EVH Gear has unveiled the MIJ Series Signature Wolfgang, bringing Eddie Van Halen’s touring specs to a high-performance electric guitar that is tailor-made for the sort of effervescent rock guitar playing of its namesake.
The MIJ Signature Wolfgang is being offered in a choice of off-white Ivory and matt-black Stealth finishes, and is every inch the Eddie Van Halen guitar.
Just look at those oversized screw-eye hooks for affixing the guitar strap – and at the hardware. Yes, there’s an EVH-branded Floyd Rose vibrato, a secure and solid double-locking unit for divebombs and other whammy bar misadventures, but there’s also an EVH D-Tuna for throwing this Wolfgang into Drop D tuning as and when the tune calls for it.
Very neat. Very practical. But then that what Eddie Van Halen’s MacGyvering of the electric guitar was all about.
As with Fender and Fender’s brands – Jackson, Charvel, EVH, etc – this MIJ model is a premium build, and it has been given the premium treatment by way of multi-ply binding on the body and headstock.
The body is solid basswood topped with arched Big Leaf maple. The neck joins the body with a discrete four-bolt joint, and is quartersawn from maple into a Wolfgang Backshape. Graphite reinforcement makes it über durable and resistant to temperature changes. You will, however, find a truss rod adjustment wheel at the summit of the fingerboard for pain-free setup tweaks.
A hand-rubbed satin urethane finish makes that neck slinky to the touch. No gumming up here. The fingerboard is ebony and seats 22 stainless steel frets. Pearl block inlays count out the frets. A word to for the compound radius fingerboard dimensions. They are of a piece with Fender’s high-performance brands’ flagship specs, with a 12” to 16” radius promising a state-of-the-art feel.
Direct-mount Wolfgang humbuckers occupy the bridge and neck positions, with an Alnico III at the neck and an Alnico II at the bridge. The three-way pickup control is mounted on the upper bout and is reversed. Dial in your tone via a EVH BI Tech HPU low-friction volume knob and a high-friction tone knob.
Eddie’s thinking here was he didn’t want to accidentally knock the tone pot out of place, while a smooth and easily manipulated volume pot made violin-esque swells a little bit easier.
Rounding out the controls we have a killswitch mounted on the lower bout, finished in red just in case we missed it. Use this for stuttering effects and weird staccato noises.
An EVH hardshell guitar case is included in the £1,799 / $2,599 ($2,699 for Ivory) asking price. For more details head over to EVH Gear.
