apossibleworld
New member
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2008
- Messages
- 362
Super cool. I don't know anything about these guitars. What's the story / history?
Do you mean '67 style (as in "pre-Medallion"), or the actual year - ie. does the '68 in the first pic also have the lower fretboard? All pre-Medallions have the short Vibrola, right?The main way to conclusively identify a '67 versus any other year is the fact that the fret board is only about 1/4 inch off the body... The '67 is the only version with the short tremolo and the pickguard cut to fit this feature.
That's very odd about the Sparkling Burg/ stinger combo. While not nearly as rare as a '67 or '68 V, I did have a '68 SG Melody Maker that was Sparkling Burgandy, also sporting a natural neck and stinger. Must've been a somewhat standard compliment for that color, at the time.
The Medallions were made in 71, not 72.
Here's mine.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j78/veeman2/4-1-10045.jpg
The oddball on ebay right now, has a early 80's guard on it i think. See the round curve on the guard by the bridge? characteristic of the late 79-83 guards. Earlier guards have a much sharper corner.
In general, they made/shipped these guitars between 1966 and 1970 in 5 batches of 35 with 111 of them shipped in and bearing a 1967 Serial Number. 15 additional were shipped in in '69 and 47 more in 1969 with the first 2 shipped in '66. The total of this lot was 175. Some shipped in 69/70 had '67 serial and others with numbers corresponding to the shipping year.
Each batch had it's own color, neck joint/shelf, serial placement, truss rod cover and a few later ones even with headstock variations. After the '67 series came the Medalion's made in 1972. They made 350 of these. It was not until 1975 that they started cranking out Flying V's with over 1800 made in 1975. This makes the '67 series and the Medalions pretty rare and collectable.
The main way to conclusively identify a '67 versus any other year is the fact that the fret board is only about 1/4 inch off the body as opposed to about 1/2 or more for any version after. This makes for a low break angle over the bridge and the characteristic slinky strings these are known for. The '67 is the only version with the short tremolo and the pickguard cut to fit this feature.
I just found another early 70's stop tail V that sold recently on ebay. This one was just like mine only mine had no volute. This one has a small one. Huge neck and a blue lined case. They do exist!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/230641477037
I think there is a lot of wishful thinking on these guitars, Its my understanding there was a batch of V`s with a small or no volute, no made in the USA stamp that were from 1975, both the ebay auctions list guitars with stamped pat No pickups that were original to the guitar, These didnt start until 1975 :wah
here's mine...