by Bryan Hillebrandt
This is the first installment in a three story series about the guitars known as Gibson Exotics: the Flying V, the Explorer, and the Firebird. This time we’ll look at one of the most recognizable of this series the Flying V.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s the popularity of Gibson’s Les Paul line began to be eroded the range of other solid body electric guitars that were on the market—especially the Telecaster and Stratocaster line by Fender. In response to this Gibson designed a line of guitars with a futuristic image that were intended to take away some of the market share of the Fenders. The first in this series was the Flying V.
The earliest Flying Vs were manufactured in 1957. Besides the radical shape, the Vs featured a set-in neck (not bolt on), humbucker pickups, and strings that were routed to the bridge through the body.
Despite the guitar’s innovative design the Flying V was discontinued in 1959. Several guitarists, including bluesmen Lonnie Mack and Albert King seized upon the Flying V. (It has been Mack’s main guitar ever since, he even had a support brace mounted in the middle of the V so that he could put a Bigsby tremelo unit on it.)
In the mid to late 60s guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Dave Davies from The Kinks started playing Flying Vs both for their sound and also because of the distinctive shape. This increased the profile and popularity of the Flying V substantially.
Gibson reissued the Flying V in 1967 with some slight improvements and updates. The biggest change was that the strings were now no longer routed through the body. The guitars now had a stop bar tailpiece and featured a newly designed pickguard. Gibson has been producing them ever since and they have remained popular.
There have been, of course, many companies that have made their own versions, each offering minor changes so as to avoid running afoul of Gibson’s legal department. The Jackson Randy Rhoads model is one of the most famous and has earned a reputation as one of the guitars of choice for Metal players.
But there have also been versions made by ESP, Hamer, and a multitude of other companies. ESP’s V guitars have taken the Flying V design to the extreme. The points on their Vs look downright dangerous.
Next time we’ll take a look at another one of the exotics, one that also helped inspire a million pointy knockoffs—the Gibson Explorer.
