Flying V Question

[stuckin93]

What impact will the body shape/amount of wood make to the sound of the guitar? I am trying to figure out which high output p/up will suit my sound best but i need to know what part of the sound is added/taken away.

thanks.

[Roobubba]

Perhaps I can reply with a question or two:

What wood is the V you have?
Got any pics you could show us?
What sort of tones/sounds are you after?

Armed with that info, we might stand a better chance of getting you to where you need to be (and if you e-mail Tim with that info, you're in an even better position to know what to buy!)

Roo

[Stringkiller]

Mine is a Mahogany
Pictures at http://www.drpickup.com/Bluesmakers140707Caribou/

When I got this the neck pickup crumbled and fell apart when I took it out  - I put in an old Ibanez Humbucker (85?)in the neck position and I think I got the wiring wrong as in the middle position this guitar  has that terrific Tbone Walker/ Peter Green tone and in the neck and bridge a reasonable HB tone.

Now I have put PGs in my Tokai LP (see post for sound files and Harmony central for review) I am thinking of getting another set of Bareknuckle pus for the Flying V.
Unlike stuckin93 who i think wants a loud heavy metal type of sound I'd like a Lonnie Mac/AlbertKing clean sound at half settings and a bit of power and sustain when full on, bluesy tones rather than death metal Zak Wilde type stuff.
I play through Koch, Fender, Laney and Dr Z amps that have nice clear sounds and nice sustain.
I see Lenny Kravitz has a set of BN PUs - can you suggest some tracks where I could hear that model?

So any suggestions?

[gwEm]

i'm sure you'll both want more specialised suggestions... but for something that will do both blues and metal in a mahogany V, i'd suggest the A5 Mule.

Vs are incredibly versatile guitars indeed, but there are so many variations that its really hard to make too big a generalisation. Most Vs have a 'bark' in the bridge position, which would suggest slight scooping to the mids, but this isn't much to go by to be honest. In my experience Vs can have very strong mids, and keep the bark (listen to Rudolf Schenker for example!) - with something like a mule or (in a bright V) holy diver. My Gordon Smith V is very naturally strong in the mid-range due to its cedar wood body - but it also doesn't sound quite so typical.

The Miracle Man sounds very modern metal in a V.

One might look at some sort of Stormy Monday for mellow blues tones, the V neck position is a natural blues-er!
EDIT: Maybe an A4 mule set might provide more of a contrast with your PG Blues guitar?

[Stringkiller]

Thanks Gwem - this is all good food for thought and tone.

[AndyR]

gWem seems to be the man on flying Vs round here, but I have an Explorer, and I've always assumed that they're vaguely similar? Possibly not - maybe there's considerably more wood in an Explorer - shoot me down here gWem :)

Anyway, my Explorer's a whole bunch of mahogany, and accoustically the darkest "round" sounding guitar I have. When I got it, it had Gibson's 500T ceramic pups in, which I quite like, but not what I was after. I was looking for a "blues-machine", possibly similar to what you're after Stringkiller...

I was umming and ah-ing about what sort of BKPs to get and was leaning towards Stormy Mondays. Another possibility was Riff Raffs in my mind, partly because they are roughly the type of pups that Gibson would have been putting in the re-issues in the mid 70s. So, seeing as I had a set in an Epi SG, I thought I'd give them a go temporarily...

They never came out again! - absolutely gorgeous sounding from the moment I plugged it in again. They rock when I want them to and clean up nicely too. I can get really lovely "smooth with a bite" lead tones out of it. And I often find myself playing the Andy Powell "V" parts from Wishbone Ash on it. If I was going to gig again in bluesy set up, with only one guitar, it's probably the Riff-Raffed Explorer I'd take as it's the most versatile of my lot for that kind of gig.

I think if I'd gone for Stormies, I might not have got quite enough raunch when I needed it - but that's just a guess based on others' descriptions of them.

So I'll throw Riff Raffs in the suggestion pot for the bluesier V. :D

For a more modern metal sound... sorry, can't help on that one, I'm afraid.

[stuckin93]

thanks for the responses, to clarify things a bit to give you an idea where i am & where i want to be,

amp wise i have a JMP 50 though a 4x12 greenback filled cab.

i have a les paul with black dogs in it for my more classic sound (think ac/dc, zep, cream), the heavier stuff we play (think corrosion of conformity, soundgarden) i use a Gibson flying V with ceramic pickups and kick in a tubescreamer i like the gain on the ceramics but find them really unorganic sounding.

what i want is a (very) hot pickup as i already have a vintage (slightly) hot. but i dont want ceramics. i was thinking nailbomb or warpig (but am open to suggestion) the thing i reallyneed to figure is what all that solid mahogany will give or take from the sound.

hope that helps some...

[Fearhk213]

Let me preface this by first saying I absolutely love V's, but I've never found such an inconsistent body style.  There just isn't a lot of wood there (of course this depends on the maker and the particular guitar) and it's very easy for them to sound thin & weak with the wrong pickups.  With that said I'd suggest staying on the hot side.  I've had 3 V's and I found they sounded best with hotter pickups.  Just my $.02. 

[Stringkiller]

Fearhk213 and AndyR

Good suggestions taking all this on board.

Bruce Stringkiller

[ericsabbath]

thanks for the responses, to clarify things a bit to give you an idea where i am & where i want to be,

amp wise i have a JMP 50 though a 4x12 greenback filled cab.

i have a les paul with black dogs in it for my more classic sound (think ac/dc, zep, cream), the heavier stuff we play (think corrosion of conformity, soundgarden) i use a Gibson flying V with ceramic pickups and kick in a tubescreamer i like the gain on the ceramics but find them really unorganic sounding.

what i want is a (very) hot pickup as i already have a vintage (slightly) hot. but i dont want ceramics. i was thinking nailbomb or warpig (but am open to suggestion) the thing i reallyneed to figure is what all that solid mahogany will give or take from the sound.

hope that helps some...

nice setup!
I love corrosion and soundgarden too
pepper keenan and woody weatherman actually use mostly ceramic pickups in the bridge position (tom anderson h3 and duncan invader), but I think the alnico warpig would be a great replacement
but soundgarden pickups don't seem to be that hot
I'd get a nailbomb or a holy diver

[Ted]

pepper keenan and woody weatherman actually use mostly ceramic pickups in the bridge position (tom anderson h3 and duncan invader), but I think the alnico warpig would be a great replacement

Yes 100% agree with this...

[stuckin93]

Thanks guys, the reason for the hot pickups is that the corosion & soundgarden guys also use much higher gain amps so i am looking for the gain from the pedal + pickup combo.

i have never played the gibson ceramic pickups in any other guitar, and never had another V. can someone fill me in on what the gibbo pickup is like tone wise - or what the V would sound like with regular pickups - what part of the sound spectrum will be highlighted & what part subdued??

[Brow]

In my V I have a Riff Raff in the bridge with a Mississippi Queen in the neck.

It makes for a very versatile guitar imo :)

[alendon]

I've got A4 mules in a Gibson 67 ri vee and they are hugely versatile.
They won't do modern metal but they certainly do classic metal stuff and they just kill at blues in this guitar.
(Especially the neck). The neck mule is probably my gave bkp I've tried,such a classic tone that just sounds 'right'

[Philly Q]

Blimey, talk about threadnomancy!