Are Explorers and Flying Vs acceptable or even cool?

[Jtkman]

That looks great! I actually ended up with one. Can't complain - I got it for $500 CAD (about $370 USD). I've never really understood single-pickup guitars but it's grown on me enough to keep and mod it. I've got a new wraparound bridge on its way from Stewmac and will be putting either a Creamery WRHB or a Wilde L500 in it - I have both pickups on hand and will make a gametime decision when the bridge arrives.

Here's a photo. I don't think it looks as sharp as yours on account of its much lighter fretboard, but it's super light and super resonant. The roasted maple board basically looks like your average roasted maple neck, not that rich brown that I see on yours and a lot of others.

Thanks! I hadn't seen a Melody Maker Flying V with a light fretboard like yours. I like the contrast! You got it at a good price too.

When they first came out, they were over $500 in price. I got mine in mid 2012; when they were being sold for $299 at Musicians Friend. Now I've seen some used ones being offered for sale for as much as $800!

We got pretty good deals! Oh, and good luck on your mods. I bet it will sound awesome!

[doctor_capleson]

Super old thread, but I'd like to share my opinion:

I am not a fan of Gibson guitars generally. THey are cool, and people have done great things with them. The problem I have is with the feel, based on their design. They seem to generally follow the "violin" setup, where the neck is angled away from the body, the bridge mounted really high, and the headstock angles away from the neck at a sharp angle. This is what causes lots fo the tunings issues (I have heard) and it's just generally a feel thing that I've never been able to get over.

My first electric guitar was an Aria Pro II LP copy. Even back then, I noticed the neck angle thing right away and have always preferred the Fender neck angles to Gibson.

Having said all that, the V and the Explorer are two that I've played and really liked (except for ergonomics playing a V sitting). I don't know from memory if the Explorer has the same neck angle as the LP, but when I played one a couple of years ago I really liked it and thought seriously about buying it.

I did own one of the newer LP DC Specials (double cutaway with 2x P90) and I really liked that guitar. I ended up selling it for reasons, but it was a pretty solid instrument. Maybe I need to re-assess my long-standing belief that "I don't like Gibsons"

[JazzLee]

My second ever guitar was an Epiphone Flying V (the first was a 'Cruiser by Crafter', an £80 strat copy). I bought the V secondhand in 2004. Even then as a 15 year old I felt it was quite an ironic purchase. It was one of those 1967 style scratchplate ones, but with the controls all in a line and cost me £250 from ebay. It was pretty good, played really well, was red, but I sort of found it embarrassing pretty quickly and bought my Jazzmaster in 2006. I also remember finding it annoying because back then I used to play guitar mostly sat on my bed, and you couldn't sit cross legged on a bed with a flying V - I didn't have a case for it either, so taking it to friend's houses to jam was pretty annoying too.

I grew up, left home, left the country, and the Flying V basically stayed totally unplayed in a box under my parent's bed until last year when they moved house. They sold it at a guitar auction for £350 - I've got no idea if that's a good price or not! I kind of wish I'd got to play it one last time now that I'm a much better player than when I was a teenager!