01/10/25: Bumping this one up because I rather like it, and wanted to add a bit of gorilla magic.
RIP, EVH. Still missing you.
I don’t know how far back WP wants us to go in the Wayback Machine here, but I’m stopping round about my 20s. My blog, my rules.
The one item I am really attached to is one of my guitars. It wasn’t my first, but it was, and still is the crown jewel in my collection.
The Ernie Ball Music Man Edward Van Halen Signature Guitar:
When I was growing up, Eddie Van Halen was my hero. He was, and always will be, my favorite musician ever.
Most people are used to seeing Eddie with his iconic Frankenstrat guitar:
But over the years he has played a multitude of different guitars, and in the 90s he worked with the Ernie Ball Music Man company to design a new signature model.
When these were released I absolutely knew I had to have one.
The closest dealer to me was damn near in NYC, which is not a couple towns over from me to say the least. Being the days of no e-commerce, I got on the phone ASAP and called the dealer.
I was torn between a red and a gold one originally, but two things stopped me from getting the red model:
One, Eddie played a gold one primarily, and two, it was a 2-3 month wait for a red one.
Gold it was.
It was still a tortuously long wait even for the gold. It was still damn near a month before it arrived. These things were basically made to order, so they were rarely ready to ship immediately.
Anyhow, when it finally arrived, I tore the shipping box open, cracked the case and I was in love. I think I stared at it for about 30 minutes before I even played it. It was so elegant in it’s simplicity.
And when I finally did play it? Man, forget it. Smooth as butter and played like a dream. Even my uncle, who was a diehard vintage guitar guy, loved it.
We’ve been together a long, long time now. And even though I don’t get to play as often as I’d like these days, when I do it is right there waiting for me as magical as the day we met.
RIP, Eddie. Still missing you.
The Beginning At Last 
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