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The Jimi Hendrix Flying V ExperienceJimi's Electric Flying V Land By Larry Meiners |
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Jimi Hendrix may have saved the Stratocaster from extinction. In fact, today the demand for original style "Jimi Strats" from the late 1960s, built with a maple cap fingerboard and finished in either black or white, is so high that they sell for more than three to four times the price of a similar sunburst finished Stratocaster with a rosewood fingerboard from the same era. Because Jimi is considered one of the all-time best music artists, players want to play what Jimi played. In fact, guitar heroes like Hendrix and his baby boom generation fans helped manufacturers sell more guitars during the late 1960s, peaking in 1972 in terms of units sold, than anytime since, until recent years. If you played guitar after 1966, Jimi Hendrix was probably an important influence for you as well as countless others, including Stevie Ray Vaughan. The image of Jimi playing his white Strat at Woodstock will forever live in baby boomer's collective memories. However, Jimi also played Gibson guitars. Many pictures show Jimi playing a white SG Custom, a black Les Paul Custom and other Gibson guitars. During Jimi's early playing career, Albert King was an important influence for him. Albert was a blues king that commanded your attention when he was on stage with him large stature and massive hands wrapped around his guitar's neck. Albert played a 1959 Flying V. He was left-handed and played the right-handed guitar upside-down (but not re-strung for a left-handed player) Albert King pulled sounds of his guitar you could only get with a V and a soul full of blues. Jimi was a amplified blues king too and Albert's influence on him may have helped Hendrix to decide to play a 1967 Flying V at the time these guitars were first reissued. Jimi was left-handed and played right-handed guitars upside-down (re-strung for a left-handed player). Judging by the number of pictures showing Jimi playing one of his three Flying V guitars and the fact he adorned his first one with his own psychedelic artwork, leads many to believe that the Flying V was his favorite Gibson. Late 1960s Flying V guitars were made with a vibrato bar tailpiece and Jimi knew how to use one of those to maximum musical effect. The 1966-1970 mahogany model Flying V guitars were very different from the Korina versions from 1958. Most notably, the 1958 version used a string-through the body construction, smooth neck heal joint, wider nut width, slightly different body contour and PAF pickups. For comparison, Table 1 highlights the differences between Flying V guitars issued between 1958 and 1970. Table 1
Jimi's first Gibson Flying V was a 1967 model finished in custom color black. Not long after acquiring the guitar in 1967, he painted psychedelic artwork along the top around the pickguard. During 1967, George Harrison painted his Beatles-era Strat with dayglo paint artwork and Eric Clapton was playing an SG guitar with Cream that was painted for him with an angel, stars and sunbursts. Jimi's tours from 1967 through 1968 featured this mod-art Flying V guitar and he is pictured in September, 1967 (Sweden), and February, 1968 (San Francisco), playing it. It has been reported that Jimi used it extensively during the last half of 1967 and during this period he was recording his second album, Axis: Bold As Love. This guitar intact would come the closest to rivaling Jimi's Woodstock Strat for historic significance due to the original artwork. Unfortunately, it is believed that the guitar has been refinished. The second Flying V Jimi owned was a sunburst finished model. Not much other information exists, either in picture or written form about the use of the guitar during Jimi's reign atop the pop charts. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas has this guitar in their Jimi Hendrix Experience display. One of the few left-handed guitars Jimi played was a custom-made Flying V by Gibson and the third one he owned. Gibson painted it black like Jimi's first V (and many of his Strats), but made other changes making it very unique. The Gibson logo was an inlay in the headstock as opposed to the script logo on the truss-rod cover, the hardware was gold-plated and split-diamond fingerboard inlays were utilized (also used on the Trini Lopez guitar). This guitar has been referred to as a 1970 model, however Walter Carter (historian at Gibson Guitars) states that the serial number is probably from 1969. That dating would imply that the guitar was shipped from Gibson in 1969. However, Walter said that the shipping records don't show this serial number for that guitar. Also, the serial numbers close to Jimi's V serial number were assigned to Flying V guitars. Walter believes that it was a custom ordered guitar and was not entered into the production logs. Jimi used the guitar during portions of the Rainbow Bridge Concert video (July 30, 1970, Maui, Hawaii). This guitar was sold to the Hard Rock organization many years ago. Gibson reissued Jimi's custom-made black Flying V starting in late 1991. A copy of Jimi's signature in gold appears on the pickguard and they were made as right-handed models. The short vibrola of the original has been replaced with a stop tailpiece and the truss-rod cover notes the limited number of the guitar out of the 400 initially made. Gibson made another 25 in 1995 for RCA as a promotional to support the release of another Hendrix album. The Hendrix legacy is as strong today as it has ever been even though Jimi only released five albums during his short career (three studio, one smash hits and one live album). His popular music, lyrics and stage presence has transcended punk, disco, metal, rap and electronica over the last thirty years. Hendrix songs are regularly used today in television and movie programs. There is something special and timeless about his playing and his poetry. He also gave us a peek into his world and the guitars he used... including his Gibson Flying V. Copyright © 2003 Larry Meiners All Rights Reserved |