But it almost didn’t happen. I ordered mine as soon as they were available for pre-order on Musician’s Friend. But after three months of being back-ordered, I was getting antsy. I had my finger on the trigger of canceling the order and instead getting the white, maple fretboard version of the Wolfgang. But a great friend of mine (thanks John!) urged me more than once to be patient and wait for the true object of my desire. Not long after the second or third time of talking me down off the ledge, I received notice that my guitar had shipped. And after an excruciatingly long three days, it arrived. And John was right: it was worth the wait.
After tearing open the shipping box, just the case alone had me impressed. It has molded Eddie stripes on the hardshell flight case and virtually indestructible industrial grade plastic locks (won’t rust). And when I opened it, white doves flew out with roses in their beaks. Not really, but it was an excellent moment, similar to when Indiana Jones opened concrete tomb for the first time, exposing the Lost Ark. There the guitar sat in a bed of gorgeous red plush, like a king’s robe. Beautiful. *sniffsniff*
Visually, the guitar is unique to the arsenal of Eddie. It’s called the Stealth because aside from the cream body binding, cream on the zebra humbuckers and the back of the unfinished maple bolt-on neck, this weapon is solid black. The body has a thin (to let the wood breathe a bit) satin black finish, as does the front of the headstock. All hardware is also black. But the most striking new feature is the ebony fretboard. Eddie has always been traditionally a maple fretboard guy, but apparently on a lark he had somebody make up a Wolfgang with an ebony board. Turns out, he liked it so much that a Stealth is now his preferred guitar.
Mine is the Special ($1400) instead of the more expensive USA made model ($3000). The only differences between the two are that the Special was put together in Japan, doesn’t have a carved maple top and the binding is one ply on the body only (as opposed to multi-ply binding on both the body and the headstock). Everything else is exactly the same: basswood body, the unfinished maple neck, the ebony fretboard with vintage sized stainless steel frets, genuine Floyd Rose with D-Tuna, Bourns low-friction pots and EVH designed humbuckers and tuners. Top notch quality through and through.
Picking it up out of the case, the guitar is light and extremely well balanced. The body was a bit smaller than I expected. Makes you realize how small a guy Eddie is; the guitar looks a bit more substantial on his shoulders. Similar to how big the Gibson SG looks on Angus Young, yet it’s a rather small guitar. I’m 6 foot, 225 lbs. so it’s a bit ukulele-ish on my frame but that’s cool..I enjoy the feeling of “owning” a smaller guitar. Feels more a part of me and I can manhandle it a bit more. Like Hulk Hogan in a wrestling match with Danny De Vito.
One problem people were complaining about with the first batch of Wolfgangs a couple years ago was that the frets were jagged along the edges. Being that the frets are stainless steel, that can really tear up the edge of your hand. And it’s a bit costlier to fix too at your local guitar shop as steel frets are harder to work on than the standard, softer nickel kind. But there was no such issue with mine, as the edges were perfect. A few quick runs up and down the neck left me smiling right away. It comes factory strung with EVH brand strings, .009-.046. Right out of the box there was zero fret buzz, no dead spots and the action was perfect for me. Notes and bends sang clear from the first fret up to the 22nd. The neck felt great in my hand and that fretboard….sweet butter.
The Floyd Rose is set so it sits flat against the body, so it only works in one direction..down, like a traditional tremolo. This is Eddie’s preferred set-up as he is a big believer that all components should be in contact with the guitar’s body in order to have maximum resonance. I hit the whammy bar hardcore for a minute or so and it stayed in perfect tune. The D-Tuna worked flawlessly. For those who aren’t familiar, the D-Tuna is a device patented by Eddie that is installed into the low E string of a Floyd Rose that drops the E string down a whole step to D with a tug. A simple push pops you back up to E. It stayed in perfect intonation before and after.
Plugged in, I was concerned at first and considered sending it back as I didn’t sound just like Eddie. What kind of shit is that??? Eventually I came to terms with my mere mortal status and began putting it through its paces in accordance with my own abilities. I’ve read many a review stating that many folks prefer the Special without the maple top as it makes for a warmer guitar. Many people find the maple on top of the basswood a bit shrill on the USA model. I’ve never played the USA so I can’t really compare, but I do love the generally warm sound of the Special.
The pickups are designed and wound to Eddie’s specs, (basically hotter versions of his original PAF) directly mounted to the body (again, that resonance thing) with no adjustable height screws. The pickups are extremely well-balanced..no particular frequency overpowers the guitar. The bass is solid and crushing. All thump and no warble or mush. The mids are solid and full; no cardboard or honk. And the treble sweetly screams without being ice picky or tinny. Muted notes chug gloriously and harmonics jump out of it. Notes bloom and sustain beautifully. Clean it shines as well, particularly with both ‘buckers engaged. In fact, the double humbucker position is probably my favorite setting, dirty or clean. But individually, the bridge humbucker is crunchy like you want a bridge bucker to be and the neck just sings with creamy goodness. These pickups, coupled with the fretboard and body, make this a very LIVE guitar. It will point out every flaw in your playing. Be sure your muting is up to snuff. Sloppy players will hate thing. (P.S. A note about the three way pickup switch on the upper horn of the body, Les Paul style: it’s reverse wired. Eddie did this to facilitate tapping, so he didn’t accidentally keep knocking it out of bridge position.)
A big point of debate I’ve read are the Bourns pots. More specifically, the low friction volume pot (the tone is normal friction). Basically, the low-friction pot is like a worn in pot, looser in its travel to better allow volume swells with the knob. Some players complain it’s TOO easy and that they were constantly knocking the control around as they played. I had no such problem….makes me wonder about their strumming technique. Anyway, I love the Bourns pot. As soon as they are available aftermarket, they are going in all my guitars. I enjoy not fighting with a stiff pot when utilizing swells. And a cool note about the knobs: the white marker line on the black MXR knobs glow in the dark so the position can be seen in low light stage conditions.
I opened up the back to check out the wiring and again, flawless. I’ve always worked on my own gear and am rather familiar with the electronic guts of a guitar. The workmanship is excellent. Clean, shiny solder joints, everything is shielded properly and all components are quality. Eddie had them leave the cavity unfinished (to help the wood age better).
According to Eddie and the guys who helped him bring his ideas to fruition, everything on this guitar is designed to work with everything else, to interact in a specific way with all the other parts to achieve his full tonal vision. To paraphrase them, this isn’t a guitar to change and upgrade. And I actually agree with that for once. I’m a born tweaker; I don’t own a guitar that I haven’t messed around with in some capacity or changed out pickups/electronics. This is the first guitar I’m going to leave alone. The only thing I’ve done to it is replace the standard strap buttons with Dunlop straplocks and that’s all I’m going to do to it.
I’m extremely happy and satisfied with this guitar. It has met and exceeded my expectations on all fronts. It handled the varied strains from Slayer, KISS, Hendrix, Maiden to Albert King and Booker T and The MG’s with equal aplomb. It’s definitely a PLAYERS guitar. Each component was designed for maximum effectiveness. It’s tough and does its job.
Now I’m thinking of getting the white one too.
