Eddie Van Halen once borrowed an Ernie Ball Music Man electric guitar for a spur of the moment studio jam with Black Sabbath. In 1994, while Sabbath were working on their Cross Purposes album and Van Halen were touring the UK, legends Eddie Van Halen and Tony Iommi linked up in Birmingham, England in late April of that year.
Iommi told EVH to swing by the studio where Sabbath were working, and naturally, a jam was proposed. The pair of guitar icons then headed over to Musical Exchanges, a local guitar shop, to get Eddie an axe to shred.
That same guitar is now being put on the auction block, according to Guitar World.
In 2020, Iommi told Rolling Stone's Kory Grow, "We went down to the music shop in Birmingham. I said, ‘Can you lend us a guitar for Eddie?’ So Eddie came in with me, and we got one of his guitars, his own model.
“We played some of the Sabbath stuff for him,” Iommi continued. “One of his favorites was "Into the Void," strangely enough. We played that and we went back to writing. I think it was "Evil Eye," and I said, ‘Go on, you play the solo on this.’ He did and it was really great. When we recorded it, of course, I tried to duplicate that, but I couldn't.”
While Van Halen's solo didn't make the final mix, Iommi at the time told Grow, “I don't know where it is amongst my lot, but there is one. I know I've got one. It was a real gem.”
Auctions for music memorabilia have been all the rage of late, with items belonging to everyone from Kurt Cobain to Ace Frehley being offered up to the lucky fan who can afford the price. Case in point: Guitar World reports the translucent pink guitar played during the Eddie Van Halen/Sabbath jam is expected to sell for between $8,800 and $11,400.
In the meantime, could you imagine what it would be like hearing EVH wail over this track? You can certainly hear Iommi's best tribute to the man below!
