'58 Flying V, players, observations

[LeonC]

I stumbled across this great video of a bunch of great players banging on a '58 Flying V at Songbirds guitar museum.

My first thought was, By God that is THE sound I expect to hear from a Flying V! Especially when played by Pearson, Simo and Oz Noy. My next thought was...I want THAT, lol!!!!

After listening to all these guys, who are all great, very talented players, I have to say...I really preferred listening to the guitar played cleaner. That's when its personality really shines. The two younger guys who started (at least in this clip) by playing very distorted bridge pickup wanking...that didn't really do anything for me...it could have been just about any humbucking equipped guitar. But hearing Simo or Oz or Jack play--and note that they did a lot on that middle pickup setting--really gets it for my tastes.

 

[Phil 52]

I always liked it's look.

 

[6L6]

That made my day. Thanks man!

 

[LeonC]

Anyone ever hear a recent production V get that sound -- that tone in the "both-pickups" position, all nasaly and funky/plunky sound? I've not heard it produced by anything other than an original late '50s Gibson Flying V.

 

[MattD1960]

Jack mentions it heres the whole video with just him and the V, its outa phase. he talks about having an epiphone model at home he wants to try it with.

 

[LeonC]

Yeah, at 2:14, Jack say "I guess it's out of phase in the middle." But is it really? I don't know...

JB's Amos gets this very same sound. Exactly the same or as close as it gets. Now...he and Gibson/Epiphone have produced a bunch of Epi Amos guitars. And Joe has indicated that one of the goals was to get the pickups to sound as much like his Amos' pickups as possible, right?

But I've not heard a recording of an Amos that gets that sound. Some of them are in the neighborhood a little...but if it was just a question of the '58 V's pickups being out of phase to get that sound, that would be really easy for Gibson to have replicated...but I've never heard a non-original V that truly got that sound.

Anyone know if the original V pickups ('58) were actually out of phase?

 

[MattD1960]

Id say the middle sounds outa phase in the jack pearson vid snd the tuning. Joes tone just sounds like well….. joe. To me those two tones are worlds apart. Also the real Vs i have heard on record and in vids all sound different just like all bursts dont sound the same

 

[jb_abides]

Beginning at ~28 minus mark, a discussion of Gibson Vintage Vault's 'very early example' of a 58 with black guard:

Then, after Sunny, a discussion of "Big Ed" Thompson / Rick Vito 58 Explorer..