EVH Striped Series - Red with Black and White Stripes Reviews

Surprised with everything: fit and finish, basswood tone, EVH Floyd, frets, hard decked tremelo... I usually go for the custom shop models, expensive models thinking I am getting what I pay for with: ESP, Charvel Custom Shop, Les Paul Custom Shop, etc... These expesive guitars are awesome. The rift sawn neck wood is amazing with some tiger in it, and with a glass like finish if you hit the satin urathane with 1500 grit 3M paper. I got lucky and picked out a rift sawn fretboard as well. If you shop like one out of 20 will be this way, just as well as the MIM Charvels. I have purchased guitars made out of the USA models three times at Sweetwater and sent all three back due to poor fit and finish, flaws, problems with frets, junk 1000 series Floyds, not all are, but some are terrible rough threads at the fine tuners, like plier tight, etc... This EVH here is either I got the one they made for Ed to inspect, or they are really good guitars. I say this because this is my best playing and sounding guitar I have now! Paired with the EVH 50 Watt Stealth amp it is glorious. Ed was correct when he said if you play one of my guitars and one of my amps you will like it. I should have bought four of these and saved about 19,000 dollars. The neck is just a tad different than a Fender C as in smaller, and fast like a charvel but not as wide in the hand from the 12th one. If you try one I hope you get one like I did and I just did not get lucky. About the EVH Floyd. The threads are better than a 1000 series. They are not quite as smooth as a German Floyd. I do not like the 1000 series fit and finish at all on that Korean Floyd. They must be doing something different with this EVH Korean Floyd, as I will keep it on and not upgrade to the German. The springs are awesome as set from factory. I thought I would try some Green and Red Floyed springs, no go, returned to the factory springs and factory position which is nearly all the way up. The guitars setting are optimum in my experiece as set at factory.

The neck feels awesome. It's fast, and comfortable. From chords to lead lines, it is great. I have liked and predominantly used 'unfinished' necks for a long time. This is the first maple fretboard I have ever liked too. In fairness though, I have only played fender style maple fretboards, and I just cannot stand the feel of lacquer or urethane on a fretboard. I love the feel of this as much as I like ebony.

It put a smile on my face as soon as I hit a big open E chord. It just rang out with sound. I wasn't plugged in, and did not plug in for the first couple of days. I just played it unplugged, and it sounds great that way! Chords. Riffs. Lead lines. They all just jumped right out. That all came through once I plugged it in.

Overall, just a fantastic playing guitar.

So, as the title of my review says, "Is it worth the price?"

The answer is definitely YES!

Now, as some other reviews have mentioned, this guitar has some pretty basic features compared to others in its price range. One pickup, one volume control. A great direct comparison is a Charvel San Dimas. That gets you pretty much the same neck, and extra pickup (And it comes with good pickups also) as well as back routing for a floating Floyd Rose setup. On paper, the Charvel wins, being slightly cheaper than even the white/black and yellow/black EVH models.

Lacking the neck pickup, the EVH get's you a D-Tuna, non-floating floyd setup and hand painted stripes. Yeah, I know, hand painted stripes won't do anything for actual tone, but that non-floating bridge will. Is it huge? No. but it is there. And the paint job is very well done.

At this point, I think a more appropriate question and comparison of "Is it worth the price" is "Is this the right guitar for me?" Full disclosure - my next guitar is going to be one of the Charvel San Dimas models I am making a direct comparison to. A little bit of history first.

Step back to 1984. I bought my first electric guitar. A red Harmony Flying V for $40 from a junk shop. It had really bad pickups. A friend gave me a broken Seymour Duncan hum-bucker. It was missing the magnets, and don't ask me how this worked, but somehow we cobbled it working with the magnets from my single coils, chiseled out the body a bit and got the hum-bucker wired in to the volume and output, and it sounded hot! Not long after, I put black and white stripes on with colored electrical tape.

I cannot deny at all this new EVH gives me a ton of nostalgia. This is the guitar I wished I had that so many years ago. But, it also gives me more too, and reminds me of things learned at that time, and forget at times, and have to relearn again. Things like, I don't need tons of pickup configurations to get different tones. I can pick closer to the neck, closer to the bridge, roll back on the volume pot. Playing becomes a much more organic experience at that time. In a way, it's like modelers and racks. Sure, you can have hundreds of different patches, but get one or two good ones, and you can make the guitar do the rest.

I prefer simple guitars that way. Even when I have one with two pickups, I rarely use the tone control. Just volume knob, and changing where I pick. And this guitar does an excellent job of responding when played like that. And the Wolfgang pickup transfers that response just as well. Just by changing picking position, I took my crunch sound and went from AC/DC to BTO to SRV and more. It responds that well.

Now, a lot of that is due to not being a floating Floyd. No float? More tone. Enough to matter? Maybe. Depends on style, sound. Easier bends. Much easier double stop bends. Break string? Still in tune. Drop D? Still in tune. Nice advantages there.

But, that brings me down to my one possible complaint about the guitar. And it's not so much a complaint, but possibly a spec issue. The factory specs for action and setup are really good, and this guitar can actually deliver on these specs. Yay! Due to the compound radius, .01mm clearance relief at 8th fret (1st and 17th fretted). That is *really* flat. With that set, 1.5mm clearance at 12th fret. That is really low. And on this neck, it is very playable that way.

The problem comes in, when I set it that way, my Floyd dips back enough that the FR itself is not resting on the body of the guitar, but the D-Tuna hits it first. A couple of other reviewers mentioned this, easily solvable with a tremelo stopper. That works, but it does minimize contact to a smaller point. Is that bad? Not necessarily. In fact, from what I can see from pictures of Eddie's original Frankenstein (And replicas) he actually 'blocked' the trem by putting a quarter between the trem and the body.

