Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

epiphone flying v from 1989?


Stevie Nazarenie

Recommended Posts

This is all I've got...

 

- Made for only one year

- Two Vantage "I-Series" humbuckers

- Black hardware

- Locking nut

- Bennder fine tune tremolo

- Set Maple neck

- Rosewood fingerboard with offset dot inlays

- 24.75" scale

- Colors: Magenta, Ebony and Pearl White

89-V.jpg

 

As for body wood, its hard to say. V's are typically mahogany or Korina, but this guitar is very similar to the I-Series strats which were made from poplar. Epiphone also liked to use laminates on a lot of guitars from this period.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Firstly, there were several Flying-V models with explorer style headstocks. The two most common you will find these days are the Demon-V and the Poly-V (2001-2002 - both). Both from the E-Series and both with an elongated lower bass bout. No info that I have found indicates that any were made with a purple finish, but sometimes the Poly-V can look somewhat purple. That doesnt mean that none were made in purple, but nothing on record that I can find.

 

The other V's with an Explorer style headstock were the Matsumoku 1140 (1983) and the Flying-V2 (1986-88). The V2 had zebra humbuckers, vintage or Bennder tremolo, no pickguard and again, nothing indicating it was ever finished in purple. But hey, were talking the 80's here, so you never know...

 

As far as comparing the 1989 to the modern V, I've never played either. But, I know that the old Vantage humbuckers werent known for being all that great, though I'm not entirely sure about the I-Series Vantage pups. The Bennder tremolo was kind of weird. It is basically a really big 2-point fulcrum with a locknut. It looks beefy and sweet, but its just an oversized standard tremolo. The saddles are oddly shaped and impossible to get replacements for. I do like the hard maple neck becuase they are stronger than mahogany, I have no idea what the body is made from.

 

The 1980's werent that great of a time period for Epiphone, having just moved to Korea. A lot of their super sweet guitars were super messy on the inside...sloppy routing, wiring, etc.

 

I will say that the maple necks of that era were superb, but I have a feeling that today's Flying-V is a superior guitar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm on the fence about plywood guitars. I have a few of them and it seem to really come down to the guitar as a whole and certain preferences, I suppose. I play unplugged alot and can really tell the difference from that aspect, even between the different ply guitars. My G310 is thin and tinny, whereas my S-500 is really bassy and dull sounding...both laminate bodies. I like playing my alder strats unplugged the best because they are full yet snappy and you can really feel them resonate. But plugged in, they all sound good. Different, but good. I should mention that the pickups have been upgraded on the ply guitars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...