The Greatest Guitar Eddie Van Halen Played The 1975 Ibanez Destroyer

The Greatest Guitar Eddie Van Halen Played: The 1975 Ibanez Destroyer. This guitar created the brown sound that made Van Halen famous. In this mini documentary, we will discuss the sound, history, and use of this guitar throughout the years.
Legal: Video design, artwork, graphics, and production created by Worst Guitar Channel. Commentary and narration provided by Worst Guitar Channel. Worst Guitar Channel holds the copyrights to certain music arrangements specially recorded for this video.

[@tubesss77]

If it wasn't for the spookiness this could have been 2 minutes long and watchable.

[@calebproductions5970]

It's kind of an entertaining comedy take on the subject. Not everyone is going to get it. Like sarcasm.

[@duckydrummer6331]

Compare songs: Eddie played the Destroyer on You Really Got Me, great tone. Eddie played his home made Frankenstrat on Atomic Punk as well as several other songs, great tone also. I can't tell the difference between the tone of each guitar, they both sound great.

[@calebproductions5970]

To be honest who the hell knows what he really played in the studio. They do sound like a Gibson paf pickup. Recording back then many session musicians were readily available. There are so many Mysteries about equipment but the heart soul and sound come from the player. Guitar freaks fail to realize that most of the time.

[@underskillednunderpaid]

@@calebproductions5970 Ed used the 78 frankie and Destroyer on the first album. We have a good idea on what pickups he used.

[@funkster007]

You can always tell which songs had the Frankie when he did the whammy dive bombs at least.

[@metalmig]

he used the destroyer in running with the Devil ... for Sure!

[@sometimelater]

because it's the amp that matters much more

[@realguitarshredder]

Creepiest vid of eddie ever

[@MacPro8CoreMan]

I don't like the creepy sound effects in the background. And by the way, the most important guitar Eddie ever played was Frankie. Frankie changed the entire landscape of electric Rock guitars from 1980 on. The Destroyer is a Hard Tail. Everyone knows Ed's love and skill of the use of a Tremelo!

[@johnconnors5704]

Also, he used a variac to get his tone

[@jayjayripoff]

Sure about that?? Both of you? Well, yeah, for those tunes that have a whammy bar/dive bombing..... But, the, others were doing that before him. But, if you want first album, running with the devil, you really got me, ain't talking bout love... Anything without the trem, I think it was the destroyer....

[@brandonjackson5865]

Yeah he borrowed Chris Holmes Destroyer after he Destroyed his the Frankie was his attempt to make a fender sound like a Gibson it was also able to cover everything on tour. The Frankie is way more important to us guitar nerds and fans than it was to Eddie, an when he finally got to design the Wolfgangs it wound up being a bolt on double cut LP kinda,but early especially VH1 the Destroyer is the most important guitar on the record.

[@Daddy53751]

Yeah, it’s my understanding that the Ibanez was used on most of his early, landscape changing work.

[@gmdv]

I got one from 1976. She is wonderful.

[@skylineXpert]

Lucky you. Tried to find one. Owners are not willing to part. But selling it would be stupid

[@martinfassberg2085]

How much do they sell for these days?

[@brandonjackson5865]

@@martinfassberg2085 I saw one on reverb or somewhere a year or two ago and it was just stupid like 8000 or something, it was a 76 Korina ( or whatever Ibanez was using ) . The Destroyer II are cool and somewhat obtainable and some of them still got the super 70s in them if you’re lucky. I doubt there’s very many original korina ibby destroyers left in any shape much less mint a couple creators on KZbin have them, Pete Thorn probably has about the cleanest one I’ve ever seen

[@Meowsanforever]

I have an original '75 Ibanez Destroyer in my collection... It just needs to be restored.

[@DougCanney1]

Still have it? Want to sell it?

[@looking_33]

@@DougCanney1 just buy that ridiculously price gouged one off of reverb. what a joke. $6500 lmao

[@DougCanney1]

@@looking_33 agreed. I traveled and played music all through the '80s. Many times. People would come to our motel rooms before the show and try to sell stuff to us, great stuff! Les Paul's for 300 bucks, explorers for $250 $350, stratocasters for 200. If I could have invested back then and everything I saw, I'd be like Norm.

