OUCH! - EVH Striped Series '78 Eruption Guitar REVIEW - (Made in Mexico)

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harddriver said:
I acquired a MIM EVH red/white/black striped guitar in a trade deal and while it was an ok guitar I did not think it was on par to my original 1983 Kramer Pacer(that is poplar wood body) and I gave it to a close friend as a wallhanger gift and it didn't bother me one bit.

Was it the Basswood body that I didn't like? I would almost have to say yes. Are all basswood bodies dead resonance-wise I don't know but there might be a reason EBMM uses maple to cap the basswood to give the body some snap to it.

I also acquired a 2016 MIM Charvel San Dimas in another trade that was Alder and while it still was not on par with my old vintage Kramers I feel it was a better guitar than the EVH that I had. I did note the Alder body of the Charvel had more resonance and played well.
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Alder, mahogany, maple, poplar, ash? All good. Basswood? No offense to anyone here that likes it, but FUCK no. Dave Friedman calls it asswood and I agree. Mushy attack. Lifeless. Dull. Can't stand it.
 
JohnnyGtar said:
Alder, mahogany, maple, poplar, ash? All good. Basswood? No offense to anyone here that likes it, but FUCK no. Dave Friedman calls it asswood and I agree. Mushy attack. Lifeless. Dull. Can't stand it.
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I also put together a kit guitar that had a basswood body and no matter what pickup I installed in it would change the as you say... mushy attack, lack of resonance and dullness of it. So after that I made the decision to stay away from basswood... so if Dave Friedman describes basswood with those attributes my experience seems to coincide with his findings as well. I'm sure there are some exceptions with some basswood bodies but I haven't found one yet and I will not take another chance to try one out.

I must say the only basswood body that I found acceptable was my 2001 EBMM Axis but it has a nice maple cap on them which I feel help give the body better acoustical properties.
 
harddriver said:
so if Dave Friedman describes basswood with those attributes my experience seems to coincide with his findings as well. I'm sure there are some exceptions with some basswood bodies but I haven't found one yet and I will not take another chance to try one out.

I must say the only basswood body that I found acceptable was my 2001 EBMM Axis but it has a nice maple cap on them which I feel help give the body better acoustical properties.
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Dave called it asswood. The other descriptions of it come from my experiences with basswood.

I had the top of the line Peavey Wolfgang, maple cap on basswood. Sounded great. Sounded even better with the DiMarzio Air Zone and Air Norton that Steve Blucher sent me. I called him one day and I mentioned that I had a Wolfgang. He asked me to send him my Wolfgang pickups so that he could check out the specs. I did, and he was kind enough to send me some DiMarzio pickups he thought would kick butt in my Wolfgang, and boy did they ever! And yes, he sent the Peavey pickups back to me as well. LOL
 
The crazy thing is Allen Holdsworth’s single hum Charvels back in the day were basswood, so that means Jake E Lee’s light blue with black pickguard (which was a Holdsworth) was also basswood. Allen’s tone was never my cup of tea, but I can’t argue with Jake’s live tone on the BATM live tour video.
 
Update!
My buddy got his 78 Eruption from the same shop I did. Last one. We got em new, out the box, for $800. They said they were $200 below their cost.
True? Dunno. They're clearing out lots of stuff.
They are selling AJ Epis for $950, PRS DW CE24s for $2g, PRS Archon for 30% off, and a bunch of other stuff at cost.
Regardless, it's a great deal for this guitar. Couldn't build it for less.

He brought his over, and I set em both up.
Lots of back n forth between both guitars to see what felt and sounded best.
Ended up with:
Slight relief in the neck, bridge screws just right, 4/64" string height at last fret, pickup height at 6/64" bass side, 5/64" treble side with strings fretted at last fret. Lubed the nut with graphite, and Carmex nut and saddles.
Now they both stay almost in tune after heavy trem use. Sound and play as good, if not better, as anything in the stable for rocking n shredding. Endless sustain. Notes bloom with fantastic harmonics.
Folks are knocking basswood, but this combo of wood, brass nut and big brass trem block, and Wolfgang pup sounds really good. It's as articulate, or moreso, than my :
Charvel partscaster with birdseye maple neck, alder body, German Floyd Rose.
LP with ebony fretboard and Godwoods.
Suhr Modern with mahogany body, flame maple top, roasted maple neck.

Wilkinson locking saddles and graphtec strings trees on order.
Locking tuners will be the last addition if we're still having tuning issues after trem action.

Worth noting:
1. They're not swimming pool routed. I was thinking I could add single coils and make this my Superstrat. Nope. But! Since this is the case, I forsee hacking the full pick guard down to just what's needed to hold the single volume knob. Painted underneath, so will look good.
2. The bridge pup is screwed directly to the body. Has a big piece of foam underneath. 4 screws to dial in pup height. Kind of a pain in the ass.
3. Advertised that it has a treble bleed. I didn't see one. Sounds fine without it, but weird that they'd advertise one that's not there.
Can't think of anything else to share. Except some pics.

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The guitar in my profile pic is literally the best ‘sounding’ guitar I have ever owned (or built) - and I have built 2 dozen or more over the years. That one is a northern hard ash Musikraft Franky body with a Warmoth maple neck and a Duncan Custom/59 Hybrid pickup. (Profile pic shows a clear bobbin Jalen Frank). NFT Floyd with a Brass block and open nut with locking tuners. I’ve built this ‘recipe’ many times with many different bodies / body woods and necks - and the northern hard ash body is just simply qualitatively different / better sounding in every way.
 
paulyc said:
The crazy thing is Allen Holdsworth’s single hum Charvels back in the day were basswood, so that means Jake E Lee’s light blue with black pickguard (which was a Holdsworth) was also basswood. Allen’s tone was never my cup of tea, but I can’t argue with Jake’s live tone on the BATM live tour video.
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I thought that Charvel was white for the longest time , he used it on Rock n Roll Rebel and Flying High Again , the songs tuned a half step down . He had this candy apple red Charvel also

 
Without the Floyd you're better off doing a pickup swap on a standard Strat, IMO.
 
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GreatRedDragon said:
Without the Floyd you're better off doing a pickup swap on a standard Strat, IMO.
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You'd need a new neck with different radius, brass nut, brass block on trem, jumbo frets, swap some electronics. I have a couple hss and they sound more stratty, less EVHy.
 
I feel the need to say that this mass production basswood ‘Eruption’ model was no more intended to be a true ‘replica’ of the OG B/W Frank guitar than the current mass produced basswood ‘Franky’ was intended to be a replica of the limited edition Chip Ellis Red Frankenstein. If you want the 21 Fret, 12” radius, Northern Hard Ash version, they made and sold that one as the ‘78 Eruption. Get out your checkbook. Just like the limited production Chip Ellis Red Frankenstein. This guitar - and the basswood Red Relic Franky - are intended to be decent quality, mass produced, fun guitars. And for that purpose, at that price point, I think they are just fine.
 
LPMojoGL said:
You'd need a new neck with different radius, brass nut, brass block on trem, jumbo frets, swap some electronics. I have a couple hss and they sound more stratty, less EVHy.
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You don't "need" any of that... like yeah sure it helps but at the end of the day it's just a Strat with a Wolfgang pickup. A Player Plus Strat is $1000 with a 12" radius, satin finished neck, two-point trem and locking tuners. Put the same Wolfgang pickup in it and you've got a better guitar for less money than the Eruption.
 
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