Flying V Turns 50

[chromium]

Happy Birthday V!  (and gumby too, dammit)




Here's a couple more Vees in action - w/ Cornelius, and Ash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB8SaSFneQw&feature=related

[TBird1958]

I'd almost forgotten that at one time I owned an Ibanez V bass......it had a log for a neck! I sold it without any regerets after having it maybe 3 months, this was around 1977 I guess. And Uwe's Kramer brings back memories of mine as well.......It was really cool looking; Factory painted alternating black and white chevrons......Somewhere I have a fuzzy polaroid of it.  That bass redefined the term "neck dive", if you let go of it for the briefest moment........wham! the headstock was hitting my foot.
That bass reminded me of a quote from W.C. Fields about women and elephants "They're nice to look at but you really don't want to own them".

Pretty as it was I don't really miss it.   

[doombass]

More V's. Uwe's fellow countrymen, but I wonder what the guy with bathing pants and RC Airplane has to do with this clip:

[uwe]

Accept always sound like a poor man's version of Judas Priest - minus all musicality. Or as one writer once wrote about KISS: "They sound like a hardrock band must sound to someone who doesn't like hardrock."   

We forgot Lenny btw:



My son, 13 1/2, played this riff for literally hours on end for weeks  until he finally got it right with his triple pup faded Flying V. I saw him play it with his school band only recently (he's got it down pat by now plus, of course, Lenny's moves  ) and, in fine Ritchie Blackmore tradition for which I must bear some responsibility, he was louder than the rest of the band put together (two singers, bassist, rhythm guitarist, drummer and percussionist). I had a parental word with him afterwards. 

[Barklessdog]

I was always captivated by this monster V

[Dave W]

My "modernistic guitar" (or bass) collection. How come ony the V turns fifty and not the Explorer? Did that come out later? I thought they were all designed and released at the time.

Not sure if the Explorer was released at the exact same time, but it was released in 1958. Not sure why this article was only about the V.

BTW, I have played a couple of Kramer Vs, they sounded thin and trebly to me.

[uwe]

My kramer sounded middish with rough treble and not that much bass when it still had that Schaller pup emulating a DiMarzio G pup. I got talked into  equipping it with two EMGs - ok, this was 1983! - and that changed the sound drastically. Now it is all sublows and clear treble, but not much mids. But it holds its ground. Will actually play it tonight at the rehearsal.

[Dave W]

Yeah, the ones I played both had the Schaller.

In some cases EMGs overwhelm whatever character the bass has. But nothing wrong with them in the right bass.

[SKATE RAT]

I was always captivated by this monster V

WHOAA! what is this? looks like a T-bird neck & Hagstrom pups? weird.

[chromium]

WHOAA! what is this? looks like a T-bird neck & Hagstrom pups? weird.

I've seen that bass before, but don't know too much about it, or how it was built.  Looks like it has an old Guild Jetstar neck:

[Barklessdog]

The headstock looks right.

If I remember Fred Hammon, resident JC nut, said the bass was custom made by Guild for Jack in his Hot Tuna days?

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

I'm lovin' the white Epi V made lefty that I recently acquired.
She rests nicely into the arm of my desk chair...
Like right now!

[clankenstein]

[].    jimis flying v -well i know its not a bass but it was fun being let loose in the vault with all them there geetars. i was recording a documentary about the hard rock cafe at the time.the flying v is well set up and nice to play.

[eb2]

The Explorer and V are the same age - same time, same catalog.  Technically the Moderne as well, according to the patents.  But they gave up in the gestation period.

I remember the guy from the Cars playing an Ibanez V bass. 

[Barklessdog]

He was a pretty good bass player as I remember, Peter Orr?

I know he passed away a while ago. The Cars songs had some nice bass work.