EVH...whats up with the quarter

[dmraco]

I always wondered why Eddie had a quarter attached to his guitar.  Now I know...to give some added clearance for his Floyd screws. 

I installed an EVH D-Tuna and it was DANGEROUSLY close to hitting the top of the guitar.  So instead of a quarter, I used pennys to keep with the copper theme.  I managed to find ones from the years my kids were born.  Kinda looks cool....and functional.

 

[Alfang]

Having built a frankenstrat and done all the research prior.

The original function of the quarter was used to drop his tuning a half step on the fly.

If you look at the original, you will notice a hole drilled through the center of the quarter, and a small V shape notch ground into the quarter.

Turned a certain way the bridge would lay flat on the guitar body, then while depressing the trem and spinning the quarter, the quarter would rotate under the corner of the trem efectivly dropping his tuning a half step.

This worked well in trials, but during a show not so much. As the quarter had to be loose enough to spin, it would sometimes rotate on its own during a live show at the wrong time and up tune or down tune his guitar. so he abandoned its function but kept it for its looks, that's when he drilled two smaller holes and added two small screws to prevent the quarter from spinning.

So the final version is with the quarter NOT under the bridge

 

[pabloman]

When building the Fender repros Eddie said the quarter was used to stabilize the floyd. He did it right before a show. This was straight from Eddie at a big conference meeting retreat with GC. While we were there my manager got to strum few chords on the real Frankie only for about 2 seconds. It was awesome.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Al respect to EVH. But it is an ugly hack - as most of his original designs and inventions.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, but it's tough to argue with success.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Not arguing with that. I just don't think it was good addition on such a nice guitar as OP's.  :redflag:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I don't think Eddie cared about his finish.  As for 2 contradicting stories from him, that's par for the course.

 

[dmraco]

After all the work I did on this, I was a little sensitive about adding something.  I though of designing something less obvious but in tribute to my kids and Eddie himself, I thought the pennies would be appropriate.

Some may consider it blasphemous but it does not look out of place in my eyes.

Interesting stories on the origin, no matter which one is true.

 

[DangerousR6]

Rock star stories are just that most of the time...Stories, nobody will ever know the truth behind most, because usually the star him/her self was so jacked up on something whether it be alcohol or some other substance that they don't actually remember the true reasons for anything... :laughing11:

 

[Cagey]

I'm sure that's true too often, but I sometimes wonder how often it really is. Lord knows I've had my periods in the past where the use of a variety of toxic substances seemed like a good idea, but the almost universal result was that working/playing suffered sometimes nearly to the point of inability. I think there may be more legend and myth involved with a lot of the stories about our heroes behavior than actual reality. It's difficult to believe they'd make it as far as they do otherwise.

Or, maybe I'm just too naive.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Count the stories about SRV's lefty trem.  I've heard 3, and they begin with, "the real reason...."

 

[Cagey]

Hehe! Reminds me of my cousin's many stories from when she was an X-Ray technician. Every one of them started with "You ain't gonna believe this..."

 

[line6man]

Thanks for sharing your two cents on the matter. :icon_jokercolor:

I've always wanted to build a guitar with copper hardware. That's really nice against the spalted Maple. :icon_thumright:

 

[mullyman]

FWIW, I am credited in the Van Halen Encyclopedia as a source of information. That doesn't make me an expert on all things Van Halen, but it does mean that I had enough solid info that the authors of that book contacted me for some of it. Now, with that said, today is this first time I've ever heard the half down tuning story. Is the thickness of a quarter even enough to drop it down a half step? Anyway, as far as I know, it was put there, as Pabloman said, to stabilize the trem.
MULLY

 

[dmraco]

I have found that adding the two pennies has increased the tone of the floyd approx 2%....that my 2 cents.... :laughing8:

 

[Strat Avenger]

The quarter had nothing to do with de-tuning.

 

[AutoBat]

Aside from a couple of Transtrem tunes, Van Halen songs are in Eb tuning with a few (Unchained is the first that comes to mind) are drop Db (D-tuna territory)

 

[thebutcher85]

I have found that adding the two pennies has increased the tone of the floyd approx 2%....that my 2 cents.... :laughing8:

:doh:  :icon_biggrin: haha!

The pennies look awesome on there! I used pennies to block the trems on my strat and PRS SE custom, works really well, and I noticed a fatter, warmer sound than when I blocked the trems with wood or a tremel-no.  (also, I used pre-1981 pennies, they have more sustain...

 

[dmraco]

I have found that adding the two pennies has increased the tone of the floyd approx 2%....that my 2 cents.... :laughing8:

:doh:  :icon_biggrin: haha!

The pennies look awesome on there! I used pennies to block the trems on my strat and PRS SE custom, works really well, and I noticed a fatter, warmer sound than when I blocked the trems with wood or a tremel-no.  (also, I used pre-1981 pennies, they have more sustain...

Yes.  I noticed when drilling they were not solid copper all the way thru.... :dontknow:  I did not realize this..

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, they've been mostly zinc since the early '80s. They keep trying to reduce the cost of US coins because nearly all of them cost more to make than their face value. For example, in the case of pennies, scrap copper is currently going for roughly $4/lb. while a 100 pennies weighs roughly a pound.