EVH Striped Series review and set-up solution

In this video I demonstrate some tones & playability and then discuss what makes this guitar special. There is also a question posed regarding the EVH serial numbering. I'm not sure how to date mine. Thanks to Johnny Beane and FU Tone!
I used a 37mm brass block for the Floyd and a brass trem stopper. Also check out the noiseless springs - all from FU Tone (link below).
The Johnny Beane KZbin channel. They know pretty much everything you want to know about Eddie Van Halen's guitars. If you want to build one, head on over:
/ johnnybeane
How to check out FU Tone:
www.fu-tone.com/catalog/index....

[@dancaravetta5425]

Awful news today. Rest In Peace Eddie Van Halen.

[@musicgearnetwork]

Wicked! Thank you for sending me the link to this video. Great review and killer playing!

[@dancaravetta5425]

Thanks for watching!

[@BrianSGuitars]

I have one of these, and it came setup spot on out of the box! Love it!

[@dancaravetta5425]

Brian Stewart cool Brian. Thanks for checking out my video.

[@JohnnyBeane]

Thank you very much Dan!!! Glad we could help!!!

[@dancaravetta5425]

Thank you!

[@j.ritchieriveramusic3937]

Dude, it's an amazing guitar! I have the striped red, white and black, is sounds super nice clean and with gain. Totally amazing guitar.

[@Ibaneddie76]

I love these guitars I bought all 3 of them. I'm pretty sure the necks are either unfinished or have a flash coat of matte acrylic or lacquer sealer, just enough to protect the wood but still appear to have no finish. It wouldn't be a grain filler because hard maple is so tight grained that grain filler won't work. Either way I love the necks on these guitars.

[@tommyjoe4310]

I find that the pick up is too close to the strings on mine too. I always figured that maybe a Dremel might be a good tool to remove a little wood from the pickup route

[@RandomStuffWithBill]

Anyone have one of these and a charvel san dimas? Curious of the two in hand and side by side pros and cons, miss my san dimas but this looks cool...

[@Mission2Transition641]

great review.! Ive been eyeing these for years...just never took the plunge. I would pick the yellow/black as I remember being mesmerized by it on VH II as a young teenager in 79. I'm still gonna grab one of these.. Your playing in the intro put a smile on my face! thumbs up!

[@dancaravetta5425]

RICKY DEAN Thanks! Yep I had a pic of Eddie with this guitar hanging in my locker in high school. Please let me know if you get one and what you think of it. Thanks again for watching!

[@Mission2Transition641]

Hey Dan!...after I wrote the comment, last month...I ended up (for the second time) the Epi Iommi SG. A great axe no doubt...but after a week or two, the honeymoon faded away...and I'm thinking for the same price I could have had the EVH!!...I had two week vacation...and didn't even pick up the Iommi..meanwhile driving around hearing Classic VH on the radio like Aint Talking Bout Love, etc...etc. I said...THATS IT! I'm getting one. I didn't want to buy a new one...so I scanned ebay and reverb daily, until I saw one in Excellent condition , 2 years old. goint for $599, free shipping. I purchased it ..and received it in two days. Arrived this past Saturday. I must have spent 2-3 hours straight just jamming to some old VH. Ive played it every day since for at least an hour for past 6 days ...not something I always do. Because its so FUN! Takes my playing to a new level for sure. Ive played and owned so many guitars its sick...but this is the smoothest , best neck I ever played. Perfect for my hand size. I love the natural , unfinished feel. Very fast. I had sticky thick laquer necks. I used to sand it off some Strats. Love the Floyd Rose! Stays in tune, Unlike the floating Floyd Rose I had on a Dean Z. The one pickup, Wolfgang is a Beast, just life ive read many times. Great distortion...but when clean..it has some very crystal clear bell like highs. I'm impressed! Overall, I'm really enjoying it. I'm going back to those old VH songs and learning the tabs...never had the tabs when I was in high school..I just had the guitar chord book for VH and VHII, that was wrong anyway. 5 stars on this guitar. Its my main axe.

