Guitar Blog

Why on earth didn't I get one sooner?

Here's my new Gibson Flying V Faded. After the agony of having it sitting next to me at my desk in the office yesterday, I finally got to take it home and plug it in.

And what can I say? It has been beautifully built, it feels great, and has that classic Gibson sound. I tried it through - in turn - my Vox Brian May amp, a Zoom 505 FX unit, and a Danelectro Studio E15 headphone amp, and it sounded fantastic through all three. It has all those classic rock tones, but also what surprised me a bit was that it has a very pleasing "acoustic" tone when playing with those clean sounds. Those lads in Nashville certainly know how to build guitars!

Someone said to me that it's the kind of guitar you have to play either standing up (on a strap, obviously) or lying down. However, I have found that it is possible to comfortably play whilst sitting; you have to position the lower pointy bit between your legs and hold the guitar in an almost classical posture.

I have to confess that years ago I really disliked Flying Vs. I suppose they were associated with all those naff metal bands in the late 70s and 80s. But those bands all moved on to more outrageous guitars, and the Flying V was picked up by other types of guitarist, acquiring some new-found retro-cool in the process. To me, the Flying V became the epitome of 50s modernistic design, just like the cars from that period with their tailfins and lashings of chrome.

Other than the metal merchants, look at the cool cats who have played the Gibson Fliyng V: Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan, Dave Davies of The Kinks, Bryan Gregory of The Cramps, Lenny Kravitz, Gruff Rhys from the Super Furry Animals, the guy from Ash, errrr... The Wombles... the list goes on!

To sum up, I have to say "Where have you been all my life?" This guitar totally blows away all the other guitars I have ever played!