What's Behind The Charvel EVH Guitars Strategy?

[Strat God]

Ever stop and wonder why a company (owned by Fender) would bother spending the huge dollars tooling up a new signature instrument, allocating millions of dollars in marketing to promote it, paying Eddie and lawyer fees for the EVH association, and agreeing to pay all the trailing costs with all this?

It just seems odd to me that Charvel/Fender would want to put all this money behind a guy who, as far as we know, is in the autumn of his career..

....UNLESS......there is more behind the story.

It makes GREAT sense to do this is in 2004 and "plant the seeds" for a 2007 30th reunion, or album, or tour, or reissues to be released -OR ALL OF IT.

I believe 2007 is the "Year of VH" and we'll see the biggest marketing launch in music history.

[kentcarlevi]

Another thing that I've been thinking is why Eddie quited the Peavey deal unless he's up to something.
If he never was thinking of launching a new amp and/or guitar, why bother brake the current deal?
I personally believe he will release something in the future but launching that without a record or something else to back that up is just stupid.
I think that IF something will happen, everything will prabably come at the same time.
Therefore I agree with you that 2007 might just be a VH year!

[kowski]

Another thing that I've been thinking is why Eddie quited the Peavey deal unless he's up to something.
If he never was thinking of launching a new amp and/or guitar, why bother brake the current deal?

Well he does have a new amp, and he has talked about designing a prototype for his new Wolfgang. And even if he doesn't have any new music coming out or any spectacular plans, there are some people that will still buy his gear because they like him, and there are some people who will buy it because they just like the gear in general.

[scs5150]

Because you can sell a $400.00 guitar for $2400.00. That's why.

[Axxman300]

Ever stop and wonder why a company (owned by Fender) would bother spending the huge dollars tooling up a new signature instrument, allocating millions of dollars in marketing to promote it, paying Eddie and lawyer fees for the EVH association, and agreeing to pay all the trailing costs with all this?

It just seems odd to me that Charvel/Fender would want to put all this money behind a guy who, as far as we know, is in the autumn of his career..

....UNLESS......there is more behind the story.

It makes GREAT sense to do this is in 2004 and "plant the seeds" for a 2007 30th reunion, or album, or tour, or reissues to be released -OR ALL OF IT.

I believe 2007 is the "Year of VH" and we'll see the biggest marketing launch in music history.

Uhhh.....No.

That deal was done in 2004, maybe to capitalize with that reunion tour.

The strategy is to market a guitar to a rabid niche, Van Halen freaks. Although, personally I'd prefer Rol's guitar work, and would rather give him the business any day to have him "EDDIFY" a strat body. Saddley, most collectors don't know about Rol's and maybe Ed's lawyers have asked him to stop. Anyway, the Charvels are a nifty collectable and I bet that many of them have been sold to guys who've never played a note in their life and the guitar is behind glass in their office.

They are nice guitars, much nicer than the real Frankenstein, which is what makes them ironic.

I don't think they are an indicator of a CVH reunion.

[Strat God]

Uhhh.....No.

That deal was done in 2004, maybe to capitalize with that reunion tour.

The strategy is to market a guitar to a rabid niche, Van Halen freaks. Although, personally I'd prefer Rol's guitar work, and would rather give him the business any day to have him "EDDIFY" a strat body. Saddley, most collectors don't know about Rol's and maybe Ed's lawyers have asked him to stop. Anyway, the Charvels are a nifty collectable and I bet that many of them have been sold to guys who've never played a note in their life and the guitar is behind glass in their office.

They are nice guitars, much nicer than the real Frankenstein, which is what makes them ironic.

I don't think they are an indicator of a CVH reunion.

Hmmm....how would Charvel capitalize when he's playing Peavey? The rabid niche isn't large enough to support the costs involved. Maybe you're right, but then again................

[Berseker]

Remember, but correct me if I'm wrong, that this series is a limited one so I don't think the strategy, if there's one, behind it is that big or should be too much looked into.
In my opinion, this is just a limited, special run, nothing more and shouldn't be considered as EVH real new model which has yet to be revealed.

[mookie5]

Remember, but correct me if I'm wrong, that this series is a limited one so I don't think the strategy, if there's one, behind it is that big or should be too much looked into.
In my opinion, this is just a limited, special run, nothing more and shouldn't be considered as EVH real new model which has yet to be revealed.

I agree. Quick cash for a guy who probably doesn`t need it but as far as I can tell Charvel does. The division hasn`t had much success since the late 80`s/ early 90`s. The last good ones were the San Dimas series and they weren`t even that great with the exception of a couple of Koa bodies. I have a EB van halen model and I have owned the early wolfies. Nothing holds a candle to the EB MM. The guitar is sick. The wolfies remind me of a guitar built on an assembly line. The EB MM feels more like a hand made guitar. Better wood for sure. I think the pickups have significantly more life to them as well. The EBMM really lives up to the hype that came with it.

[Foamfoot]

....UNLESS......there is more behind the story.

It makes GREAT sense to do this is in 2004 and "plant the seeds" for a 2007 30th reunion, or album, or tour, or reissues to be released -OR ALL OF IT.

