Why does Gibson do this? (58 Flying V) 

They went from making guitars to making wall ornaments for doctors and lawyers.

Rickenbacker perpetuates an artificial shortage as well, but theirs is kind of different. Their finishing process gives off toxic fumes (I suppose worse than most) and California told them that they either had to change their process or make fewer per year to comply with regulations. They choose fewer.

The investment banker that runs Gibson is an Investment Banker first, Guitar player 69th.

I completely believe that it's all about maintaining desirability, scarcity and therefore price.

Remember that what Gibson calls korina wood is also called black limba wood. That's another reason people think the wood is rare.

I’d like epiphone to release a 67 Flying V for about £600 in black and white options. They would sell better that the 58 and Kirk Hammett!

If it wasn’t for Dean, Hamer, and Ibanez making their own Vs and explorers in the 70s these shapes wouldn’t be has popular today.

The epiphone stuff is really good now. Really like the 58 v shape. I got the epiphone moderne, love it

I bought both new Epiphone korina models. They are great guitars. Gibson electronics,super comfy when standing. The explorer sits just right.

Pretty detailed quick comparison there, haven't seen anybody go over this, KDH, awesome as always!

I bought a 67 reissue V in '91 by mail order, on my parents' credit card because I was in high school. It was 475USD. Only a few years later, they'd doubled in price. To this day it's my favorite guitar for weight, feel, playability, and sound, and the only thing I'd change is having the '58's neck joint. Welcome to the Flying V Lovers Club. ❤

I have two Epiphone V's, and I love them both. They're great guitars, and they don't carry a price tag that makes me afraid of touching them. I'm also a big fan of "mod platforms" to further personalize guitars. Much easier to justify with an Epi rather than an "authentic"...

1:44 I had no idea explorers were ever made with the reverse V headstock!

The 67 didn't have M-69 pickup rings. The humbuckers were mounted to the pick guard. The pickup rings didn't appear until 1982

Gibson released a "Faded V" in 2003 for $999 (equal to $1600 in today). 70s styling, very basic stained finish that came in red or black. The red ones were collecting dust at every Gibson dealer I visited between 2004 and 2006.

I played one for the first time a few weeks. And dear fucking god! My picking hand on that thing is like a machine! I actually had to force myself to play slower because my fretting hand couldn't keep up. And I was only playing riffs I always play at home. It just felt that good! But $3k.... 😅

I have a Gibson Flying V Gothic and it has a 50’s style layout with a 60’s style body. The Epiphone Gothic V had the 50’s style of both.

I’m in the same boat as you. I want a 58 V but there just aren’t many options. The Hamers and other custom jobs are all around the same price and vintage Ibanez ones are expensive too.

Without having sales figures for those expensive collectors models, it's hard to say if they sold out because they're desirable or because the stock available was only 2 or 3 guitars.

I picked up a 58' Korina Epi V 3 years ago for $600 - very nice very cool

KDH, i know it may feel a little odd to you from the captain’s seat. But I actually think it’s cool when you do videos like this. your work as a whistleblower/investigative video journalist is super impressive. but your audience may enjoy these types of videos more than you think. I learned a lot in this video and it’s BECAUSE your investigative journalism is so good that I accepted all of it with little hesitation. You’ve built trust with your audience and that gives your informational videos more weight. Regarding Gibson, you proved the sales of super high end, small batch runs, aren’t negatively affected by selling a parallel standard model. 100% true 😅, but it’s also usually not good for a retail company to have everything available to every customer at every tier level…it’s good for us as customers lol. But Gibson isn’t FMIC. And even without the Les Paul, Gibson would be fine just making Archtops. millennials don’t realize this, but that’s what Gibson’s specialty is, jazz. The LP is a jazz guitar…Would they shrink in market value if they stopped making solid bodies, obviously. But they wouldn’t go out of business. The reason i say this; they’d rather stay closer to that Legacy & Branding then try to capture more of the pop/rock/punk market beyond what they already have. aka serious guitars for young players with little money, like you said. but Fender captures most of that market and when you’re running a huge company, pumping your brand full of elitism is usually better than watering it down. KDH, all I’m saying is: they purposefully don’t want a standard model at that price point. Certain models they want to keep desirable and rare regardless of sales. 🙏

The thing about these high end collector's editions, the customer market for them will literally die out in the next 10-15 years. I guess I can't blame them for getting the money while they can. But they are not nurturing a market for the future. They are keeping a market on life support.

Reverend guitars are made of korina as well. No shortage there, either.

