It would be fair to say that Eddie Van Halen is one of the greatest guitarists ever to have plucked a six-string. His legacy in influencing an entire generation of guitarists is undeniable, with the axe-man being voted the best of all time, as recently as 2012, over peers such as Angus Young and Brian May by readers of Guitar World magazine. Van Halen was a chameleon in his choice of equipment throughout his career, adapting to new developments to ensure that he captured the sound in his head for his latest record.

Eddie's most famous guitar is the self-built "Frankenstein," or Frankenstrat, which he custom made from parts bought from Wayne Charvel's guitar shop. The neck and part of the pick guard were altered, with a Floyd Rose vibrato unit installed. this was his regular touring guitar and pride and joy — a replica version was made available for $25,000 in 2007. A stock Ibanez Destroyer was used on large parts of Van Halen's first album, and Eddie later used a rear-loaded Kramer 5150 for his early '80s recordings.

Van Halen switched between guitars from album to album — and from track to track at times — in his restless search for perfection. He most commonly used the Steinberger GL-2T with TransTrem, the EVG "Music Man" guitar and several varieties of Fender Strats, Telecasters and Coral Sitars. He also produced his own signature line of guitars with Peavey, named after his son, Wolfgang, which often featured a device called a "D-Tuna." which enabled the guitarist to tune the low E string down to D with a slight turn of a knob attached to the end of the bridge.

Van Halen's magpie approach extended to his choices of amplifier; though he most commonly used a 100-watt Marshall amp in the early years of his career, he has stated his favorite amp to be the '63 blonde Band Master head, saying that was the best he'd ever heard himself play. Throughout his recording career, he has also used a single Celestion speaker cabinet and a MOSFET solid state power amp and had a hand in designing the Peavey Electronics 5150 amp and the later Fender 5150 III.

Always taking a purist approach to his sound, Van Halen never used a distortion pedal, preferring to utilize the natural distortion from his amp. He relied largely on a Roland sde3000 rack unit delay pedal for effects. If diversity is truly the key to innovation, it would be fair to cite this as the reason for Eddie Van Halen being one of the world's most distinctive and adventurous guitarists.