JONMANKUTA@aol.com
1988 BC RICH GUNSLINGER- (NAMM guitar) - Custom Koi Fish graphic ("The Fish")- (Formerly owned by Eddie Van Halen)
This guitar was not only displayed at a winter NAMM show (either 1988 or 1989), but it was also formerly owned by Eddie Van Halen.
Yes, THAT Eddie Van Halen.
I always wanted a Van Halen owned guitar but never expected it to be a BC RIch Gunslinger, as Eddie is not known for playing them, but as it turns out, this one was a gift from VH's bass player Michael Anthony and BC Rich's guitar graphics painter Dan Lawrence to Eddie some years back.
The idea for it came about when Michael Anthony, Glenn Matejzel, and Dan Lawrence were having a sushi dinner together one night and noticed a colorful koi fish illustration on a bottle of saki. Michael thought it was really cool and asked Dan to paint a bass for him with a similar koi fish graphic. Dan agreed, and they decided to paint a matching one on a Gunslinger guitar as a gift for Eddie. The guitar was first displayed at the BC Rich booth at the winter NAMM show ('88 or '89), and after that, the guitar went to Eddie. Eddie apparently liked the way the guitar played but wasn't fond of the fish graphic, so he kept it at his studio. "The Fish" apparently became a running joke in the studio as occasionally when Eddie asked for a guitar, they brought out "The Fish", and Eddie was known to say: "Get that damn fish away from me...LOL". Well one day Eddie was brought "The Fish" by one of his assistants and he said: "You like that fish so much? You want one of my guitars? THAT is now YOUR guitar...get it outta here...!" And so it was gifted to the assistant, and soon after sold to a friend of hers in a band who changed the pick-up and played it in a band for a while before eventually selling it to me. When he initially told me of the guitar's history and former ownership I initially didn't believe him, but the history of the guitar was confirmed for me by Dan Lawrence who painted it for Eddie.
A cool guitar with a damn cool history behind it... :)
1988 BC RICH GUNSLINGER- (NAMM guitar) - Custom Koi Fish graphic ("The Fish")- (Formerly owned by Eddie Van Halen)
This guitar was not only displayed at a winter NAMM show (either 1988 or 1989), but it was also formerly owned by Eddie Van Halen.
Yes, THAT Eddie Van Halen.
I always wanted a Van Halen owned guitar but never expected it to be a BC RIch Gunslinger, as Eddie is not known for playing them, but as it turns out, this one was a gift from VH's bass player Michael Anthony and BC Rich's guitar graphics painter Dan Lawrence to Eddie some years back.
The idea for it came about when Michael Anthony, Glenn Matejzel, and Dan Lawrence were having a sushi dinner together one night and noticed a colorful koi fish illustration on a bottle of saki. Michael thought it was really cool and asked Dan to paint a bass for him with a similar koi fish graphic. Dan agreed, and they decided to paint a matching one on a Gunslinger guitar as a gift for Eddie. The guitar was first displayed at the BC Rich booth at the winter NAMM show ('88 or '89), and after that, the guitar went to Eddie. Eddie apparently liked the way the guitar played but wasn't fond of the fish graphic, so he kept it at his studio. "The Fish" apparently became a running joke in the studio as occasionally when Eddie asked for a guitar, they brought out "The Fish", and Eddie was known to say: "Get that damn fish away from me...LOL". Well one day Eddie was brought "The Fish" by one of his assistants and he said: "You like that fish so much? You want one of my guitars? THAT is now YOUR guitar...get it outta here...!" And so it was gifted to the assistant, and soon after sold to a friend of hers in a band who changed the pick-up and played it in a band for a while before eventually selling it to me. When he initially told me of the guitar's history and former ownership I initially didn't believe him, but the history of the guitar was confirmed for me by Dan Lawrence who painted it for Eddie.
A cool guitar with a damn cool history behind it... :)