Two Eddie Van Halen-Customized and Played Guitars Are Up for Auction

Two guitars custom-designed and played by Eddie Van Halen are headed to the auction block.

The 2004 EVH Charvel Art Series and Van Halen-built (with the help of his guitar tech, Matt Bruck) guitars will go under the hammer as part of Julien’s upcoming Icons & Idols Trilogy: Rock 'N' Roll auction on December 4 and 5.

The custom, Van Halen/Bruck-built guitar – constructed at Van Halen's 5150 home studio – features a red body with white and black stripes designed and applied by Van Halen, plus a maple neck and fingerboard with dot inlays, a pointed Kramer headstock with Kramer machine heads, a single humbucker pickup and a Floyd Rose tremolo.

Bearing the serial number F 0024, the guitar was gifted to Bryan Cash – the owner of Cash's Centenary Oyster House in Shreveport, Louisiana, where the instrument was displayed – in 1991. It's inscribed “Yo - / Bryan / Let's get / shucked / up / Eddie Van Halen / 5150.” It also includes a white Van Halen guitar pick and two backstage passes.

The other guitar on the block is a 2004 EVH Charvel Art Series model, handstriped with the same design as the 1978 Van Halen guitar. Featuring a maple neck and fingerboard, plus a Strat-style headstock numbered #54 on the back, it's signed by Van Halen, initialed "VH 04" and inscribed with “San Antonio Texas / 9-28-04.” 

Its EVH humbucking pickup features a noticeable cigarette burn, and it comes with multiple photos of the guitarist hand-applying taped stripes to the guitar, and playing the guitar on stage at that September 28, 2004 Van Halen show in San Antonio. Finally, the guitar comes with an EVH hardshell case featuring a partly smoked cigarette in a plastic vial (!).

The two guitars are valued at $40,000 – $80,000 each.

For more info on the Icons & Idols: Rock 'N' Roll auction, stop by juliensauctions.com.