Flying Tonight: The Axe Attack Of The Gibson Flying V
The highly distinctive Flying V guitar was trademarked by Gibson on January 6, 1958.
“They only made 20 of them at the time. I used that one on ‘Memphis’ and I still use it today.” So said Lonnie Mack in 1968, five years after his Top 5 US hit with that great track, which helped define the highly distinctive guitar trademarked by Gibson on January 6, 1958: the Flying V.
Another estimate says that 98 were made originally, but either way, those 1958-59 originals are now valued at between $200,000 and $250,000. Indiana bluesman Mack was one of the early adopters of an instrument that remains one of the most striking looking axes in the world of guitars.
Lonnie named his guitar Seven, because he was told it was seventh off the production line. His fellow blues practitioner Albert King was another who started using a Flying V soon after they came into that limited circulation, and he called his Lucy, in answer to B.B. King’s Lucille.
The first of the guitars were made not of mahogany, but of limba, a lighter wood, and the look, designed by Gibson president Ted McCarty, was deliberately futuristic. But it didn’t prove popular at first, and it was the milestone ‘Memphis,’ and other Mack recordings, that helped the new generation of rock guitarists take an interest in the Flying V.
Dave Davies of the Kinks, Arthur Lee of Love, and Jimi Hendrix were among those to realise that the guitar had both audible and visible appeal. Gibson weren’t slow to recognise the new interest, and relaunched the guitar, this time with a mahogany body, in 1967. That year, King recorded “Born Under A Bad Sign” with his Lucy and future stars like Stevie Ray Vaughan were spellbound. Albert even cut a song that may have appeared to be named after a popular TV series, but was really a love letter to his Flying V, “(I Love) Lucy.”
Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash was another fan of the V. “I [used to go] up to the music shops in London on the train and [look] in the windows,” he told Guitar Player in 1974. “And I used to build up these fantasies about owning a Flying V. At one time it was a Les Paul, but then it changed. Mine is lust a fairly basic mid-60s V. I recently acquired another one in mint condition, which is really nice.”
The guitar also fitted perfectly with the glam-rock look and sound of the extrovert rock bands of the early and mid-1970s. Marc Bolan was closely associated with it, as was Paul Stanley of Kiss; Ronnie Montrose of Montrose and Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen both acquired 1958 models in the 1970s.
Tom Petty liked the guitar so much that for years, the Heartbreakers’ logo was a Flying V piercing a heart. “I always thought the Flying V was great ever since I saw Dave Davies playing one in the Kinks on television in Gainesville,” Petty told Q magazine in 1989. “I thought, ‘Yeah, that looks cool,’ so the first one I could afford, I bought.”
Petty was less keen when the V became associated with the subsequent “hair” metal bands, such as Quiet Riot. Scorpions also favoured one in the 1980s, as did modern rockers Hüsker Dü, and Lenny Kravitz gave the instrument a Hendrix-style endorsement in the 1990s. He poses with it on the cover of 2004’s Baptism album, seen at the top of the story.
The Flying V2 version of the guitar arrived in the late 1970s, and there have been later variations such as the Reverse Flying V and the bass version of the guitar, the V Bass. But it’s the design of the original 1958 guitar that is in modern production at both Gibson and Epiphone.
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Michael J Hinkle
January 7, 2015 at 1:36 am
i wish i could own one ?
badr
January 7, 2015 at 9:20 am
Albert King the best of all time !
Mike
January 7, 2015 at 9:57 pm
Amen, amen, amen………And played it upside down, no less…
PhoenixRover
January 6, 2016 at 6:55 pm
I see a Flying V, and immediately think of Michael Schenker.
Jwan Lwys PrzLnd
October 28, 2016 at 10:43 pm
Flying V = Michael Schenker
Karl William Haldane
January 6, 2016 at 7:27 pm
It’s great to be well suited when you have a awesome electric, power, superb and firefully guitar. Baby burn and rock with the guitar. Mix of drums, vocal high definition range of high speeds reached the sky.
Hell raised the stage.
Ståle Årthun
January 6, 2016 at 9:55 pm
Bob Mould of Hüsker Dü played an Ibanez Rocket Roll (or Rock & Roll), a Flying V copy from Ibanez.
Lonniemcpearson@yahoo.com
January 6, 2016 at 10:00 pm
Why the hell was Michael Scheneker not mentioned????
Tim
January 6, 2016 at 11:49 pm
Mike Cooley of Drive By Truckers used one for ages. He replaced it with a custom built Baxendale I think.
Steph
January 7, 2016 at 3:31 pm
KK Downing and Michael Schenker rocked axe that better than anyone.
Sean K
January 30, 2016 at 6:04 pm
Had one for a few years. My 2nd guitar. Hated it. Weighed a ton, and couldn’t play it sitting down unless you’re in a technically correct classical position with the footstool & everything. There was nothing particularly interesting about the sound to make up for those inconveniences. The world’s first impractical vanity guitar.
Sean K
January 30, 2016 at 6:07 pm
The spiritual predecessor to abominations like the explorer, and the warlock (dumbest design of all time).
Jwan Lwys PrzLnd
October 28, 2016 at 10:45 pm
Flyng V= Michael Schenker!!!!!!!!
Seung Park
January 6, 2017 at 9:24 pm
This article loses severe street cred , Michael Schenker has been the symbol of the Flying V for so long.The fact that the V was lumped in w/ a condescending remark about ‘hair metal’ regarding Tom Petty was super lame.
Brent
January 7, 2017 at 1:41 am
Agreed with other comments. How can you write an article on the history of the Gibson flying V and not mention ‘Michael Schenker’. Bizarre.
Slipperman
January 7, 2017 at 3:50 am
The fact that the ONLY guy who HAD to be mentioned in relation to this instrument, was NOT… Just goes to show why good musicianship and knowledgeable journalism are pretty much mutually exclusive endeavors. Anyhoo. Micheal Schenker. As noted by a few previously here. Nobody ever did more with, or for, the Gibson Flying V. That is all.
Lorenz
January 6, 2018 at 9:47 pm
Flying V tattood on my arm.
AL
January 6, 2018 at 9:56 pm
I used a Gibson V for years playing in cover bands, playing country to 80’s bubble gum metal and grunge. It was an awesome guitar, sounding great, looking sensual and very reliable. It was the best neck out of the 3 previous V’s I’d owned. I miss it at times……..
In one of his final interviews, Albert King claimed his Lucy was named after Lucille Ball. I believe Howard Leese of Heart was pictured with one as well. Van Halen supposedly tracked his solo on Hot For Teacher with one. Coolest guitar on the planet!
Mircea Hugyecz
January 6, 2018 at 10:30 pm
MICHAEL SCHENKER THE MASTER OF THE FLYING V !!!…https://youtu.be/MrJePqPkNUM
TCC
January 7, 2020 at 4:55 am
the late great J. Geils played one also