“A modern interpretation of the guitar Eddie Van Halen used to attain the early Van Halen sound”: EVH brings back Eddie’s daring Danelectro/Charvel hybrid – and gives it a unique hardware twist
With a single humbucker, kill switch, and fast-playing neck, the latest limited edition Star pays homage to Eddie’s early 1980s axe – but updates it for modern players
(Image credit: EVH)
EVH has announced the limited-edition Star T.O.M. electric guitar – a contemporary revision of the pointy axe Eddie Van Halen spent much of his early career playing.
Combining the “legendary features that defined early Van Halen music with modern performance enhancements", the decidedly 1980s-looking instrument has evolved with the times.
As such, EVH has described this revision as “a modern interpretation of (although not quite a re-creation of)" the guitar Eddie played during the band's 1980 World Invasion tour.
A basswood body provides “sustain and crunch”, while its one-piece quartersawn neck features an EVH-modified C profile. It offers a 12-16" compound radius ebony fingerboard and 22 jumbo frets.
A single EVH Wolfgang humbucker sits in the bridge position – primed to capture the essential essence of Eddie's no-nonsense original Star – and pairs with a single Volume control for a streamlined setup. A kill switch is also an aptly playful addition.
The not-so-subtle guitar has been updated with a Tune-O-Matic bridge and Stopbar tailpiece setup, meaning it’s not been made to channel Eddie’s signature whammy bar tricks. However, EVH is quick to talk about its “exceptional sustain” in place of such acrobatics.
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The original Star debuted during the band’s 1980 World Invasion tour and married a Charvel Star body with a Danelectro-style neck and a single pickup design.
Interestingly, while Van Halen's eye-catching axe used a genuine Charvel Star body, he had actually inspired the instrument in the first place. Charvel – now part of the Fender stable alongside EVH and Jackson – had seen Eddie's modified Ibanez Destroyer, nicknamed "The Shark", and went to town with it for a design of its own.
(Image credit: EVH)
The limited edition EVH Star T.O.M. is available now and costs $1,299.99. There are three colorways to choose from: Stealth Black, Silverburst, and Vintage White.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