[@dancaravetta5425]

RICKY DEAN That is awesome! My favorite thing about these guitars is the neck. I’ve played the Wolfgangs as well and they have a similar neck. Very comfortable and I never feel like I have to play it for a while to get used to it. It feels like home. Have fun with it! What color you end up getting?

[@Mission2Transition641]

Dan Caravetta same color, yellow and black.....i was always in awe from the pics on Van Halen II, and a poster i had as a teen.

[@adisramos4694]

Hey Dan. Great information. I recently got a new 2021 evh 5150 standard and the Floyd is set up where it’s parallel to the body from the factory. I love it so much that I got pre owned 2019 and just like you, before the FU mod the Floyd is set back. I took the back plate off of both to see the difference and can’t figure out the difference. I do see that the 2021 has a shim under the lock nut where the 2019 does not. Makes sense. Have you noticed or heard anything where EVH made an enhancement on the 2021 models to have the Floyd parallel to the body?

[@wrallpaul66]

Hey Dan, great video , very informative to a potential buyer of one of these instruments, I've played a Shark that was an unbelievable instrument, as to the neck finish ( or lack there of ) I have been coating bare wood necks with carnauba wax for years, it's a process of sanding the neck to bare wood then filling any open grain woods like mahogany then sand to about 1000 grit and buff out with several coats of pure carnauba wax it feels like silk, I've heard that EVH uses a similar process.

[@dancaravetta5425]

Great info thank you! I have a bare neck that I’m going to be using for a 5150 build so I might do that.

[@wrallpaul66]

@@dancaravetta5425 It takes a little maintenance, you have to buff it out with 0000 steel wool every now and then and recoat with wax but it's worth it. I've had several customers ( after playing a waxed neck ) ask me to strip there neck and wax it. I just finished my second Frankie build so It would be cool to see a video of your 5150 when it's done.

[@guyincognito320]

To me the factory 'satin urethane' finish is bad. It's kind of rough, just sprayed and not sanded/smoothed enough, which is why it feels unfinished wood, it's just spray texture. Charvel tend to be similar in feel, depends on who worked on it I guess. So I work them over with 1000 grit until it gets a nice cool ceramic feel. I'd like to see what a waxed neck feels like but this is a perfectly good option for a quick fix

[@bkonn]

I just got a EVH bumble bee off EBay, I changed out the block also and put a trem stop on it, one question I have is that the action seems high still especially around the 12th fret and higher, can you tell me what height your strings are at the 12th doesn’t look I can lower the bridge anymore. Thanks

[@dancaravetta5425]

Thanks for the question. Could be a couple things going on. I’d first make sure your neck is not bowed. Make sure it is mostly straight by looking down the fretboard from bridge to nut. If it’s bowed, then you’d need to adjust the truss rod and that could be why the action is high at the 12th. More likely, you need to shim the neck. What that will do is raise the fretboard to the strings - maybe only the thickness of a piece of sandpaper or business card. Before attempting either of these, research a couple KZbin tutorials. You always want to be careful adjusting a truss rod. Please research or take it to someone and have a set-up done. I found with some research I was able to do it all myself. It’s cheaper, you learn, and it’s rewarding doing the work yourself. I got lucky on mine and didn’t have to shim. My Vai model Ibanez was twice the price and a totally different story.... Good luck and let me know how it goes! Dan

[@rjboodell]

Dan, I have one of these, and like two of my Wolfgang’s, the term makes a knocking noise when returning against the body to its flush position. No sure I’m interested in the trek stop, but I did wonder if this is a normal occurrence seeing as its on 3 separate guitars of mine. Or, do I have a setup issue?

[@dancaravetta5425]

Richard Boodell hi. If you’re hearing the sound of the trem hitting the body when it returns to resting position then that is normal. The bridge should be flush against the body or something like a trem stop. If the tuning is stable and you like how it plays, then you’re in good shape! Thanks for commenting. Dan

[@pancakes7294]

I put a piece of paper behind the springs, it helps

[@guyincognito320]

Too much spring tension results in a knocking sound against the body. Unscrew the claw as far as possible while still holding the tuning. It should come to rest after a dive with virtually no noise.

