EVH Striped Series 5150 - Red, Black and White Reviews

I purchased this about a year ago. Fell in love with it when I played it at my buddy's house when 4 old friends got together to jam on a few old Sabbath tunes that I was playing bass on. I couldn't believe how smooth it played, the neck is just buttery smooth, and that sound out of just 1 pick up? Just incredible! Now I'm no shredder on guitar, I'm a huge Rush fan and love all the classic prog, rock and metal bands, and I have to say that this 5150 has inspired me to learn some VH tunes and step up my playing. I'm not a gigging musician, I just like to have some fun playing with friends. The other guitars I have are a Fender Tele, Gibson LP, PRS S2, 2 Ibanezes, and 3 different basses. This is my go to guitar anymore. I know this may sound like being a fanboy but If it has Eddie's name on it - it's got to be good! And this one is!
Oh and did I mention the D Tuna? Again, simply genius, you get drop D tuning by pulling the "tube" on the low E tremolo string screw.

Bought my 1st EVH guitar (Wolfgang model) a few months ago and can't tell you how much I love it! Been playing for over 45-years, had a lot of electric's over the years and this guitar is the best quality and overall "playability" I've ever owned. It begs to be shredded and has the best overall "feel" for the price.
It helps when you've got a great wife that asked why I didn't "go for it" and get the iconic striped 5150 model. I took that as a "green light" so I just picked up my 2nd EVH.... I cannot tell you how happy I am with the quality and feel of these guitars. They are simply badass!! If you want to save money you can't go wrong with a Wolfgang. If you're old like me and were forever changed by the 1st chord you heard from Eddie, then reward yourself with the 5150 Striped model. I'm w/ Sweetwater for life, best customer service out there. Sorry it took so long to find you guys-

Ok first Im mainly a Fying V and Explorer guy. But Eddie is one of my biggest influences and we play quite a bit of classic Van Halen in my band. Normally i work the neck and tuning machines for dives and squeals but wanted something in the EVH category for more authenticity. I settled on the 5150 because it has everything youd recognize and need but the hockey stick headstock--which is extra cool and similiar to my explorer. I made the right choice. This guitar is absolutely flawless. The neck shape is what id call perfect. The fretwork is immaculate. The pickup is high gain but retains ALL clarity-(really like to know how they pulled that one off) That volume pot is almost too smooth. I know people are gonna complain about the FR1000 floyd being made overseas but it stays in tune perfectly and does what its supposed to and i have this set up with 10s. I may upgrade the FR later on--we'll see. Everything about this guitar feels perfect for my playing style and fits my hand like an extenstion of my body. Its light weight and the finish on the neck is amazing and smooth. I cant put it down. I liked it so much i picked up a damaged one, repainted, and branded with my name. Thats how much i love how this guitar plays. May even pick up Frankie in the future now. They are making amaxing stuff in the mexican factory. My sales guy Issac Melton was sooo helpful in getting me everything I need. Total class act. And he followed up about a week later to see how i was digging the guitar. Id talk to him if you need one of these. Anyway you cant go wrong with this guitar. Ill include a pic of the 5150 below and the 5150 i repaired and painted

I have been in love with this guitar since 1986 and I decided to splurge and buy it. No regrets. Absolutely stunning finish, butter smooth fret board, killer sound. I LOVE this guitar.

First off I want to say that ever since I'd seen the Panama video, way back in 84'...I wanted that guitar!!! Now, I know it's not the real thing, but **** CLOSE!!!
I bought this guitar as an early 50th birthday present for myself. I wanted to play it for my Father, but unfortunately, he passed away in February. He's the reason I play guitar and the reason I am a Van Halen fan for 40+ years.
This guitar is everything it's cracked up to be!!!
The action is incredibly smooth, the tone is "Brown" and it's surprisingly light weight. This guitar is a must have in any collection and it's so hard to put it down. It's iconic look, sound and feel is second to none.

I wanted one of these since they were available. I bought a demo and had it put on the PLEK machine before delivery. It's really amazing. The neck is like butter and it's exactly what I hoped it would be and more. I did do some upgrades on the Floyd Rose from Futone which really put it over the top. Love it and no matter what guitar you get from Sweetwater consider the PLEK option. It's worth every penny. Great customer service to boot.

An absolute stunner. No regrets with one at all and pictures do not do this thing any justice. Seriously the only one negative thing that I can say is that it didn't come with some kind of case or at the very least a gig bag. Come on Eddie it's a higher end guitar and I have no problem at all shelling out the money for quality but a little kickback wouldn't hurt...

I love this guitar. I've been considering it since it was released at NAMM in January and finally put one on order. It plays like a dream and it looks like I think it should. The look of the guitar makes me feel like I'm watching "Live Without a Net." The pickup sounds fantastic and is easy to clean up with the oh so smooth volume knob.

The D-Tuna works perfectly and my guitar was set up very well. This is simply the best import (Mexico) guitar that I've put my hands on.

