Jimi Hendrix Gibson Flying V 1967 copy
Jimi Hendrix: Catfish Blues | Flying V 1967 | Flying V 1967 copy | Martin Sharp poster |
1. Psychedelic
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| TV studio, Paris, 10 October 1967. |
One of the most iconic electric guitars from the 1960s is the sunburst metallic finish Sparkling Burgundy (dark brown) Jimi Hendrix 1967 Gibson Flying V known as Love Drops, which he hand-painted during the first week of July of that year and then featured in live gigs and television appearances through to at least February 1968. It has also been noted that the guitar was used for the recording of All Along the Watchtower (February - July 1968), which is undoubtedly Hendrix's finest and best known recording. The guitar was eventually passed on to Mick Cox of Eire Apparent at the beginning of 1969. Cox subsequently had it over-painted in black, before selling it in 1973. Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep was the eventual new owner, though never made aware of its Hendrix connection (McGuinness 2020). In the early 1990s the guitar was purchased at a Newcastle-upon-Tyne guitar store by David Brewis, who quickly realised it was the original Hendrix Love Drops. He went about having it restored and, after repainting it himself, sold it in 1995 to an American collector (Brewis 2019).
The true colour of the guitar had, over time, become an issue. In most of the early photographs from 1967-8 it looked to be black or brown, or ebony which is a black colour with a dark brown base, therefore not pure black. It was not until Brewis began the restoration process that this colour issue was clarified and ultimately confirmed by Gibson. This reference to colour is important, as many subsequent accounts of the guitar suggested that black was the original 1967 Gibson colour for the Flying V, when it was not. There were two colours: Cherry and Sparkling Burgundy. This was confirmed by the Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell and can be clearly seen in the photograph reproduced below of Jimi playing the guitar at the Fifth Dimension Club, Detroit, on 15 August 1967. Some modern replicas continue to use pure black, or ebony.
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| Fifth Dimension Club, Detroit, 15 August 1967. |
It should also be noted that the Gibson Custom Shop replica from 2006 utilised the sunburst Sparkling Burgundy for the body and neck of the guitar, and made use of black for the front and part of the rear of the headstock, presumably as done on the original model back in 1967 (illustrated below).
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| Original Sparkling Burgundy Flying Vs 1967 - 940151 & 955102. |
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| Sparkling Burgundy reissue by Gibson, 2019. |
The original guitar used by Jimi Hendrix was right-handed, as were the vast majority of guitars the left-handed musician played through to his death in September 1970. He would wear the '67 Flying V guitar upside down, with the strings rearranged for normal play, whereby the thicker (lower frequency) ones were at the top and the thinner (higher frequency) ones were at the bottom. The volume controls, guitar lead input, and tremelo arm would all remain located somewhat awkwardly under Hendrix's picking and strumming arm. Despite these limitations, he obviously enjoyed playing the guitar, not only for its flamboyant appearance, but also for its distinctive Gibson meaty sound, especially when connected to Marshall amps. Whilst Flying V guitars were somewhat awkward to hold when seated, their sonic qualities overrode such negative aspects, especially in a live situation. They were used only sporadically during the 1960s and early 1970s. However, since the 1980s they have become common in the heavy metal sphere, with bands such as Metallica promoting the style.
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| Sweden, 4 September 1967. |
According to the late Chas Chandler, manager of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jimi used Airfix kit style paints to decorate the guitar in its distinctive, psychedelic, LSD-inspired manner at the beginning of July 1967, when he acquired it whilst on an American tour. Only 111 of this model were ever sold by Gibson, with 67 in a cherry finish and 44 in the Sunburst Burgundy. It was a rare item at the time and not at all popular. Other famous guitars painted in a similar psychedelic fashion during May - July 1967 included Eric Clapton's The Fool 1964 Gibson SG used throughout his time with the band Cream, and Jimi Page's Dragon 1959 Fender Telecaster, used with both the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, and most notably on the latter band's song Stairway to Heaven. The painting of guitars around this time coincided with the so-called Summer of Love and the widespread use of LSD in the United States and to a lesser extent in England and Europe.
French television, 1967. Excerpt of Jimi with the '67 Flying V.
Due to its rich, thick, heavy tone, the Gibson Flying V was generally used by Hendrix to play blues, featuring during 1967-8 on songs such as Catfish Blues, Redhouse, and Voodoo Chile, whilst the higher pitched and distorted tones of a Fender Stratocaster was more commonly seen and heard, as at Monterey in May 1967 and Woodstock in July 1969. All his guitars, especially the Fenders, were associated with various pedals, providing Hendrix with the wider sonic range and elements of distortion for which he became so well known. The Flying Vs made use of pedals such as the Wah, but to a lesser extent than the Stratocaster. Sustain was preferred over distortion when it came to blues.
By the latter part of 1968 Hendrix appears to have replaced the Love Drops with a tobacco sunburst 1968/69 Flying V for live gigs, and then, through late 1969 and 1970, with a black 1969 left-handed Flying V made especially for him by Gibson. This guitar was seen at the famous Maui, Hawaii, gig of 30 July 1970, recorded just a couple of months prior to his death.
