Another Flying V knock-off

[Mastersound]

Made as a gift for my best mate this little emando is based on the Flying V guitar. It has a two-piece solid Tasmanian Oak body. The neck is made from Tasmanian Blackwood, set off with a Jarrah fingerboard and Jim Dunlop frets.

Tuners are Eagle knock-offs of the old Kluson tuners. The bridge is an Eagle hard-tail string through the back Strat style.The pickup is half a WSC P-bass pair.

I stained the body with Wattyl Wood Gel water-based stain in a wenge colour, and only lightly sanded the body blank to obtain a slightly distressed / Gothic look. Finish is brushed Cabot's Gelclear. Two coats on the neck, lightly skimmed with 0000 steel wool to keep the neck fast, and three coats on the body.

More pics here.

[Sellars]

Super!!

You make some fine instuments, that's for sure!

[pklima]

Looks nice... perhaps not as refined as the Vs Dario Tucciarelli and Neil Gladd have made, but nice. Any plans for making more of these to sell? Maybe even a doubleneck version?

[Sellars]

Any plans for making more of these to sell?

That's what I would like to know too!

*bangs fists upon table while chanting: WE WANT V'S, WE WANT V'S, WE WANT V'S

[delsbrother]

Vs? Feh! I want the Breadwinner! (though I must admit I already have a V)

[Mastersound]

Hi

Peter: You're right. I'm not up to par when it comes to a factory finish job. So far I'm using brushed finishes over stain. Spray comes later! #As for the doubleneck.... what neck scales and how many strings? I have a vision of a 34" scale bass guitar with a little 320mmm micromando neck sticking out somewhere! :-)

Sellars and delsbrother: I just did a search of the patent database.... I'm still trying to work out if I can make mandos reminiscent of the Breadwinner and V without being sued... so maybe I can sell copies of these two. I always got the impression that the headstocks were the issue, but with Gibson successfully sueing PRS maybe the body shape is sacrosanct too! The Mandowinner body shape is generally based on the Breadwinner, but it's not a close copy. It's actually more a stylised map of Australia! I definitely wouldn't knock off the Ovation's headstock on a mando for sale... I'm not that brave. As for the Flying V... I think the Red Special headstock is very similar. Will Gibson sue Bueno Vista for calling their Mighty Duck's hockey play the "Flying V"? Who knows?

Thanks for the comments people. The Mandowinner and the MandoVee definitely sound best out of all the ones I've made. I'm buying a tablesaw this weekend, so the sawdust will definitely be flying soon!

[Django Fret]

Sellars and delsbrother: I just did a search of the patent database.... I'm still trying to work out if I can make mandos reminiscent of the Breadwinner and V without being sued... so maybe I can sell copies of these two.

Why not just put a very small bar at the bottom connecting the two wings, and that way you could claim that is was a flying "A"?

[pklima]

I don't think you'd get sued unless you use the "flying V" name. I mean, you shrink the thing down to mando size the proportions of the body and headstock change somewhat - the neck is wider relative to the scale length and so on.

As for the doubleneck (which would be even farther from a Gibson copy), a mandocello/mandolin with 5 strings on each neck would probably be the most useful to me. Maybe in a few months, once I've decided which continent I want to live on...