Sweetwater makes things so easy. My sales engineer was great and I buy without worry.

Guitar arrived and I immediately tore open the box. It is absolutely stunning. Most guitars made overseas or in Mexico lack a certain level of refinement...not this one. Everything fits perfectly. No shortcuts taken in the manufacturing process. I was really surprised by the quality and it plays incredibly well. And I am one to pick everything apart, nothing gets by me. The action is perfect up and down the board. Not fret buzzing at all. However, whoever set this up - awful job. The tremolo plate sat at a 45 degree angle with the D-Tuna buried into the finish of the guitar! And the intonation was completely off. I had to spend a good hour setting the guitar up. Other than that - yeah the guitar is awesome and it arrived so quick. Great job from Sweetwater (except whoever set this thing up before it shipped).

guitar itself is great. the set up was great. my dealings with the sales staff was great. this is the only store i will deal with without worry

I've dreamed about owning a guitar like this since I saw the Panama video 33 years ago in 1984. I must say, I'm in awe of the feel, the tone, the finish. This guitar ROCKS! Right out of the box, perfectly in tune, perfect action and the near frictionless volume potentiometer is just the tip of the iceberg. The EVH Floyd Rose is perfectly balanced and tensioned. I'm blown away. I got mine. You get yours!
SweetWater is a class act! I've never had better service from a more courteous, knowledgeable and professional group of people at any other music store anywhere!
Thank You SweetWater!

The 5150 guitar of my youth, the stripes, same body style, a slight difference in the headstock and in my opinion a really good use and placement of the EVH logo. The headstock and logo are what kept me from buying the original striped series....I always thought it cheapened the look and those were a more "inspired by" design vs something more authentic to the real deal. These are my thoughts as I ordered it. Fast forward almost five months later....

So this thing is made in Mexico not in the USA - this should NOT deter you from buying. The guitar arrived in tune from its packaging. First eyes on it were "holy s*** this thing looks awesome. It's a light body, the neck feels excellent with its compound radius wide in the right places. Fit and finish are excellent. And those stripes, decal and stars.....in satin finish.....you just have to see and feel it. Pictures look great and in person it's even better. One thing that took a second to get used to was the back of the headstock. There's a slight laquer finish to the red part of the back of the headstock which on the surface might feel weird, but this is similar to the EVH Ernie Ball Music Man headstock backs. It took a minute to get used to it, but that's just how it is and does not impede playability. I hang my guitars so this will likely be a good thing at the end of the day.

The pickup is phenomenal. Very articulate and responsive....it actually is more precise and articulate than my Gibson Custom shop LP. Great balance with high notes, low notes, chords, tapping...how did they pull this off. Kudos on the pickup.

Is this guitar for everybody? I would say yes for feel, sound and build quality. But having this with 5150/stripes, god I just love this thing.

I could tell the guitar looked cool. I was worried about two things: 1. Would it sound good and action feel right? & 2. Does the fact that it's not made in America (made in Mexico) make a negative difference? It's all good news in my opinion. The pickup is top notch, I think it's an Alnico 2 or something similar. The volume rolls off distortion to give you that Eddie slight overdrive. The action plays perfect, feels great, could be Sweetwaters 55 point inspection. The neck is totally unfinished on the back which gives it a gritty feel, which I am not used to, but I have grown to like it. It only says Made in Mexico on the back plate that connects the neck to the body, not on the headstock. I can now honestly say I don't notice a difference between Mexican made or USA made.

I knew I had to have this EVH version of Eddie's iconic Kramer 5150 Baretta guitar when it was announced at NAMM 2017. The hockey stick head-stock is not for everyone but I thought the original in the early 80's was way cool and I think this version is just as cool making it a must have for me.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when I ordered this guitar as I already have some quality guitars in my collection, but I was pleasantly surprised at the build quality of this made in "Mexico" series guitar by EVH.

Sweetwater provides competitive pricing and their service has always been fantastic. The guitar was delivered on time and in perfect condition. At this price range the guitar does not come with a case or a gig bag, however, it is shipped wrapped in foam and double boxed for protection. I understand that Eddie does not use a floating Floyd bridge and EVH sets these guitars up with the bridge slammed to the body. I prefer a floating bridge so I took some time to set the Floyd level with the body and lower the strings a tad. I also prefer Schaller strap locks so I bolted on a set and was ready to go!

The custom Wolfgang pickup really delivers that famous Eddie "Brown" tone and from the first pick slide to those oh so fun dive-bombs you are transported back in time to your favorite Van Halen tones of your childhood. I haven't had this much fun with a new guitar in a long time. The guitar plays and sounds great, it looks amazing when you are playing it or when fondly looking upon it as it is hanging on the wall. The neck is flat and wide, silky smooth and the frets are dressed well. It is one of the best necks I have ever played in this price range, I am really liking the neck.

If you are a fan of Eddie's then I think you will really appreciate this unique guitar. It looks amazing, it plays very well, the tone is spot on and it makes you want to play those ever challenging Van Halen songs of your youth. I definitely recommend it for a good time!

