[conspire] A different kind of open source activist, RIP Eddie Van Halen

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

You probably heard that Eddie Van Halen died of throat cancer, having also battled lung cancer. You may not have known that he had his fingers in basically every aspect of guitar, amplifier, and pedal design.

He helped invent the aftermarket “partscaster” as a fashion trend within guitars: non-brand name bodies of companies like Warmoth, third-party pickup winders like Seymour Duncan, various amp vendors who weren’t Marshall or Fender (both of whom he had affiliations with at various points), and pedal manufacturers galore. More to the point, his attitude that a guitar body was just a guitar body and you should make one that pleases you ran counter to the “you will take what we offer you” line that had prevailed until then.

His family didn’t have a lot of money (possibly explained by his father being a clarinetist), so he was always looking for ways to do things on a budget.

This is a piece he wrote for Popular Mechanics about his various approaches to guitars, his patents, and having extensively modified his guitars from the start:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a15615/how-eddie-van-halen-hacks-a-guitar/ <https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a15615/how-eddie-van-halen-hacks-a-guitar/>

> The other issue, with Fenders, at least, was the clear lacquer they'd put on the neck.

This is partly a wood issue. Maple necks (which is what Fender was using then and still mostly uses) need to be finished to remain stable unless they’re roasted maple, which was not available then. These days, that translates to a base price difference at Warmoth of $197 vs 157 for a Strat neck, or 25% more.

On the other hand, pro guitarists tend to replace necks because of mishaps anyway (which is one reason a lot of players like the bolt-on style of Strats), so it’s not as huge a disadvantage as, say, dropping a Les Paul (known for snapping off headstocks because of the geometry of the guitar): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIAAGtQ6Kv0 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIAAGtQ6Kv0>


The only homage I’ve seen on YouTube that really covers the range of things Eddie did for the industry apart from his lead guitar playing is this tribute by Ben Eller:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHLP-DN1OY <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHLP-DN1OY>


His most famous solo, Eruption, off the first Van Halen album, was notable for two things:

1. Sonically, it was just SO DIFFERENT than anything out there. Like: how did he make that sound?
2. The speed he was able to play at.

Here’s an isolated guitar section of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mie71FaZnsg <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mie71FaZnsg>

Here’s how it’s done (spoiler alert: double tapping): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQK5enW8vEc <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQK5enW8vEc> but this goes through it phrase by phrase.

One of the better covers of the Eruption solo is from Tina S who was 14 at the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV6SmY04WdE <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV6SmY04WdE>

…and later went on to cover this much longer Beethoven, which remains my favorite tapping solo; she’s 17 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6rBK0BqL2w <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6rBK0BqL2w>

I wonder what 1978 Eddie would have thought of that tapping solo that owes so much to his Eruption technique (and metal guitarists’ adoption of tapping generally).


I was fortunate to see Van Halen live three times in small venues, twice before they were signed, and once after they were signed but before their first album came out. Comes from being a Pasadenan listening to new music on local radio. Lots of crap played, but occasional gems.

Deirdre
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