When i traded my Korean Dave Mustaine Angel of Deth lefty V for a Les Paul, it was the culmination of 45 years wanting to own a vaunted Gibson LP. This one was in great shape, sported Slash pickups, and was well cared for. When i got it, however, i realized don’t meet your heroes. Hated slash pickups, so i swapped them out for Duncan PHAT CAT P-90’s, which fit seamlessly into humbucker holes. I enjoyed i a little more, but it still didn’t really do it for me. Then i found a 300.00 Hondo 737 lawsuit LP copy. It was very close to the 1980 hondo LP which was my first electric. I love that plywood monster. Then i realized what it was; the Gibson i now owned has a 50’s neck, the Hondo a 60’s shape. Everything made sense. I was fighting with that Gibson, and it just didn’t feel good in my hands. So, I’ve now relegated it to the wall, only tracking with it, if i need a p-90 tone in a recording. I’ve come to the conclusion i will always be a fender and Schecter player, with my lefty hardtail strat and my devil custom being really, the only two guitars I’ll ever need. I love that you found a diamond, and it’s working very well for you; I’m a little jealous! Cheers from the new world

V guy here ! Unfortunately I’m poor so all of my purchases are not over $500 . So I went for the next affordable thing and that’s a used Jackson king V and with a lot of work this mother glides and never gos out of tune , plus I replaced the beat up Floyd Rose licensed trem with a GOTOH and it’s awesome 😎 I love my V ❤❤❤ would love a Gibson as well but that’s out of this family man’s budget but very happy with what I got 😊

Future Breaking News Headline: Famed guitar manufacturer, Gibson, discovers that their own factory is making copies of an iconic design from 1958 and files a lawsuit against themselves.

Your the best in the bizz , love your show, context. Keep up the good work ❤❤❤

i like the 67 v it has less fret access because the neck is set further into the body but the 58 has the strap button in a terrible spot and has neck dive and weaker neck joint

The epiphone, Joe Bonamassa Amos flying V is excellent🎉

Thank you for calling it an output jack. It just irritates me when people call it an input jack. . I watched a video of Grady who is Dimebag's guitar tech and he called it an input jack. . Common sense should tell people that the sound is output from the guitar and input into the amp.

Regarding the “scarcity” of Korina, in Rhett Shull’s Songbirds Museum tour video from early 2020, a guide stated while observing original 1958 Explorers and Flying Vs that Korina is carcinogenic and the factory workers at Gibson were getting sick from it in the manufacturing process. This may have something to do with Gibson not wanting to use Korina too often, but if one factor in halting the production of Korina guitars was for worker’s safety, why do they occasionally resume those runs? Perhaps in the past 66 years Gibson has provided their employees with better PPE while handling that wood. It’s just a theory, and the safety issue may be what drives up the price and scarcity of Korina use.

I just bought a 2007 Gibson Flying V and I love it.

The idea of korina being scarce is hilarious, Reverend makes every single guitar in their lineup out of korina.

Good video. I'm guessing that the 58 might be harder to manufacture? I don't know though. I loved the 80s they made in all the wild colors and some had kahyler trems. They were killer. I lived in Fl in 1984 and just about purchased a new Gibson V for like 800 dollars which would be like 2 grand now I would bet. Great video. I think if I were to buy a new or even a used V it would be the 70s Dean reissue. ❤ Good stuff. ❤

Marketing-wise it's hard to think of anything that Gibson haven't done wrong at one time or another.

I have several high end Gibson’s including a Jimmy Page EDS 1275 and the 2012 Tony Iommi SG, which by the way has become my go to guitar, I really don’t care about brand name but there is something iconic about the 58 V, I bought the Epiphone version and I was surprised how many people don’t even realize the name on the headstock, they always want to come talk to me and see it up close and that’s when they see the brand, it’s opened a lot of people eyes to what epiphone has been making these days, as far as the guitar it plays brilliantly, my only complaint is the burstbucker bridge pickup because I play with a lot of gain, it will soon be replaced with a ceramic pickup, probably a duncan mayhem

Makes a lot of sense, I love a good V and you are right a V Standard would really sell. The Bonamassa Epiphone Vs are a crazy price as you noted, I nearly bought one 18 months ago, but didn't want to pay the £900 asking price at the time!

And all of this on top of the Vs in general just being a guitar you get to look flashy. I find it very hard to think of reasons to get anything other than a LP besides fashion.

