Gibson Flying D

[ME262]

In this thread we will see this Flying V turn into the Flying D.

[ME262]

I got it fairly cheap on ebay, but unfortunately some minor setbacks were accumulated during the transatlantic shipping. Well, well...

[ReaL Madras]

Originally Posted by ME262

I got it fairly cheap on ebay, but unfortunately some minor setbacks were accumulated during the transatlantic shipping. Well, well...

Ouch

[62 Jazzmaster]

That is not what you want to see when you open a new guitar's shipping box.
I wonder how many Gibson and G-style guitars have had that exact same break?

[ME262]

Well, those in the know say it happens all the time to Gibsons. I figure it's the daring 17 deg angle of the headstock. If I'd been some kid just aiming to put some harware on it and start rockin', I'd be devastated! Luckily I was going to strip it and customize it, so just a little more work. Thank God for Titebond!

[thunderbyrd]

man, why did i look at this thread...now i'm gonna have nightmares.

[ME262]

Unless your nightmares are about actually owning a Flying V, then have no fear. Gluing it back together is no big deal, and you'll get a reason to completely redo the guitar...

[ME262]

So, since I was aiming to put some bindings on, I figured I'd have to lose the fretboard first in order to reach everywhere with the router. In it's place, an ebony one with block inlays.

[Strat62]

I repaired an almost identical headstock break on an Ibanez IJV 50 flattop last week; I used luthiers hide glue. Incredible stuff.

[ME262]

I read that that stuff is da bomb. Problem for me is that when I research everything it's in English. Trying to figure out what it's called in Swedish is nigh on impossible. Ironically I found out late in the game that hide glue is called exactly the same translated to Swedish, go figure...

[c.winn]

Originally Posted by ME262

...an ebony one with block inlays.

Nice fingerboard. Looking forward to watching this rebuild unfold.

-C

[ME262]

Another thing I found out was, that when putting the inlays on, sand the freatboard down to them, not the other way around. I ended up with far to thin inlays... Routing and measuring wasn't as hard as I thought though.

[ME262]

Thank you, c.winn! And whilst I'm watching some paint dry; a little about the guitar.

When my daughter was about 11 (14 now) I lent her my old strat, told her playing guitar was The thing to do, showed her a power chord and said she could figure the rest out herself. Sure enough, thanks to the power of youtube and her diligense, she quickly figured it out and so now plays circles around me.

She wanted her own guitar ("why?! it's a strat for X sake!") and after some oddjobs got herself an epi les paul. BTW, if you come across one that has a serial nr that starts with a B, it's a 1st class find!

Anyway, she worked her way to another epi, an sg. And then another. I try to encourage her (without buying stuff for her, it's hard...). She's been looking at Flying V's and some peoples signatures so one day I figured why get someone elses, she must have her own for her birthday. As it happens, I work abroad during the weeks so I have all the time and nothing to do. Perfect!

I wanted a V that's back routed and finally found a project one on ebay for cheap. (see above how that went...) It's a 1984, alder body, great start! So what to do?

Well, I'm dutch. So it's going to be the Flying D.

tbc

[c.winn]

Good on ya', ME262. Building a guitar for your daughter is righteous.

Throw any questions you have out here on the forum - everyone is very helpful.

Good luck -
C

[c.winn]

The newer Gibson Traditional Pro V from Guitar Center is a sweet backrouted Flying V:



Push/pull coil taps for master volume coil taps, plus a tone knob. No toggle washer, no output washer. Good looking guitars.

[ME262]

Thanks again. Well that thing looks great! Trouble is I can't afford it (and buying one like that for a kid is a little over the top) and she can't either. Also, there are some major flaws to a V, which I'll address later. Where we shall also see how Fender helps out...

[c.winn]

Originally Posted by ME262

Thanks again. Well that thing looks great! Trouble is I can't afford it (and buying one like that for a kid is a little over the top) and she can't either. Also, there are some major flaws to a V, which I'll address later. Where we shall also see how Fender helps out...

Oh yeah - just throwing out the Trad Pro V for it's aesthetic qualities - backrouted Vs are awesome, and these models show off their qualities.

Looking forward to how you Fender-Up this guitar....

[ME262]

More paint drying, so back to the saga. Anyway, so I'm Dutch. In 1974 me (9) and my dad (older) chanced upon the world cup football final, the kind of football where you actually use your foot and actually have a ball. :) Little did I know that what I was watching was one of the most legendary games in the history of the great sport. The Dutch were something else, completely. They had cool names, their numbers were all messed up, their color was Orange! And they completely changed the game! Forever! The players simply had no fixed places, they traded, all the time. It was Total Football.

The coolest player was Johan Cruyff. He ran circles around people, and what's this?! He only had two stripes on his shirt, instead of the adidas three that everyone else had. Well, Cruyff didn't care much for that adidas stuff, so, they let him have two...

Anyway, Holland lost. But that game has been with me forever. The number 14 (Cruyff), the color orange, the two stripes. It spells excellense and beauty. And more so, Maverick!

So, we need some orange paint, two stripes, the dutch 1974 football logo a dutch flag truss rod cover and the number 14. Also, a Gibson logo, but that's not as important...

And it will be stacked with:

- Seymor Duncan Blackouts (everyone has EMGS, and only dead fish go with the stream)
- A Kahler trem. (see above)
- A kill switch
- Planet wave locking tuners
- Speed knobs that go to 11 (all parts)
- A tusque self lubricating nut (because locking nuts look stupid)

And we are a Go!

[ME262]

Well, the Fendering will be small, discreet, but ever so important. For a reputable company like Gibson, that have been around for a while, it's quite baffling how they can't seem to get their knob and switch placements right on a V. They are all over the place and interestingly also change from time to time. In the 1st pic we have your average -84 V, such as the one i'm working on. Now how on earth is a little girl supposed to pull the chord through the strap, like dad told her too, without looking silly? Not possible. How will she be able to both rock and roll with the apropriate frenzy, without hitting the I'll placed switch knob? Not possible. And what's with the knobs not being in line with anything else, or themselves for that matter. This must stop!

So, in the second pic we see how it should look. And here's where Leo comes in and saves the day. A jack from a strat will be strategically placed under the top wing. I know, there's a V that has it's jack there, but that's an LP jack, not the Fender one that will send the chord upwards...

[ME262]

well, I can't seem to figure out how to put in a pic and the some text and then a pic again etc, so this will have to become one of those unfancy threads with all the pics packed together. Apologies for that. So, on with the stripping. Went pretty smooth with a scraper and some cloth.