Kramer Given to 12-year-old Dweezil Zappa by Eddie Van Halen
Thanks to Eddie Van Halen's friendship with Frank Zappa, his son Dweezil had the opportunity to meet his guitar role model at the age of 12, when EVH visited Frank's house and personally showed young Dweezil how to play parts on classic Van Halen songs, including hits like Mean Street, Eruption, etc. EVH also later produced Dweezil's first single My Mother Is a Space Cadet and also lent him one of his Kramers in the style of a more extravagant Explorer when Dweezil, with his constantly out-of-tune guitar, was practising Runnin' With the Devil for his school talent contest.
The young Zappa subsequently wanted to return the borrowed Kramer to Van Halen, but the generous musician, who at the time was not yet officially associated with the brand, let him keep the guitar. It is now part of Zappa's instrumental arsenal, as confirmed by a video where Dweezil states, among other things, that he has modified the Kramer in question in the past as a homage to Van Halen's signature style.
The piece, with its maple fretboard and reverse hockey stick headstock, originally had a cream-coloured body decorated with orange flash, but Dweezil repainted it with red lacquer and added graphics referencing Eddie's early signature series of superstrats. The bridge humbucker was replaced with a Tom Anderson model and screwed directly into the body, the original Floyd Rose locking tremolo with brass sustain block was installed, etc. The second attached Gibson TV production footage documents Dweezil's extensive guitar collection.
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