SeriesGibson Flying V

Early 2000's USA made Gibson Flying V '67 reissue. Mahogany body and set neck, '60's thin neck carve, 24-3/4" scale & 1-11/16" width rosewood fretboard with 22 frets, Tune-O-Matic/Stop Bar bridge and tailpiece, a 496R Ceramic Humbucker neck pup, and a 500T Ceramic Humbucker bridge pup and 2 Volume, 1 Tone and 3-way Pickup Toggle for controls. UTILIZATION Being a V shape this guitar has unlimited access to higher frets - the easiest I've ever played! With 2 Volume, 1 Tone and 3-way Pickup Toggle for controls you can get a wide variety of sounds and I found it very easy to get good sounds with the guitar. Being a V shape, the guitar can be tricky to play while seated but all you have to do is have the V straddle a leg and I found it to be comfortable. This is my favorite shape of guitar to play live - it's light weight, sounds good and looks killer. You do have to be a bit careful that you don't bump the tips of the V wings since they hang so far out, so I'll take a point away for that. SOUNDS I used this guitar with custom built Peters amplifiers, which are kind of a cross between a Peavey 5150 and high gain Marshall/VHT with a little Boogie thrown in. It was also used with these amps:an Egnater IE4 pre, Marshall TSL, Mesa DC-5 and Peavey 5150II. The amp was paired with an Avatar 4x12 that had Celestion G12h -30's and a Splawn 4x12 with Governor/ManOWar speaker combo,a VHT FB cab and a stock Marshall 1960B. I usually go for a nice thick Jerry Cantrell AIC tone, to use with my modern rock/metal band. The guitar had a very open sound to it and all frequencies were represented fairly evenly with a bit more emphasis on mids and quite a bit of highs. It was tight and crunchy under high gain playing. Overall a very nice sound. The cleans were just ok because the ceramic humbuckers didn't clean up that well. My favorite sounds with this guitar were the high gain tones - both lead and rhythm playing. Least favorite tones were the limited cleans. Overall, it suited my style of music very well! OVERALL OPINION I loved just about everything concerning this guitar - so much so I bought 2 Gothic V's! I bought this as a scratch and dent from an online retailer and got a great price on it. I would buy this again if under the same circumstances. My least favorite things are the sitting and playing issue and the so-so cleans, but I still loved it. I have owned many guitars and had a number of years where I would buy, try and flip, which enabled me to have many guitars around to try out. This V has ranked pretty high on the list in overall satisfaction. I ultimately sold it when the Gothic V's came because I prefered the sound they had. For some reason, they sounded quite a bit thicker but until they arrived this was my #1.

Body Species Maple Body Type Slab Adhesive Franklin Titebond 50 Neck Species Mahogany Profile Melody Maker Truss Rod Traditional Adjustable Joint Angle 1.75° (+/- 15 seconds) Adhesive Franklin Titebond 50 Neck Fit Joint Mortise & Tenon Adhesive Franklin Titebond 50 Joint Angle Tolerance +/- .005" Fingerboard Species Baked Maple Frets 22 Radius 12" Nut/E.O.B 1.695"/2.260" Inlays Dot Nut Material Corian Width 1.695 Slots Gibson PLEK System Headstock Truss Rod Cover with Hot Stamp Gold Gibson Logo Black Antique Bell Tuners Model White Button Tailpiece Type Wrap Around Tailpiece Plating Chrome Hardware Knobs Black Top Hat Strings .010 - .046, Genuine Gibson strings Strap Buttons Aluminum Pickups Bridge Position Seymour Duncan HB-103 (Ceramic) Electronics Potentiometer 1 Volume Control Type 300k Linear Volume Coil Wiring Machine Wound Output Jack Traditional 1/4" Finish Sealer Nitrocellulose Process 1-1.5 mils Satin EbonySatin BlueSatin WhiteCase Type Gigbag Accessories Additional Materials Gibson Owners Manual UTILIZATION Cool! I started playing guitar in the 80s, and regularly going to guitar stores (and pawn shops) in the early 90s. Back then, there were all sorts of 60s Melody makers around. Most had the traditional Les Paul shape, some had the sharp doublecut shape (like an early Epiphone Olympic), and some had the SG shape. I always thought the SG -shaped MM was a very cool guitar, but I wondered what would happen if Gibson gave the same Melody Maker treatment to some of their other iconic body styles. Here's my answer! The Flying V has become a Melody Maker now, and to great effect. Gibson did a good thing and gave this guitar a humbucker pickup instead of the single coil they usually put in the MM models of the past, and it is a much better guitar because of it. SOUNDS The guitar is pretty simple - one pickup, one knob. It sounds bright and cutting, all the time. The only real way to affect any change is to change amp or effect settings. What you see is what you get with this guitar, and it's great for any rock style, even metal. OVERALL OPINION I'm a fan of this. The cool factor is way up there, and it's good to have available a USA-made Gibson Flying V for under $500! It's for minimalist guitarists - players that don't feel like futzing about with their knobs and players that just wanna rock. Very nice, Gibson.

