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  • DYK that Gibson made a custom guitar for Hendrix that's not in their catalogue?

Given the obsession with all things Hendrix, and their ludicrous attempt to make a Gibson Hendrix sig Stratocaster, you'd think they'd keep this baby in their lineup. It's a Flying V that was made exactly to Jimi's specifications. The arrow fret markers were allegedly chosen to reflect his native American ancestry. The Gibson logo on the headstock was unique to this V. And, of course, it's left handed.

Gibson has made a few copies of it in the past, but most that I've seen from the early nineties had stop tail-pieces:



And here it is in a hard rock café:



He got this guitar in 1970 and used it extensively until his death - most famously at the Isle of Wight festival.



It didn't sound too bad...

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    Noooo....I did not know that ! Good looking axe as well. 8)
      Knew he used one. Never knew it was a custom.
      Thanks for posting.
        jeepers i had about 17 flashbacks watching that clip
          Yeah, i remember seeing this one in the Dolly Dagger video
            Good thing YouTube finally sorted it out so that he's playing the right way around.
              Psean wrote: Knew he used one. Never knew it was a custom.
              Thanks for posting.
              He had three actually. The psychedelic one he hand painted. A brown sunburst one. And then this one. He smashed up a lot of Strats. Never hurt these guys. Wonder why? ? ?
                singemonkey wrote:
                Psean wrote: Knew he used one. Never knew it was a custom.
                Thanks for posting.
                He had three actually. The psychedelic one he hand painted. A brown sunburst one. And then this one. He smashed up a lot of Strats. Never hurt these guys. Wonder why? ? ?
                Too easy to break a Gibson, so he felt bad? ?
                  singemonkey wrote:
                  Psean wrote: Knew he used one. Never knew it was a custom.
                  Thanks for posting.
                  He had three actually. The psychedelic one he hand painted. A brown sunburst one. And then this one.
                  Do you know whether the others were standard or custom made for him too?
                    The other two were stock models. Yeah. I find it strange that Gibson got Jimi Freakin' Hendrix to design a custom V and they aren't shouting it from the rooftops. And charging $6,799 for each.

                    Classy move with the bound fretboard. I like a V with a bound fretboard, me.

                    Wouldn't be surprised to find the board's ebony too, eh?
                      singemonkey wrote: The other two were stock models. Yeah. I find it strange that Gibson got Jimi Freakin' Hendrix to design a custom V and they aren't shouting it from the rooftops. And charging $6,799 for each.
                      Cool. Yeah, strange one that...
                      Classy move with the bound fretboard. I like a V with a bound fretboard, me.

                      Wouldn't be surprised to find the board's ebony too, eh?
                      +1
                      The binding looks so good with black and white scheme on these. Don't know if I'd like it on a Korina (maybe on a brown 'burst?) but on this it really works. The inlays are cool too.
                        singemonkey wrote: The other two were stock models. Yeah. I find it strange that Gibson got Jimi Freakin' Hendrix to design a custom V and they aren't shouting it from the rooftops. And charging $6,799 for each.

                        Classy move with the bound fretboard. I like a V with a bound fretboard, me.

                        Wouldn't be surprised to find the board's ebony too, eh?
                        Gibson reissued 400 JH V's in 1991 and another 25 in 1995....

                        http://www.flying-v.ch/hendrix/hendrix.htm

                          Vic wrote:
                          singemonkey wrote: The other two were stock models. Yeah. I find it strange that Gibson got Jimi Freakin' Hendrix to design a custom V and they aren't shouting it from the rooftops. And charging $6,799 for each.

                          Classy move with the bound fretboard. I like a V with a bound fretboard, me.

                          Wouldn't be surprised to find the board's ebony too, eh?
                          Gibson reissued 400 JH V's in 1991 and another 25 in 1995....

