Over the years, we’ve seen too many takes on Eddie Van Halen’s classic ’80s striped electric guitars to count, but this build by self-described “Van Halen fan and hobbyist woodworker” Ryan Kramer is going to stick in the memory.
The amateur luthier, based in Boulder, CO, got in touch with Guitar World to showcase a unique build that emulates the striped paintwork pattern of the Kramer guitar Van Halen used on the band's 1986 5150 tour, using solid blocks of wood.
“I've always loved Eddie Van Halen's iconic striped series of guitars, so I decided to build an homage to this classic style,” explains Kramer.
“Rather than painting the stripes onto the body, I constructed the guitar from solid pieces of padauk (red), maple (white), and wenge (black).
“The guitar is based largely on Eddie's custom 1986 Kramer striped guitar that he played during the 5150 tour. The fact that my name is also Kramer is a happy coincidence!”
That is about as fine an example of nominative determinism as we’ve ever seen, so Kramer’s involvement is clearly written in the stars.
The tonewoods have been glued together into a solid block before being hewn into shape in what must have been an thoroughly painstaking process. And while we can’t speak to the tonal qualities of such a construction, in terms of the aesthetic, it’s a marked success.
In addition to the unique combination on the main body, the three main tonewoods have been cleverly incorporated throughout the rest of the build.
The neck is carbon-reinforced maple, while the matching headstock is constructed from maple, with half-depth wenge and padauk inlays to emulate the striped pattern on EVH’s own headstock.
A curly maple fingerboard is then inlaid with wenge dots as fret markers and, if you flip the guitar over, you’ll see wenge cover plates on the Floyd Rose and control areas.
Elsewhere you have a Floyd Rose Special locking tremolo, Gotoh Magnum locking tuners and a direct-mount EVH Wolfgang humbucker.
The resulting build is now being auctioned off on eBay with all proceeds going to one of Kramer’s favorite charities, CAMFED which supports the education of girls and young women throughout the African continent.
Kramer makes a few caveats in his listing, noting that he is “not a professional luthier” and that there's likely an elevated humidity risk with the instrument, given the construction’s differing grain directions.
As such, it’s probably not one to chuck in and out of the tour van on a cold winter’s night, but we highly doubt that is going to be the intention of the new owner.
Regardless, on the evidence of the pictures, Kramer has done a stunning job and, at worst, it will make one hell of a wall piece and direct some money to a worthy cause.
The auction ends tomorrow (Saturday December 16) at 12:41 EST, so if you're interested, we suggest you don't hang around.
To bid on this unique Eddie Van Halen tribute guitar, head to Kramer’s eBay page.