This is one of the Gibson Custom Shop's coolest creations in my opinion. The Zakk Wylde Flying V comes with an original Floyd Rose trem, Zakk's trademark EMG 85 and 81 pick-up set,Mahogony body with maple top, Ebony fret board, typical Gibson knob and switch set up. And most importantly the coolest paint job there is on any V...I say that as a huge Zakk fan boy. This was a limited edition piece but they are out there to be had on Ebay and some other places. UTILIZATION This truly is one of the best Vs I have ever played. Access up top is great, the thing is very light and feels a lot like an SG in that way. Very easy to play and has a great neck radius. It's easy to overlook the discomfort of a V when you see how cool it looks. Well designed. SOUNDS Ok my only disclaimer on the sound is that I hate EMGs so if they are your thing, you would have no complaints. Love the guitar for what it is and be done. As a Zakk fan that is exactly what I do but my sound rating is less than perfect for that one reason. It is perfect for the music of Zakk and sounds like it should for that and for modern music in general. I find a good humbucker such as a JB or Tone Zone a much better choice for classic rock tones. OVERALL OPINION Overall opinion is that this is a great instrument with a lot of mojo if you are a Zakk fan. I love the paint job, the feel, the weight, the fret board is superb and the Trem is a great feature. I have stated the opinion on the EMGS and the only other thing is that I wish it came with the unfinished neck like the Les Pauls with Zakk's name. This is a great feature and would have worked on this. The other downside is the price, yes it is a quality instrument and yes it is Gibson Custom Shop but holy moly $4,000+ is a lot of cash. That being said love the guitar for what it is and would say if you have the cash this is a good choice to display and play.

The Flying V faded is Gibsons budget version of the Flying V. Gibson noticed that people were starting to like worn in looking guitars. They decided to start a line of Faded guitars that do not have the final clear coat on them to give guitar players a line of new guitars that look old. The guitar is made from solid mahogany with a mahogany set neck. The neck is 22 frets with a rosewood fretboard. The neck is not bound. It has two volume knobs and one tone knob and a 6 way chicken head pickup selector. The tuners are non-locking as well as the bridge which is a tune-o-matic. On this version you get 3 Gibson 490s which are mellower than what you normally get in these guitars. UTILIZATION These guitars are pretty comfortable. They have a lightweight design that is a welcome change compared to many other Gibsons. Because of the V design the upper frets are easier to reach than on a Les Paul. The set neck design means there is a bit of a heel at the neck joint but on this model it is not bad. Because there is no clear coat on the final the guitar feels very smooth and it does not ever get sticky. Because of the shape you may have to play in a classical position when you play sitting down but this is not a problem for me because I always play in a classical position. Some models have a rubber grip on the bottom so you can play them in a normal position but this one does not. SOUNDS The 490 pickups in this guitar have a slightly mellower tone than what you would normally get in this guitar. The 3 pickup configuration gives you many tonal combinations. The pickup selecting is done with a 6 way chicken head knob that takes some getting use to. The first position is the bridge position. Which gives you your traditional trebley bridge tones. The next position is the bridge pickup and the middle much like a strat. The middle pickup gives more low end and thickness to the bridge tone but it can also get a bit muddy. The next position is just the middle position. I am not a fan of middle pickups by themselves. I prefer the middle pickup when it is mixed with something else. Like in the next position which is the middle and the neck. This mostly is your neck position tones with a bit more clarity and high end from the middle pickup. After that you get your neck position tones which are your traditional super smooth bluesy and jazzy tones. This is where I do most of my lead playing because I like the smooth sound. Finally you get your traditional middle position with your neck and bridge pickup. I like this sound for cleans because you can get the smoothness of the neck with some clarity from the bridge. It is similar to the neck and middle in sound on this particular guitar. OVERALL OPINION The Gibson Flying V faded is not a bad guitar. This model is just a way for Gibson to get more life out of the model. This model is not bad either. Some people may want the extra tonal capabilities of the middle pickup. Not many Gibson users care for a middle pickup because they have gotten by without it for so long. If you are dead set on having a middle pickup by all means get this guitar but if you are just looking for a decently priced Flying V the normal Faded version is plenty of guitar for the money.

