Just to be a pedant ;)
However, the VHII in the right guitar would sound the dogs doodles. Van Halen's original guitar I believe had Basswood body and Maple neck, which probably is what makes all the difference.
I presume you are referring to Frankenstein, which has an ash body.
Eddie also used his Ibanez Destoyer a lot on the early albums (You really Got Me, for example), and that has a
body made of
sen (Castor aralia, or Kalopanax), although EVH himself
mistakenly thought it was korina and
mistakenly bought a light coloured mahogany body thinking that too was korina, thus building his black and yellow bumblebee guitar. No Basswood for Ed until Kramer.
I found this article on why PRS neck pickups on their 22 Fret guitars sound dull in comparison to PRS 24 fret guitars.
http://www.edroman.com/guitars/prs/prsvsprs.htm
The Custom 22 pickup is situated in a location where the 24th fret harmonic falls. There is a node or phase cancellation at that location. This simply means that a lot of the midrange frequencies are gonna go bye bye because they are cancelled out. You will get a muddy sound just like a Les Paul on a 22 fret model whereas the 24 fret version pickup falls off axis or away from the node. You will get a more clear lively rhythm sound. The 22 fret sounds good for lead but at what sacrifice. The 24 sounds good for lead also but on the 24 you don't have to sacrifice your midrange frequencies.
This 'node' is only applied to open strings, as you move up the neck, the node also moves up incrementally and therefore the pickup position makes very little difference. I presume it's only a problem for people who sit with their guitars bashing away at the open strings for hours on end. If this is how Mr Roman plays then, all the best to him and his 24 frets.
