Eddie Van Halen's "Frankenstein" guitar became a symbol of his pioneering attitude toward electric guitar design. Always experimenting, Eddie made the guitar a work in progress in which he followed his quest for tone, reflecting his genius as a tinkerer, inventor and innovator.
So it’s exciting to see the guitar back in action, this time in the hands of his son, Wolfgang. The guitarist posted a video of himself playing the iconic guitar on X this past Monday, May 5.
The 20-second clip shows Wolfgang tracking a passage to “The End,” the latest song from his group, Mammoth WVH.
“Tracking the slap part of THE END,” he writes.
“Fun fact, I recorded the main tapping of the song, and the slap part with the Frankenstein! Makes me feel closer to Pop that such an important part of his history can live with mine every time I record.”
Tracking the slap part of THE END. Fun fact, I recorded the main tapping of the song, and the slap part with the Frankenstein! Makes me feel closer to Pop that such an important part of his history can live with mine every time I record ❤️ pic.twitter.com/inKDNeAQyiMay 5, 2025
Fans were quick to chime in with support.
“How awesome to see that not only you are getting to make that connection, but we as fans get to continue to make a connection to EVH through you,” wrote one. “The new song is just awesome! Great job Wolfie!”
“Just got a chance to listen to the song today and it’s is absolutely awesome,” wrote another. “Such an awesome song, it’s a nice way keep to your own personal style while in some small ways giving nods to your pops. Wherever he is universe I gotta feeling he’s damn proud of you dude.”
“The End” is the first sample of what’s coming next from Mammoth as they prepare to drop their third album sometime later this year. The anthemic song features Wolfgang and his collaborator Michael “Elvis” Baskette and explodes with a tapping intro that builds to the hard-charging verse.
"I've had the tapping idea on the intro for 'The End' since before Mammoth,” Wolfgang explains. “I was able to fit it into this world. It's still over-the-top and shreddy, but it's also melodic and controlled.
“Overall, I was doing some different things on the record, and I knew this was going to be a big step. Once we finished 'The End', it felt really special to me."
Although it’s exciting to see Wolfgang play Eddie’s historic Superstrat, he’s made it clear that he intends to go his own way as a guitarist and not live in his dad’s shadow. To that end, he’s taken a decidedly different approach to guitar playing.
“I approach guitar playing more as a producer and more as a drummer than a guitar player,” he said in a recent interview. “Rhythm is always the first thing for me and melody is the second.
“It's more about songwriting when it comes to Mammoth,” he continues. “Not every song needs a solo.”
Though he’s had great success on his own terms, Wolfgang has admitted it saddens him that he can’t share it with his father.
“There’s so much that I can’t share with him,” he told Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast this past March “He never got to see what happened with Mammoth. He never got to see me get married. He never got to see me have kids eventually. Those are tentpole moments that will always have a tinge of sadness no matter what.”
Mammoth will perform a brief run of May dates in anticipation of their autumn headline tour across the U.S. Dubbed “The End,” the tour launches October 31 and runs for five weeks. Ticket are available now at Mammoth.band.
