Great Flying V-Style Bass Guitars

[Crust_Lord420]

Hey all,
I’m new here and I was wondering about a relatively niche topic within the bass community: V shaped basses. A lot of my favorite bands and bassists use them, and I’m curious which specific ones they use, and am trying to find some for sale. Please suggest any specific models with the V shape! Thanks!

 

[Beej]

Dean, Gibson, Epiphone all made them and can still be found here and there. Matsumoku offerings were really nice too, I've seen them under the Vantage and Hondo brand names, both of them from 80s/90s.

 

[thrashingbass]

I do not have it, but you can still order Speesy's version in 30/32(his version)/34 scale from a site selling customizable Mensinger basses-not cheap, but not horrendously expensive. You can even configure the neck radius to something less modern than the standard. However, I do feel a 34 scale V bass may be too long, unless you are already OK with giant Explorer-shaped basses.

I like them as well, but they are played differently sitting down, which is always good to bear in mind. The general dislike, *I believe* is usually that con, and that they are not traditional enough for most. I play my short scale V as a V guitar, position wise.

 

[msb]

I picked up an Epi short scales several years ago. I like it. Rare that I drag it out , but I love the thing. Some may find the sight of some old geezer in jeans and sneakers playing a Flying V kinda pathetic , I’m fine with that,
Doesn’t bother me one bit.

 

[GKon]

I just received about a week ago a kit to build a V bass. Not sure of that counts towards what you're looking for.

 

[TBird1958]

This one here.........It's the one.

No affiation to seller.

Ibanez Rocket Roll Bass 1977 | Reverb

 

[superheavyfunk]

Greco made some pretty good ones too. Flying V basses are not easy to find these days but when you do, they’re usually reasonably priced, as not many ppl actually want to use them.

Regardless, if you do buy one, try to get a short scale one because the long scale ones are quite unwieldy due to the shape… the lower frets feel like they’re a mile away

 

[TBird1958]

I'm ashamed I'd forgotten this one, it's a recent build from Brooks ( which is fellow TBer' @Basvarken). I love it!

 

[J Wilson]

If you can find a clean used one from the early 2000's, these Epiphones were great buys. Solid, good pickups, and in manageably-sized medium-scale (long scale V basses can get REAL long) and had a great rep among users.

 

[MattZilla]

I played a Jackson King V g….r a lot over a few years, I loved how under my right arm it felt exponentially more like a work tool than any LP, Tele, or Strat.

This thread kinda has me wanting a Randy Rhoads bass. Fanned fret fiver.

 

[Mike Caldwell]

This one here.........It's the one.

No affiation to seller.

Ibanez Rocket Roll Bass 1977 | Reverb

Friend of mine had one of those in the early 80's

 

[devnulljp]

Enwhistle had an Alembic

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Hamer was the brand I associate most with pointy V and Explorer shaped instruments (more than Gibson TBH)

Maybe Ibanez

or Greco

 

[mikewalker]

Kramer Vanguard is a fave V of mine...

 

[tim gueguen]

Burny in Japan, who are a sub brand of Fernandes, makes a Flying V bass, the FVB65.
Link Removed

Haru of the band Bridear has been using them regularly the last couple of years.

 

[TBird1958]

I had one like this.......
It could dive like a Dauntless, relentlessly. Kinda wish that I'd kept it.

 

[Rib 13]

HardLuck Kings has one I did a review on ( one of my first!).....its not great as is but if you're OK with the pickup positions, all it really needed is better electronics and pickups

 

[pklima]

It seems they only made two of these... gives me major GAS for no good reason.



And not a lot of these, but at least three.



In addition to brands already mentioned, I've also seen full-scale ones from Hondo, and shorter ones from Aria, Edwards and Dunable.

 

[Basvarken]

I'm ashamed I'd forgotten this one, it's a recent build from Brooks ( which is fellow TBer' @Basvarken). I love it!

Thank you Mark.
This is the second Thundervee I built.
It is a 34" scale bass with nine-ply neck-through construction.
Korina.

The darker part in the "armpit" of the V was designed to be able to place the bridge as far back as possible. Otherwise the neck would protrude too far left, and the lower positions would be almost out of reach.
The lighter part of the body is the original V outline shape.

I got the idea via the V-bass that John Gallagher from Raven uses. John's bass was put together from a kit. If my memory serves me right it was from Pitbull Guitars.

 

[Mark 63]

Jack Casady: Guild Starfires and custom Guild V bass >> FlyGuitars

 

[HaphAsSard]

I had one like this.......
It could dive like a Dauntless, relentlessly. Kinda wish that I'd kept it.

It looks like they (or you, if it was your mod) tried to mitigate neck dive by positioning the rear strap button as close to the center of the body as possible (as opposed to up the fin). However, that's an aluminium neck, n'est-ce pas? Not much to do about that (without a conventional, suitably extended upper horn for the other button).

For normal, wooden necked instruments, even long-scalers, having the rear button positioned close to the bridge as in your pic may actually help significantly with neck dive.