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

[godofthunder]

  The tips of the V seem a bit short,  maybe they were trying to keep the overall length of the instrument to a manageable size. The Flying V shape doesn't really lend itself to  bass, keeping them to short or medium scale yields better results. The kit is long scale and that is inviting trouble with this format. The build was a fun zero pressure option for a Flying V bass but it does have it's shortcomings.

[Basvarken]

Long scale Flying V bass I built a while ago.
Neck through. Korina.
With EY Parts sixties repro humbuckers

Initially I made some artist impressions of a short scale V.


But then someone commissioned me to build a long scale version.
I had to come up with a solution to make the bridge fit, without making it a ridiculously long bass.
So I made a change to the body shape.
The mahogany stained part is the original outline shape of the Flying V. The darker stained part is the extra inch that I needed to make the bridge fit properly.



Here's a pic taken during the build process


The overall length is 126 cm.
Only a bit longer than a "normal" bass.
Here is is alongside another hybrid (the Grabbird) I built.




It sounds like thunder ;-)

[Basvarken]

  The tips of the V seem a bit short,  maybe they were trying to keep the overall length of the instrument to a manageable size. The Flying V shape doesn't really lend itself to  bass, keeping them to short or medium scale yields better results. The kit is long scale and that is inviting trouble with this format. The build was a fun zero pressure option for a Flying V bass but it does have it's shortcomings.

The tips are not shorter on the kit you bought. But the shape of the V is not as deep as the original Gibson shape. They did this for the same reason as I did on my build: to make the bridge fit onto te body without having to place the neck too far forward.

[uwe]

I've said it before, but it deserves constant repetition: Your Brooks ThunderVee is the most beautiful Flying Arrow bass ever, period. And that dark-stained body wood extension is an effing brilliant design feature, I bow to you though you apparently largely listen to live albums recorded in the studio!

Did it sell or did you keep it?

Would you build another one? One that is perhaps called U-Vee?

And that ThunderGrabber is cool too.

[Basvarken]

Thank you.

It was built on commission for a Dutch bass player. So I no longer have it.

I'd love to build another one. And we could even call it U-vee. 

The Grabbird is still here. But it's for sale.

[uwe]

Proceed then. Das ist ein Befehl, but there is no urgency - at your own time. Send your price estimate.

PS: Is a full double octave neck doable? I have long arms.

[Basvarken]

Proceed then. Das ist ein Befehl, but there is no urgency - at your own time. Send your price estimate.

PS: Is a full double octave neck doable? I have long arms.

Jawohl Herrn Gibsonobergruppenführer! 

I guess adding the extra fret can be done.
I'll send a PM.

[slinkp]

Jawohl Herrn Gibsonobergruppenführer! 

I guess adding the extra fret can be done.
I'll send a PM.

 

[uwe]

I want to die with a proper Flying V in my hands for once.

[Basvarken]

How many times do you plan on dying? 

[uwe]

None of my current Vees would be a coffin bass.

[doombass]

I've said it before, but it deserves constant repetition: Your Brooks ThunderVee is the most beautiful Flying Arrow bass ever, period. And that dark-stained body wood extension is an effing brilliant design feature, I bow to you though you apparently largely listen to live albums recorded in the studio!

Did it sell or did you keep it?

Would you build another one? One that is perhaps called U-Vee?

And that ThunderGrabber is cool too.

Coincidentally The GrabBird is playing an excerpt from an album with such a Bad Reputation:

[uwe]

... it's caught me in its spotlight ... it's alright ...


(Looks like Phil had another one of his more physical altercations and his opponent good aim ...)

'Bad Reputation' (the album) was the first Lizzy album I owned, always liked that song with its strip tease/burlesque style bass line! You should have taken your clothes off while playing it though, Rob! Perhaps with some of those nipple tassels too?   

But it needs a pick sound, Lynott's style is all about pick playing. And more cowbell phaser please!!!

That Thundergrab sounds great.

And it was wrong for Phil to let Brian go/drive him out - the beginning of the miserable end. He should have butted testosterone-fueled heads with him longer for the sake of the band. You can see in that TOTP clip that something was wrong, Lynott looks worse for wear (and not just the black eye), doesn't sing quite in key (this is not the original studio track, but one pre-recorded solely for TOTP due to UK musicians' union rules) and Robertson is relegated to the back like some session musician (which at this point he was, the liner credits and the just-three-guys-cover of 'Bad Reputation' made no secret of that). That's the Supertramp sax player by the way, a relative of Scott Gorham, who had initially auditioned with Supertramp, coming from sunny California to rainy UK for that. And then staying and stumbling into Phil ...

[lowend1]

'Bad Reputation' (the album) was the first Lizzy album I owned, always liked that song with its strip tease/burlesque style bass line! You should have taken your clothes off while playing it though, Rob! Perhaps with some of those nipple tassels too?   

But it needs a pick sound, Lynott's style is all about pick playing. And more cowbell phaser please!!!

I recently bought myself a cheap phaser just to play this - and "Stranglehold"...

[uwe]

Yeah, that is another one! 

And the new state of the art phasers don't really provide that hissy, wet  vintage sound either. I have a Boss state of the art phaser and it sounds nowhere as phaser'ish good as my old piece of shit Ibanez stomper (that mechanial click it had ...  ) did. It's way too dry and clinical - I have meanwhile bequeathed it onto our guitarist who likes it for Stones'y stuff.