Even with all the crazy limited run guitars Gibson puts out they were pretty late to the 7 string scene. This is the 7 string version of the Gibson Flying V. It has some good features and some bad features. Some of the good features is that it is pretty much a traditional Flying v. Two volume and a master tone with a 3 way switch. The fretboard is clean with no inlays which is cool but on a guitar this expensive they should have put on a ebony fretboard. The rosewood fretboard doesnt really fit with the rest of the black guitar. Gibson chose to use their traditional scale length which is not great for a 7 string. The neck 24.75 inch scale mahogany neck. Instead of trying to figure out their own 7 string pickups Gibson wisely choose to use EMG pickups. This guitar has a 707 in the neck and a 81 7 string version in the bridge. Because the pickups are active you will need to use a battery to power them. Gibson was nice to include a separate battery compartment so you dont have to open up the entire control cavity to change the battery for the pickups. I am suprised Gibson is still making this model because other Gibsons that came with EMG pickups have been discontinued and re-released with Gibsons own brand of active pickups. UTILIZATION The V shape naturally gives you good high fret access. The neck is slim but not as slim as I would like on a 7 string. A 7 string with a big neck is so much harder to play than a 6 string with a big neck because of the extra width. When playing standing up the guitar will naturally come to rest in the perfect position for playing. I like fretboards with no inlays but it might be a problem for some people who have not been playing guitar as long. There are always markers on the side of the neck. Speaking of the fretboard without any inlays the rosewood really stands out against the rest of the black guitar. Would it have been so much harder to give this guitar an ebony fretboard. The rest of the guitar is black and having the huge brown fretboard really stands out. The only problem with the EMG 7 string pickups is that they are so big they require a proprietary route. You would need major modifications to your guitar to change these pickups to another brand of 7 string pickups. The low B string on the stock set of strings is only a 59. I do not think this is enough for a low B on a 24.75 inch scale guitar. I have used a 60 low E string on 24.75 inch 6 strings before. SOUNDS It would have been easy for Gibson to throw in some generic pickups in this and have it sound terrible but they didnt. Thanks to the EMG pickups this guitar sounds great. The 707 in the neck is great. The 707 tonally is like a mix between the 85 and 81. It is nice and thick like the 85 but still has the top end attack of the 81. The 81 in the bridge is a grind machine. It brings the clarity. This helps make up for the short scale of the neck. With this short 24.75 inch scale on a 7 string the low B will be pretty loose and flubby. This would produce a muddy sound with anything but the tightest pickups. The 81 is really tight and has lots of high end bite. These good pickups and the large body of the Flying V makes this guitar sound huge. If you want even more tone you can do the 18v mod to the EMG pickups to get even more tone. The 18v mod helps give you more head room and will help the EMG sound more natural. This especially helps warm up the clean tones which are generally the weakest part of the EMG's sound. OVERALL OPINION There are not many 7 string V's on the market and this is a Gibson. Gibsons quality is generally good on the mid to high end models so you know you will be getting a solid guitar. The fact that they gave this guitar after market EMG pickups means they were not messing around with this guitar and they wanted it to sound good. No generic first try 7 string Gibson pickups here these are the real deal time test EMG 7 string pickups. If this guitar had a 25.5 scale and an ebony fretboard I would call it the perfect 7 string.

