Chris Holmes Destroyer

[leadguy]

With jimi22812's help and things I discovered this is the Chris Holmes Ibanez Destroyer that Ed borrowed for WACF.
Chris Holmes Ibanez Destroyer is now at a guitar museum.

http://www.vhnd.com/2008/11/18/van-halen-all-cut-up/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zqXWpInYuU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


"Next, the Red Destroyer that Ed used on some of Women and Children First. Chris Holmes from Wasp lent the guitar to Ed and Neil Zlozower took shots of them in the studio while recording at Sunset Sound. You can see from the original print that Doug got from Zloz that the guitar is leaning right next to Ed. Also, in the upper corner near the frame is a shot of Chris with the guitar. That thing is cool."


http://www.juancroucier.com/cgi-bin/pos ... &replyto=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ask Chris if he still has his Ibanez Destroyer that he used to play
back in the Club Days?


CHRIS: "No, a friend of mine owns a Van Halen museum and I gave it
to him. It is in the museum, no shit."

[jimi22812]

Nice find, leadguy! Some cool info and pics too!

[Strat78]

Awesome leadguy. Great post!

[sherman]

Thanks for the detective work leadguy.

The way you always provide us with links to your supporting sources deserves thanks as well. It's just a good way to debate!

[jcm800nut]

Heh heh, also check out the les paul. Pickup switch set to treble pickup, but there is no treble pickup. LOL Adds new meaning to where's the bridge? Where's that confounded bridge?

[plexified]

Heh heh, also check out the les paul. Pickup switch set to treble pickup, but there is no treble pickup. LOL Adds new meaning to where's the bridge? Where's that confounded bridge?

Way funny , you guys kill me . Leadguy thats awesome . The CSI series and website is definately needed !

[beaulieu]

After reading that article there wer 2 things that stood out. First and foremost Chris said he liked the way Ed plays and always wanted to play like him but....you gotta do your own thing. Also the way he said Ed set up his guitars was exactly like the Fender replica I played.Strings a mile off the fretboard and the bar so loose that he had to superglue the nut on the back of the bar so it would spin!!!

[wdelaney72]

Interesting nugget about the rivalry between VH and QR... I never knew that.

[JimiJames]

I suspect the design of Ibanez's Gibraltar II with the brass saddles & lock-nuts, play important parts with sustain & tone.
EVH holds his up in an old photo clearly showing some type of Gibson ABR-1.
Can't remember details; but when he returned the guitar, CH mentions something was off ? So EVH did not mess with the stock pickup? hmm Soo... Do we know the exact pickup ? The S70 right ? With an A8 mag...

[JimiJames]

Changed in '77, but end result was stock.




...and what is that early brass bridge type that he changed out ? Perhaps a Gibson/ABR-1 or Ibanez/ABR type ? Gibson/Schaller ? (and where is that stock bridge ?)
Also is that the same bridge, which looks to be an ABR-1 type ? I would assume so, but I have also seen EVH use the Schallers which were more commonly found on SG's. There were two types and made to sit precisely in their holes, but resting on the stud and not locked like the Gibraltar.

[garbeaj]

The "harmonica" looking replacement bridge was made by a company called "Lyle". The gold toned bridge is almost certainly another Ibanez bridge, so yes Ibanez/ABR...though they weren't exactly perfect ABR replicas. The parts on the Destroyers were metric and most of the Ibanez guitars of the period that had parts that could be had for a replacement like the SG and Les Paul styled guitars were all gold finished.

For whatever reason, Ed changed to a gold bridge. You can clearly see this same bridge in the white phase and the Shark phase. Then I guess the Lyle bridge came to be used on the Holmes Destroyer? I can't remember, but I think the Lyle bridge stayed on the Shark Destroyer through today. Maybe Ed liked the Lyle on the Holmes Destroyer (maybe Chris put the Lyle on his Destroyer?) and he got one to put on the Shark?

