It’s official … 4005

[uwe]

Can you come up with as many hard rock & metal Tele players, Dave?

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/gibson-flying-v/

Actually, it's a bit ironic because I personally find that a Flying V is the guitar in the Gibson stable that sounds closest to a Telecaster - played clean it has quite a crisp, even twangy sound.

[godofthunder]

    As a teen I ran into a used 4005 at the long shuttered Benson's Music in Rochester NY.  Hanging high on the wall it was one of the most beautiful basses I had ever seen.  Expressing intrest Mike the proprietor said " naw you don't want that " he went on to explain how poor they sounded and to prove his point he plugged it in and played it. Transparent is the word I used to describe it's sound then and I still do, I remembered thinking even my Hofner sounds better.
   The 4005 is a beautiful bass, I still want one even though I know it won't produce a sound I'll find usable.
   Kudos to Rickenbacker for bringing it back!

[morrow]

I'm fine with the sounds you get with a hollow body bass. But I'm generally after a fairly warm thumpy traditional tone. I think a 4005 would perfectly suit me , but it's a bit too pricey.

[uwe]

I'm with Scott, "transparent" is a good way to describe the sound of a 4005, it's not an overly warm and thumpy sounding bass at all. Lacks mid range growl - as you would expect from those extreme pup positions.

But it's a highly individual looker.

[Jeff Scott]

My experience with them is quite different, apparently. 

[Dave W]

Can you come up with as many hard rock & metal Tele players, Dave?

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/gibson-flying-v/

Actually, it's a bit ironic because I personally find that a Flying V is the guitar in the Gibson stable that sounds closest to a Telecaster - played clean it has quite a crisp, even twangy sound.

I'm not interested in counting, and I don't know one metal player from another. I do know that the Flying V has been a failure for Gibson, that's why it's been discontinued and revived so many times. Fender never needed to do that.

[uwe]

I believe the Flying V was discontinued only once by Gibson and then resumed again forever once Hendrix had made it popular. It's a consistent seller and an integral part of the hard rock/heavy metal image. A niche model yes, but a successful one.

[morrow]

There's 17 of them on the Gibson site right now.

[Dave W]

I believe the Flying V was discontinued only once by Gibson and then resumed again forever once Hendrix had made it popular. It's a consistent seller and an integral part of the hard rock/heavy metal image. A niche model yes, but a successful one.

No, the second V was a failure too, almost as big as the first failure, and was discontinued. It has been periodically dropped and restarted since.

You and I have no idea of the actual sales figures in recent years.

We're way way off topic here, let's drop it and get back to Rics.