The Styrous® Viewfinder: Flying V guitar by Gibson

February 21, 2026

Flying V guitar by Gibson

On Friday, February 21, 1958, The very first of the Flying V guitars by Gibson were shipped from a factory in Kalamazoo, MI.

The Flying V offered a radical, "futuristic" body design; the initial run used a distinctive wood of the Limba tree marketed by Gibson under the trade name "korina"; later models used more conventional woods. Too radical for its time, the initial run of Flying V guitars was not successful and fewer than 100 were manufactured and sold.

Blues guitarist Albert King and rock guitarists Lonnie Mack and Dave Davies, gravitated towards the unique design and helped popularize the model years after it had left production. After renewed popularity led to increased demand Gibson manufactured a small number of Flying V guitars in 1963 from leftover parts from the original run, and the guitar reentered regular production in 1967 and has been reissued numerous times since then.

A 1958 Flying V named Amos appeared in the 1984 movie This is Spinal Tap, and it was played by actor Christopher Guest, who played character Nigel Tufnel. In the feature-length animated movie Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, Shep's spaceship resembled the shape of a Gibson Flying V electric guitar. A yellow outline of his ship was often used a symbol for Interstella and was seen several times throughout the film. In School of Rock, lead guitarist Zack "Zack "Zack-Attack" Mooneyham plays with a white Flying V. In the fourth season of House, M.D., Dr. House is repeatedly shown playing a white 1967 Flying V. Valhallen, the Viking God of Rock superhero from the Justice Friends segment of Dexter's Laboratory, plays a pink Flying V. In the movie The Protégé, one of the main characters, Moody, interpreted by Samuel L. Jackson, received a Flying V 1958 as a birthday gift. In the film Sinners, a rock and roll guitarist is seen playing a Flying V in a scene where spirits of the past and future are summoned.