Flying V basses

[BassToGoGo]

If you want to play a V seated all you need is one of these...

Google "Steinberger leg rest".

 

[Iristone]

My SG has a noticeable neck dive, but my Thunderbird is very well-balanced.
I've heard that the Explorer is a non-neck-diving design. Unfortunately it looks like its neck would be extending far to the left, much like the Flying V.

 

[msb]

The first frets are a reach with a V , even as a short scale .

 

[deff]

My SG has a noticeable neck dive, but my Thunderbird is very well-balanced.
I've heard that the Explorer is a non-neck-diving design. Unfortunately it looks like its neck would be extending far to the left, much like the Flying V.

I play an explorer type bass and I never felt that my Tryannosaurus arms were challenged.

 

[WillyW]

I even gots a tuna on the headstock! That would most surely send the headstock to the floor!

 

[DougBass]

 

[Aussie Player]

I've not played one, but was told by a reliable source that they are monstrously heavy.

Absolutely not true. Your reliable source is not reliable.

Just weighed mine for you and it is 7.6 pounds.

 

[Aussie Player]

Flying Vees are rare and valuable because they were a hard sell, musicians being pretty conservative. Added to the un-ergonomic styling and perceived bad resale value [back then]. Unplayed beautiful closet queens don't necessarily sound or play great either- could be turkeys that got valuable on accident. I think they look cool but even normal 34", 8-9 lb basses like to be killing my bones. That and old age.

The Gibson 2012 weighs in a 7.6 pounds and sounds killer through my MArshall's.

 

[Aussie Player]

perhaps the really bad neck dive keeps people from wanting a flying V bass

I wish you guys who don't know what you are taking about would sit back and read instead of writing drivel. If you don't know, you don't know.

 

[Aussie Player]

I don't think they're popular because of the unwieldly shape. If a P bass is sort of like a big Tele or Strat, compared the weight and size of those with a Vee. A six string Vee is awkward enough to hold, adding another half a foot to the length doesn't help. The bridge has to be in the crotch of the wings. Even a shorty means a longer, heavier instrument. Good luck finding one.

Not true.

 

[Aussie Player]

Now I feel like a damn policeman defending Gibson simply because people who don't know keep positing rubbish. Never read the 4 pages after my original postings on page 1 and only got to Page 2 today, before I realized that people are guessing or repeating inaccuracies they "heard" elsewhere.

C'Mon Man, you cannot be informative and a help to others without first hand knowledge. Time for some cred guys.

 

[Aussie Player]

The first frets are a reach with a V , even as a short scale .

BS. If you don't know and cannot state chapter and verse what brand and model you are referring to then button up as you are spreading things that are not true and certainly not relevant to every V, especially the original designers, Gibson.

 

[msb]

BS. If you don't know and cannot state chapter and verse what brand and model you are referring to then button up as you are spreading things that are not true and certainly not relevant to every V, especially the original designers, Gibson.

If you look at the first page of this thread I mentioned the make and included a photo of it …

edit (I’m a fan of Gibson basses , although I only own a couple but heck , I even bought the book)

 

[Qlanq]

Coolest-looking bass, ever. Great thread.

 

[Basvarken]

Gibson basses have a well earned reputation of bad neck dive and there are those who are clearly neck dive deniers ... So if your Gibson bass does not have neck dive you have a real uphill battle to get others to believe what you say is true.

The naysayers have no idea how many different models Gibson has put out over the past 60 years.
For example: The Les Paul Bass, G-3, Grabber, Ripper, Victory, IV, V, 20/20, Q-80, Q-90, EB-2013, EB-2017 are all fine examples of Gibson bass guitars that do not suffer any neck dive whatsoever.

 

[godofthunder59]

I built a Flying V-bass a year ago. It is a 34" scale bass. Nine ply neck through. Korina.

View attachment 4500111
View attachment 4500112

Quite possibly the best looking and sounding V bass ever made.

 

[Basvarken]

Thank you Scott!

 

[Bleecker]

Here's mine, yeah it dives a bit.
Cheers!

 

[tjclem]

I had a Tom Clement Flying V style bass years ago. It wasn't a standard V, it had shorter legs. It was interesting though, I'm not sure if he makes them now, but it's an idea.

Cool to hear you had that one. It was the only one I built.

 

[Aussie Player]

most Gibson basses have bad neck dive. The flying V bass has no upper horn to put a straplok on to. a good rule of thumb is that the strap button has to be about the 12th fret otherwise there will be bad neck dive. I hear stories of people claiming their Gibson bass does not neck dive but I have played many that do. I remember the first fenderbird that I built I was amazed at how much work it took to keep that neck from diving to the floor.

Speaking from no experience whatsoever doesn't create a very credible image, but whatever........
You cannot generalize and once you speak of home made basses, you created your own Frankenstein that is non applicable to factory releases which are prototyped.
Because you obviously do not know fact relating to Gibson Flying V basses, they do not neck dive. Reading in silence would have taught you much.