[@Strato13]

I have the left handed verson of this but mine is the red, black, and white version. Gorgeous, nothing on the neck except the light hand rubbed-oil at the factory, and the oils from my hands. I recently replaced the stock EVH Wolfgang pickup with an EVH Frankenstein which to me, sounds like it's voiced to sund more vintage but with lots of balls still. Sounds better to me, but not by a whole lot more as the Wolfgang pickups just had too much trebe highs no matter what settings on my amps. Love it! I just wish they wuld make a Frankie in a left handed version.

[@POLLOTROM]

I have never owned a non-floating "floyd" guitar. I just got the 5150 and it came tuned standard. Would I have to do something special to change the tunning down like 1/2 step?

[@nafis6668]

i tuned my bumblebee to 1/2 step down as well, i just loosen the spring a bit so the bar is not too hard to be pushed down.

[@rocksteady6448]

Dan your adjustment for that bridge is the springs in the back I've learned that over the years once you adjust it with these springs and it's level then I would buy a stopper to make sure that it wouldn't go nowhere but yeah it's all in the adjustment of those springs to level out that actual bridge I've been gigging with Wolfgang for a long time and I'm thinking about buying a striped series but I didn't want it to sound the same as my Wolfgang so that's why I'm watching a video it seems like that the stripe series does sound a lot different than the wolf gangs thanks for a great video

[@guitarboneyard3070]

Absolutely love the video! I just recently bought one and love it!!!!!! One question have you heard that the fretts are stainless on earlier models.

[@dancaravetta5425]

Thanks for watching! I am not sure about the stainless frets on the striped series. I think they were on certain earlier Wolfgangs besides just the USA models. Good question.

[@darthvaydr]

Love the bumble bee! RIP King Edward!

[@GuyNarnarian]

I have one coming in the mail with an SD-78 pickup in it. The guy would have put the Wolfgang back in there but I've heard the SD-78 and it sounds really good so I told him to leave it. I guess if I really hate it I'll buy the Wolfgang or another pickup. Did those straplocks come with yours or did you add separately?

[@dancaravetta5425]

I added the strap locks. I’ve heard great things about the SD78. Good luck!

[@GuyNarnarian]

@@dancaravetta5425 Thanks, everything is held up from the hurricane so I'll be waiting until next week at least.

[@GuyNarnarian]

Sorry for posting again, but I got the guitar and I love it. Only weird thing is the guy had it set up to standard tuning, which for various reasons I didn't want. So I detuned everything with some trial and error (D-tuna has to be tuned to Db first which I'm sure you know). I thought I was going to need to adjust the claw, but it actually is in tune ok and the bridge seems pretty flat on the guitar, although it might be slightly slanted a bit upwards (from lack of tension?). The strings seem a little floppy and even when it was tuned to standard the 14th and 15th frets on the high E die out if you bend them which drives me nuts. Should I add a spring for some tension and re-tune without the locking nut? I have no idea if the guy set it up for Eb, or just tuned it sharp. Also never have had a guitar with the truss rod at the heel of the neck, I assume right will tighten? I'd prefer to leave the neck alone, it seems straight as an arrow. Anyway, any tips would be awesome, the SD-78 rocks, great pickup!

[@tomfoglietta2453]

Sounded great, what are you playing through ,? Nice job

[@dancaravetta5425]

Tom Foglietta thanks! For this video I’m playing through an Orange OR15 with a 1x12 cabinet. I think I was using my EVH overdrive pedal on this. I added some stereo delay in Protools.

[@mikejames9642]

Hey Dan! Enjoyed you vid. Just got EVH Striped Series myself. Love it! My bridge is angled back like you mentioned. I’ve always leveled my floating FR type bridges but what’s the advantage of leveling one that is set up for dive only?? I assume that adding the trem stop to level the bridge will raise the action? If so, I’d need to screw the bridge into the body more to compensate?

[@dancaravetta5425]

Mike James I really think it’s a matter of preference. If you are happy with the tuning stability, etc of your current set-up then you certainly don’t need to change anything. I prefer a level bridge because I just think that’s the way it was designed to work. You may need to lower the bridge very slightly. I cannot remember if I had to, but the rest of the guitar was built so that I didn’t need to shim the neck and I was happy with the action after I leveled the bridge. I’m doing a video on my Ibanez Jem soon. That thing was twice the money and the action was awful when I got it. Thanks for watching and good luck!

