Building a Striped S-Style, Page 3

Mission Complete!

We got it all together, and it sounds and plays fantastic! Take a look at the photos below...the center photo is of the original.

Note on the guitar in the center that that small black stripes in the upper bout are clearly black tape, not paint. See how the long stripe is pulling away and has fallen over on itself? Note the slight difference in the sheen of the tape and the paint behind the bridge.

vhstudio.jpg (65859 bytes)

vhwithguitar.jpg (45241 bytes)

Photo of Eddie in the studio while recording Van Halen II. Note the different strap on the guitar than the one seen in the photo on the right, and the wear on the neck!

Photo of Eddie with one of the great shots of "the guitar". This photo is from the cover of the bootleg "Zero", which were the demos paid for by Gene Simmons of KISS. This photo was probably taken in late-1977 or early-1978.

Now here is an interesting shot of the upgraded guitar. When Mr. Van Halen sprayed red over this guitar, he left some interesting clues. Foremost, our theory about the small pinstripes being tape instead of paint is, in our opinion, nearly bulletproof.

Note in the photo (originally published in GuitarWorld) the black and white paint under the red. The large stripes are clearly intact. Where are the pinstripes? They were probably removed before Mr. Van Halen started spraying red. Whatever the reason, it is clear that they are not present on this guitar.

Areas of focus: The upper left corner above the bridge -- this is where the stripe was seen peeling in the photo above and the upper horn -- note that there are no pinstripes by the big stripes.

Note the size of the rear pickup cavity...wow!

There are plenty of lessons learned. The next one is going to be more authentic with actual tape instead of "just paint" even though the paint is probably cooler.

So what does it sound like? It sounds great, we think. Download the MP3 and see for yourself. We recorded the file on December 12, 2004 directly into the computer using a TASCAM US-224 with Cakewalk SONAR software. The amp? A POD V.2, dialed up to manual with the Brit HiGain model with the Delay/Compressor combo for effects. You may recognize some of the songs...they are for illustration only.

Click here to download the approx. 2 meg file. We recommend that you right click on the link and save it on your Desktop.

Here are the POD 2.0 settings we used for the clip straight from the Line6 SoundDiver software. Click the image to see it full-size.

Let us know what you think!

BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE. What about that Gibson logo decal on the headstock? Check out Page 4 for some answers.

Back to Page 1, Back to Page 2, On to Page 4