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Guitar talk: acoustic, bass, classical, twelve string? You name it! Pt III

Tony L said:
These. Want.

I’m suffering a considerable degree of option paralysis though despite there only being two choices. I just wish the dem videos had some slightly more expensive chords. I know a Fuzzface circuit is pretty safe and doesn’t totally fart-out if you throw a 6 string jazz/emo chord at it, but what about the Black Hat Sound?
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They certainly look the part
 
gavreid said:
Five Watt World on the history of the Flying V is good.

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Interesting video this. Back in '79 I drove down to London to purchase a Flying V from an american student who openly declared that he brought it to the UK to get more for it than at home. I was happy to pay £400 tho', as they were particularly difficult to find. 6 months later Gibson introduced another batch, which may well have been the mk2 version. 79 was also the year I bought a Marshall Master Volume 100 watt head and 4x12 cab. That guitar had the best action of any guitar I've played, let alone owned, but the pickups I was less impressed with. I swapped them for DiMarzios (switchable super distortion at the bridge, PAF at the neck). There's more to tell about that axe, but I don't wish to bore anyone.

Thanks for posting Gav.
 
5 Watt World is great, I’ve watched the whole lot I think. I have to admit the Flying V and its derivatives is probably the guitar I’d want to own the least on the planet as it is all but impossible to play sitting down! I didn’t realise it was such an old design, I always had it pegged as an entirely form over function ‘70s metal/glam-rock thing.
 
Tony L said:
5 Watt World is great, I’ve watched the whole lot I think. I have to admit the Flying V and its derivatives is probably the guitar I’d want to own the least on the planet as it is all but impossible to play sitting down! I didn’t realise it was such an old design, I always had it pegged as an entirely form over function ‘70s metal/glam-rock thing.
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'Tis true that. I was in, what was then termed, a heavy rock group (mainly original material, later some covers) and it always felt really good to play . . . er, when standing. As I mentioned, the action was fantastic and I remember feeling fairly inspired by it at times, at rehearsals and at gigs. It begged you to up your game, and I know that my playing saw a significant improvement during this time. Didn't get me anywhere, tho'. . . Ah well. :)

John
 
It's amazing that after 60+ years 99% of videos featuring someone with a Flying V also feature people who haven't a clue how to play one sitting down. The Flying V is the only electric guitar ever designed that you can address, seated , using the "proper classical guitar technique". It's simple, you merely place the guitar on your thigh with "wings" either side of it and , hey presto, it's how one should technically, properly play a guitar seated. I worked with a guitarist whose only guitars were two Flying V's he would record like that, as would Michael Schenker. If you have a chance to play a Flying V try it, it really does make playing one very easy even if you don't normally address a guitar in such a manner. Like this...

sitting-guitar-2016.jpg
 
FireMoon said:
It's amazing that after 60+ years 99% of videos featuring someone with a Flying V also feature people who haven't a clue how to play one sitting down. The Flying V is the only electric guitar ever designed that you can address, seated , using the "proper classical guitar technique". It's simple, you merely place the guitar on your thigh with "wings" either side of it and , hey presto, it's how one should technically, properly play a guitar seated. I worked with a guitarist whose only guitars were two Flying V's he would record like that, as would Michael Schenker. If you have a chance to play a Flying V try it, it really does make playing one very easy even if you don't normally address a guitar in such a manner.
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Exactly. I wanted a medallion one for a long time but never found one, nevertheless it's a big adjustment for most people. Here's John Bollinger playing an original - the one pictured in the fww video. $395 k - discounted for the neck repair ;)

 
Tony L said:
5 Watt World is great, I’ve watched the whole lot I think. I have to admit the Flying V and its derivatives is probably the guitar I’d want to own the least on the planet as it is all but impossible to play sitting down! I didn’t realise it was such an old design, I always had it pegged as an entirely form over function ‘70s metal/glam-rock thing.
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That Stones gig in Hyde Park is well worth the watch, even if they're a little off in the tuning. I don't know why it went out on Granada tv though!
 
I wouldn't deny that playing a V using classical guitar technique is the way to go when sitting down with one. I tried it, hated it, found it awkward. Didn't find the simplicity of it working for me. Now I'm fully aware this has more to do with my lack of ability, and frustration doing its thang, but if I wanted to play in the classical position I would probably want to do so playing classical guitar (I know, I know, but I'm such a pedant). As such, I was always standing when practising, noodling etc'. No biggie.

Re Schenker; one of my favourite guitarists. Saw him play with UFO (mebbe 1976? (and obviously before Mogg belted him, hence MS's departure)) and he always had the bit between his legs (ho ho). I tried that too but just couldn't get on with it. Each to their own I guess.

John
 
palindrome said:
Interesting video this. Back in '79 I drove down to London to purchase a Flying V from an american student who openly declared that he brought it to the UK to get more for it than at home. I was happy to pay £400 tho', as they were particularly difficult to find. 6 months later Gibson introduced another batch, which may well have been the mk2 version. 79 was also the year I bought a Marshall Master Volume 100 watt head and 4x12 cab. That guitar had the best action of any guitar I've played, let alone owned, but the pickups I was less impressed with. I swapped them for DiMarzios (switchable super distortion at the bridge, PAF at the neck). There's more to tell about that axe, but I don't wish to bore anyone.

Thanks for posting Gav.
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You're in good company - I don't think it's actually possible to bore any of us here with guitar talk :) Any more info / pictures ?
 
Blimey, now you're indulging me Alan.

Okay - at rehearsals I had the habit of leaning the V up against a table between sessions. Singer/keyboard player decides to shunt table forward to negotiate his way behind it. V falls flat to the floor with a loud crack. He picks it up and tells me everything is okay. I take it from him, and from further inspection note that the headstock is now parallel with the fretboard! I carefully detune the strings and extract the headstock. Session over.

I took the guitar to what was then leicester's leading geetar emporium - Soundpad. I open the case and show all and sundry the state of my guitar. Genuine shock from staff and customers alike. Their resident guitar repair tech had a reputation for being good, and it cost 80 sobs to get the headstock glued back; then had to wait six weeks to collect because of difficulties matching the varnish.

The net result was even I couldn't see the join! He did a fantastic job, helped in part by the fact that I studiously avoided damaging any of the fine shards of splintered wood in transit. The guitar played just as well too.

I sold it round about 1984, again having to travel to the smoke to sell it to a dealer. If memory serves, I believe he gave me £240 for it. Tho' I regret selling it now, at the time I had given up playing in bands and hopes of 'making it', and needed cash as I was buying my first house.

I've found some old photos from that period (should be varnished the same colour as the guitar!).



Next picture is poor quality but you can just make out a few salient details:



Rediscovered some more pics, these two and the one above taken when I was in a previous band to the top pic. The guitar is a Hagstrom:





This thread is beginning to feel more like a confessional. And that I should atone for my sins. :p

John
 
Seeker_UK said:
That was my first thought too.

If you want a real WTF production Gibson, there's the Gibson USA Map. Also available in stars 'n' stripes colour and as a more affordable Epiphone.
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Looking more closely at the abomination that is the Reverse V I notice they actually just gave up when it came to the knobs. They didn’t even try!

The USA map thing is pretty bad, but IIRC that was designed as a promo item for a guitar show, not a commercial product. Even so it has four knobs!
 
Tony L said:
Looking more closely at the abomination that is the Reverse V I notice they actually just gave up when it came to the knobs. They didn’t even try!
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That's because you'd have to be a knob to play one, thus negating the need to supply their own.;)

John
 
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