Wolfgang Van Halen's guitar, amp, and strings: the EVH SA-126, sourced
Wolfgang Van Halen's documented gear: the EVH SA-126 signature semi-hollow built around his father's 1959 Gibson ES-335, an EVH 5150III amp rig, and the D'Addario string gauge he switched to before the 2022 Taylor Hawkins tribute shows. With citations.
Mammoth · reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team ·
Wolfgang Van Halen's electric guitar strings run through three documented eras: EVH Premium (.009–.042) on his early SA-126 prototypes in 2022, D'Addario 10-46 after he switched gauges before that year's Taylor Hawkins tribute shows, and D'Addario NYXL 11-49 today, per D'Addario's own artist page. His signature EVH SA-126 semi-hollow launched in January 2024, built around his father's 1959 Gibson ES-335, the guitar he tracked most of Mammoth WVH's 2021 debut on.
Who Wolfgang Van Halen is
Wolfgang Van Halen is Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertinelli's only child, born March 16, 1991 in Santa Monica, California, and named in homage to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He started on drums at nine, mostly self-taught with only a few lessons from his uncle Alex, before moving to guitar and bass. Eddie announced in December 2006 that his then-15-year-old son would replace Michael Anthony as Van Halen's bassist. Wolfgang first toured with the band in 2007 and stayed until it dissolved in 2020, following Eddie's death.
He also spent several years, from 2012 into 2016, as Mark Tremonti's touring and recording bassist in Tremonti. In between, he recorded Van Halen's only album with him on bass, A Different Kind of Truth (2012). After Eddie died on October 6, 2020, Wolfgang turned a solo side project he'd started in 2015 into his full-time band: Mammoth WVH, on which he wrote, sang, and played every instrument himself. The self-titled 2021 debut earned a Grammy nomination for "Distance," a tribute to his father written while Eddie was still alive, and put Eddie's own original Frankenstrat on record too: Wolfgang has said he played it on the solos for "Mammoth" and "Feel." Mammoth II followed in 2023. In 2025 the band shortened its name to simply Mammoth after acquiring the trademark, and released its third album, The End.
What he plays
D'Addario NYXL 11-49 on his primary guitar, the EVH SA-126 semi-hollow he co-designed with EVH master builder Chip Ellis, run through an EVH 5150III head and cabinet. That current setup is the product of two documented changes: a 2022 gauge bump he's talked about publicly, and a guitar built specifically to chase the tone of his father's vintage Gibson ES-335.
The current rig, sourced
- Strings
- D'Addario NYXL 11-49, per D'Addario's own current artist page. Up from D'Addario 10-46 (documented 2022-2023) and, before that, EVH Premium .009-.042 on his earliest SA-126 prototypes.
- Primary guitar
- EVH SA-126, his first signature model: a semi-hollow built around the tone of Eddie's 1959 Gibson ES-335, launched January 2024.
- Amp
- EVH 5150III 50-watt 6L6 head into a matching EVH 5150III 4x12 cabinet with Celestion G12 EVH 20-watt speakers. Blue channel for rhythm, red for solos.
- Historical role
- Van Halen's bassist from 2007 to 2020, playing custom one-off basses built by Chip Ellis. Now plays guitar and sings lead in Mammoth.
The gauge that changed after Taylor Hawkins
Wolfgang's documented string gauge has moved up twice in public record, each time tied to a specific, sourced moment rather than a routine spec change.
He started on the lighter side: Premier Guitar's 2022 Mammoth WVH rig rundown reported that his early SA-126 prototypes "took EVH Premium Strings (.009-.042)," the same signature set Eddie Van Halen played later in his career. Then came the 2022 Taylor Hawkins tribute shows, including the Wembley concert, where Wolfgang covered two Van Halen classics, "Hot for Teacher" and "Panama," live for the first time. In his own words to Guitar Techniques: "I used to play 9s. But when I did the Taylor Hawkins tribute show, I was so nervous I was wickedly bending every string out of tune, so we needed to go up a gauge. And I've been at 10-46 ever since." That interview ran in Guitar World in August 2023.
D'Addario's own current artist page for Wolfgang lists a heavier set still: NYXL 11-49. CYS treats that as his present gauge, since it's the manufacturer's own live roster listing rather than a dated interview quote. The jump from .010-.046 to .011-.049 is not a small one: D'Addario's published tension chart puts NYXL1046 at 102.3 lbs total in E standard against 116.8 lbs for NYXL1149, about 14% more pull across all six strings.
| EVH Premium (2022 prototypes) | D'Addario 10-46 (2022-2023) | D'Addario NYXL1149 (current) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gauge | .009–.042 | .010–.046 | .011–.049 |
| Documented via | Premier Guitar rig rundown | Wolfgang's own quote, Guitar World | D'Addario's official artist page |
| Total tension, E standard | Not published by EVH | 102.3 lbs | 116.8 lbs |
| CYS product page | EVH Premium 9-42 | NYXL1046 | NYXL1149 |
NYXL1149 Nickel Wound (.011–.049)
Why this one: The gauge D'Addario's own artist page currently lists for Wolfgang, a step up from the 10-46 he ran through 2022-2023.
