Herr Trujillo with an 81 Gibson Flying V Bass ...

[lowend1]

This one:




This precedes the Rocket Roll ones by a few years, it existed as early as 1973, Jim Lea would sometimes use it for TV miming, but I'm not sure whether he ever used his live or to record. It sounds nothing like Jim Lea's regular bass sound at the time, especially noticeable in the second vid which is a re-recording of the studio track for TV (Brit Musicians' Union rules required this back then) with an especially boisterous upfront bass mix.





The Rocket Roll basses looked different (and likely sounded better with their P/J pup combo), I believe they are also rarer because they were only produced for a short time:



That earlier 1973 model was in essence an EB-3L with wings and none of the kalamazoomph, a docile-sounding cult object, nothing more. I bought mine because I drooled for one as a teenager, but honestly the Ric 4001 Ibanez bolt-on Ho I played at the time sounded better. Gorgeous to look at though.

I had one of those as well. My cousin was killing time one day in the music store where his wife worked, so he bolted a maple 70s P-Bass neck to an orphaned Ibanez body and they put it out on the sales floor. Of course, I showed up a few days later and bought it on the spot. I played it as it was for awhile and then modded it with a Model One (filling the bridge pickup hole with Bondo) and sprayed it bright red. I actually managed to get credit for it as an art project in college. Wound up selling it to a female bassist who needed something with more image than her natural finish Precision.
There was a local bassist who used one of the Rocket Roll basses with his band - I have a pic of him with it somewhere...
Here's my Ibby V, post surgery along with its roommates at the time.

[uwe]

Whaaaaat, you turned a Flying V into a Flying F?!  Or at the very least disseminated the heinous atrocity!!!

Tell me, is there still a death penalty in your State by any chance?

Ok, given your commendably adolescent taste for outlandish basses and throwing rock star shapes,




we can perhaps commute it to a life sentence. 


Did it even intonate correctly? Looks like you had the bridge almost falling off ...

PS: What happened to the cutting edge lamé polo shirt, cutie? 

[Ken]

No, IIRC they had announced that an actual Flying V bass was scheduled too. Hopefully, it will be long scale.

Just realized I said headstock, when I meant pickguard.  The Gene model Thunderbird has one on it.  I wonder if they're not selling as well as Gene's ego promised.

[uwe]

If Gibson thought they'd sell well, you can't help them, none of their artist signature basses ever has, the Epiphone JC Sig excepted, but that filled a void in the market for an affordable, vintagy long scale hollow body bass.

Likewise, none of the bass models associated with Gene have ever done well. How many guys do you know that actually play a Gene Simmons Axe or a Punisher (I have one, it's actually a very good and well thought out instrument)? Most of them probably hang at the living room walls of diehard KISS fans. And it has nothing to do with Gene as a person or a bassist (I've written it before: he's actually an above par and not below par hard rock bassist with lots of lovable old school influences), signature stuff generally doesn't do well, it just enhances the brand with a few exceptions (Epi JC or Yamaha Billy Sheehan - another well thought out instrument).

A Flying V bass will never sell well. Done properly, it will be hugely expensive and come with a giant case that will raise issues transporting it in a smaller car. The shape is divisive and has a heavy metal "not really for a serious musician" image. How many middle age to senior citizen bassists with deep pockets will want to be seen with that thing? I know exactly one: myself! 

[Ken]

I'm just interested in seeing the also-mentioned left-handed Thunderbird.  I'm guessing we'll never see anything except for the current model.

[uwe]

I'm truly hoping for your lefty, you walking talking minority, fingers crossed ... I mean index and pinkie stretched out!

[Ken]

Niche is my middle name.

[lowend1]

Whaaaaat, you turned a Flying V into a Flying F?!  Or at the very least disseminated the heinous atrocity!!!

Tell me, is there still a death penalty in your State by any chance?

Ok, given your commendably adolescent taste for outlandish basses and throwing rock star shapes,




we can perhaps commute it to a life sentence. 


