Eddie Van Halen's Fender Wolfgang Guitar Hits the Streets Today

Eddie van Halen's much anticipated Fender Wolfgang finally hits stores today for guitar enthusiasts the world over. According to Eddie, this guitar is the culmination of all of his experience in playing and creating guitars. The guitar is named after his son, Wolfgang, who is currently in the twelfth grade. The Fender Wolfgang is available for $3000.

In an exclusive interview with Eddie van Halen in Guitar World in November 2008, he left no room for error in his alleged masterpiece:

"The tolerance of things on this guitar is like NASA standards. It had to be tight, and it had to be quality," he stated, "It was a matter of closing my eyes and feeling it. We went back to some of my earlier guitars, like the striped guitar I had back in 1984. That's the way I like it to feel. It's nice. It's like a sexy woman."

The Fender Wolfgang is an updated version of Eddie Van Halen's earlier guitar, the Peavey Wolfgangs. The new guitar has a variety of tweaks on the earlier model that Wikipedia states will "provide more tonal resonance but with a balanced high sustain."

The Fender Wolfgang is available in three different colors: black, vintage white, and tobacco burst. It is composed of a basswood core, a maple top, and a quarter sawn maple neck. The official website lists the unique features of the guitar include: "hard mount pickups; Magna Coatings paint, 2 graphite neck reinforcement rods, Schaller chrome string retainer, EVH D-Tuna, and a square jack plate."

The Fender Wolfgang has been in the pipeline since its original conception in May 2006. The lead designer and builder of the guitar is Chip Ellis. Prototypes of the guitar were used and improved upon during Eddie van Halen's world wide tour in 2007 and 2008. Eddie van Halen is no stranger to guitar design. He conceived and built the original guitar used in the Van Halen glory days, the "Frankenstein" back in 1978, and he has been part of the process of making custom made guitars ever since. Frankenstein replicas were made by Fender in 2007. Eddie van Halen continues to carry the Frankenstein replica on his website as well as amplifiers, accessories, and, coming soon, shoes.