that my first electric guitar suddenly was missing its neck and middle pickups.
It was because of Eddie Van Halen my first electric guitar suddenly had stripes all over it.
It was because of Eddie Van Halen my first electric guitar suddenly had a Floyd Rose tremolo and locking nut in place of the standard Strat style trem.
It was because of Eddie Van Halen my first electric guitar’s neck was attacked with a razor blade to take off all of the finish, leaving a lovely smooth neck and why now I really hate playing guitars with finish over the back of the neck.
It was because of Eddie Van Halen that I wanted to pull guitars apart, put them back together, make up new ones from parts and build my own.
It was because of Eddie Van Halen that I moved over 5,000 miles to attend a guitar making school.
It was because of Eddie Van Halen I was almost expelled from school, after a bit of a riot in the sixth form common room, in which a huge Van Halen logo was scrawled across a table top. Good job I had evidence of not being in the country at the time and also being able to point out that the perpetrator had done such a shoddy job and that I would have got it spot on.
Thank you Eddie Van Halen…