One of EVH's bumblebees he ordered in 82 is on sale this sat

[charvelstrat81]

I am shocked this did not get more money than it did?
The fender frankenstein one was $25K and was no where near as good as this Charvel!
Plus eddie never played it on TV!
If i had the money i would have bought this one without a doubt!

 

[charvelstrat81]

Here is the very first VH "bee" charvel before the VH II photoshoot and the guy next to ed is karl sandoval who built it
The Charvel orignally had a Duncan Custom(or maybe a JB?) in it and was later swapped out for a dimarzio super d with a A2 magnet inplace of it's original ceramic magnet.
Also this one was the ONLY guitar VH ever played onstage that had the Charvel logo on the headstock.

 

[hammered]

Here is the very first VH "bee" charvel before the VH II photoshoot and the guy next to ed is karl sandoval who built it
The Charvel orignally had a Duncan Custom(or maybe a JB?) in it and was later swapped out for a dimarzio super d with a A2 magnet inplace of it's original ceramic magnet.
Also this one was the ONLY guitar VH ever played onstage that had the Charvel logo on the headstock.

The black pickup in it was swapped out for a zebra humbucker and used on the 78 tour before it got the creme super distortion which Ed said had a PAF magnet in it (I think it was just a stock Super D but who knows) He then put the zebra humbucker back in it for the little that he used it on the WACF tour . Backing up a little there was also that weird clear bobbin humbucker in it for the the VH2 photo sessions. It looked badass with that creme Super D

 

[Rick Lee]

In the VH II album jacket photos the guitar has a Mighty Might clear bobbin pickup in it.

 

[Rocksoff]

Super Distortion pickup.......Rockstah swore by that for his VH tones

Yep but EVH swapped out the ceramic magnet for a A2

Could have been an A5, EVH just said a PAF magnet as far as I know.

Or EVH could be just saying that and just used a stock Super Distortion.

He used to hang around Seymour and saw Seymour swapping magnets and rewinding and he got Seymour to do rewinds for him, and EVH said he rewound his own pickups which Seymour said was BS, so it could also be BS about swapping magnets, who knows.

Take anything EVH says with a grain of salt.

He bought a lot of various Mighty Mite pickups and used the Mighty Mite Super Distortion clone in more than one guitar.

 

[charvelstrat81]

In the VH II album jacket photos the guitar has a Mighty Might clear bobbin pickup in it.

that was a junk pickup thrown in JUST for the photoshoot.

GP: Did you make another guitar for your second album?

EVH: I made the yellow-and-black Strat. It has an ash body by Charvel. It was my idea to have it rear-loaded so I wouldn’t have to have a pickguard, and Charvel routed it for me. The pickup that’s on the photo is not really what I use — I had just finished slapping it together and painting it when they shot the album cover, and just stuck some garbage pickup in it to look like a complete guitar. Then I took the pickup out of my first guitar and stuck it in there, but it didn’t sound too good. I don’t really go for DiMarzio pickups, because they’re real distorted. I like a clean sound with sustain — I hate the fuzz box, real raspy sound. So I put a PAF magnet in a DiMarzio pickup and rewound it by hand, which took a long lime. I actually ruined about three pickups, and by the fourth time it worked. I didn’t count the windings — I just did it by sight.

 

[Rick Lee]

In the VH II album jacket photos the guitar has a Mighty Might clear bobbin pickup in it.

that was a junk pickup thrown in JUST for the photoshoot.

Maybe, but he had played that guitar on the previous tour. And those pickups are going for $400 on eBay now, probably because of those photos.

 

[charvelstrat81]

In the VH II album jacket photos the guitar has a Mighty Might clear bobbin pickup in it.

that was a junk pickup thrown in JUST for the photoshoot.

Maybe, but he had played that guitar on the previous tour. And those pickups are going for $400 on eBay now, probably because of those photos.

yeah i know i just sold a MM1400 for $300 and a MM1800 for $250
I think VH I is the old duncan custom
duncan almost got sued for selling it, so the the next month the ad no longer had his name on it,

I have a old 1979 custom and it is not like the newer production SH-5's i have tried.

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

Can anyone chime in on the differences between a JB and a SD ?

I had a gmw polka dot v with the SD some years back. Currently, I have a JB in my kramer.
Its been too long since the V to remember how it sounded.

 

[Racerxrated]

To me, a JB is smoother while the SD is grittier/granier. Both have great upper mids, and have good low end if you adjust the height the right way.

 

[hammered]

In the VH II album jacket photos the guitar has a Mighty Might clear bobbin pickup in it.

that was a junk pickup thrown in JUST for the photoshoot.

Maybe, but he had played that guitar on the previous tour. And those pickups are going for $400 on eBay now, probably because of those photos.

The previous tour (78) had a zebra bucker in it

 

[Hung Huy Tran]

To me, a JB is smoother while the SD is grittier/granier. Both have great upper mids, and have good low end if you adjust the height the right way.

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

To me, a JB is smoother while the SD is grittier/granier. Both have great upper mids, and have good low end if you adjust the height the right way.

The problem with the 84, is that the height is set, non adjustable. I hear a smoother JB also. Actually, it can get muddy imo

Very sensitive to speakers, eq etc. I am considering replacing it with a 78, maybe a pearly gates, or maybe even an SD.

 

[Stradazone]

Super Distortion pickup.......Rockstah swore by that for his VH tones

Yep but EVH swapped out the ceramic magnet for a A2

Could have been an A5, EVH just said a PAF magnet as far as I know.

Or EVH could be just saying that and just used a stock Super Distortion.

He used to hang around Seymour and saw Seymour swapping magnets and rewinding and he got Seymour to do rewinds for him, and EVH said he rewound his own pickups which Seymour said was BS, so it could also be BS about swapping magnets, who knows.

Take anything EVH says with a grain of salt.

He bought a lot of various Mighty Mite pickups and used the Mighty Mite Super Distortion clone in more than one guitar.

Don't forget the Mighty Mite 1400 PAF clone, I think it sounds better than the Mighty Mite 1300 Distortion clone which to me sounds muddy, I've tried them both.