                          http://www.flying-v.ch/hendrix/hendrix.htm

                          Yeah. I've alluded to this Vic. I'm just wondering why it's not a "standard" signature model like their Angus or Jimmy Page models - especially given Jimi's status. Also, most of the '91 guitars seem to have stop tailpieces which doesn't really make them faithful to the fella's wishes.
                            singemonkey wrote:
                            Vic wrote:
                            singemonkey wrote: The other two were stock models. Yeah. I find it strange that Gibson got Jimi Freakin' Hendrix to design a custom V and they aren't shouting it from the rooftops. And charging $6,799 for each.

                            Classy move with the bound fretboard. I like a V with a bound fretboard, me.

                            Wouldn't be surprised to find the board's ebony too, eh?
                            Gibson reissued 400 JH V's in 1991 and another 25 in 1995....

                            http://www.flying-v.ch/hendrix/hendrix.htm

                            Yeah. I've alluded to this Vic. I'm just wondering why it's not a "standard" signature model like their Angus or Jimmy Page models - especially given Jimi's status. Also, most of the '91 guitars seem to have stop tailpieces which doesn't really make them faithful to the fella's wishes.
                            Yeah good question. I would expect it to be more popular than the Kiefer Sutherland 336. They could even do a Jimi SG Custom

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                              What about that story of a Strat that Gibson was gonna make as a Jimi model? If that wasn't an elaborate hoax then it was a massive fail.
                                singemonkey wrote: It didn't sound too bad...

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                                Are you serious? That sounds horrific! I'm sure you're right and that it didn't sound too bad but this video clip doesn't illustrate it at all. Quite the opposite I would say.
                                  Yeah,
                                  deefstes wrote:
                                  singemonkey wrote: It didn't sound too bad...

                                  =
                                  Are you serious? That sounds horrific! I'm sure you're right and that it didn't sound too bad but this video clip doesn't illustrate it at all. Quite the opposite I would say.
                                  That half-speed thing defininitely doesn't do it any favours.
                                    Signature models depend on the collaboration and approval of both the manufacturer and the artist, or in this case the holders of the rights to the estate of the artist - who after numerous lawsuits and appeals came to be Experience Hendrix LCC. Currently headed up by Janie Hendrix - an adoptive sister -, Experience Hendric LCC haven't exactly covered themselves in glory since winning the rights to the Hendrix estate. During a 2004 lawsuit it came out that Janie Hendrix and co had grossly mismanaged the estate by not paying beneficiaries, taking out long term no interest loans from the estate and even used funds from the estate to establish a new record company to produce gospel albums for Janie Hendrix's husband.
                                    So on one hand we have the modern Gibson company, who doesn't really seem averse to the idea of selling anything and everything to make a quick buck. And on the other hand The Hendrix Estate who despite all their pathetic posturing of doing everything for the glory of Jimi's memory are clearly in it to squeeze every last penny from their windfall.
                                    Now, I can only speculate on how other folks manage their affairs, but I think it can be a fair bet that the only reason these two parties have not yet joint their forces to make a Jimi V signature happen is because they haven't been able to come to an agreement over it. This is probably a direct result from their previous collab, the infamous and totally ridiculous Gibson Jimi Signature Strat that thankfully was canned before going on sale. Gibson took a lot of flack for that model but Experience Hendrix LCC was in it with them all the way and wouldn't have been too happy to see all those glorious dollars they would earned from it disappear from their lives. Contracts were signed an you can bet your pet monkey that they weren't just torn up in respect for Jimi and the harm the whole debacle had done to his heritage. No sirree, there would have been threats, lawyers, accusations, cussing and crying and all those other wonderful ingredienst needed to make Bad Blood pie.
                                    We might still see a signature V in future, but for now I think those two parties have had enough of each other for a while.
                                      Took me a while to twig that it was half-speed :-[ I thought it was just a really emotive intro... :-[ :-[
                                        el guapo wrote: Took me a while to twig that it was half-speed :-[ I thought it was just a really emotive intro... :-[ :-[
                                        I think that happened to me too. ? I didn't listen that far in.
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