[@eddieangels4029]

Nice shredding in the intro Dan! I am considering buying this bumblebee Made in Mexico. Where is yours manufactured?

[@dancaravetta5425]

Eddie Angels Thank you! I bought mine in 2014 and honestly I cannot remember. I’m thinking Mexico as well.

[@eddieangels4029]

Dan Caravetta bought it, love it!

[@dancaravetta5425]

Eddie Angels congrats!!

[@christopherlewis955]

Loved the last comment!

[@atthewhiskey]

4:50 Brass Trem Stopper

[@jeffandlilmel]

Mine came out of the box with an open b string buzz, sounds tinny. It's just that string

[@dancaravetta5425]

Hey Jeffrey. Could be anything from the string needing to be changed (sometimes old strings can buzz out) to an uneven fret, or neck tension (adjusted by the truss rod - please research the process of truss rod adjustment if you haven’t done it before!) I would play that B string all the way up and see if you hit a buzzed out or “dead” note. Try bending too. That could identify an uneven fret or reveal that you need to adjust the neck. Tough for me to say without seeing it myself. Depending where you live it’ll also affect it. Weather changes, humidity, etc. can cause the neck to move. It’s really not a huge deal to adjust the truss rod, but you need to make small adjustments because you could actually break the rod or damage the neck. I really don’t want you damaging your neck so please look into this type of thing before doing it yourself. If the action is really low already, and you change to a new string and it still buzzes, you could slightly raise the bridge - ever so slightly - with an Allen wrench to just that side of the Floyd. Maybe less than a quarter turn. That should help eliminate the buzz. I hope this helps! Dan

[@BlackWolfgang70]

I got same guitar and its just amazing . I prefer it to all the ones i got ... the neck is superb and the humb rocks even in crunch . The floyd is great but not atsame finiture level to the american wolfgangs ( i own a 1997 american peavey wolfgang ) . And yes neck is really similar to wolfgangs ... once i move to peavey wolfgang to this one i do not realize i am not playing om same guitar cause the necks are similar and both so playable ... great guitar . It is me ico made but with better feeling and quality of many guitars that costs the double ...

[@dancaravetta5425]

BlackWolfgang70 yeah the necks are my favorite part of the EVH guitars. Would love to get a Peavey Wolfgang but I’d really love to get my hands on an Ernie Ball Musicman EVH. Thanks for watching and contributing!

[@kenaiello4851]

I lowered the pivotes by 2 whole turns now its pretty parallel

[@dancaravetta5425]

Ken Aiello Hi Ken. How is the action now? Hope that is the solution. I’ve heard some people are able to lower their pickups into the body. Mine wouldn’t budge.

[@kenaiello4851]

prb around 1.5 mm or so at the 12th fret really nice

[@ericlarsenhbeleatherworks4992]

If you can’t lower the pickup lower than a low action requires? That’s just wrong.

[@JosephChavez]

Great video Dan. You confirmed what I expected all along. The only way to get any Striped Series with a flush-mounted/parallel-to-the-body is to install a separate piece of hardware. So stupid. Ed never had a trem stop on any of his personal guitars. The Frankie, the Bumblebee, to the 5150, all had top-mounted, flush and parallel to the body Floyds. How hard is it for Fender to make their neck pockets to accept the neck at a depth to do this? And the pickup cavity? Seriously? A little set up work is fine, but having to spend MORE money to get it to work as intended is just dumb. The EBMM EVH was not a carved top and it was setup correctly. The Peavey Wolfs were carved top so yeah, they had more body to work with, but the Peavey Wolf Specials were flat tops and weren't angled back. The only way to get a "properly" installed Floyd on current EVH products is to start with the EVH Wolf Specials and up. So frustrated because outside of EVH, most all other companies are going full routed Floyds for drop and pull up. Very few are giving the option for drop only which I honestly don't fully get. Oh well, rant over. Love the video and I do love the black and yellow. At least now I know for certain I will have to get a trem stop to have it the way I would want. Thanks much.

