IMMusicRulz
Tele-Afflicted
Before you admit to me that Nancy Wilson only plays Telecasters and Takamine acoustics, I will let you know that ex-Mrs. Cameron Crowe actually played a few Flying V like copies.
This is a Korina Flying V. It was used on many of the Heart recordings in the Eighties, such as This Man Is Mine, Allies, Alone, If Looks Could Kill and What About Love. I believe it is from either 1958 or 1959, given that it has the giant Gibson logo on the headstock, rather than later Flying Vs which usually have the Gibson logo designed on the truss rod. I often wonder when Nancy acquired this guitar?
However, Nancy also used a sunburst Dean Flying V copy in the eighties and nineties.
A Dean Flying V guitar in sunburst finish, serial number 0601493. Nancy Wilson remembers playing this guitar on stage and in some Heart music videos. Accompanied by a color photograph of Nancy Wilson with the guitar, signed in black marker "[heart] Nancy Wilson," and an original hardshell case. It was eventually auctioned off in 2015.
However, I do know that Nancy owned a real Gibson Flying V. However, Howard Leese owns a 58 Flying V, which he uses along with his Gibson Firebirds and a Telecaster.
Howard says of the guitar: "Well, there’s the ’58 Gibson Flying V with a white pickguard. I’ve had it a long time; it’s a guitar I played on some of the Heart records for power chords. It’s very even from note to note, so when you strum a chord it’s very homogenized. It’s a really good basic-track guitar. I used it when we cut the drums; Heart always used live bass, drums and rhythm guitar. Another thing that’s great about the V is that it’s so microphonic you can talk into the pickups… no talkback mic needed (laughs)! The guitar track becomes part of the snare sound; you can hear the snare drum through the guitar. It’s a nice bleed. It’s all over the ’80s tracks, stuff like “Alone” and “What About Love.”
Nancy no longer owns her own Flying V. In a recent interview, Nancy claimed of the Flying V's whereabouts: "My Flying V went to another home. I sold it to the guitarist for the Scorpions, Rudolf Schenker. He’s got this huge collection of original Flying Vs. So, he’s got my old V there with his stash.
I have the blue carbon top Ovation from the mid-to-late seventies, and it actually went on tour without me. The guitar went to the “Play it Loud” exhibit at the Metropolitan in New York—there’s all these amazing instruments and guitars. It was there for like six months; then they moved the entire exhibit over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland (Rock Hall Museum). Now it’s there for a few more months. I always said, “Oh, it’s the only guitar that went on tour without me.” But I don’t have my first Flying V. I kind of fell on some financial hardship and wound up selling it to Rudolph (Scorpions).
A friend of my guitar tech built me another Flying V that’s incredibly great. It’s kind of diminutive, slightly smaller, easier for a girl to play, but it screams just as loud as any Flying V. He made it from a piece of mantle wood that was salvaged from a burned-down house. I think it was an oak mantle, and he fashioned a Flying V out of it. I played that V with Heart most of the last tour, and it’s so much fun. It’s really loud. And then he went ahead and built me a twelve-string V, which is highly unusual. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before. So, I’m going to have to take that one for a spin.
Some of the early Ovations, they don’t really record as well because they’re just a different, less wooden kind of a sound. I was playing a lot of Takamines for a long time, and then Martin approached me with a signature concept. So I worked with them on a signature Martin (HD-35 Nancy Wilson Dreadnought Signature Edition), which I love dearly, and I have a few of them. That’s my main go-to now because I designed it to be Crosby, Stills & Nash-like, a three-piece back, dreadnought style. And it’s got such a good, responsive tone, and it’s lovely to play. I love playing it.
I hope you enjoyed this post about Nancy Wilson of Heart being a Flying V player.
This is a Korina Flying V. It was used on many of the Heart recordings in the Eighties, such as This Man Is Mine, Allies, Alone, If Looks Could Kill and What About Love. I believe it is from either 1958 or 1959, given that it has the giant Gibson logo on the headstock, rather than later Flying Vs which usually have the Gibson logo designed on the truss rod. I often wonder when Nancy acquired this guitar?
However, Nancy also used a sunburst Dean Flying V copy in the eighties and nineties.
A Dean Flying V guitar in sunburst finish, serial number 0601493. Nancy Wilson remembers playing this guitar on stage and in some Heart music videos. Accompanied by a color photograph of Nancy Wilson with the guitar, signed in black marker "[heart] Nancy Wilson," and an original hardshell case. It was eventually auctioned off in 2015.
However, I do know that Nancy owned a real Gibson Flying V. However, Howard Leese owns a 58 Flying V, which he uses along with his Gibson Firebirds and a Telecaster.
Howard says of the guitar: "Well, there’s the ’58 Gibson Flying V with a white pickguard. I’ve had it a long time; it’s a guitar I played on some of the Heart records for power chords. It’s very even from note to note, so when you strum a chord it’s very homogenized. It’s a really good basic-track guitar. I used it when we cut the drums; Heart always used live bass, drums and rhythm guitar. Another thing that’s great about the V is that it’s so microphonic you can talk into the pickups… no talkback mic needed (laughs)! The guitar track becomes part of the snare sound; you can hear the snare drum through the guitar. It’s a nice bleed. It’s all over the ’80s tracks, stuff like “Alone” and “What About Love.”
Nancy no longer owns her own Flying V. In a recent interview, Nancy claimed of the Flying V's whereabouts: "My Flying V went to another home. I sold it to the guitarist for the Scorpions, Rudolf Schenker. He’s got this huge collection of original Flying Vs. So, he’s got my old V there with his stash.
I have the blue carbon top Ovation from the mid-to-late seventies, and it actually went on tour without me. The guitar went to the “Play it Loud” exhibit at the Metropolitan in New York—there’s all these amazing instruments and guitars. It was there for like six months; then they moved the entire exhibit over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland (Rock Hall Museum). Now it’s there for a few more months. I always said, “Oh, it’s the only guitar that went on tour without me.” But I don’t have my first Flying V. I kind of fell on some financial hardship and wound up selling it to Rudolph (Scorpions).
A friend of my guitar tech built me another Flying V that’s incredibly great. It’s kind of diminutive, slightly smaller, easier for a girl to play, but it screams just as loud as any Flying V. He made it from a piece of mantle wood that was salvaged from a burned-down house. I think it was an oak mantle, and he fashioned a Flying V out of it. I played that V with Heart most of the last tour, and it’s so much fun. It’s really loud. And then he went ahead and built me a twelve-string V, which is highly unusual. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before. So, I’m going to have to take that one for a spin.
Some of the early Ovations, they don’t really record as well because they’re just a different, less wooden kind of a sound. I was playing a lot of Takamines for a long time, and then Martin approached me with a signature concept. So I worked with them on a signature Martin (HD-35 Nancy Wilson Dreadnought Signature Edition), which I love dearly, and I have a few of them. That’s my main go-to now because I designed it to be Crosby, Stills & Nash-like, a three-piece back, dreadnought style. And it’s got such a good, responsive tone, and it’s lovely to play. I love playing it.
I believe that Michael Schenker also owns a Flying V that was owned by Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, one criminally skilled guitarist who was single handedly responsible for the popularization of the instrument. Eddie Van Halen and J. Geils are also known for playing Flying Vs.
I hope you enjoyed this post about Nancy Wilson of Heart being a Flying V player.
