After years of wearing down metal frets and having pieces of his guitar rip off or malfunction during shows, Van Halen says he's built a guitar that even he can't destroy. On the FENDER WOLFGANG, frets are fashioned of stainless steel, and metal gadgets are custom-made by a company that specializes in medical tools. Sections of wood are left unpainted so the instrument can breathe and age -- "like a Stradivarius," the 54-year-old musician explains with a degree of pride.Eddie Van Halen talks about his upcoming WEDDING (EDDIE VAN HALEN AND JANIE LISZEWSKI) and, of course the FENDER WOLFGANG
We recently caught up with Eddie at his 5150 Studio, high in the hills above Los Angeles. It's where the album "1984" was recorded, along with every subsequent Van Halen record. The studio sits on seven acres, just a stone's throw from the Tudor mansion he bought in 1980. He and his fiancee/publicist, Janie Liszewski, scoot around the property in golf carts. The red, white and black-striped motif of his signature Van Halen guitar is painted on the walkway. The following is an edited version of the interview.
CNN: You've been tearing guitars apart and redesigning them all your life, haven't you?
Eddie Van Halen: It kind of started when I went to a Radio Shack-type of store in Pasadena. They had a 12-string guitar hanging there, and I didn't want 12 -- I wanted six. And so I asked the guy, "Could I take six strings off and try it?" And the guy said, "No, not unless you buy it." So I borrowed the money from my parents, bought it, took six strings off and voila -- did what I wanted. The guitar -- it's on the first album cover. It's called Frankenstein.
I'm always tinkering with stuff. And basically, the new Wolfgang is a combination of all the years of tearing things apart, ruining things, creating things and coming up with things that I later found out I could patent.
CNN: How many guitars have you accidentally broken on stage?
Eddie Van Halen: On stage? (He shrugs.) During the last show, I actually tried to break a Wolfgang, and it wouldn't break. I picked it up and I couldn't break the damn thing. I threw it up in the air, and later put it out in the rain. I picked it up half an hour later, and it was still in tune. It pissed me off.
CNN: The Wolfgang sells for about $3,000. Are you worried about introducing a high-end guitar when the economy is taking such a hit?
Eddie Van Halen: I just don't think that way. I'm really not a businessman, so to speak. The only reason I do it is because people are always asking me where they can get what I use.
CNN: Who are some of the musicians who have asked?
Eddie Van Halen: Everybody uses my stuff. They just don't like talking about it.
CNN: I'm told you can hear things that most people can't with the naked ear.
Eddie Van Halen: I have selective hearing. (Laughs)
CNN: I think a lot of men do!
Eddie Van Halen: Obviously, I've lost a little bit, at very high frequencies -- which is kind of like a woman screaming at ya.
CNN: "Ed, did you take the trash out?" "Can you wipe the dishes?" Are you hearing anything?
Eddie Van Halen: What was that? (Laughs) I don't know. I'm blessed with a good pair of ears. That's how I fooled my piano teacher. I'd watch his fingers and I'd listen to it, and I just kind of basically learned it by myself.
I can't read music. Instead, I'd do stuff inside the piano, do harmonics and all kinds of crazy things. They used to put me in these annual piano contests down at Long Beach City College, and two years in a row, I won first prize -- out of like 5,000 kids! The judges were like, "Very interesting interpretation!" I thought I was playing it right.
But everything is open to interpretation. Imagine if Beethoven had a tape recorder. Then you'd know exactly what he meant. Maybe he meant (singing the opening notes to the Fifth Symphony), "Da da da da" instead of "Boom boom boom boom!" Who knows.
CHECK OUT THE DETAILS ON THE FENDER WOLFGANG
CNN: Did you ever take formal guitar lessons?
Eddie Van Halen: No. That's why I do all this crazy stuff. It's not taught.
CNN: Do you think you'd approach music differently if you had taken guitar lessons?
Eddie Van Halen: Probably. But you only have 12 notes. Do what you want with them.
CNN: What kind of music do you listen to when you're at home?
Eddie Van Halen: I don't listen to anything, really. Believe it or not, I'm so slammed with ideas, and the man upstairs overloads me with stuff, so I'm always doing my own thing.
CNN: How was it having Wolfie on the road with you on the last tour? He was 16 when he took over as Van Halen's bass player in 2007.
Eddie Van Halen: It was a dream! That kid is truly amazing. I did name him after the right guy. (Laughs)
CNN: He's still in high school. Did he have a tutor on the road?
Eddie Van Halen: Yeah, he had four hours of school and then a gig at night. He worked three times harder than any of us.
CNN: How was it touring with David Lee Roth after all these years?
Eddie Van Halen: It was great.