[@shtdaprdtr]

It was never painted red and white..it was maroon with silver stripes

[@Unmonroe]

I played this video on a loop at a Halloween party and it did not disappoint.

[@Daddy53751]

Those “lawsuit” Ibanez axes were actually really sweet instruments! (Although Ed’s was a bit “pre lawsuit”)

[@kramerbaretta6383]

Everyone wants to make so much out of gear - which is something I enjoy discussing - but the real soul was in Ed's fingers. Ask anyone that played Ed's gear or if he played theirs. Steve Vai himself said “I was at my house in Hollywood, and in my studio, I was using my guitar, my rig, my pedals, my amps,” Vai says. “And Edward came in. We were just hanging out and talking, and he says to me, ‘Let me show you this one thing I was working on.’ “And he takes my guitar and he starts playing and I realized instantly that it was Edward Van Halen. It didn’t sound anything like me. It had that ‘brown sound’. It was everything we love about Ed’s tone. He was playing my exact gear, and it sounded like him" The sound came from EVH. Whatever he played he sounded like Ed. The sound came from inside him through his fingers.

[@360whiplash]

I don't know why it feels like I'm watching some kind of horror documentary.

[@zipchtkdn7804]

I knew a fella who had a 78 destroyer. He put emg 81/81 in it 20 sum odd years ago. It had a broken neck at the nut but he got fixed ...prolly worth a small fortune since I saw it in 2008

[@bunsenn5064]

Fun fact: every song except Eruption in the first Van Halen album was played on the Destroyer.

[@tanneryordan]

uh no. there are bar dives all over the album which was obviously the frankenstein. the destroyer was only on Runnin With the devil, Feel Your Love tonight, On Fire, and Jamie’s cryin

[@MichaelCoughlanmusic]

Thanks for this!

[@StoneBuzzard]

Fuck yes. I love the atmosphere. It feels so grimey and gives that real loose feeling. Like chopped and screwed. That real Texas Chainsaw picture flash sound

[@MRCATL3]

Eddie sawed the back out of a destroyer. He played that on so many of the first songs

[@Ogrelord5150]

He borrowed same Destroyer model from Chris Holmes to record Women And Children First. I think they bought their Destroyers together at the same time, same shop.

[@arthurmckay4202]

yessir

[@nunoharris]

Hi. Whats the brand of the pickups that came on that guitar ? Thanks

[@valentino3191]

PLEASE MAKE MORE VIDEOS. These are awesome!!!!

[@louski331]

Love the screwed guitar speed slow down

[@buzzcrushtrendkill]

If you want to slow down the audio to get around record companies claiming copyright, at least slow it to where a person can increase the playback speed at 1.25 or 1.5 to hear it played at normal speed. This is hard to listen to.

[@pnutbutrncrackers]

Interesting that in all the hours of interviews I've watched with Ed I cannot once recall him being asked about the Destroyer guitar nor him volunteering any information about it. This was all news to me.

[@brandonjackson5865]

Edward was known early on especially to keep secrets and lie about gear. I bet you didn’t know he also borrowed Chris Holmes Destroyer to record another VH album because he ruined his by making it the shark , but he supposedly borrowed Holmes destroyer and it was very close to his in serial number. I’ve always thought his experiments with the Frankie was to have a Strat sound like a Gibson, but there’s no doubt that destroyer was all over VH 1, . Wonder why Ed never thought about putting a trem on the destroyer, Dime did it with his Deans . Eddie obviously wasn’t opposed to chopping the old Ibanez up lol. VanHalen 1 brown sound is everything in the room, it’s the drums bleeding into the guitar tracks Edward actually said the brown sound was Alex’s drums, at one time, but it’s a phenomenal performance live in the room of a super tight band is. Just as responsible as the gear he used. Those old destroyer are sweet check out Pete Thorn’s exhaustive attempt to get the “brown sound “ he gets really close but I think his Destroyer is the closest out of many guitars and pickups he tried

[@metalinyourhead3604]

Wow I thought he made the body himself or something, not out of a lawsuit guitar. I must say, at 2:11 I thought the one on the right was the Gibson. Shows how much of a copy it is.

