Jason Becker is selling the guitar gifted to him by Eddie Van Halen to raise money for his ongoing medical care

Jason Becker's Eddie Van Halen guitar — (Image credit: The Neurotic Guitarist / Jason Becker YouTube)

On August 31, 1996 Eddie Van Halen paid a visit to his fellow guitarist Jason Becker at home in California. Becker, one of the best-known alumni of the Shrapnel Records guitar heroes stable, arguably most famous for playing alongside former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth in the early '90s, had been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in 1989 and Van Halen wanted to show his love and support for the guitarist, and to film an ALS awareness promotional video.

Two months after Van Halen's passing in 2020, Becker's family posted footage of the encounter online, showing EVH gifting Becker with one of his new signature 'Wolfgang' guitars, named after his then five-year-old son: the caption beneath the clip uploaded to YouTube states that the footage "shows a side of Eddie Van Halen that goes far beyond his brilliant musicianship: a sweet, caring, generous personality, devoid of the trappings of fame or rock stardom."

Now Jason Becker is putting his #69 Wolfgang guitar up for sale, to raise funds for his ongoing medical care, which costs in excess of $100,000 per year.

The sale of the guitar is being organised by Becker's close friend YouTuber Benny 'The Neurotic Guitarist' Goodman who aims to secure the highest possible price for the guitar without having to pay a fee to a professional auction house. Goodman uploaded his own video outlining the sale on July 22, the date of Jason Becker's 54th birthday, and he would like genuine interested buyers to contact him directly.

Watch the video below for further details.

Jason Becker's most recent album, Triumphant Hearts, was released in 2018, and featured contributions from Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert and his former Cacophony bandmate, Marty Friedman, among others.

Artists

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.