Ed Roman EVH 5150 Replica

This review is for an Ed Van Halen 5150 Kramer replica guitar, circa 1999, manufactured by Ed Roman's World Class Guitars of Conn. USA. 22 frets, single Duncan JB slant mounted PU, original schaller tuners, original Floyd Rose, replica Kramer "hockey stick" headstock-bolt on neck. Neck is great quality maple/maple- unfinished (except paint on headstock front. Body material is unknown, as is the body manufacturer but it is lightweight and could be basswoood. Single volume knob, which had been replaced by the original owner with a MXR volume knob as per Ed's original 5150 guitar. Paint job is very accurate to the original and has a clear coat. The finish was not designed to have the true wear and tear of Ed's original axe like you see on some of these other reproduction guitars from other makers. No 5150 "space tape" but a reasonable facsimily done in paint rather than tape. Regular strap buttons.

Great sounding guitar. Won't make you sound like Eddie himself or give you that "brown sound" off the first couple of albums, as no guitar is capable of doing that. The brown sound was in his amp, not his guitars. Using a Marshall 50 watt plexi reissue and line 6- ax-212 with it and it rocks with both. Very quiet and has a semi-hot pick up. Well balanced sound across the entire fretboard. Pick up has great sustain qualities even when floyd is set for floating position.

I bought this axe used from a gentleman on ebay and I'm the second owner. With that in mind, the set up was great. One of the lock down retainers had a small burr on it so it kept cutting the B string until I sanded it smooth. The previous owner cranked down too hard on the locking screws on the neck, so I have to tighten them down pretty hard to keep it in tune. The pickup spacing is perfect- strings go over each pick up coil just like they should. Ed Roman drilled and mounted the floyd at a slight slant, so that it's slanted at an angle, sort of like a les paul bridge if you can picture this. Don't know why he did it that way and it's a first for me to see it done this way. It's probably just some quirky thing he does but when you do it that way, it leaves a gap that you can see through clear through to the other side of the tremelo cavity. Not too good asthetically if you know what I mean. This slanted floyd doesn't seem to play any better than a regularly straight mounted one so I don't know why Mr. Roman sacrifices the looks of the guitar by doing it that way. If you're reading this Ed- I would rethink doing it that way on other guitars. What's to be gained by this? Maybe Ed thinks it will help intonation, I don't know. The intonation is perfect by the way.
The paint job and finish are perfectly done. Fret work is A+ and the neck is super fast. Neck is straight as an arrow and action can be set very low if desired with zero fret buzz. Truss rod is not exposed so the neck has to be removed to adjust it. I rate this an 8 because I don't care for the way the floyd is mounted as I described earlier.

This is a rugged guitar. You can get pretty crazy with stage antics without worrying if the thing will self destruct. The hardware is all top notch so no worries there.

As mentioned, I bought this second hand so I've never dealt with anyone at Ed Roman's shop.

I bought this guitar for it's quality materials and workmanship as well as reliability/playability and Ed Roman's reputation as a luthier. I took a big gamble by buying this off of ebay but I'm glad I took the risk. I was looking for a EVH clone guitar for quite some time because I wanted a solid guitar that delivers great tone. That's what I got with this. There is a resurgence right now in this style of guitar based mostly on conceptions that it will give people the brown sound and make you sound like Eddie. No guitar will deliver in that department. There are other guitar makers out there making this same guitar for about half of what Ed Roman charges. The old saying you get what you pay for holds here as well. These other guitar makers are sometimes using japanese plywood kramer bodies and necks they've scrounged off of ebay or gotten by dumpster diving. These other guys may be good at reproducing the EVH paint jobs right down to the cigarette burns but do you want good looks or a quality guitar with quality parts that are true to the original. Hope this review helps you in your tone quest.