Pictured below are several refinished 1967-1969 Flying V guitars. The Fakes are in a separate section below. ___________________________________________________________________________
Serial Number: 920855
The original finish on this guitar was Sparkling Burgundy. It was refinished to a light natural color to match the original natural neck finish. Also, notice the filled-in Stop Bar Tailpiece holes. This one also had Schallers at one time and is a Batch #3 or Batch #4 guitar. It is one of only a few with the Natural neck and no black stinger on the back of the headstock. As I mentioned previously, most have the black stinger.
Serial Number: 000234
Here is Lenny Kravitz playing his refinished 1967 Flying V. This is a Batch #2 Flying V that was originally cherry. In the early 1980's this V was sent back to the Gibson factory by a previous owner where it was refinished Frost Blue. After being used for several years on the road the guitar eventually turned the peculiar blue-green color shown in the picture below. It was sold to Lenny Kravits in the early 1990's and he is still using this V today. It looks like an aged Frost Blue finish. Information about this guitar was updated in April, 2017. Thanks to Edward for the updated history about this V.
The print below was purchased from Mike Padgett. Original picture taken by Mike Padgett.
Pictured below: Billy Peek sporting his 1967 Flying V that he bought new in 1967 (See Youtube link). He use to play with Rod Stewart and Faces from 1975 to 1980. In a recent interview, he mentioned that he refinished this guitar twice over the past several decades. He still uses it today. The original finish of the V was Sparkling Burgundy with the typical natural neck treatment. Sometime between 1975 and 1980 is when Billy had the V wings partially refinished "blue burst" the first time. The second refin job (white) was most likely done in the 1980s. Posted April 2020.
During Billy's time with Rod Stewart and Faces he did some sort of psychedelic "blue bursting" partial refin on the two V wings. He refinished it white in the 1980's and has kept that finish until this day.
Pictured Below: Roger Troutman's 1967 Flying V. Roger made a name for himself in the disco-funk band called Zap. This V was originally cherry. Roger refinished it to this soft metallic pink color.
Serial Number: 932554
This is another "Gap" serial number Flying V that was built around the same time as the Hendrix Sunburst V. The original finish on this guitar was most-likely either Sunburst or Sparkling Burgundy. It has been refinished in cherry. This one still has its original case.
Serial number: 009845
A Sparkling Burgundy Refin owned by a collector in Switzerland.
Serial Number: 00093x
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.
Serial Number: Unknown
Here is a another Cherry Refin with missing serial number due to the refin job.
Serial Number: Unknown
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 Cherry. You can see some Cherry spots under the black paint in the front pickup cavity. The serial number was lost due to a previous headstock repair. If the original finish was actually cherry, then its a Batch #2 Flying V. Thanks for the pictures John. Posted Nov, 2011.
Notice the cherry spots in the front pickup cavity under the black paint.
Note: As of September 2019, this same guitar (shown above) has now been restored and refinished to Sparkling Burgundy. See pictures below. It looks fantastic ! Thanks John. Posted Oct, 2019.
Serial Number: 005071
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, but when the luthier started examining the paint, he thinks he found a trace of the original sparkling burgundy finish. This is a rather well-known guitar in the Pottstown Pa. area. The current owner had it restored to sparkling burgundy. It has the longer U-shaped neck shelf which dates it to Batch #2, or early Batch #3 guitar. Thanks for the pix Jake. Updates added February. 2019
The guitar above has now been beautifully restored. See pics below. Thanks Jake. Posted Feb. 2019
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.
Serial Number: 920841
This cool guitar is owned by a collector/player in Europe. It was refinished a few years ago. Thankfully, the serial number is still intact. Thanks Fred. Posted August, 2021.
Here is a pic of Fred H. shreading on his refinished 1967 Sparkling Burgundy Flying V. Posted: August, 2021
Serial number: 932592
Here is another sparkling burgundy Flying V from Batch #4 that has been sandounded down to bare wood and refinished in walnut. This one still has the sparkling burgundy paint in the pickup and control cavities under the pickguard. It also has a gap serial number like the Hendrix Sunburst Flying V. The current owner purchased this guitar second-hand in 1969. Just think....he has owned this guitar for 45 years. Thanks for the pics John. April, 2014.