[@dancaravetta5425]

Joseph Chavez thanks for the comment. My buddy has a Special and his Floyd came the same as mine. He doesn’t really mind it so he kept it as is. I do like the Specials. The necks feel really comfortable. Good luck with your guitar and keep playing!

[@guyincognito320]

I found if you want 3/64 low action, the corner of the bridge base plate will jab the body. So I had to shim the neck with a piece of a box. The neck pockets are too deep. With a raised pocket, there's enough clearance to dive all the way and not dent the body. Another thing with Floyds is the radius of the saddles is still the same 10" radius that suited 70s guitars, but no modern day Floyd guitar has a fretboard radius that tight. So you need 2 shims under both E saddles, and and 1 a piece under the B and A saddles. Then the radius will be about 16" and match the fretboard. If you don't do this, you'll have too low E strings and too high G and D strings. Floyd should be making 18" and 14" saddle radii units, so that they match modern neck construction. Either that or manufacturers like Fender should be shimming the saddles before they send the guitars out.

[@jameswalsh6815]

That EVH 'Bee' has a neck that is satin finish I reckon... no laquer

[@gpdude22]

"Neck Finish - Hand-Rubbed Satin Urethane" according to the evhgear website.

[@christopherperry487]

badd azz playing I loved it

[@dancaravetta5425]

christopher perry Thank you!

[@rocksteady6448]

All guitars must have a setup when you buy them because how someone else sets it up doesn't mean it's going to be to your feel to begin with so you should always set it up yourself evh gear is awesome 😎

[@shredhed572]

You can dampen that clunk with a guitar pick glued to the lock. ...very Ed-like lol Seriously,, I've done it

[@nafis6668]

It has shim from the factory. If you look at the fingerboard edge it is tilted up toward the body. I just refret this guitar with jumbo jescar stainless steel frets. Smooth frets that wont need any polishing for years. I want to play this guitar to death. I wish all of my guitar has that neck finish.

[@dancaravetta5425]

Awesome. I would like to get a neck with stainless frets. Should last you a long time.

[@nafis6668]

@@dancaravetta5425 fortunately it suits the evh acousticly sounding louder and spankier. very fun to play plug and unplugged . normal frets will show sign of wear withing 3 months of my playing but the jescar still looking new after 3 years . HUGE difference in durability. Just avoid using stainless steel strings and cobalt strings.

[@guyincognito320]

​@@nafis6668 I hate that none of these companies are putting SS frets on despite that customers are always asking for them. Eddie used SS. It doesn't cost more to manufacture guitars with SS and the wire is just a few bucks more. But to have a luthier put them on will add about 500 dollars to the cost of the guitar. You could get a whole new Warmoth neck with SS frets for about that price. My bumblebee came with kind of flat topped frets so they weren't crowned very well. It's a joke what we get for 1100 dollars nowadays. SS is so superior, smoother against bends, even when both types are well polished. It makes a guitar feel like a tremendous machine. I only recently played with SS so I feel I got screwed with this guitar now. I'm just not gonna buy factory guitars anymore until they start using SS wire.

[@nafis6668]

@@guyincognito320 i won't trust factory guitar with stainless steel unless they mension using JESCAR or HOSCO because of their hardness.

[@topjimmy316]

I bought that one new. I own/owned several. Out of the box it was a train wreck. Just like the amps. I love Edward, but Fender makes junk.

[@dancaravetta5425]

TopJimmy316 Hi there. Thanks for commenting. I haven’t heard a lot of quality control issues on the guitars, but I haven’t heard great things about his amps which is why I’m reluctant to get one. There are stories floating around that he was really using his Marshalls on tour. Not sure about that though.

[@dancaravetta5425]

Unfortunately my Vai Ibanez was a relative train wreck out of the box (and it cost twice as much ugh)

[@michaelkuhn402]

NO they made the GUITAR WRONG. It's so bad with the BRIDGE you can't even pull out the D TUNA. GUITAR PIECE OF CRAP.

[@batotman1]

Hand striped? Mine looks exactly like that in every way. 🥲