The difference between hendrix and EVH is that some of hendrix sound was caused from things that were stumbled upon. Say you take a right handed guitar and string it upside down but don't realize that the pick-ups also need to be reversed; Ooops, now the low-E frequency is picked-up from the bright side of the pick-up. Bingo - new sound and many guitar players in the mid-sixties now are switching from their Les Pauls to Fender Strats, including Clapton! Then Frank Zappa introduces him to a newly invented effect called a Wah Wah Petal. Another thing that comes to mind is that the first 2 albums were recorded in Europe using Marshall amps (which would require a 240 volt/50 hz amp compared to the US using 110 volt/60 hz) resulting in a different tone with these combinations. This gave Hendrix a sound and feedback ability never heard before because most artists were using Fender and Vox amps.
Hendrix main problem was staying in tune with his techniques.
Eddie Van Halen's shear genious goes far beyond his playing techniques, which will be in the next post.