The Edward Van Halen (EVH) Prototype PRS; 1 of 2

[Tree]

awesome ! how does it sound ?

 

[TheRockGuitarGuy]

That is SOOOO Awesome! EVH started it all for me! Huge fan. I would love to hear the whole story... what year was this done? were the 2 prototypes delivered to Ed? did he play them? any reactions from Ed? was he close to a signature deal with PRS? Side note - I remember a few years ago, there was a video of Wolfgang Van Halen on youtube at his high school talent show with some of his friends. He was fronting "a band" and was playing a PRS SC. He and his friends played a Jimmy Eat World song, "the Middle"... they killed it. Sounded awesome! Always thought it was interesting that he CHOSE a PRS and not one of the many, many guitars available to him. The kid obviously has good taste!

 

[GTRMAV]

Great Guitar my friend!!! Congrats..

 

[guitarsong]

Very cool.Congrats

 

[QueenCityGuitars]

I got it bad...got it bad...got it bad...that thing is awesome! :adore: PRS are my favorite guitars and Eddie is my biggest influence. I love it, Hans! The "tone" knob is a must. Big time congrats, brother! :rock:

 

[TAJ]

What a great piece of history! Congrats on a great find indeed.

 

[Felix]

That is one sweet guitar.

On a side note, wasn't Eddie's own "Frankenstrat" equipped with a PAF in the neck position, which was then painted over in order to camouflage it? It is my understanding that the bridge pup was a non-functional "decoy" in order to keep others from copping his tone. Much the same thing has been said of his supposed use of variable-A.C. ("variac") input transformers in order to lower his amps' plate voltages - which is a good way to blow an amp, whether it sounds good or not (and there are much better ways to lower your plate voltages!). -That is, that his use of them is pure fantasy for cover of his actual methodology.

Perhaps Eddie would have liked it better if the pickup was in the neck position.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

On a side note, wasn't Eddie's own "Frankenstrat" equipped with a PAF in the neck position, which was then painted over in order to camouflage it? It is my understanding that the bridge pup was a non-functional "decoy" in order to keep others from copping his tone. Much the same thing has been said of his supposed use of variable-A.C. ("variac") input transformers in order to lower his amps' plate voltages - which is a good way to blow an amp, whether it sounds good or not (and there are much better ways to lower your plate voltages!). -That is, that his use of them is pure fantasy for cover of his actual methodology.

Perhaps Eddie would have liked it better if the pickup was in the neck position.

Most people don't know that Eddie can't even play guitar... It was David Lee Roth that played guitar on all the Van Halen records!:tongue:

 

[Felix]

^ You silly!

Like him or not, the man is a genius, and is responsible for major innovations both in technique and in engineering (at the very least he is partly responsible for the Floyd Rose "tremolo").

I forgot to mention - those strap connectors look like the eyelets Eddie always screwed into his own guitars IIRC. Anyone catch that?

One more thing... are the bridge saddles not adjustable for height? If not, are they curved to match the fretboard?

Also gotta say I love the fixed pickup. Great way to maximize input from the body IMHO. Getting the right distance can be tricky, and requires shims to change, but terrific for tone!

(Oh, and ouch to the way the locking nut is screwed through the neck. Just ouch. Still a terrific guitar, I am sure, but that is a sad thing to do to that lovely neck.)

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

I would love to hear the whole story...

Me too. I have very little info on this guitar's history. Especially between 1997 and march of 2014. I only know that it was owned by a guy in southern Maryland for a very long time before it surfaced at Atomic music. I bought it from the gent who bought it from them.

what year was this done?

1997

were the 2 prototypes delivered to Ed?

That is the assumption.

did he play them?

Confirmed only by rumor. I have no hard evidence. Yet...

any reactions from Ed?

None that I'm aware of.

was he close to a signature deal with PRS?

Not that I'm aware of.

wasn't Eddie's own "Frankenstrat" equipped with a PAF in the neck position, which was then painted over in order to camouflage it?

No, it's a dummy single-coil in the neck position.

It is my understanding that the bridge pup was a non-functional "decoy" in order to keep others from copping his tone. Perhaps Eddie would have liked it better if the pickup was in the neck position.

Here's his guitar from the 1984 era, the inspiration for this PRS. Either this or the 5150 guitar was at the factory when these guitars were being made. I've heard conflicting reports regarding which one it was. Either way, one of Eddie's guitars was there during the creation of both prototypes.

 

[crgtr]

Way too cool man!! Congrats!

 

[Felix]

No, it's a dummy single-coil in the neck position.

Here's his guitar from the 1984 era, the inspiration for this PRS. Either this or the 5150 guitar was at the factory when these guitars were being made. I've heard conflicting reports regarding which one it was. Either way, one of Eddie's guitars was there during the creation of both prototypes.

View attachment 1461

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[QueenCityGuitars]

I know that guy! :hello:

 

[TheRockGuitarGuy]

Wow! Thanks for sharing all of the info. Incredible!

 

[Gnal]

Congrats on getting this piece!

 

[mezzio]

Awesome buy dude! Congrats!

One more thing... are the bridge saddles not adjustable for height? If not, are they curved to match the fretboard?

From what I can remember from previous FR's I've owned, the bridge saddles are not adjustable, but if it really appeases you, you can get different size saddles to mimic the radius of the fretboard. IMO the system is more trouble than it's worth, but I'd probably buy another guitar with a Floyd if it were something as cool as this EVH prototype

 

[VHTStark]

Pretty dang cool Hans! Between this and your "Raven" I would say you have the two sweetest 25.5" scale PRS super-strats out there!

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

Pretty dang cool Hans! Between this and your "Raven" I would say you have the two sweetest 25.5" scale PRS super-strats out there!

Wow, man. That's quite a compliment. Thank you!

I hope this thread gets some traction with Google and other search engines. Maybe someone, somewhere, has more info to share on this guitar's history. There are lots of little things that remain unanswered - like the signatures that PRS removed for me. There was no hard-evidence that it was actually signed by Eddie so it had to go. Some people said I was nuts for doing that but, in the end, I don't think it really mattered.

This is how it looked when I bought it (photo courtesy of Skitchy Zimmers).

 

[cwhenke]

I've often said the story of the guitar is worth more than the guitar itself. I'd say this is the case here.

Congrats, Hans.

 

[Brad737]

Dibs after Timmy!!!!