The Gibson Flying V is an electric guitar model first released by Gibson in
1958. The Flying V offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its
siblings the Explorer which was released the same year and the Moderne, which was
designed in 1957 but not released until 1982.
Origins Gibson first manufactured prototypes of
the guitar in 1957. Production guitars were made of korina wood, a trademarked
name for limba, a wood similar to but lighter in color than mahogany. This
Flying V, along with the Futura and, initially, the Moderne, made up a line
of modernist guitars designed by Gibson's then-president Ted McCarty.
These designs were meant to add a more futuristic aspect to Gibson's image, but
they did not sell well. After the initial launch in 1958, the line was
discontinued by 1959. Some instruments were assembled from leftover parts and
shipped in 1963, with nickel- rather than gold-plated hardware.
McCarty started out with a mahogany guitar that was rounded in the back
instead of being cut out. Gibson decided to change the back for weight reduction.
Blues-rock guitarist Lonnie Mack and blues guitarist Albert King started
using the guitar almost immediately. Later, in the mid-late 1960s, such
guitarists as Dave Davies, in search of a distinctive looking guitar with a
powerful sound, also started using Flying Vs. The renewed interest created
a demand for Gibson to reissue the model.
Gibson reissued the guitar in mahogany in 1967, updating its design with a
bigger, more stylish pickguard, and replacing the original bridge, which had
the strings inserted through the back, with the stopbar tail piece more
commonly associated with Gibson models. Some models were shipped with a short
Vibrola Maestro Tremolo. This 1967 model is now the standard for the Flying V
although the earlier design is periodically reissued. Like other Gibson
guitars the Flying V's headstock is angled at 17 degrees to increase string
pressure on the nut to increase the amount of sustain. The design of the V
places the pickups near the center of mass of the entire guitar, further
enhancing sustain. The 1958-59 korina Flying V is one of
the most valuable production-model guitars on the market, ranked at No. 5
on the 2011 Top 25 published by Vintage Guitar, and worth between $200,000 and
$250,000. Both Gibson and Epiphone currently
produce a 1958 style Flying V, designed to look like the original korina models.
Flying V2 When Tim Shaw arrived at Gibson in 1978,
one of his first assignments was to help with designing a companion Guitar to the
newly designed E2 Explorer Guitar. This companion guitar would be the new Gibson
V2. The general shape of previous Flying V's was retained by Gibson, but the new
V2 sported a new 5-layered sculptured walnut and maple body. Initially these
guitars came in a natural finish to accentuate the layered effect, with
either Maple or Walnut for the top & bottom layer. This layering was known at
Gibson as the "Sandwich" and the sculpted body gave the layering a 3D
effect. Knobs were moved off the pickguard, and a Pearl Gibson logo was
inlaid into the black headstock, along with gold Gibson Tuners. Two solid brass
5/8 studs known as the "Sustain Sisters" were fitted into the body to anchor the
"Tune-o-matic" Bridge along with a brass nut and brass "V" shaped tailpiece.
Gibson felt this would provide the sustain and brilliance they wanted for
the new V2. The 1979 through 1981 models used the
"boomerang" humbucker pickups that were designed to sound like single coils with
lower noise. Beginning in 1982, the pickups were changed to the "Dirty
finger" pickups that were available on only a few models in the early 1980s,
including the Explorer, ES-347, ES-335S and the Flying V. The V2 with case
retailed for $1199 in 1979, Gibson's 3rd most expensive guitar. Only 157 V2's
were shipped in 1979. Besides the high price, some players complained about the
non-traditional sounding humbucker pickups and the weight of the guitar.
Sales were poor for the first 2 years of the V2's availability, and Gibson was
scrambling to find ways to increase demand for these guitars from the
dealers. It became apparent by the early 1980s that the maple top version wasn't
selling as well as the walnut top guitars. To move the maple-top
inventory, Gibson began to offer various color finishes to supplement the initial
offering of natural finishes. Custom colors included Pearl white, Blue
sparkle, Blue sparkle metallic, Candy Apple Red, Sunburst, Goldburst,
Silverburst, Black, and Black Sparkle. The Majority of these finishes were
applied to maple-top inventory between September 1980 and April 1981.
The V2 did not meet sales expectations. In 1982, several hardware changes were
made to reduce the cost of producing the guitar and to use up the remaining
inventory. The most important change was replacing the "boomerang" pickup and
pickguard with the more conventional "Dirty Fingers" Pickup found on many E2
Explorers. The boomerang pickups were more expensive to produce and required
more costly routing to the guitar body, and a "V" groove to the fretboard. Also,
the standard conventional humbucker rout allowed players to swap out pickups
easily. Gibson covered the laminated bodies of the second variant V2 "Dirty
Finger" humbucker versions with Candy Apple Red or White finishes.
A final cost-cutting measure eliminated the inlaid Pearl Gibson headstock logo
with a gold decal. Once the majority of the remaining inventory stockpile was
used up, Gibson officially discontinued the V2 model in 1982. The Explorer
version E2 lasted a year longer, but it too was discontinued by 1983.
Reverse Flying V The Gibson Reverse Flying V was first
released as part of Gibson's Guitar of the Week promotion in 2007. It was
released as Guitar of the week with a Limited run of only 400. To achieve the
"reverse" style, the body of the guitar is rotated 180 degrees relative to the
original Flying V. It features a single color, a vivid Trans Amber finish with
gold-plated hardware, and a string-through tailpiece. The guitar
features a solid Mahogany body and neck, rosewood fretboard, a pair of hand-wound
'57 Classic pickups, and a single volume knob. The headstock was borrowed from
the 1958 Gibson Futura/Explorer patent dated January 7, 1958.
Several months later due to the success of the first release of the Reverse
Flying V, Gibson decide to re-release the Reverse Flying V as a
limited-edition guitar to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original
Flying V. The 2008 release was a limited run of 900 guitars, in three new colors,
Natural, Classic White and Ebony Black. 300 of each color was produced, with
Natural being very similar in appearance to the first release's Trans Amber. The
specifications are practically the same between the 2007 and 2008 release with a
few notable differences. The second release now had a gold-colored metal
Truss cover, and an Ebony fretboard, replacing the plastic truss-cover and
Rosewood fretboard of the first release. Serial numbers dates of the first
release fall generally around the end of July or early August 2007. Serials for
the second release fall 3–4 months later usually December or January
V Bass In 1981, Gibson produced a four-string
bass version of the Flying V. Only 375 were produced, most of them black but a
few in alpine white, silverburst, or transparent blue. Epiphone also
currently makes V-shaped basses. In late 2011, Gibson re-released the Flying V
bass under the Gibson name; it was discontinued again in late 2012.
Notable Gibson Flying V players In fiction
In the anime series FLCL, the character Naota Nandaba uses a Flying V as a
weapon. See also
Gibson Explorer Gibson Moderne
Gibson Les Paul Dean V
KKV Jackson King V
Jackson Randy Rhoads References
Gruhn, George; Carter, Walter. Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars: An
Identification Guide for American Fretted Instruments. Backbeat Books.
ISBN 978-0-87930-422-5. Bacon, Tony. The Ultimate Guitar Book.
Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-70090-3. External links
Flying V official website Flying V 1967 reissue, V-Factor X,
V-Factor Faded, Flying V Gothic, and Flying V Limited edition, from the
Gibson website Gibson's Historic Korina Flying V, a
June 2001 article from Guitar Collector magazine
Gibson Flying V Site, a tribute site that lists all models and re-issues and
most notable players Flying V Model DataBase
Epiphone Flying V Bass Guitar of the week 29