The Epiphone 58 V's are great they always have been just buy one. I have a 2006 in Ebony it's an amazing guitar even the pickups are good and I got mine new in 2008 on sale for $200 because it sat on the rack for 2 years.The sales guy came back to see what I was playing when he heard it through a loud Marshall dsl combo and told me they put it on sale because no one had ever taken it down to check it out

Cool rant! Make more of these KDH! "Sunday Rants" could fill in for half of the restring sundays. As someone who started playing in the mid 00's and saw all my heros play gibson guitars (Therion, Iced Earth, Metallica... ect) while only being able to afford an epiphone LP standard with all my money from cutting grass ... UNOBTANIUM. But as I crept into my mid 20s & later 30s the old dream of owning one started to become an achievable thing yet ironically I don't. I can't fathom buying one for the fact that I can get a great playing guitar for way less money than a gibson. Still, if I found the right one, I'd get it.

I hate the strap button locations on the 58 style. They cause terrible neck dive. I do love the tailpiece design on the 58, and wish they would come up with a string-through version that they could put on all V's.

YES! Someone finally said it! I'm tempted to find a not so great Epiphone Korina V (more for the very low weight than anything) just to refinish it in the style of my choosing, the Epiphone is literally the only offering for sensible money. I'm very much a fan of the 58 and not exactly one of the 67 (pickguard shape just isn't for me and I want the V tailpiece). Another model I wish they'd make is a Batwing SG with Vibrola, not just a hardtail, luckily original ones can be had for Custom Shop money anyway, but the 58 V is the really perplexing one

At a certain point, people just look at boutique brands. I bought a Momose 335 that was the same price as a baseline Gibson, but the Momose was a one of a kind crazy beautiful guitar that turns heads anytime I take it out and sounds better than any custom shop. A Gibson equivalent would cost around $10k, no doubt. They make korina explorers from time to time for around $2k, I’ve debated on getting one because I don’t care about brand name with that model. But I get it, sometimes you just want the name on the headstock. I’m guilty of it too, when I bought my Les Paul, there were tons of great brands, but I wanted Gibson for that specific model

i just want a natural 58 v but even the epiphone version is like double the cost of a black one, really my only hope is finding an old cheap mij one

Oh my gosh, around 2019, I sold about 8 pcs Joe Bonamassa-signed Epiphone Flying Vs on reverb, and the price of each guitar was about $1,200. At that time, I was still curious as to why it sold so well. . .

I bought a '99 Epiphone Flying V (58 Korina) in 2001 for $800 CND, brand new. It's made in Korea, has the '58 shape, and Korina/White Limba wood. It even said Gibson on the bell shaped truss rod cover. As well as Epiphone. So I got both branding! It's aged now. 25 years old. I had my Luthier have a look at it and it looks and plays great still. I also also replaced the pickups with DiMarzio UtoPIA gold & black pickups (add $400 CND to what I paid), which look and sound great! I also replaced every single screw on the guitar with gold ones. Not sure why they don't just do that in the factory. Looks better, costs them an extra $1-3 to do. Anyways... The classic Flying V exists, for cheap. Just, not with the Gibson logo it seems. But who cares what it says on the headstock? As long as it looks, plays, and sounds great.

The scarcety of Vs is something which bothered me as well. However, I recently saw that Maybach introduced made in Czech Republic Vs (I guess 70s specs) recently for 2000-ish. I wasn't able to find a single video about those guitars yet but they look extremely good.

Jeff Waters annihilation V has the 58 shape. And the rubber pad , but that’s where the similarities end. I got mine for $300

It's worth noting that they made considerably less 20 grand Greeny's than the two more affordable options. They were designed to sell out to make the core Gibson and Epiphone's popular.

Gibson needs an ultra exclusive Doctors and Lawyers Division.

At this point gibson may as well get real and call Epiphone their players division and gibson their collectors edition. Someone mentioned KH at least does play tf put of greenie since hes had it but hes the exception. Hell trogly mentioned how one of the big private collectors doesnt allow photography anymore sonce they found red eye in his collection... The whole collectors market is wild and i would bet its also a lot seedier and black market than anyone wants to think.

You get a thumbs up for the roller bridge

Looking at them side by side i think i like the 58 better too.

As always really great points, i enjoy the content

I bought an old epi 58 v from the 90s. Think it’s made out of alder with korina veneer. Great light guitar. Upper fret access is awesome. Got a great deal on it. Pretty much bought it cause it looks so damn cool. Turns out it’s a great playing guitar

I personally love my Gibson guitars so it's pretty funny to see you starting to like them. Gibson are amazing at figuring out how to make a price of entry really high for some features considering they make a large number of standard production models. It's actually kind of impressive. Fortunately some of the artist signature models are helping. The Gibson Moderne is one that bothers me. I literally don't think it has been possible to get the thing with the Gumbi headstock since the 80's. You might wonder why on earth someone would even want that, but the couple I played were AMAZING.

KDH, maybe a 58 Epiphone V as a backup guitar is in your future.

