A Music Man EVH guitar which was a personal gift from Eddie Van Halen to AEROSMITH's Brad Whitford is available for purchase via Reverb.
The purple Music Man EVH is an early model that was manufactured in October 1991 and was used by Whitford from '91 to 2017. The guitar can be seen in various live videos of AEROSMITH performing live during that period.
Brad's guitar tech personally inspected the guitar, which was acquired directly from Whitford. The tech adjusted the neck, polished the frets, oiled the fretboard, sprayed the pots and installed new strings.
The guitar, which is in excellent working condition with no notable issues, is identified by an AEROSMITH inventory tag on the headstock. It includes a hardshell case, one of Brad's custom AEROSMITH guitar pics and a certificate of authenticity signed by Whitford.
In December 2020, Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang criticized an auction of three of his late father's guitars. The instruments were sold for a total of $422,050 through Julien's Auctions as part of a larger music memorabilia event called "Icons & Idols". The now-31-year-old said the sellers were "taking advantage of my father's passing", and he had "nothing to do with" the sale. "I don't EVER plan on selling any of my father's iconic guitars," he said.
Eddie died in October 2020 at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. His wife, Janie, was by his side, along with his ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli, Wolfgang and Alex, Eddie's brother and VAN HALEN drummer.
After undergoing hip replacement surgery in 1999 due to a chronic joint problem, Eddie was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2000 and had to have part of his tongue surgically removed. Declared "cancer-free" in 2002, he subsequently had to intermittently have "cancer cells scraped out of his throat after they migrated there." He later battled lung cancer and had been receiving radiation treatment in Germany. Things took a turn for the worse in early 2019 when Eddie got in a motorcycle accident. He was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor, and received gamma knife radiosurgery to treat the illness.
Following Eddie's death, fans left flowers at his childhood home on Las Lunas Street in Pasadena, California. Additional flowers, candles and fan mementos were placed on Allen Avenue where Eddie and Alex scratched their band's name into the wet cement of a sidewalk when they were teenagers.
VAN HALEN was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked Eddie Van Halen No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
I remember Eddie suggesting his mouth and throat cancer came from putting his homemade medal picks in his mouth when he played pick less. But awhile back one of his doctors said it more likely came from cigarettes. How are Keith Richards and even Dickey still alive? Did they stop smoking?
Some of his hardcore fans on YouTube videos in the comments section really protest Rolling Stone Magazine with some salty language about seven guitarists being ranked ahead of Eddie. I don't know how they rank them but probably Jimi Hendrix will always be number one. And rightfully so I think. Duane Allman is second and whether Duane deserves to be right behind Jimi, I don't know. But he is probably our favorite here on this site.
Eight out of one hundred ain't bad to me. And I saw Gary Moore one time years ago and at that show at least, to me, when it comes to loud shredding and fancy technique, Eddie Van Halen and cats like Steve Vai couldn't blow Gary off the stage and the last time I looked at the Rolling Stone Magazine top 100 guitar players list GARY MOORE DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THIS LIST!!! Gary must be number 108 or something.
You'd think a guitar player from Aerosmith would be so far up to his neck in money that $26K would be chicken feed. I have a couple of guitars given to me by friends (mere mortals) that I will have until I die because they MEAN something to me because they were given to me by said friends. Whatev's!
That Rolling Stone "Top 100" poll is a popularity contest at best. Even if they'd called it "Top 100 ROCK Guitarists" it would still be open to question and even ridicule! There are certainly some deserving guitarists on that list. There are a few who I honestly do not think are significantly better than me! A few are waaaay too far down the list (Steve Howe and Mark Knopfler - for instance - should be in the top 10 - 15 - especially when discussing POPULAR players - IMO). Where is Chet Atkins? For me, any discussion of the guitar should begin alphabetically with Chet Atkins! ... I know - dead horse! 😉
You'd think a guitar player from Aerosmith would be so far up to his neck in money that $26K would be chicken feed. I have a couple of guitars given to me by friends (mere mortals) that I will have until I die because they MEAN something to me because they were given to me by said friends. Whatev's!
That Rolling Stone "Top 100" poll is a popularity contest at best. Even if they'd called it "Top 100 ROCK Guitarists" it would still be open to question and even ridicule! There are certainly some deserving guitarists on that list. There are a few who I honestly do not think are significantly better than me! A few are waaaay too far down the list (Steve Howe and Mark Knopfler - for instance - should be in the top 10 - 15 - especially when discussing POPULAR players - IMO). Where is Chet Atkins? For me, any discussion of the guitar should begin alphabetically with Chet Atkins! ... I know - dead horse! 😉
The article isn't extremely clear, likely because it sounds better to be potentially buying Brad Whitford's guitar from Brad Whitford, but it seems that Brad Whitford gifted the guitar to one of his techs/roadies while back and the tech/roadie is now selling it, likely to raise funds while the mother ship is not touring and income is tight while expenses are skyrocketing.
@zambi Hmmm ... valid point taken. Aerosmith probably spends too much on Steven's rehab and dental reconstruction to have any left over for roadie relief! 😉