I think you're over-thinking it. Charvel made their $$$ in '04... I'm guessing that's as far as it went. I don't think there's some secret plan in the works. It's just a rock band.

But, I'd love if 2007 is, in fact, the year of VH!!!

[Zahzoo]

Charvel/Fender didn't retool anything nor dump a bunch of money into this project. They pretty much used stock bodies and necks, added EVH approved pickups.

The only tooling that took place was for the paint schemes and those were done in batch runs.

The reason Ed did this whole deal was to counter all the copiers out there and he found a major manufactuer to do it. Ed set about in 2000 to enforce all of his copyright and trademark protections then went after the replica builders and all the fan websites using his stripe pattern. The only way he could keep the stripe trademark viable was to produce a product with it. He knew fans wanted these so he finally just put out his own line.

The $2300 price covers about a $400 - 600 guitar, a premium for US made and assembled parts (What's the difference between Mexicans making guitars in Mexico and Mexicans making guitars in California?? None)... a huge licensing fee for the stripes, which is how Ed makes his money. Finally a big profit for Fender...

Take that and a few thousand fools who just had to have one and you get the EVH Art Series market...

[Strat God]

Charvel/Fender didn't retool anything nor dump a bunch of money into this project. They pretty much used stock bodies and necks, added EVH approved pickups.

The only tooling that took place was for the paint schemes and those were done in batch runs.

The reason Ed did this whole deal was to counter all the copiers out there and he found a major manufactuer to do it. Ed set about in 2000 to enforce all of his copyright and trademark protections then went after the replica builders and all the fan websites using his stripe pattern. The only way he could keep the stripe trademark viable was to produce a product with it. He knew fans wanted these so he finally just put out his own line.

The $2300 price covers about a $400 - 600 guitar, a premium for US made and assembled parts (What's the difference between Mexicans making guitars in Mexico and Mexicans making guitars in California?? None)... a huge licensing fee for the stripes, which is how Ed makes his money. Finally a big profit for Fender...

Take that and a few thousand fools who just had to have one and you get the EVH Art Series market...

Batch runs for custom paint? Let's see.... that would then be a Custom-Shop order, right? Charvel Custom-Shop orders never run $400-$600. add a "one" in front maybe. Also, there is a huge difference in Mexican vs. US build in resale values. The EVH neck specifications cannot be ordered searately, nor can the pickup. I know this because I'm one of those "fools" who invested in EVH guitars. P.S. I'm really glad I did.

[Jape Man]

He's a living legend, plain and simple. Fender would be crazy not to work with him, regardless of what he has planned for the band.

[Strat God]

He's a living legend, plain and simple. Fender would be crazy not to work with him, regardless of what he has planned for the band.

True. You got a point there.

[Zahzoo]

Batch runs for custom paint? Let's see.... that would then be a Custom-Shop order, right? Charvel Custom-Shop orders never run $400-$600. add a "one" in front maybe. Also, there is a huge difference in Mexican vs. US build in resale values. The EVH neck specifications cannot be ordered searately, nor can the pickup. I know this because I'm one of those "fools" who invested in EVH guitars. P.S. I'm really glad I did.

I'm not sure where the "custom" part comes into play... Ed doesn't pop by and hand tape the bodies for em. There were 3 proto-types produced by Ed that were used to build the paint templates. They ran the production in batches based on the 3 color options. Doubtful they've even had a 2nd production run as these things aren't flying off the shelf. These are not to be confused with the 90 blanks Ed did himself and were auctioned off during the 2004 tour.

I don't see where these necks have anything all that unique to them. They are a standard strat neck cut for a locking nut. Specifications on radius and width may differ from certain product lines but that's just a minor reprogramming of the neck mill specs. The necks are very similar to the San Dimas limited edition specs. 1 5/8 width nut, compound radius, & 25 1/2" scale.

I don't know about resale for Mexican -vs- US made guitars... I buy em for playablility, tone and feel. I have mexican strats that outperform US stds and customs at half the price.

If the EVH stripe thing floats your boat fine and good for you. To me it's Ed's thing and I wouldn't be caught dead playing one in public unless you do a VH tribute thing. Maybe the fool statement wasn't very nice but I can buy and/or build a very comparable guitar for about $400-600. I just can't justify the $1600-1900 premium for a paint job.

If you love your EVH Art Series... cool. Rock on!!

[ncbuckeye3]

"Ever stop and wonder why a company (owned by Fender) would bother spending the huge dollars tooling up a new signature instrument, allocating millions of dollars in marketing to promote it, paying Eddie and lawyer fees for the EVH association, and agreeing to pay all the trailing costs with all this?

It just seems odd to me that Charvel/Fender would want to put all this money behind a guy who, as far as we know, is in the autumn of his career..

....UNLESS......there is more behind the story.

It makes GREAT sense to do this is in 2004 and "plant the seeds" for a 2007 30th reunion, or album, or tour, or reissues to be released -OR ALL OF IT."


Fender makes or has made Hendrix, Gallagher, and Vaughan models, and they are dead. They don't have to make a model to capitalize on an upcoming tour. All it is is a guitar with a special paintjob, and that is about it. Not too hard to produce en masse.