I wish I'd kept my V. It was a V '98 (made from 98-04is) it combined my prefered features from the 67 and 58 styles. 67 body and stop bar tail piece, and truss rod cover logo. And, 58 style smaller pick guard with inline controls and 58 location for the output jack.

I'm a happy owner of brand new 2010 '76 Reissue Gibson Explorer with hot ceramic 500T bridge pickup and serves me brilliantly for anything metal. I don't feel the urge of seeing Gibson rolling out '58 Reissue etc But who am I to speak for others

Naturally Limbawood (Gibson calls it Korina) has quite a lot of dark streaks in it. The Korina used in the V and Exporer doesn’t has this. Finding slaps of non-streaked Korina big enough to make a Flying V or Explorer body is quite hard. The V is traditionally two piece and the explorer is one piece (although the current custom shop reissue is two piece). The epiphone korina guitars get away from this problem is that they use multi-piece bodies (my epiphone korina explorer is 5 piece with a veneer to hide the seamlines). The multipiece body is a spec Gibson and especially the custom shop doesn’t get away with.

Looks like the body wood changed in the direction the grain was running, too between the 58 and the 67

My current main gigging guitar is a '90's Epi '58 Korina vee made in Korea. I have changed Pickups and am about to replace the bridge and posts.....coz '58 vee bridge collapse and post lean. A few years back you could pick one up on Reverb for around the $1000 mark. Now you do not even see them anymore. I'll never sell it and will most likely leave it to my metal guitarist son.

Gibson makes wall ornaments while the working man can get a Chibson version for $200-$600 depending on how much you want done.

What about the Moderne...Please do a segment.

You have the same thing with firebirds, to get a historic model with the banjo tuners is nigh impossible, not as popular though. Also the Korina thing makes me go insane Korina adds +500 to price limba adds nothing :D

I have a 58 korina black guard epiphone, a good setup made a world if difference. Hard to find a korina v for a reasonable price 😅

Does the LP Standard 50's/60's take sales away from R9's and R0's? Probably not. You're either in the market for a CS guitar, or you are not.

I have a 58 Gibson flying V Korina. It is unbranded and I bought it on the internet. Perfect workmanship. I removed the Gibson logo off of the headstock. Other wise it is mint an unmolested. Let me know if you are interested.

Check a Sonicguitars from Italy: Handmade vintage specced replica for approx 3500 €. Or a Schwarz custom from Germany. Also vintage replica and you can even get brazilian rosewood fingerboard for approx 5000 €.

Where it's made simply doesn't matter anymore. Any guitar at any price point can be made anywhere in the world.

The '58 V and Explorer are the only legit versions. I have both (albeit in epiphone form) so I may be slightly biased.

There are actually 3 types of Gibson Flying Vs. The '58 style, the '67 style, and the Norlin era 70's style. The '67 style is the one that is produced most often with the pointy headstock and no volute. The '58 reissues are mainly done in the Gibson Custom Shop, and the price reflects that. That's what you're paying for, and I doubt Gibson USA will ever do a '58 these days, but who knows? The Norlin era Gibson Vs ('72 Medallions and '75 to '79 variants) are unique in that the Vibrola from the '67 is replaced by a stop bar, the headstock is rounded off, and the volute was added. This was continued until around '81 with the '80 and '81 models almost having a flat spot where the headstock is rounded making the last two year Norlin Vs kinda goofy looking. As far as I know the only time Gibson has reintroduced these are the '13 Rudolf Schenker signature model, the '14 120th Anniversary "History" model, and the 2015 Japan Ltd Edition models. There were 43 Flying Vs ordered by a store in 1979 that had block inlays. The custom shop did a run of those a few years back for $7,000.00 each. Pricey, but considering how much an original block inlay V would cost you today if you could even find one, it's probably your only chance. They're like hen's teeth. The Flying V isn't for everyone, but once you get ahold of one they tend to get ahold of you.

Hmmmm. This one hit a nerve. I've been after a Korina '58 lefty for years. Custom shop is out of the question. That only leaves Epiphone. As a lefty, I've got even less chance.

Next, please go try a 1980 Gibson flying V2. it's a single coil with boomerang shaped pickups.

Different kind of video but I totally agree, the shape is great but shouldn’t be held back to only the collectors or millionaires

As a Gibson fan I was waiting to be offended lol. This was a well thought out and put together video.

Take a look at the Gibson Les Paul Junior DC in TV Yellow. That's the junior everyone wants but the only one available is the VOS reissue for $4K. This is literally a no frills, one pickup student model. They released a Billy Joe Armstrong version for $1600 or so in 2006 I think. They did do the tributes and damn they were 3/4s of the way there. At this point, I'm just going to buy a kit and build my own. Its complete bullshit they cant get one out at a reasonable price.

