shake his hand, and he looked at me and walked away.”
Edward’s love of Charvel guitar parts turned sour when the company began marketing a copycat version of Ed’s Strat-style body with a humbucker and a tremolo. Edward had been close to Wayne Charvel, the company’s founder, but Wayne sold the company in November of 1978 to Grover Jackson. Grover proceeded to produce the copycats and sell them for a thousand dollars. “It’s my guitar design that’s keeping them in business,” said Eddie. Of his original guitar concept, he said, “It looks like a Strat, but it only has one pickup in it, one volume knob, no tone, no fancy garbage… . I’m not saying my guitar is ‘Wow, the new guitar,’ but it is a guitar that you could not at the time buy on the market.” With regards to Grover Jackson, Edward said, “This guy kind of exploited my idea, so I’m suing him. See, I feel kind of fucked doing that, but all I want him to do is stop. I don’t give a damn about the money.” He added, “Here I am just a punk kid trying to get a sound out of a guitar that I couldn’t buy off the rack, so I build one myself and now everybody else wants one.”
Even Eddie’s paint job was being copped. He said, “Just the other night, Christmas Eve, I went to the Whisky. A band called Weasels was playing, and the lead guitarist had a guitar exactly like mine. I just don’t understand how someone could walk onstage with my guitar, because it’s my trademark. You know, when people see a freaked-out striped guitar like that, with one pickup, one volume knob, they obviously know it’s mine.” Striped guitars would be a common sight at any guitar retailer in the 1980s.
The “flattery” didn’t stop at guitars. Pickup maker Seymour Duncan also raised Eddie’s ire. He told Obrecht: “See, I’ve rewound my own pickups before, and a guy named Seymour Duncan, I got pissed at him too. He called me up and said, ‘Can we use your name for a special pickup?’ And I said no. Next time I pick up Guitar Player Magazine , there’s a special Van Halen model customized Duncan pickup. I called him up and said, ‘What the hell’s goin’ on?’ So he stopped finally. It’s just kind of weird you know.”
He even figured out he was getting fleeced at guitar shops. At one particular store, Eddie said, “I was smart, and I had my roadie go in and get a price list. They didn’t know that I knew the price list, so I walked in with him. I go, ‘How much do you want for this?’ And they quoted me a price a grand above what it said on the paper. I said, ‘Wait a minute, man, it says right here that it’s… ’ And they said, ‘Oh, oh,’ and tried to make excuses. I hate dealing with people like that. That’s another reason why I build my own.”
Interviewers were also getting under his skin. “I hate doing interviews. I just can’t stand it,” Eddie said. “They always fuck me over. They always write things that twist and bend what I say.” His complaints were mostly about the teen-scream mags like Creem and Circus . But when a Guitar World interviewer asked him what he thought about other high-profile guitarists, Eddie snapped, “I hate doing this because you’re going to make me come off like an asshole. Enough people hate me already.”
Ed was open in his admiration for Obrecht as well as journalist Steven Rosen, who wrote for almost every rock and guitar magazine around. But Edward also talked about how awkward radio interviews were for him, saying, “I remember once I did a radio interview in the beginning—and I’m not much of a talker, really… Dave’s real good at it. You’re excited when you’re listening to him… I can’t do that. So here’s Dave motor-mouth getting the guy all jazzed up, and then he turns to me and goes, ‘I understand you and your brother are from Amsterdam, Holland.’ And I go, ‘Yeah.’ That was it! Big long pause. I just wasn’t ready for a big long story. It’s like
Edward’s love of Charvel guitar parts turned sour when the company began marketing a copycat version of Ed’s Strat-style body with a humbucker and a tremolo. Edward had been close to Wayne Charvel, the company’s founder, but Wayne sold the company in November of 1978 to Grover Jackson. Grover proceeded to produce the copycats and sell them for a thousand dollars. “It’s my guitar design that’s keeping them in business,” said Eddie. Of his original guitar concept, he said, “It looks like a Strat, but it only has one pickup in it, one volume knob, no tone, no fancy garbage… . I’m not saying my guitar is ‘Wow, the new guitar,’ but it is a guitar that you could not at the time buy on the market.” With regards to Grover Jackson, Edward said, “This guy kind of exploited my idea, so I’m suing him. See, I feel kind of fucked doing that, but all I want him to do is stop. I don’t give a damn about the money.” He added, “Here I am just a punk kid trying to get a sound out of a guitar that I couldn’t buy off the rack, so I build one myself and now everybody else wants one.”
Even Eddie’s paint job was being copped. He said, “Just the other night, Christmas Eve, I went to the Whisky. A band called Weasels was playing, and the lead guitarist had a guitar exactly like mine. I just don’t understand how someone could walk onstage with my guitar, because it’s my trademark. You know, when people see a freaked-out striped guitar like that, with one pickup, one volume knob, they obviously know it’s mine.” Striped guitars would be a common sight at any guitar retailer in the 1980s.
The “flattery” didn’t stop at guitars. Pickup maker Seymour Duncan also raised Eddie’s ire. He told Obrecht: “See, I’ve rewound my own pickups before, and a guy named Seymour Duncan, I got pissed at him too. He called me up and said, ‘Can we use your name for a special pickup?’ And I said no. Next time I pick up Guitar Player Magazine , there’s a special Van Halen model customized Duncan pickup. I called him up and said, ‘What the hell’s goin’ on?’ So he stopped finally. It’s just kind of weird you know.”
He even figured out he was getting fleeced at guitar shops. At one particular store, Eddie said, “I was smart, and I had my roadie go in and get a price list. They didn’t know that I knew the price list, so I walked in with him. I go, ‘How much do you want for this?’ And they quoted me a price a grand above what it said on the paper. I said, ‘Wait a minute, man, it says right here that it’s… ’ And they said, ‘Oh, oh,’ and tried to make excuses. I hate dealing with people like that. That’s another reason why I build my own.”
Interviewers were also getting under his skin. “I hate doing interviews. I just can’t stand it,” Eddie said. “They always fuck me over. They always write things that twist and bend what I say.” His complaints were mostly about the teen-scream mags like Creem and Circus . But when a Guitar World interviewer asked him what he thought about other high-profile guitarists, Eddie snapped, “I hate doing this because you’re going to make me come off like an asshole. Enough people hate me already.”
Ed was open in his admiration for Obrecht as well as journalist Steven Rosen, who wrote for almost every rock and guitar magazine around. But Edward also talked about how awkward radio interviews were for him, saying, “I remember once I did a radio interview in the beginning—and I’m not much of a talker, really… Dave’s real good at it. You’re excited when you’re listening to him… I can’t do that. So here’s Dave motor-mouth getting the guy all jazzed up, and then he turns to me and goes, ‘I understand you and your brother are from Amsterdam, Holland.’ And I go, ‘Yeah.’ That was it! Big long pause. I just wasn’t ready for a big long story. It’s like
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