The late guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen is widely considered one of, in not the greatest rock guitarist of all-time. His passing back in October of 2020 left the music world in mourning. Eddie played and signed this Charvel EVH Art Series one-of-a-kind guitar. Van Halen, the songwriter and founder for his eponymous band Van Halen, is widely regarded as one of the premier rock guitarists of his or any era, occupying the number one spot on Guitar World’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time”. Drawing inspiration from Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen has brought innovation and thunderous ferocity to the guitar since the debut of Van Halen’s first album in 1978. Over the years, Van Halen have sold over 56 million records and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

This offered guitar was played by Eddie Van Halen during a concert at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida on February 18th, 2008. Playing with original front man David Lee Roth, his brother Alex Van Halen, and Eddie’s 16-year old son Wolfgang, the three-quarters original lineup shredded a two-hour set featuring all of the classics from “Beautiful Girls” to “Panama” to “Jump” in front of over thousands of enraptured metalheads. Van Halen opened the set with “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks and ended with an encore of “Jump”. The band treated the crowd to two additional covers, playing Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” and John Brim’s “Ice Cream Man”.

This guitar comes in a hard “EVH” personalized guitar case. The guitar itself has a red body with black and white striping designed by Eddie himself with the Charvel Art Series guitar being based on the original Eddie Van Halen Frankenstein guitar. This was the musicians' attempt to merge the sound of a classic Gibson guitar with the physical attributes and trembolo bar functionality of the Fender Stratocaster. The striped finish was the result of Eddie Van Halen painting the guitar different colors while applying strips of masking tape after each coat and then peeling them off to reveal the different colors. Eddie Van Halen has signed this guitar in silver marker, inscribing “Van Halen 2008” next to his signature. An additional inscription reads “Tampa FL. - 2-18-08”. This historic guitar comes with a COA signed by Eddie Van Halen, with the certificate noting where he played this guitar, the number of the guitar (#181), his signature on the guitar, the guitar's manufacturer and a Charvel statement of this guitar being "one of a kind".

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