Imho the black 67 V is among the coolest guitar ever made.

Cool video , should do more like this. Exploring different models etc. . It's interesting and I dig you shining a light on bullshit like this.

One thing I will never understand is that most V users tend to be shredders and they rarely ask for the 58 shape (much better fret access) when it comes to their signature guitars, case on point, Dave Mustaine. Gibson does this with a lot of guitars, RD? you better head to other manufacturers for alternatives, worst case is the DC LP, because even with Vs you can get the 60s based shape, DC LP? the cheapest is the Beato one (which is thinner) and it's based on a 800 $ faded model from the mid 00's, those also have great fret access and are very lightweight, then keep in mind the DC LP was supposed to be an student guitar... My guess is scarcity works in some models like LP DCs and the 58 V, LPs and SGs do not because they are best sellers so there isn't much profit to be made out of scarcity on something that's already a best seller (specially because there's a shit ton of used models), that's at least my take. I also think in 10-20 years Gibson USA will no longer exist and everything will be Epiphone and Gibson Custom Shop, didn't they stop making LP Tributes? those were the cheapest LPs with a maple cap.

it's kinda the opposite with the 67 Flying V and Epiphone. you can't get one under $1300 (meanwhile the 58 costs $650), and the only reason Epiphone even makes them is because of Kirk Hammett's signature series

Mr bankers custom v shapes are beautiful man if i was gonna spend that sort of money it wouldn't be gibson i know that much

... I am also pissed that you cant simply go to store and buy hardtail fender strat. For some rason they are only available as squire bullets, fender special runs and CS....

I want them to rerelease the E2 and V2. I need an E2 that isn’t horrifically expensive, but they’d probably be double the used price somehow because Gibbons has no optics at all.

I got 2 Gibson SGs and I love them. I bought 2 more SGs built by Epiphone and they weren't very good IMO. It wasn't to do with the badge, I bought those Epiphones thinking I could get what I wanted at a cheaper price because everyone told me they were "better" than the Gibsons..... ...Objectively they weren't I had an SG prophecy (the fishman one) and an Iommi SG (Circa 2016) both by Epiphone and new for new they were more expensive than my entry level Gibson SG. My SG special from 2004 cost £500 (from Andertons) at the time which would have been roughly equivalent to £750 in 2020 when I bought my Prophecy which I paid £800 (also from Andertons) and It didn't come with a case where as my SG special did. While it did come with some nice locking tuners, graphtech nut and Fishman Fluence pickups.... the fit and finish was awful. I had to have the frets levelled for it to be playable.... didn't need to do that for either of my Gibsons. The Iommi SG was much the same as well.... I will likely never buy a brand new Gibson because theres plenty on the used market that I want for quite a bit less than when they were new (and the new prices are stupidly high).... and as for Epiphone... I will never buy one ever again... the new examples aren't worth the price theyre asking because the fit and finish ain't there so why would I buy a used one? Plenty of chinese made guitars which are cheaper are objectively better IMO LTD, Harley Benton etc....

Same thing happens with diamonds , they aren't scarce , they aren't worth the price , so when they are available they can charge more .

This has pissed me off for 20 years. A Gibson '58-style V is my dream guitar.

The only era Gibson was 20 years ahead of their time, and correct. Korina is an awesome light very resonate wood.

The only thing I like better about the 67 V is the truss rod cover. Otherwise the older one looks way better.

By dad broke hundreds Gibson headstocks across different factories in different years. He was their worst employee ever…

i like the new v shape so much more but i get your point

I've had a 70s Flying V. Now I have the Epiphone 58 Korina Flying V. The Epiphone is better than the Gibson. I got rid of the Gibson because there was a problem tuning with the G fret.

The guitars from experience that have bothered me the most have been Gibson. The most ironic thing though is if I was going to buy a guitar and money was no issue I’d buy Gibson. I hate that! 🤪

Not sure why the Explorer enjoys the love while the V takes the hit.

8:30 This is just insane. I get it, there is a certain appeal to it being a collector's item, but spending 20k USD on a guitar is simply financially irresponsible imo.

Vs have always been pricier than many guitars, which is likely part of the reason for all the copies Odd Gibson and Epiphone don’t do as suggested

I’ve been saying this. There’s no reason they should offer a USA 58 V for like 2499

thank you, very informative.

For $2500, I’d definitely buy a USA standard 58 V; I won’t however, spend 1500 on any Epiphone

Gibson don't make guitars for guitarists, they make status symbols for executives.