Did it even intonate correctly? Looks like you had the bridge almost falling off ...

PS: What happened to the cutting edge lamé polo shirt, cutie? 

When my cousin (also a bassist... a dyed-in-the-wool Fender man to this day - and DESPISES Gibson basses) heard that I bought it, he commented that his effort was not intended to be taken and played as a serious instrument - "Only YOU would do that."
Did it intonate? Who knows? The neck was held on with only two screws and no neck plate - not sure why. Every once it a while it would shift and I would have to smack it back into position and snug up the screws. Off I went, into the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer"...
Of the three basses in the pic, only the Thunderbird remains here with me. The Destroyer was traded even up at Rudy's in NYC for a '72 EB-3, which is also here today - but only after a long and circuitous journey involving JB weld, truss rod nuts and dubious storage environments. Story for another thread. Suffice it to say that the EB was initially sold off to finance the purchase of... a Gibson Flying V Bass.
The shirt eventually deteriorated, peeling like a cheap rubber t-shirt transfer.

[uwe]

Did it intonate? Who knows?

 

[godofthunder]

A smart choice with the Kramer, let me tell you.

Those things were (and are) awful. The worst sounding off the rack Gibson bass ever (and that includes the SB series). Close runner-up: the SG-Z.

https://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/2000gibsonSGZ.php

   I'm in complete agreement with you Uwe. N.O.S. Flying V basses sat for years at the House of Guitars,  we couldn't give them away a universally acknowledged dog. There are far better ways to spend 5k.

[godofthunder]

  My only Flying V bass though I would love a '75 Ibanez like Jim Lea's.  This will do in the interim.
 

[godofthunder]

I had one of those as well. My cousin was killing time one day in the music store where his wife worked, so he bolted a maple 70s P-Bass neck to an orphaned Ibanez body and they put it out on the sales floor. Of course, I showed up a few days later and bought it on the spot. I played it as it was for awhile and then modded it with a Model One (filling the bridge pickup hole with Bondo) and sprayed it bright red. I actually managed to get credit for it as an art project in college. Wound up selling it to a female bassist who needed something with more image than her natural finish Precision.
There was a local bassist who used one of the Rocket Roll basses with his band - I have a pic of him with it somewhere...
Here's my Ibby V, post surgery along with its roommates at the time.

   I spy a Ibanez Destroyer and a Bicentennial Thunderbird combo. I had the same basses in '76 frankly the Ibanez got much more playing time than the Thunderbird.  The 76 bird had michrophnic pickups and the action couget low enough, the Ibanez on the other hand played and sounded great. The Destroyer underwent a number of mods through the years but it's been in it's present form since around 1986.Image Url =

This Image was Uploaded by - http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=imgur_upload.upload_image_to_imgur

[Alanko]

It's called arthritis and gets us all.

Creak and Destroy.

[lowend1]

   I spy a Ibanez Destroyer and a Bicentennial Thunderbird combo. I had the same basses in '76 frankly the Ibanez got much more playing time than the Thunderbird.  The 76 bird had michrophnic pickups and the action couget low enough, the Ibanez on the other hand played and sounded great. The Destroyer underwent a number of mods through the years but it's been in it's present form since around 1986.Image Url =

This Image was Uploaded by - http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=imgur_upload.upload_image_to_imgur

The Destroyer was ridiculously cool, but I never bonded with it. I bought it pretty cheap, too. I was always looking for something as a backup to the Thunderbird but nothing I came across at the time did it justice. Whoever owned the Bicentennial originally had the bridge saddles re-grooved so that the strings sat further down in the slots. It played nicely but had very low output, which I compensated for by turning the amp up more. Always got compliments on the tone, though. It has been re-fretted twice - the second time because the first job was botched a bit. Also replaced the badge and saddles around the same time.

[uwe]

  My only Flying V bass though I would love a '75 Ibanez like Jim Lea's.  This will do in the interim.
 

They didn't really capture the elegance of the V shape - or weren't allowed to for legal reasons.