[@valentino3191]

Truth be told, I don't think its fair, nor is it accurate to say Eddie has a "true" sound that originated from one particular guitar with specific pickups. Eddie's guitar sound has evolved and changed with each album/era. Not to mention, he has continually switched manufacturers of his equipment and his pickups, effects and amplifiers. I have no way to prove it, but Im sure the Destroyer was probably the best option available when money was tight for him before he found success. The tone on Van Halen I was pretty crisp and edgy, Eddie's tone later became a lot more smooth and refined. Your videos are pretty damn cool regardless.

[@kingofdragontown9680]

Well considering he got this guitar from Chris Holmes, another guitarist in Pasadena, I don't think he bought this one.

[@valentino3191]

I have no way of knowing which guitar Eddie bought or borrowed. What I do know at least from photos is he has played at least two different destroyers or Les Pauls sometimes. Go to NAMM and ask him. Best way to know for sure. All I can speculate is we haven’t seen him play a Destroyer in many years. You’d think if it was “the brown sound” he wants, he’d still be using it, or use Alnico 8 pickups.

[@timmiller4205]

At the End of the day Eddie's tone was in his fingers , but the super 70s P/U are awesome as were the Ibanez Destroyers!!

[@attilathehun0]

Great Job Lurch, but the Strat with the humbucker was ground breaking. Some of the songs off the 1st album was with the Ibanez Destroyer.

[@underskillednunderpaid]

All of the songs without a tremolo are the destroyer. I’d say it was half and half

[@marcraygun6290]

How is the gibson Explorer infamous?

[@timbuckxxi9690]

Had a Super Seventys DESTROYER.. I'm very sorry I ever let that one go..Can't keep em all..

[@redcomn]

Wasn't it fujigen who made the destroyer?

[@mightyV444]

Well possible, seeing that Fujigen had started making guitars for Hoshino in the 70's.

[@TheChadPad]

The variac he used was just as much a part of the brown sound he made though, but it is unfortunate he gave up a lot of good tone chasing a look. Still, it's a mistake a lot of guitarists make (a lot of WORSE guitarists) and I can totally forgive him for it. Guitar did look pretty cool after he was finished with it to me

[@tacoconch7678]

@2:00 That guitar on the left doesn't look like any Gibson Explorer I've ever seen. I'm calling bs.

[@xDarkness_1223x]

I love the creepy theme to this lol

[@almosthuman1398]

I had one of these in 1975. I hated it. It would not stay in tune. Here's something funny. The picture of the Gibson beside the Ibanez is not actually a Gibson. It's the Epiphone version. The Gibson parent company owned Epiphone, so I guess it's kinda the same thing...?

[@v2vroth]

Love the guitars and all this!! But geez dude are you on witness protection with your voice dropped an octave to hide your identity ?lol

[@richarde5718]

This feels like a vid from the dark web... Bizarre

[@sometimelater]

brown sound = amp, guitar doesn't matter. and that guitar is definitely not korina. ash & maple is a deadly combo.

[@mkii1964]

The most important guitar Eddie ever played??

[@23skidoo46]

one of the few mistakes he made in his doodling w/guitars. should never have chopped up that Ibanez. big mistake. haha. I wish i'd kept mine from back in the 80's. dammit..

[@stevenedwards4470]

How was the sound "ruined"? As long as the pickups are the same and he didn't cut a wire, I'm sure it sounded exactly as it did pre-surgery.

Steven Edwards a loss of wood might cause it to resonate differently. The average person probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference but for someone with well trained ears like Eddie he probably could

[@trevorwesterdahl6245]

Eddie stated he ruined the guitar after making the cutout and that it lost its sound. He never used it in the studio again.