The Gibson Faded Flying V is an affordable, no-nonsense guitar with enough class to stay ahead of other gibson USA models in the looks department. The Faded V features a solid Mahogany body and set neck, coupled with a rosewood fingerboard. The 496R and 500T pickups pair perfectly with this guitar, lending it a powerful feel when gain is applied. The controls are made up of two separate volumes and a shared tone pot, which leads to less output resistance and more power. The looks of the guitar are surprisingly fair, unlike other guitars in the faded series. UTILIZATION The tuning stability of the V is average. I found that the B-string on the particular guitar I tested had issues with keeping in check. The neck profile is flaunted by gibson of being a cross between the 60's slim taper neck and the thicker 50's style. I couldn't discern any great benefit to it, but the neck did feel wonderful in the palm. The pickup selection for this guitar is perfect, they give the V a very "hot" sound that allowed for enhanced playing feel with aggressive styles. SOUNDS I played the Gibson Faded flying V through a JVM210h. Mesa 4x12 cab. No pedals. If my previous review was any indication, I am not a fan of the JVM series amps at all. This guitar, however, managed to make it pretty enjoyable to listen through. The clean sounds aren't exactly crystal, but they are useable. The focus of this guitar was gain sounds, and this is what I spent most of my time using the guitar for. The guitar allowed for fluid lead runs with oodles of sustain. I could have easily spent a day playing the same riffs on this guitar and not realized the time past. One of the best guitars I've played for aggressive styles of music. OVERALL OPINION The Gibson Faded Flaying V is a rock/metal guitarist's dream. The guitar is inexpensive, fetching as low as $500 on the used market, while not being stripped of features to the point of damaging desirability. The V retains the gibson aesthetic cues that fans of the brand crave, without set fire to their wallets.

How? Cash. Where? Pawn Shop. Why? It's a Gibson! How much? $150.00. Plays amazing, sounds terrific, no noise, can be very subtle and clean all the way around to sounds that'll put small animals in therapy! Kahler double locking whammy bar tends to drop it waaay outta tune when dive bombing :( It's a Gibson, need I say more? OK, Quality's outstanding, action has always been spot-on, stays in tune without whammy bar backflips, sounds like God pointed his finger out of the jack, through my pedals and out my amp! I went into my local pawnshop, as usual, expecting overpriced, questionable quality guitars, but when I saw it, I had to have it... when I got it home, I saw just how much it's been played.. The guy before me had to either have died or lost it to an ex-wife... Because from the way this was used, nobody would have let it go without a fight. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This Flying V is part of the 2009 Limited Run series. Gibson came up with a new gimmick guitar every month for this series and in my opinion the Tribal Explorer and V were the best guitars to come out of that run. The Flying V and Explorer were way ahead of their time when they were first introduced in the late 50s but in the 80s they came into their own. This guitar emulates the style of the time with its finish and hardware. This Flying V has a mahogany body and neck like most Gibsons. The set neck has an Ebony fretboard with 22 frets. Up top you get no locking nut or even locking tuners which normally would be fine but since you have a Floating tremolo its just a sign of lazyness. That or they were trying to emulate an 80s guitar shop mod from a dumb tech. The Kahler tremolo is an 80s peice. You can tell it was an after thought because they got the top mount version that mounts directly to the standard tune-o-matic mounting points instead of getting a real one. You get two standard Gibson pickups on this guitar. The 496R in the neck and the 500T in the bridge. The controls are simple with a master tone and master volume with a 3 way toggle. You get cool black flame graphics on the white finish of this guitar. They kind of look like deer horns too. UTILIZATION This guitar overall plays like a normal Flying V. It is the 67 design so the upper fret access is ok but not as good as the original 58 design. The ebony fretboard is nice and something you dont get on many Flying V's. If they can put it on this one I wonder why they dont put it on the rest. Having a floating tremolo without a locking nut or even locking tuners is silly. They could have at least done the 80s style behind the nut lock for this guitar. The Explorer is the same way. If you are a big tremolo user this isnt the guitar for you. Get a guitar that was designed to have a tremolo. SOUNDS The tone of this guitar is all Gibson with the standard Gibson pickups. It would have been cool if they threw in some EMG's or something but this kind of has a classic sound. You get the good mahogany base which is key to the sound on any Gibson. The 496R is kind of bright for the neck position but 80s tone is all about brightness. It can really cut through. The bridge pickup 500t is nice and crunchy. It has decent output and nice string clarity on every string. The Gibson pickups are alright but with the style of guitar this is some hotter or active pickups would have been better. OVERALL OPINION This guitar is a lot like another model they had the Gibson Shred V. That guitar had pretty much all the same features but came with active pickups and was black. If they put the active pickups in this guitar and kept the paint it still would have been tribal and would have sounded better.

