The Wolfgang Electric Guitar – Most Popular Of The Eddie Van Halen Guitars
“Guitar God” or visionary musician, Eddie Van Halen is considered by many to one of premier guitarists of his generation. Often compared to other Rock and Roll Hall of Fame greats such as Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen has been playing professionally for over 35 years.
But what most people don’t understand is just big and important a contribution he has made to the guitar industry here in America. From his early “home made” guitars such as his aptly named “Frankenstein” to his latest innovation with the newly improved Wolfgang electric guitar, Eddie Van Halen is not only a virtuoso performer but a rock and roll innovator.
One of his popular designs is the Wolfgang electric guitar, which was named after the rock star’s son. The original design was the now legendary; Peavey Wolfgang produced the Peavey Electronics. The Peavey Wolfgang model was produced from 1996 until 2004.
Eddie had already worked with Hartley Peavey and his team of engineers on the design and development of the EVH 5150 amplifier. Because of this, Eddie felt that Peavey was very company to bring into being what he then considered to be the ultimate electric guitar.
Peavey came out with its signature Wolfgang electric guitar in late 1996 and later released a Wolfgang Special electric guitar that appealed a more price conscious market.
In fact in the standard models were so popular that Peavey even opened a custom Wolfgang electric guitar shop within their main manufacturing faculty just to handle all their orders for hand-crafted Wolfgangs.
The 1996 standard Wolfgang electric guitar came in six basic colors: Black, Ivory and 4 versions of curly maple top (quilt top) with top-edge bindings covering a solid basswood body. The Wolfgang had a unique offset cutaway design with carved top or arch-top.
The later editions changed the curly maple tops for ones made from flame maple but still came with a neck and matching fingerboard made from Birdseye maple with a durable oil finish. Inside the neck were two graphite rods to give it added strength and reduce flexing along with an adjustable torsion rod.
The Peavey Wolfgang electric guitar had an excellent electronics and hardware package. It sported 2 Peavey humbucking pickups, custom-wound per Eddie’s personal specs. It also had a Dual volume and tone pots, a Switchcraft® 3-way toggle switch and Peavey/Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo bar assembly with D-Tuner.
The Wolfgang Special electric guitar has similar features but replaced the neck, fretboard and head with hard rock maple. It came only in the standard solid colors and a yellow or sunburst. And they were flat tops without binding since they had no tops which reduced costs. And the price difference was also made up from using cheaper tuners. And it had only had the one control knob.
But the Wolfgang Special Deluxe electric guitar was a mid-priced guitar, costing more than the Wolfgang Special but still cheaper than a stand Wolfgang electric guitar. This guitar had a flame maple top but still only the single knob like all Peavey Specials.
The Wolfgang electric guitar was so popular that when Eddie parted way with Peavey in 2004, he was able to quickly find a new manufacturer at Fender. The new Fender/EVH Wolfgang electric guitar was launched in 2008.