As far as the pickup, I believe Phil and myself always thought it was the stock Super 70 pickups in Ed's Destroyer until sometime in the Shark phase where he tried something else. In the Japanese picture you posted where he is holding up the Shark, it looks like he went back to the original Super 70 with the pickup cover and cream pickup ring which would have been consistent with what was originally on the guitar (except for the pickup ring which was black originally...maybe he got a complete new Super 70 pickup with cream ring and pickup cover when he was in Japan and dumped it in the Shark?)Then he later put some double cream pickup in it. The Holmes Destroyer looks to have a standard Super 70 with the same configuration (black pickup ring and pickup cover) during the sessions for Women and Children First.

[Strat78]

I had the harmonica bridge on there for a while but as far as playability, the stock type bridge feels the best, plus the edge of the wider harmonic bridge gets in the way of those little rakes. Going by all the photos of the white destroyer to the Warner Bros. official videos from 78, it's an Ibanez gold bridge that was on the guitar when the first album was recorded. It's not hard to figure out why Ed began to dislike the Destroyer, not just because of the chunk of wood taken out, but the addition of the brass nut as well. Still, the guitar sounded pretty damn good on the second album's "Outta Love".

[garbeaj]

I've never tried the Lyle bridge, but it looked like it wouldn't feel right.

That said, if one was really trying to capture the "Outta Love Again" sound or the Women and Children First Destroyer sounds, it would make sense to go with a Lyle harmonica bridge since that seems to be what was on the Shark and the Holmes Destroyer respectively for those recordings.

I've looked at the color photos of Ed's Destroyer when it was in the original "Korina" or rather "amber epoxy" finish and I think it might have had the original and stock chrome bridge? I wonder what caused him to change to the gold finished Ibanez bridge? I've always assumed that the original bridge developed some sort of problem (I can't imagine what problem that would be) and then he pulled a replacement bridge from a lawsuit Ibanez Les Paul or SG which may have been the only tune-o-matic/Gibson ABR style bridge equipped guitars in the Ibanez line and he had to have a metric replacement to fit the Destroyer properly. I think this would be the most probable scenario because if a replacement bridge was needed, for whatever reason, a gold finished metric bridge from a lawsuit Ibanez SG or Les Paul would slot right in.

[vanhalen5150]

I have one of those Lyle Destroyers. I'll dig out the closet. If I remember correctly it does have the Harmonica bridge. The finish and headstock had been stripped. I found it in a weird gig bag in someone's garbage years ago. Never got around to fixing it up.

[JimiJames]

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Alright kool ! Thanks Allen

Found that old interview with CH talking about EVH; from The Inside mag:

[ It was funny; when I got it back, the bridge was turned around backwards and all that intonation... it was just backwards to the way I would have had it. I just don't see how he played it that way, but he did. It's funny, I've been to a few Van halen shows and I put on Ed's guitar and it's just the complete opposite of the way I set up mine...
...Yeah, he'd have the strings about a mile off the fret board. He likes his whammy bar so loose that he super glues the nut on the back so it spins around. I don't use a whammy bar, but everybody has their own way of playing.]

It was Strat78 who told me about the harmonica and that got me going on my Chris Holmes version or DestroyEx
man, I had a hard time finding the studs around Chicagoland so, I just machined them myself. Until I can get my hands on a real one, I'm satisfied with the results. Now that Strat78 has mentioned the play-ability, it does have a stiffer feel. & I am not 100% sure the Ibanez Gibraltar has the same radius as on the Epiphone as some were 12, some 14 radius.
My other (black) '58 ri Korina is stock and feels & plays better, but this half-breed has a Super70 in the bridge !


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^^^
Kool vanhalen5150 ! Break that guitar out of the closet, & plug'r in! ! Some of my early guitars were a Destroyer shape. I had a red Baby Dean Z with a single DSD in the late '70's, but here's an early '80's Pearl White from '86.
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