First, I'm comparing this to a Wolfgang Standard from about a year prior; for those not familiar, let me start with basics. It's a maple fretboard on a maple neck in a superstrat body with one humbucker. The neck has little or no finish, like there's just some light oil that doesn't affect the color. Fretboard radius is compound, something Jackson & Charvel were doing in the 80's and I love it. The neck profile is a little thinner under the G/B/E strings, and somehow this one feels slightly different than my Wolfgang, but that could be body shape. Truss rod is adjusted at the body using the little mousetrap looking wheel. Body is some wood I don't care much about - alder or basswood? Finish is a matte red sprayed over white with (this is my guess) black stripes printed on last. The stickers are applied with nothing over them, so they will probably start to peel a bit at the corners at some point, but my guess is that this is supposed to be a visually accurate replica of the original 5150 before the headstock split. Bridge is an EVH branded Floyd, not the original Floyd. These are supposed to be a slightly different bridge with no gaps between the saddles, although I'd swear I can see gaps. Nut is screwed thru the neck. Pickup is an EVH bridge mounted direct to the body, probably about 16-18K, volume is a 500K that you can adjust by breathing on it. The knob is a plastic press-on that reminds me of MXR pedals. On my Wolfgang they used set-screw retained knobs. Press on is cheaper, but you don't have to worry about set screws backing out. I've heard complaints about EVH tuners, but not seen any issues on the 5150 or my Wolfgang. It's made in the Ensenada, Mexico Fender factory, and is as good or better quality than an American strat I had from the early 90's.

Frets are jumbos with no jagged ends at all. No high frets. Really good setup, and I like that this was designed to be a dive-only setup. There is no need for anything in the back of the body for the bridge to rest against. This showed up with the same spring setup as the Wolf - 2 springs, in the 1st / 5th hole on the bridge block, 2nd / 4th hole on the claw.

The D-Tuna is interesting. These show up on all EVH guitars -to include the 78 white/black strat, the yellow / black superstrat, the Frankie, and the 5150- with a floyd now, which is kind of weird since they didn't appear until the EB/MM and Peavey WG guitars. It's not something you have to use, but I'm sure there are some people who might want a soft or hard case more than an instant drop D. My biggest beef with the D-Tuna is documentation. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think there is enough knowledge going around so that people know you don't use the fine tuner on the 6th string if it has a D-Tuna; you back the fine tuner out and use the little allen wrench. Maybe the only drawback when using the D-Tuna is that it raises/lowers the string height, so you might get more buzz, but it's the sixth string so who really cares.

The only negative I could find is that these guitars are priced really high, and I'm guessing there is some combo of supply chain issues plus October 2020 events multiplied by somebody's kid needs some way to make a ton of money off the music industry and I don't know how much faith there is in WGM doing this. For this price, there should be at least a gig bag or a cheap case to keep dust off of it. Even a $25 dollar guitar stand would feel like less of a kick to the groin of your bank account.

I purchased one of these. Sorry but having a Music man axis a Peavy USA wolfgang. These Evh guitars are good. But not worth it. Quality is just not there. If most of the evh guitars were half the money maybe. Sorry my honest opnion. Now if they made them in japan or Indonesia. Maybe.

After a decent amount of time since receiving my EVH Stripe Series 5150 guitar (summer 2021) and having rec'd it back after significant warranty work completed in Oct 2021, I'm able to provide some very honest although not positive feedback on this item. The country of manufacturer (Mexico) is suspect and not ideal for quality control during assembly of the guitar which I believe have lead to intonation issues while using the Floyd Rose tremolo system. Immediately after receiving the guitar, there were issues tuning and keeping the guitar in tune for even a few minutes of playing after
locking the Floyd Rose nut. The strings would go both sharp and/or flat immediately after locking causing me to spend a lot of time with the fine tuners. Eventually you'd have to retune again and again within the same session of playing. After a few months I sought out help from Sweetwater. They asked I bring the guitar to a local luthier who would honor the EVH warranty for assessment and repair. The luthier showed me a measurable gap between the end of the fret board and the nut which was the cause of intonation issues. The luthier said he was able to repair the gap and the guitar was playable and tunable for a decent amount of time afterwards. Unfortunately within the last several months again I've noticed the guitar will not tune easily and goes out of tune after locking the nut. I checked and the gap although significantly smaller is still there. The luthier has been no help when contacted. The only way to even get close to tuning is to leave certain strings sharp or flat before locking the nut and then making major adjustments with fine tuners. That said the d-tuna is pretty much impossible to keep in tune which sucks as it was as such a great feature.
For reference to my experience, I have a 1998 Peavey Wolfgang Special USA model that I purchased new with a Floyd Rose and d-tuna. I've never once had the guitar worked on by any luthier or guitar tech. The guitar tunes just as easily now as it did day one when I bought it 24+ years ago and stays in tune for long periods of playing. Hopefully other players have better experiences with their EVH guitars.