THE MAKING OF...
the EVH SHARK guitar
project completed SEP 13 2005
EVH's Shark my Shark
Building a replica of Edward Van Halen's classic Shark guitar presents some interesting challenges. (EVH named it the "Shark" because it looks as if one took a big bite out of it.) First, I'm taking a perfectly good Epiphone 1958 Korina Explorer and sawing out a pretty good chunk of wood behind the bridge. After parting it out, I have to strip the finish and stripe the body - not that big of a deal, but with the set-in neck, I have to really tape off the neck well to prevent over-spray. I've never striped a guitar that didn't have a bolt-on neck.
Edward Van Halen used the Shark guitar during the club days (pre-1978) and for a lot of the band's first album and tour. The 1976 Ibanez Destroyer went through three iterations: original natural, painted white, and then the heavily modified/painted "Shark". It was also photographed for both sides of the band's 1980 album, Women And Children First (front & back). EVH later complained that removing the "V" of wood behind the bridge (after recording Van Halen) altered its tone, so it hasn't been used too much since this era. That said, this still has to be one of the coolest looking guitars in rock 'n roll history. His guitar was painted red with silver/white stripes. To honor EVH and to continue with my own sense of originality, I'm painting my copy black with gray stripes.
The November 2004 issue of Guitar World magazine featured EVH's Ibanez Destroyer Shark in its centerfold along with the accompanying text:
Edward Van Halen may be notorious for his use and abuse of hot-rodded Strat-style guitars, but in truth, some of his most popular riffs were recorded with this mid-Seventies ('76) Ibanez Destroyer. "I used this guitar for a lot of Van Halen," he says. "You can hear it on all the stuff that didn't have any whammy bar on it: 'You Really Got Me,' the rhythm track on 'Jamie's Cryin'' and 'On Fire.'"
According to the guitarist, the Destroyer, which is pictured on the cover of Women And Children First, "was one of the few guitars made out of korina wood that you could get without spending an arm and a leg."
Unfortunately, shortly after recording Van Halen's landmark debut, Edward maimed the guitar in a moment of workbench zeal. "It was a great-sounding guitar - until I hacked a chunk out of it to make it look different," he says, with a chuckle. "It was ruined! The sound changed from really fat and Les Paul - like to real weak and Stratty. I thought I might have damaged the pickup when I took out the wood, so I stuck in another pickup, but it sounded the same - real bad. The mistake was that I took out a piece right by the bridge, where a lot of resonance and tone come from."
Filled with remorse, Eddie went out and bought another Destroyer. "But by that time," he laments, "they'd changed the body wood."
So why build a guitar that even Eddie Van Halen says doesn't sound good? One, because it looks so freakin' cool, and two, because the pickups I'll be using will more than make up for any perceived lack of resonance. At least that's the plan!
Fender EVH Shark
The Work
SEP 13, 2005 ~
Another successful project is complete! After waiting around for a couple of months - debating whether or not I should wire the thing up myself - I took my Shark to The Guitar Shop in DC and had it professionally wired up. Thanks Mike! I then set the action, intonation, and tuned it up and it plays great! The pickups sound tremendous and it looks really sharp. I sealed the wires in the exposed cavity with clear silicone and that's it. What started off as a korina Epiphone Explorer is now an EVH Shark clone.
MAY 28-30, 2005 ~
I sprayed the body clear three times and added all of the hardware. The Gotoh Tune-O-Matic/stop tail fits nice and the pickups lined up well. The gold/chrome locking Schaller tuners went in easy, too. Installing the turnbuckles was kind of tricky, but everything went off without a hitch. After I strung up the guitar, I found a couple of high frets and leveled those off - nothing too serious.
So it's almost done! I have to wire the thing up and then intonate it, and then it will be ready to go. I may try and wire it up myself - otherwise, I'll drop it off at the local repair shop. I'm very anxious to hear what kind of tone this thing will produce.
MAY 23, 2005 ~
I peeled off the tape and let it dry for two days. I then added the gray stripe that I forgot and this is what it looks like. I like it. Now, I will just wait for some dry weather and give it 2-3 clearcoat sprays and then let it dry for another few days. Then I'll start adding the hardware.
MAY 21, 2005 ~
I gave the body two good coats of gray and proceeded to tape off the appropriate stripes. I then gave it two coats of black. This project is getting close! Unfortunately, I missed one tape line from EVH's original Shark, so I have to add one more gray stripe to the body - should be no big deal. And then I'll give it a couple of clearcoat sprays and then the painting will be done!
MAY 15, 2005 ~
I changed my mind. I didn't like how the gray and yellow looked, so I sanded down the headstock and sprayed it gray again. I then taped of the same stripes and sprayed it black. So this guitar will now be black with gray stripes. It looks cool this way!
MAY 7, 2005 ~
I taped off the headstock with the same basic design as EVH's original, and sprayed the headstock with two coats of winter gray. I let it dry for just a couple of minutes and peeled off the tape. I'll let it dry thoroughly for a couple of days and then I'll clearcoat it a few times. Then I'll work on the body. So far so good!
MAY 6, 2005 ~
Typically, when I paint a bolt-on neck guitar, I am able to paint the body and headstock at the same time. But since this is a guitar with a set-in neck, I decided to paint and totally complete the headstock first, as it is too much of a hassle to lay it somewhere to dry when the entire guitar is wet. So I sprayed the headstock with three coats of sun yellow and then I'll tape it off for the winter gray.
APR 30, 2005 ~
After finally getting some dry weather on a weekend, I was able to fully sand down the guitar and apply a couple of coats of white primer to both the body and the headstock. Of course, I taped off the fretboard and the neck back. I didn't end up taking off all of the finish off the back of the neck, but I can always go back and get more later.