[@jaredtallen]

I just saw a video here from Chris Holmes from wasp he and Eddie kinda grew up together they met when they were both 14 And he also has A Ibanez Destroyer That he got from the same store at the same time as Eddie's. Chris says that Eddie would borrow it for studio time after Eddie cut out the chunk. The 3rd album shows the shark on the cover but Chris's unaltered one that was used in the studio

[@Eddie-In-Las-Vegas]

@ Wrong!!! It was a psychological thing for Ed. Tone from a guitar has nothing to do with wood type. The wood is a vehicle that holds all the essential string geometry and spacings that make the instrument playable when it is fine tuned. The pickup matters as well and so does the the bridge, strings and Tuning heads. Anyone caught up into this wood thing is purely creating this illusion in their head. Electric guitar companies in the 50s and 60s never mentioned what type of wood the guitar body was made from. It wasn't until the 70s when all these hippie stoners on LSD started to form bands and becoming popular recording artist that all this wood tone crap came out. So what did guitar manufacturers do? Of course they played up to it because if anyone is bringing up guitar tone based off wood, it's better than no one bringing up anything at all. So in the mid 70s the electric guitar got fully technical with advertising wood body types and all guitar players had a voice in the fight of which tone you get when you play a particular guitar that is made from a particular wood. If anything this little useless debate probably increased the retail slightly because the manufacturers basically marked up the guitar body wood that everyone wanted. It's a stupid argument that is based off nothing and it's credibility is based off the particular person who thinks it matters.

[@DUNGEONcraft113]

@@Eddie-In-Las-Vegas go record you playing a strat, then cut half the wood out and record the same thing on the same settings and tell me it sounds no different

[@Lolo.13]

Except that as we know very well these days, wood has no influence on the sound of an electric guitar...

[@christopherdunn317]

Its almost as if this is about aliens, UFO's, or some horrible story LOL ! But its about Eddie's guitar ! oh i get it now the Texas chain saw massacre !

[@AlienAI51]

🦈;}

[@JIMJAMSC]

I admit to being one who cut one up to make a Shark. It was all stock except for both pickups. After the modification " butchering" it looked great, sounded the same as before but did not stay in tune as well and seemed to flex easier. IIRC I payed $600 for it from a early Ebay auction.

[@chrislink6846]

Fyi The shark guitar is silver and maroon

[@sinistar426]

Korina is a wood also known as White Limba. it isnt a type of " finish".

[@MrStarlight1980]

Yes but Not the japanese ones...they Made Out of Sen Ash!

[@herbcanter2114]

@@MrStarlight1980 The "Sen" family IS NOT related to Ash in any way shape or form although it resembles Ash but no relation.

[@MrStarlight1980]

@@herbcanter2114 never claim it is.

[@MrStarlight1980]

@@herbcanter2114 soundwise it is similar to ash.

[@gustavhammar912]

Nice horror movie!

[@TruthTalk1221]

Wtf is with this creepiness 😂😂😂

[@SlickMopar]

The narrator sounds to f**ing creepy i couldn't watch it all👹

[@DoctahToboggan69]

What the hell is the horror theme and creepy narration? This is unbearable

[@JENDALL714]

Eddie was a spoiled and privileged kid, that came from an upper class family who immigrated from the Netherlands. Who in their right mind would cut up a beautiful guitar like that? I knew a kid like Eddie when I was middle school, spoiled little kid who was always destroying instruments, until he got one he liked.

[@TheMaxKids]

So tell us how much you love Communism!

[@tacobell5150]

WRONG!!! they were not even remotely "upper middle class "( where the fuck did you come up with that bullshit??) Anyway, the brothers grew up in close to poverty conditions. Need 2 check yourself chuckle head....

[@daraygun9193]

1 check your facts 2 he's one of the best guitarist ever Enuff said

[@JENDALL714]

Pasadena is an upper class neighborhood, which is where his family emigrated to.

[@Leatherface123.]

Oh shit a Van Halen hater guys look it’s a sad nobody who wishes he was superior and thinks he can talk shit about god himself