It is still solid contact vs floating, so easy enough to accomplish. For myself though, I will try shimming the neck first. If I cannot get it set the way I would like with shims, I will go with the trem stopper route. I expect that will work, and if it does, I will be drilling holes and screwing a quarter in to the body, just because. :)

I love this guitar. After making some upgrades, this guitar lives up to the hype, and at a reasonable cost to boot. First, I replaced the springs and added a trem stop. This keeps the Floyd Rose level with the surface of the body, giving the D-TUNA some much needed clearance. Next, I added a big brass block. This both increased the sustain and accentuated the tone. Lastly, and most importantly, I swapped the Wolfgang pickup for a Frankenstein one. I now have a guitar that plays and sounds incredible! It sounds as good as the $25k replica, plays like a dream, and everything including this guitar, all of the parts and a new EVH hardshell case... What are you waiting for?

I have been a Gibson Les Paul player exclusively since 1982. I bought the EVH Bumble Bee first and upon playing it I bought the White with black stripes and then I bought this one. These Guitars are FANTASTIC and the service from Alan Finkbeiner and Sweetwater is unmatched anywhere. Guitar Center who?

It is the best guitar I have ever owned. I would highly recommend it and the purchaseing experience was a great with a lot of support. Thank you Sweetwater

I was assuming a premium on the price for the iconic graphics, but let me tell you, this guitar absolutely is a PLAYER! I feel it outplays its price easily. I have been playing for about 27 years, own/owned dozens of guitars, and am absolutely in lust with this beast.

The only issue I had was the screws for the nut extended a couple threads higher than they should and the locking nuts would not fully clamp the strings. If you have any issues with it going out of tune, check that. It was a 30 second fix, just remove the screws one at the time and add a washer, problem solved. I cannot get this guitar to go outta tune now if I tried. The tone and harmonic response is excellent, the Wolfgang pickup compliments the basswood body well.

The fretboard WILL get dirty very quickly, so clean it after playing and wash your hands before playing if that matters to you. I like it with a well used look though, and the oils from our skin will condition the neck nicely over time. It gives it more of an original Franky look anyway.

Bottom line is if you want an EVH brown sound tone, this guitar will help get you there. It makes me want to learn every note from the Roth era albums. I plugged it in, put on a brown sound patch for the Pod 500x, and ripped into Mean Street, Panama, and a few others.....it put me right in the zone. The neck feels great, thought it may fight me being so used to wizard style necks, but it is so easy to maneuver. BUY THIS GUITAR!

Absolute quality, playability and beyond excellent action and tone!

I have the white striped one and getting a second one in red stripes. This guitar is worth much more than what you pay for it. You are paying for the incredible tone that comes from the setup of the guitar; the quality and playability of the neck, the tight action, the direct mount pickup with special windings and the incredible Floyd Rose with D-Tuna that you can do endless full dives with without the guiitar going out of tune (Once the strings have been properly stretched). I have been playing for about 50 years. This is it ! The most incredible sounding rock guitar I have ever played and also the easiest. Only a REAL PLAYER would know

Plays great. Looks really good. All is well! EVH, Put The Output On The Top Of The Guitar!!! DEAL breaker. I bought this here at Sweetwater. I also bought the other Striped series plus the 2k Frankie. The output jack has to be on the top. I actually gave this guitar to a buddy of mine because I couldn't look at it any longer.

Great looks even better player. For the people who don't seem to realize this is a tribute guitar to the frankinstrat. Yeah it's a bit over priced but look at it! If you don't like evh then this is not for you. The only down side I can say about this guitar is when I went to change out the block to a bigger brass block I had to cut out some space in the back so it fit. Why eddie and fender wouldn't make a larger area for this type of mod really made no sense. The wolfs all have plenty of room for a big block. But it wasn't that big a deal. The tone is amazing the sustain is over the top and it even cleans up nice when you roll the volume back. All in all this guitar is exactly what I wanted it to be. Also sweetwater had it to me the day after I ordered it!

Awesome guitar! Right out of the box. For the time being I don't want to play anything else.

Bought a demo model and got it a little cheaper but plays great, feels like it's already broken in. I think the pickup could be a little better wish it had the actual Frankenstein pickup but everything else is flawless. Had issue with body cracking under the Floyd but sweetwater is replacing the guitar under their warranty. I have no complaints there as they stay in full contact with their customers.

Very happy with the guitar and purchase experience - the striped series does what you expect- guitar looks and sounds great. I also own an Amber colored first Music Man EVH signature line ever made and the neck on this Fender model is much wider on the surface area than that one but within a few times playing and breaking in it already feels comfortable. Was nervous about ordering a musical instrument online but the guitar arrived quickly and was in perfect shape- not a single mark or scratch like it's supposed to be. I own about 6 guitars and this was the first I ever bought online.

I love everything about the guitar , but ( there's always a but!) the volume pot sucks! It's a Van Halen guitar
you would expect to play Van Halen, If I do cathedral ,there's a lot of static on the swells. Hopefully I can get a better one>

I got the opportunity to play one of these guitars recently. I sent about 30-minutes with it and I love the feel and tone. If you love those original single humbucker Kramer guitars from the late 80's you'll be in heaven when playing this guitar. My only gripe here is the street price is several hundred dollars too high for such a basic instrument built in Mexico. The Fender Standard Stratocaster has more hardware and is built in the same factory it four hundred dollars less! I understand EVH has to get a commission of each sell and paint job is custom. The custom paint and the cost of the Floyd Rose may be worth an extra hundred or so, but overall I just feel like the price for what you get here is not such a great deal.