This is one of the earlier Gibson Gothic models. This was back when Gibson thought painting a guitar black automatically made it good for metal. Later gothic models came with active pickups including for a short while EMG's. While these earlier models are good they are not as good for metal as the later ones. This model is actually based on a pretty rare Flying V made in 1998 that blended the body of the 67 reissue with the control layout of the 58 Flying V. The guitar is made from solid mahogany with a mahogany set neck. The neck is 22 frets with a ebony fretboard. The neck is not bound. The fretboard is clean of all inlays except for a circle thing on the 12th fret. It has two volume knobs and one tone knob and a 3 way pickup selector. It has 496R and 500T ceramic magnet pickups in the neck and bridge respectively. These pickups are Gibsons own design. It has a traditional Les Paul style tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. UTILIZATION Being based on the 98 limited edition there are small differences. The main difference with the 1998 limited edition Flying V is the way the knobs are arranged. This guitar has the knobs arranged 3 in a row. I like this setup better than the newer one because on the 60s Flying V's the knobs are in a triangle shape and they can seem a little bunched together. Because of the V design the upper frets are easier to reach than on a Les Paul. The set neck design means there is a bit of a heel at the neck joint but on this model it is not bad. Because of the shape you may have to play in a classical position when you play sitting down. SOUNDS The pickups the V comes with are generic Gibson pickups. They are good at everything but not great at anything. The mahogany wood give the guitar a really deep sound even though the body is not that big. If you want to play heavier music you may want to change out the pickups. The Gibson pickups are medium output and are voiced more for classic rock. The 496R is voiced for the neck and some people say it is a little bright. If its in the neck position in the right guitar it will balance out the neck position sound perfectly. Its sound is pretty smooth albiet bright. The brightness helps balance out the neck position tone which can give you good clarity in the neck position. With a guitar with a metal Image like this you really want to swap in some metal pickups. A set of EMG's would sound and look perfect in this guitar. OVERALL OPINION These guitars might become collectors items in the future but I doubt it. I guess when they made the 98 limited edition V they made too many to be able to price them as limited guitars like they wanted to so they threw some black paint on some and started another model. If you are looking for a Gibson flying V to play metal on this is a pretty good choice, just remember that the sound isnt as heavy as the looks so you may need a pickup swap.

For the longest time I wished they made this guitar. A flying V with all the classy appointments of a Les Paul Custom. This is the highest level of Flying V you can get at the moment. With this guitar what you get is a 58 style Flying V body thats fully bound front and black like a Les Paul Custom. The body is solid mahogany. Up top you get the pointed V headstock with a mini split diamond Les Paul Custom inlay in it. The neck is a fully bound piece of mahogany with an ebony fretboard. The fretboard has 22 frets and the big block inlays like a Les Paul Custom. All the hardware is gold. You get the gold tuners up top and the gold bridge down at the bottom. The bridge is your standard tune-o-matic with a string through 58 V style stop tail which gives great sustain. The example I tired out was slightly modded. The one I had included the pickups I think Gibson should have put in these guitars stock. The one I demoed had a set of 57 Classics. UTILIZATION The Gibson Flying V is a classic design that Gibson made worse by trying to fix it. The 58 design is a better playing and sounding design overall than the 67 reissue design. They changed the design for the reissue for ease of manufacture. With the 58 design like what this guitar has you get much better upper fret access. The string through body stop tail provides excellent sustain and resonance. The ebony fretboard on this custom model feels great under your fingers and the big block inlays are impossible to miss. SOUNDS With the 57 Classics this guitar sounds like a true classy Gibson. The stock pickups this guitar comes with arent any different than what you get on a standard Flying V. The 57 Classics make this guitar sound as good as it looks. The Classic 57 pickups are modern day imitation of the classic PAF pickup that Gibson made famous. With the Classic 57 PAF style pickups this guitar is a blues and rock machine. The 57's have just the right amount of sag in the tone so you can really work the dynamics like you would with a set of real vintage pickups. The neck pickup is super smooth and when you throw in some tone knob you can get that sour tone like you have a parked wah on. The bridge pickup has a little more bite and spank to it. With some gain you can get good classic rock tones from the bridge pickup. These pickups can handle more gain than a set of PAF's could. Because of their modern design they retain their composure longer than a set of old pickups could and are more consistant from set to set. Back in the day it was true that some pickups made on one day might sound totally different than some pickups made the next day. If you can afford to pay the price of this guitar you can easily afford to swap out the pickups to the ultimate Gibson set. OVERALL OPINION This guitar is for the true Flying V enthusiast. For the longest time the Flying V was not seen as a classy guitar. It was just a guitar for people who wanted to stand out or something. Now it finally gets the classy treatment that the Les Paul and SG has gotten for decades. With this setup you can play a Flying V in a suit and not look like a total fool. If you are a flying v enthusiast and have the means this Flying V Custom model is the ultimate edition of the design.

