Eddie Van Halen's signature guitar goes up for auction

Iconic Van Halen guitar goes up for auction

The Kramer guitar was played by Eddie Van Halen himself on numerous tours and featured in the music video for "Hot For Teacher."

To guitar gearheads, serial number CO176 is a Kramer electric guitar with a single pickup. But for classic rock fans, the instrument's red-and-white-striped paint color scheme makes it an iconic piece of music history.

The Van Halen signature Kramer guitar as seen in the music video for the hit song "Hot For Teacher" is being sold through an auction at Sotheby's. The starting bid is $1.8 million.

According to Sotheby's, Kramer Guitars co-founder Dennis Berardi got a meeting with Eddie Van Halen himself at the height of the band's career to create the recognizable guitar.

"We started talking, and I told him how Gibson and Fender’s guitars were terrible, and they were ripping kids off. I told him that Kramer wanted to build really great guitars. Just like that, he said, ‘All right, let’s do it. Let’s make Kramer number one.’ I asked if he wanted to endorse Kramer guitars, and he agreed," Berardi said.

They designed a guitar that would ultimately have the tone of the original "Frankenstrat" guitar Van Halen was known for playing, but also had a locking system for the strings so it wouldn't go out of tune. It also included a fold-out plate that would let the guitar sit horizontally while "tapping" the fretboard, something that Eddie patented.

By 1984, the Eddie Van Halen guitar was finished. It went on tour and ended up in the MTV staple video "Hot for Teacher."

The Sotheby's auction closes on April 18, and the company says it expects the bid to reach upwards of $2 million. By comparison, one of the most expensive guitars sold at auction, Eric Clapton's black Stratocaster, sold for roughly $1 million, far less than the opening bid for Eddie's.