Eddie Van Halen‘s personally designed custom guitar, owned and played onstage by the late musican at the February 16, 2008 show in Jacksonville, Florida was auctioned for $37,500 at Nate D. Sanders Auctions Thursday night (December 10).
Van Halen signed the Charvel guitar with a silver marker. He listed the Jacksonville concert date as well as “Van Halen ’08.” The guitar comes in a custom EVH (Eddie Van Halen) Charvel guitar case.
Van Halen was the main songwriter for the band VAN HALEN. He is widely considered as one of the greatest guitar players of all-time. He also popularized the tapping guitar solo technique. He died on October 6, 2020.
Additional information on the guitar can be found at this location.
About Nate D. Sanders Auctions: An industry leader in documents and autographs, Nate D. Sanders Auctions has conducted auctions in Los Angeles since 1990 and now holds major auctions on a monthly basis. Owner Nate Sanders is recognized for his knowledge of sports, historical and Hollywood memorabilia.
Last week, Eddie Van Halen‘s son Wolfgang criticized a recent auction of three of his late father’s guitars. The instruments were sold for a total of $422,050 through Julien’s Auctions as part of a larger music memorabilia event called “Icons & Idols”.
The 29-year-old said the sellers were “taking advantage of my father’s passing”, and he had “nothing to do with” the sale.
“I don’t EVER plan on selling any of my father’s iconic guitars,” he said.
According to BBC News, Julien’s Auctions said two of the guitars were submitted for sale weeks before Eddie died.
Wolfgang added that one of the guitars sold had been a gift, writing on Twitter: “It WASN’T for charity. They’re just taking advantage of my father’s passing. What a surprise.”
He also suggested the only place they could “possibly belong in is a museum.”
Julien’s Auctions said the instruments in the sale were a custom-designed 2004 “stage-played” guitar, a “customized and played” guitar and a “music video guitar” that was used for VAN HALEN‘s classic 1984 single “Hot For Teacher”. The latter was a non-playing prop that was used by a child actor who played a young Eddie Van Halen in the song’s accompanying video.