___________________________________________________________________________ Fakes, Forgeries and More Refins
There are a few forgeries that have unsuspectingly been sold over the years for big money. All have been advertised as 100% original or "highly original" or similar. I have noted two of them below.
One of them is a fake "aged" sparkling burgundy Flying V that sold online several years ago (2009) for huge money. It is now owned by the Songbirds Guitar Museum in Chattanooga, TN.
There is also a fake "aged" pelham blue Flying V that was pictured in several publications in Japan in the late 1990's and early 2000's. It recently surfaced at a guitar show in 2019. Both of these "fakes" were built in the mid-1990s by the same craftsman and were later stolen. The craftsman contacted me and told me this information about the two Vs, even though I already had my suspicions about the burgundy one. To this date, no other pelham blue 67 Flying Vs have ever surfaced. It was rumored that back in the early 1970s, Wally Bryson of the Raspberries had a real 67 pelham blue Flying V with natural neck treatment and black stinger, but this rumor has never been substantiated.
Pictured below: The fake 1967 Sparkling Burgundy Flying V:
Notice the incorrect font that was used for the serial number. Also, there are no 67 Flying V serial numbers that begin with 0003xx.
Concerning the headstock (pictured below), the Kluson tuners are too far away from the edge of the headstock and too far away from each other. Plus, the headstock is also a little too short and too blunt. Even the truss rod cover is a reproduction.
Here is a pic of the fake burgundy V when it was at Songbirds before they closed in August, 2020.
Here is a pic of the fake Blue V when it was on display at a guitar show in 2019. This guitar and the burgundy V shown above were built by the same craftsman in the early 1990's.
Pelham Blue
The black 1967 Flying V pictured below is owned by Wally Bryson from the band the Raspberries. The Raspberries saw a lot of success in the early 1970's. Wally claimed this 1967 Flying V was blue when he got it sometime in the 1971 time frame. He also claimed he had it refinished black since he wanted a black V. He bought it used from the bass player in a band called Dragonwyck from the Cleveland, Ohio area. Two other sources from this time frame say they saw him play this V when it was still pelham blue, before he painted it black. There are no known pictures of this V when it was blue. This V will probably always be shrouded in mystery.
The pictures below used with the permission of Gene Taylor
The pictures above used with the permission of Gene Taylor
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 a little different than the vibe of the originals from the 1960's, but they are still really cool guitars. I have owned seven of them over the years. I currently still have two of them. I have a first-year mint 2001 Cherry example (see pics below) and a 2012 mint white example. They both sit in the corner and collect 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 U shaped neck joint that was used on Batch 2 from 1967. Except for the taller frets, the neck feels pretty much the same as the ones from Batches 1 - 4. There are also some obvious differences...... The headstock point and wing points are more blunt and not as pointy as the originals. The guitars are also somewhat 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. When a Historic Series Reissue Flying V is placed next to an original 1960's Flying V, it's pretty easy to tell them apart. As of 2014, 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 including purple sparkle, silver sparkle and red sparkle. As of 2012 candy apple red, candy apple blue, silver fox, priest red , sparkling merlot and aged pelham blue were also offered by the Gibson Custom Shop. Like I said, these are really cool guitars and the next best thing to the originals from the 1960s !
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.
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 or owned are a little different than the original Sunburst Vs from the 1960's.
The next two pictures show some very uncommon colors that Gibson used on the 67 Historic series Flying Vs
Pelham Blue (2014) and Antique Gold (2015). I currently own these two guitars.
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 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.
Pictured below is the Jimi Hendrix 1969 Flying V Custom Reissue. In November 2020, Gibson released 150 of these guitars as a Special Edition. 125 are right-handed and 25 are left-handed. I nabbed one of the right-handed Vs. The detail on these Vs is remarkable. Added November, 2020.