposed to the flat top on the MM, this guitar had an arched top and full body binding. It also had two custom Peavey/EVH-designed humbuckers, Floyd Rose tremolo, a three-way switch – which was now moved to the top of the body, and Schaller mini M6 tuners. The version with the Floyd Rose also had a small device called D-Tuna, which is used to quickly change the tuning of the low E string by a whole step. Eddie was the lead inventor of this device and held the rights to the patent.
Another thing worth mentioning was the headstock, which followed a similar design to the one on the MM model. It was a middle ground between that shape, and the final shape used on EVH Wolfgang built by Fender a couple of years later – for which Eddie again holds the patent.
Usage
Eddie played these guitars from 1996 to 2004, when he and Peavey parted ways. Most of the time, he used either a purple one or a dark sunburst one.
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EVH used many different Peavey Wolfgang’s through the 1996 to 2004 era, which also included a Peavey Wolfgang Special. He seemed to favor his tobacco colored Peavey Wolfgang the most, which I assume was in certain tuning that he played in most frequently. Those guitars were built exceptionally well and all manufactured in the USA, even the lowered priced Special version. Eddie Van Halen also donated 75 Peavey Wolfgang’s to LA schools for charity.