In the late 50s Gibson was getting blown away by Fender guitars. Fender had the image of being a more modern and hip guitar company ever since the stratocaster came out. Gibson wanted to change their image so in the late 50s they produced a series of futuristic guitars. This line of guitars called the Modernistic series had guitars like the Flying V and the Explorer and lesser known guitars like the Futura and the Moderne. In the 50s of all the Modernistic guitars the Flying V was the only one that had any popularity but overall they were deemed too radical at the time. The Flying V was reissued in 67 with a slightly different design but this guitar is the reissue of the original design. The dimensions are slightly different and it uses Korina wood like the original models did. It has a 22 fret rosewood freboard attached to a Korina neck. It has the pointy flying V headstock from the 50s. It has dual gold finished humbuckers. Each pickup has a volume control and there is a master tone knob. The bridge is a big V shaped piece of metal that helps with sustain. UTILIZATION The V design naturally has better fret access than a Les Paul. The set neck design means there is a bit of a heel at the neck joint but on this model it is not bad. Since this is a 58 model the upper fret access is even better than on a 67 flying V. The neck attaches to the body higher on the neck than on the 67 models so the neck joint heel is less intrusive. The V shape might be hard for some people to play sitting down. You may have to play in a classical position with the guitar in your lap if you are playing while sitting down. This model has a strip of rubber to add more traction to the bottom of the guitar, making it easier to play while sitting down. Standing up the shape gives the guitar perfect balance. The input jack is kind of in a bad place if you are use to wrapping it through your guitar strap but this is something they didnt do back in the 50s. SOUNDS Think of any Albert King song and you will know what a good 50s V should sound like. This guitar is made out of korina. Korina is a cousin to mahogany and has a yellowish color. It produces all the thick tones of mahogany but with less weight. With the 50s style PAF pickups this guitar is a blues and rock machine. The PAF's have just the right amount of sag in the tone so you can really work the dynamics. The neck pickup is super smooth and when you throw in some tone knob you can get that sour tone like you have a parked wah on. The bridge pickup has a little more bite and spank to it. With some gain you can get good classic rock tones from the bridge pickup. If you do not like the old style PAF pickups you can sell them and get some hotter Seymour Duncans and still make money. OVERALL OPINION The Flying V was a strange design at one time but now it is an old classic like most other guitar designs. This is one of the first attempts at a non traditional guitar design. I think the 50s Flying V design is better than the 67 reissue design. The upper fret access is better and the design has more class overall. If you are looking for a classic design that is not so classic the original Flying V design is a good option.

The limited edition flying V Gibson made in 1998 is a blend of the old Flying V design and the new one. It has the pickguard and electronics setup of the old 50s Flying V on the body of the newer 60s Flying V. This combination gives a unique look that many people might not notice. The Flying V is a classic design by Gibson. It was introduced in the late 50s and was way too radical and ahead of its time. It was re-introduced in the mid 60s and people loved it. Gibson has been making them ever since. The guitar is made from solid mahogany with a mahogany set neck. The neck is 22 frets with a rosewood fretboard. The neck is not bound. It has two volume knobs and one tone knob and a 3 way pickup selector. It has 496R and 500T ceramic magnet pickups in the neck and bridge respectively. These pickups are Gibsons own design. It has a traditional Les Paul style tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. UTILIZATION The main difference with the 1998 limited edition Flying V is the way the knobs are arranged. This guitar has the knobs arranged 3 in a row. I like this setup better than the newer one because on the 60s Flying V's the knobs are in a triangle shape and they can seem a little bunched together. Because of the V design the upper frets are easier to reach than on a Les Paul. The set neck design means there is a bit of a heel at the neck joint but on this model it is not bad. Because of the shape you may have to play in a classical position when you play sitting down but this is not a problem for me because I always play in a classical position. SOUNDS The pickups the V comes with are generic Gibson pickups. They are good at everything but not great at anything. The mahogany wood give the guitar a really deep sound even though the body is not that big. If you want to play heavier music you may want to change out the pickups. The Gibson pickups are medium output and are voiced more for classic rock. The 496R is voiced for the neck and some people say it is a little bright. If its in the neck position in the right guitar it will balance out the neck position sound perfectly. OVERALL OPINION This limited edition Flying V is sure to become a collectors item in the future. Its subtle unique look is something that you look for in a rare guitar. The flying V is a very popular guitar. The Flying V has been around for over 50 years and will be around for a many more years. So if you are looking for a classic design that will always be cool and popular and if you can find one, you should try and pick up a 1998 Limited Edition Flying V.