The Refins
Pictured below are several different refinished 1967-1969 Flying V guitars.
___________________________________________________________________________
Serial Number: 920855. The original finish on this guitar was Sparkling Burgundy. It was refinished to a light Natural color. Also, notice the filled-in Stop Bar Tailpiece holes. This one also had Schallers at one time.
This a pink refin that was once owned by Roger Troutman of the 80's funk band Zapp.
Here is Lenny Kravitz playing his light green 1967 Flying V refin.
Serial Number: 932554. This is another "Gap" serial number Flying V. The original finish on this guitar was most-likely Sunburst. It has been refinished twice. The first time it was refinished Natural. It has since been refinished Cherry as shown below. The hardware was also changed back to chrome and the fretboard was replaced with a standard dot-marker rosewood fretboard.
Serial number: 932554. This is the same guitar that is shown above with the cherry finish. I remember when this guitar had the Natural finish and was sold on E-bay back in 2007. Sometime after that the fretboard and hardware were replaced and it was refinished cherry. It turned up again on E-bay in 2010. The original finish was most likely sunburst or sparkling burgundy.
|
|
A Sparkling Burgundy Refin owned by a collector in Switzerland.
Serial Number: 907008. This is a '69 Walnut that was refinished yellow. It also has a visible cracked headstock.
Here is a 1967 Flying V that has been refinished white.
See the "Restoration" Link at the top of the page to find out about this black one.........What an amazing story.
See the "Restored" link at the top of the page to find out more about this cherry refin. Its a very a cool story.
Here is a Cherry Refin with missing serial number due to the refin job.
Here is another V that has been sanded down to a Natural finish. The current owner is of the opinion that the original finish was Sparkling Burgundy. You can see some Burgundy spots under the black paint in the front pickup cavity. The serial number was lost due to a previous headstock repair.
Notice the Burgundy spots in the front pickup cavity under the black paint.
Pictured below: Another V that has been sanded down to a Natural finish and then repainted to a dark walnut color. As you can see this guitar has been heavily modified. It was acquired in the early 70's by the previous owner and was used as his main gigging guitar for over 30 years. Prior to that it was a "glitter" guitar with a sparkle finish. The original finish was thought to have been sunburst. This is a rather well-known guitar in the Pottstown Pa. area. The current owner is having the headstock repaired and the finish restored to Sunburst. He recently determined that the serial number has been lost due to the initial headstock repair. It has the longer U-shaped neck shelf which dates it as a late Batch #1, Batch #2, or early Batch #3 guitar. Thanks for the pix Jake.
Serial Number: 930056. Here is a Sparkling Burgundy Flying V that has been refinished white. It also had several other mods inflicted to it over the years, including a broken and repaired headstock. The input jack has been routed to exit the body at the bottom wing. Also has Grover tuners and a custom made pickguard and truss rod cover. Notice the natural finished neck is still original. This is one of the trademarks of the Sparkling Burgundy Flying Vs.
|
|
____________________________________________________________________________
The Gibson Historic Series 1967 Flying V Reissue
In 2001 the Gibson Custom Shop introduced the Historic Series 1967 Flying V Reissue. For those who can not afford the "real deal" this is the next best thing. However, the vibe of these guitars is very different than the vibe of the originals from the 1960's. I have owned six of them over the years and not one of them had the vibe, feel and tone of the original 175 from 1966 to 1969. But, they are still pretty good reproductions. I currently still have one of them. It is a mint Cherry example that sits in the corner and collects dust. There are some good similarities: The nut width of these guitars is 1 9/16", which is the same as the 1960's originals. Most of the neck joints are representative of the C shaped neck joint that was used on Batch 2 from 1967. And, except for the taller frets, the neck feels pretty much the same as the ones from Batches 1 - 4, but that is where the similarities end. The headstock point and wing points are more blunt and not as pointy as the originals. The guitars are also considerably heavier. The plastic pickguard and truss covers are fairly poor reproductions. Some guitars have nickel hardware, some have chrome hardware and some have mixed nickel and chrome hardware. The Vibrola tremelo units are also poor reproductions. When a Historic Series Reissue Flying V is placed next to an original 1960's Flying V, it is easy to tell them apart. As of 2012, these guitars are still being produced in small quantities. The finishes I have seen over the years are Cherry, Sunburst, White, Black, Natural (not Walnut), Ember Red, and various sparkly finishes.
Pictured below: I currently own this 2001 Historic Series Cherry 1967 Reissue Flying V. It is a first-year mint example. There are also several other Reissues pictured below that I have owned over the years. I sold them all except the Cherry V shown below.
Notice the blunt point on the very end of the headstock. The original headstock points from the 1960's are pointier and more uniform.
Notice the large gaps on the pickguard that extend around the two pickups. Many of the Reissues have these noticeable gaps. There are virtually no gaps on the original pickguards.
This is a 2007 Sunburst V that I use to own. The finish scheme on all of the Sunburst Reissue Vs that I have seen is not even close to the original Sunburst Vs from the 1960's.
This is another 2007 Cherry Historic that I use to own. Notice the Certificate of Authenticity. All of the Historic Series guitars come with a Gibson Certificate of Authenticity.
Another Sunburst example that I use to own. The front finish one this one is very nice and looks dead-on ! However.....notice the picture of the back of the guitar.
Notice the two-tone burst on the back. This is totally incorrect. All of the original Sunburst Vs from the 1960's had the dark Walnut finish on the back.
Here is a pretty cool white one from 2002.
Here is a nice Pelham Blue (faded) Historic V. This guitar is really cool but it doesn't look anything like the one-and-only 1967 Pelham blue V that is featured on this website.
Pictured below is the Gibson Limited Edition, K.K. Downing 1967 Reissue Flying V with sparkling burgundy finish. The Gibson Custom Shop produced a limited run of 30 of these guitars in 2005.
