Epiphone | 1958 Korina Flying V & Explorer
Get recreations of the models that launched the Golden Era of electric guitar design into the Space Age!
Epiphone has announced the launch of a new Limited Edition run of instruments recreating two of the most recognizable and valuable vintage guitars ever produced! Made in partnership with the Gibson Custom Shop, the new Limited Edition 1958 Korina Flying V and 1958 Korina Explorer bring the authentic details of each original model to today’s guitarists!
Blasting off into the electric guitar stratosphere!
Although Gibson's first solidbody electric guitar—the Les Paul Standard—has come to represent the pinnacle achievement of design in the instrument category today, by 1957, sales of the company’s flagship solidbody guitar were not as high as Gibson President Ted McCarty had hoped. So, ahead of the NAMM show that same year, he put together a team of employees at Gibson to design the what would come to be known as the “Modernistic” series, with an aim to shake things up at the show, by coming up with guitar shapes that were different from anything else on the market.
Far ahead of their time, the resulting futuristic designs—which included the Flying V and Explorer—achieved McCarty’s goal, shocking the guitar world with Modernistic series’ sharply-angled shapes and supremely resonant Korina bodies.
While the Flying V was adopted by a few players from the start, like bluesman Albert King, the Modernistic series models produced from 1958-’59 were seen largely as novelties, with only an estimated 98 Flying Vs having shipped, overall, while just a mere 22 Explorers are known to have been produced—making the surviving instruments from both models’ initial production run even rarer (and more valuable) finds on the vintage market than even the fabled Burst Les Paul Standards from the same years!
Limited Edition 1958 Korina Flying V
Recreating what is arguably one of the most distinctive and beloved guitar shapes ever produced, the Epiphone Limited Edition 1958 Flying V features a Korina body and neck with a long neck tenon and 1958 Flying V neck profile. Equipped with an Indian laurel fretboard and gold hardware, it also features Gibson Burstbucker 2 and Burstbucker 3 pickups wired to individual volume controls and a master tone control with CTS potentiometers and a Mallory capacitor. An Epiphone x Gibson Custom logo is proudly displayed on the back of the headstock, and a hardshell case is also included.
Limited Edition 1958 Korina Explorer
Named after the first American satellite launched into orbit, the space-age design of the original Explorers proved to be decades ahead of their time. Like the ultra-rare original Gibson models from 1958, the Epiphone Limited Edition 1958 Explorer features a Korina body and neck, with a long tenon and 1958 Explorer neck profile. It’s equipped with an Indian laurel fretboard and gold hardware, with Gibson Burstbucker 2 and Burstbucker 3 pickups wired to individual volume controls and a master tone control, outfitted with CTS potentiometers and a Mallory capacitors, as well as an Epiphone x Gibson Custom logo on the back of the headstock. A hardshell case is also included.
Capture the mystique of these recreations today by pre-ordering yours at Chicago Music Exchange!
SHOP EPIPHONE
Related Posts
Inside: Chase Bliss Audio Q&A with Joel Korte
To Joel Korte, Chase Bliss means many things. It means effects pedals, sure, but it’s also a way of life. The business itself, Joel says, is just the catalyst that makes it possible.
Read more
Inside: Daredevil Pedals Q&A with Johnny Wator
Johnny Wator founded Daredevil Pedals seven years ago and never looked back, pushing past professional limitations and personal hardship to produce some of our favorite pedals in the industry. As a matter of fact, we cut Johnny his first Daredevil check, and we’ve been cutting them for him ever since.
Read more
Vintage Tours: Atlanta Grinning Elk Show
In June, for the first time in 13 years, Atlanta, Georgia played host to a major regional guitar show. We couldn’t wait to see how much things had changed–and how much they’d stayed the same–so we hopped on the first flight down, ready to take a bite out of the Big Peach and buy big at the 2019 Atlanta Guitar Show, presented for the first time by Grinning Elk Music Company.
Read more