The Wolfgang guitar Eddie Van Halen gifted to Jason Becker is going up for auction
A guitar owned by Eddie Van Halen, who gifted it to Jason Becker, is going up for auction next month.
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The guitar – which was given to Becker by Van Halen in 1996 – is being auctioned at New York City-based auction house Guernsey’s in December.
Jason Becker was a teenage guitar prodigy who launched into the guitar scene in the ’80s at the age of 16, only to be diagnosed with ALS – a motor neuron disease – at 20. Although he does still compose music by using eye movements, he has had to give up life as a guitarist.
This is not the first time Becker has sold his instruments at Guernsey’s, with over £700,000 going towards supporting equipment and renovations to make Becker’s life easier with ALS. The auction house told Guitar.com that when they heard the story of Becker they knew they had to help his family:
“As an auction house it is always gratifying to work towards a worthy cause,” explains President Arlan Ettinger.
As a result, there has been a real demand for Becker’s most treasured instrument – Eddie Van Halen’s personal Peavey EVH Wolfgang guitar.
The guitar itself features a flat top, one knob (volume), three-way pickup toggle switch, two Peavey/EVH-designed humbucker pickups, licensed Floyd Rose tremolo with D-Tuna (d-tuner device), oil-finished hard rock maple neck and fingerboard with dual graphite reinforcement rods, straight headstock, and chrome tuners.
Eddie Van Halen and Jason Becker met in August 1991 for the first time at Becker’s home. As seen in the video below, EVH played a section of Eruption as well as other tunes, before showing off the patented D-Tuna system. He then inscribed the instrument and handed it over to Becker.
“Jason. We will play guitar together in the future,” he wrote. “Love – from heart to your soul. Eddie Van Halen, ’96.”
In the footage, Van Halen can be seen talking Becker through the guitar. He explains, “This is the 69th one. The first 100 I personally checked. I named it after my son, Wolfgang”.
The instrument comes with an original Certificate of Authenticity and, should the buyer wish, an opportunity to meet with Jason Becker.
The current estimation for the sale is $300,000 – 400,000.
If you’d like to find out more about the auction, which takes place on 14 December, you can head to Guernsey’s.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