His dad's ES-335, and the guitar it inspired
The SA-126 exists because of a beat-up vintage guitar that almost fell apart in Wolfgang's hands.
Working on Mammoth WVH's debut, Wolfgang reached for his father's 1959 Gibson ES-335. He told Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett on the Walking The Floor podcast: "It was so old that when I tried to tune it, I believe the tuning pegs are like ivory or something. It just crumbled in my finger, it turned into cinnamon. But when we recorded, it sounded amazing. That's when I got the bug for that hollow-body sort of sound." That semi-hollow tone became the foundation of the entire album, and the starting point for a three-year collaboration with EVH master builder Chip Ellis to build a modern instrument around it.
The result, revealed piece by piece through 2022 and formally launched January 26, 2024, Eddie's birthday, is a guitar Wolfgang has described as "way beyond a typical semi-hollow... like a hot rod, but with a souped-up modern engine." The name folds in two tributes at once: SA for semi-acoustic, and 126 for Eddie's January 26 birthday, the same numbering convention Eddie used when he named the instrumental "316" after Wolfgang's own birthday, March 16. The sound hole is cut as a subtle "E," and depending on the angle, the neck's block inlays read as M, W, or E. Wolfgang put the SA-126 through the same "crash-testing" process his father used on early EVH gear: running it hard on tour for two years before it ever reached a store shelf.
Electric guitars
Launched January 26, 2024 · Signature model
EVH SA-126 Special
Wolfgang's first signature guitar, developed over three years with master builder Chip Ellis. Chambered mahogany body with a basswood centerblock, maple or quilted-maple top, ebony 12"-16" compound-radius fingerboard, 22 jumbo frets, and Tim Shaw-designed EVH SA-126 humbuckers. $1,799.99 to $1,899.99 depending on finish.
Added May 2025 · $899
EVH SA-126 Standard
An Indonesian-built, more affordable version of the Special: mahogany body and centerblock, maple top, rosewood (not ebony) fingerboard, the same Tim Shaw humbuckers and 22-fret compound-radius neck. Brought the SA-126 line under $1,000 for the first time.
Eddie's guitar · Tracked most of the 2021 debut
1959 Gibson ES-335
Eddie's vintage semi-hollow. Wolfgang tracked most of Mammoth WVH's self-titled debut on it, despite its decades-old tuning pegs disintegrating on first attempt. The tone it produced directly inspired the SA-126.
Source: MusicRadar.
Played on the 2021 debut
Eddie Van Halen's original Frankenstrat
Eddie's hand-built, red-and-white-striped Strat-style guitar stayed with the Van Halen family after his death. Wolfgang played the original instrument, not a replica, on the solos for "Mammoth" and "Feel," off Mammoth WVH's 2021 debut.
Source: Loudwire; full Frankenstrat history on Eddie Van Halen's gear profile.
Occasional live use
EVH Wolfgang USA
The production guitar line Eddie named after his son. Wolfgang has said he still "plays a Wolfgang every now and then" live, despite some fan pushback about not simply developing his own model, before the SA-126 answered that.
Source: MusicRadar.
Amps
An all-EVH signal path, confirmed on Premier Guitar's Mammoth WVH rig rundown.
Head + matching cabinet
EVH 5150III 50W 6L6 + EVH 5150III 4x12
The cabinet is loaded with Celestion G12 EVH 20-watt speakers. Wolfgang lives mostly in the blue, rhythm, channel and switches to the red channel for solos, per Premier Guitar's on-camera walkthrough of his rig.
Effects
Board, per the Mammoth WVH rig rundown
EVH-branded board: wah, chorus, phaser, flanger, plus delay and reverb
A Dunlop EVH95 Eddie Van Halen Signature Cry Baby wah for lead breaks, an MXR EVH 5150 Chorus and MXR Eddie Van Halen Phase 90 he swaps between depending on the song, an MXR EVH117 Flanger for select moments, a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, and an EarthQuaker Devices Afterneath for ambient reverb tails. Wolfgang has said pedals aren't essential to his tone so much as "for fun."
Strings
Current · per D'Addario's own artist page
D'Addario NYXL1149 (.011–.049)
Medium gauge, NY Steel core, the flagship NYXL wrap. D'Addario's own current listing for Wolfgang names this exact set.
Documented 2022-2023 · Post-Taylor Hawkins tribute gauge
D'Addario 10-46 (.010–.046)
"I've been at 10-46 ever since," Wolfgang told Guitar World in August 2023, describing the switch he made before the 2022 Wembley tribute shows.
If you want this rig
D'Addario NYXL1149 is the documented current gauge, a genuine step up in tension from the more common .010 sets most players start on. If your hands find 11s stiff, the D'Addario 10-46 gauge Wolfgang ran through 2022 and 2023 is the gentler entry point at the same NY Steel core and construction quality.
NYXL1149 Nickel Wound (.011–.049)
Why this one: D'Addario's own current artist page names this as Wolfgang's set. A stiffer, louder step up from the 10-46 he played through 2022-2023.