MAR 13, 2005 ~
Well, the hard part is over - I took out the "V" section behind the bridge, as well as a slice off the bottom end. Overall, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, although it felt kinda weird to destroy a perfectly good guitar.
My original plan was to sand the body down before removing the wood, but I thought doing it this way would allow me to do all of the sanding at one time. I studied pictures of the original EVH Ibanez Destroyer Shark and drew an outline on the body. I then drilled and re-drilled holes (slowly increasing in diameter) for the "V" section. I then took a hand saw and cut out the "V" and then sawed off the small "chip" off the bottom end. Lastly, I took round and flat files and smoothed everything out as best as possible. Next, I'll rough-sand the finish off the body and headstock so it can be primed. I would like to leave the back of the set neck unfinished, so I may have a lot of sanding to do there - there's a lot of finish on this guitar.
FEB 20, 2005 ~
First things first. I removed the strings and took off the white pickguard and the gold bridge assembly. I left the wiring in place so I can study it - I hope to be able to wire the thing up myself when the project is completed.
As for the neck, I removed the gold stock tuners (junk) and the Gibson truss rod cover. I was able to sand off the Gibson, so I won't have to buy a blank cover. The frets were a bit tarnished due to lack of use (I'm sure the strings I took off were the original strings from 1998!), so I took some fine steel wool and polished them up. A couple of the fret ends showed minor popping, so I hammered them back into place. I also lightly filed the fret ends back. I then treated the rosewood fretboard with a generous amount of lemon oil.
One thing I'm learning already is that it's a lot easier to work on a guitar when you can take off the neck. Compound that with the extra-large Explorer body, and minor jobs become significantly more awkward. Also, I have to be very careful with the tilt-back headstock. The greatest disaster would be to crack that joint. Needless to say, I'll be taking extra care when working on this project.
The next step after copying down the wiring system, will be to sand the body and neck and prime both for painting. Unlike EVH's Shark, I think I'll just sand down the back of the neck and leave it unpainted.
FEB 13, 2005 ~
Well, I'm starting another interesting project. Featured on the cover of Van Halen's 1980 Women And Children First album, I'm attempting to replicate the one and only EVH Shark guitar. Check back to see progress as I strip the hardware and finish, cut the body, and paint the body and headstock.
The Parts
WOOD ~ EVH's original Shark guitar was actually a heavily modified 1970s korina wood Ibanez Destroyer. For me to track down an actual 1970s Ibanez Destroyer would be nearly impossible and very expensive. Since the Ibanez Destroyer was just a clone of the Epiphone and Gibson model Explorers, it made sense to go with the cheaper Epiphone. And, the Epiphone is even made of korina wood like the 1970s Destroyer. I recently found a 1998 Epiphone 1958 Korina Explorer at Top Shelf Music in Buffalo, NY. Despite being nearly seven years old, the guitar is brand new and still had the warranty tags and thin plastic shield on the pickguard - classic New Old Stock (NOS). With case and shipping the total came to $420 - what a deal!
The set-in neck is maple with a nice rosewood fretboard. I didn't know too much about korina before this, so I took the following wood description from the Warmoth site:
Korina, White (Terminalia superba):
It's true name is Limba from Africa. White Korina is a medium to heavy weight wood. The tone is very similar to Mahogany. It features a light yellow/green color which looks great with a yellow tinted finish. This is a great wood for bass guitars. Korina has a naturally waxy feel to it. An oil finish works well on this wood.
ELECTRONICS ~ Nothing too out of the ordinary here. For pickups, I went with DiMarzio. I've always wanted a Super Distortion model, so the bridge pickup was an easy choice. Nice high output to hopefully compensate for the "missing wood" behind the bridge. The neck pickup was a harder decision, but I trust that DiMarzio's new PAF Joe (Joe Satriani's signature pickup) will do the job. The pickups are cream and black, respectively, just like EVH's original Shark.
Other electronics pictured are two 500K pots (volume and tone), a 3-way "Les Paul-type" switch, and the output jack. The output jack has a chrome square jack plate, while the 3-way switch is mounted in a gold square jack plate - in keeping with EVH's Shark.
HARDWARE ~ A bunch of cool stuff here. First off, I have both black and cream humbucker mounting rings for the pickups - in keeping with the original. I'm also splitting colors with the tuners, as EVH's Shark has the E A D strings connected to gold tuners and the G B E strings to chrome tuners. I'll do the same, but with Schaller locking tuners. The chrome Tune-O-Matic/stop tail bridge assembly is by Gotoh and I have the typical chrome Schaller straplocks ready to go.
Not everything is brand new, as I was able to salvage a few things off the Epiphone, namely the back cover plate (with serial number U98012047), the truss rod cover, and the 1 11/16" white nut. The two black speed knobs are actually from my very first guitar back in 1983, an Avila Les Paul copy. I picked up the two turnbuckles and hook screws at Home Depot. I also have pictured the pile of black, gold, and chrome screws needed to put all of these things together!
PAINT ~ EVH's Shark is painted red with silvery white stripes, but I'm going with black with gray stripes. That way I get to put my twist on a classic guitar. I decided to go with Rust-Oleum spray paint - namely winter gray and gloss black. First, I'll prime it white and and then add a few coats of gray. Then, after I tape it off, I'll spray it black a couple of times. After peeling the tape off, I'll give a couple sprays of clearcoat. Note: I originally was going to paint the guitar gray with yellow stripes, but switched from yellow to black after painting the headstock.
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