The present writer has written an article which outlines the history of the original 1967 guitar here: Jimi Hendrix psychedelic Gibson '67 Flying V. The present article looks in detail at modern Chinese copies as of March 2026, and compares it with the original from 1967 and the more recent official Gibson Custom Shop 2006 edition of 350 hand-painted copies, and Epiphone copies as sold from 3 September 2024, all of which are based on the restoration of the original guitar by David Brewis as noted above.
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2. Chinese copies
As far as the present writer is aware, a number of different copies of the Hendrix '67 Flying V began appearing for sale on Chinese online sites such as DH Gate, Temu and AliExpress from around 2020, following the release by Gibson of copies of the restored original guitar from 2006. Such guitars are usually referred to by collectors as Chibsons. Whilst Gibson has a Chinese factory for its Epiphone subsidiary, all its guitars are made in the United States. The quality of the Chinese reproductions of the Hendrix '67 Flying V, based on online analysis by the present writer and comments in the Chibson owners Facebook sites, superficially varied from hand-painted versions through to those with printed decals copying to varying degrees of success the original Hendrix artwork. Some of the decals just cover the top surface of the guitar and do not blend over onto the sides as the original artwork did.
The actual playing quality of the Chinese guitars could vary greatly, influenced by elements such as the body work (one piece mahogany or other woods), frets (rosewood or other), tuning pegs, bridge, pickups, and electronics. The Chinese craftsmanship was often noted as high, with the electronics and pickups less so. All of the copies seemed to have used black as the base, rather than the original Gibson dark brown Sparkling Burgundy of 1967. They appeared to come from a small number of production houses in China - perhaps two or three. Little is known in the West regarding the production of these guitars, due to the fact that they generally breach the intellectual property rights of the original manufacturers such as Fender and Gibson, and therefore are either not listed in full or only given generic titles such as Guitar Store. The illegality has resulted in some of these guitars being confiscated by Customs authorities upon arrival in, for example, the United States.
The Chinese copy of the '67 Hendrix Flying V illustrated below was offered for sale by the online retailer AliExpress in March 2026. It was described on the site as follows:
* 6 Strings Black Printing Flying V Electric Guitar Rosewood Fretboard H-H Pickups Electric Guitar-Themed.
As the description was brief and evidence of a partial Chinese translation, it is assumed the "themed" reference was to the unstated Hendrix artwork, which is nowhere mentioned in this specific instance. In other Hendrix-related guitars sold on the AliExpress site, such as the Monterey Pop guitar and the black 1970 Flying V, his name features in the listing. Six photographs of the guitar were presented with the description, five of which are illustrated below, along with a sixth (illustrated first) from a different version of the guitar which was also offered for sale on AliExpress, though at a higher price. Note that there is no Gibson decal shown on the headstock cover, but in all other ways it looks, on the surface, identical to the original from 1967. In many instances, labels such as Gibson and Fender are masked on sale sites but included in the guitars as received.
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| Full-length view of higher priced version. |
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| Front of the guitar, revealing the artwork on the top and sides. |
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| View of lower section of the guitar, with case behind. |
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| Close up view of lower section of the guitar. |
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| Three-quarter length view of guitar, with rosewood fretboard. |
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| Rear view revealing single-piece body. |
Note that in the bottom five illustrations the top of the guitar is not shown, as it likely includes a copy of the original - or near original - headstock with Gibson decal. This can be seen in the illustration at the head of the present article, whilst the first image of the guitar in the list shows the full headstock without decal. In the sale page for the more expensive version, the manufacturer / trader is referred to as Musical Factory Guitar Store. For the cheaper version, the title of the manufacturer / trader is simply given by AliExpress as Our Guitar Store, which may simply be a generic name for a list. Another manufacturer was Starshine, who have their own website on Amazon, though only a limited number of items were shown as available, though more were offered new on sites such as chaoguitar, eBay.
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3. Variations
It is noted that one of the cheaper versions of the Chinese guitar has a Floyd Rose bridge with base plate on the back (illustrated below), perhaps to access the tuning mechanics, whilst others have a flat, undisturbed back, as seen in the photographs above.
Another point of difference is the presence or absence of a whammy bar and the associated bridge and pickup composition. The available versions are as follows:
1) Original '67: One piece solid mahogany body, twin Gibson PAF humbucker pickups, witch hat knobs, Kluson Deluxe tuners, whammy bar / short maestro vibrola, and tune-o-matic bridge mounted at a slight angle with wrap around tail piece. Large, pointed headstock with gold Gibson logo on truss rod cover. No back plate. Hand-painted artwork by Jimi Hendrix circa July 1967 over dark brown (Sparkling Burgundy) base. Manufacturer - Gibson. Only 44 produced (Gibson 2019).
2) Gibson / Epiphone replicas & Chinese: Twin humbucker pickups, whammy bar / short maestro vibrola, and tune-o-matic bridge mounted at a slight angle with wrap around tail piece. No back plate. Hand-painted or decal artwork over black (ebony) base. Manufacturers - Gibson Custom Shop, Epiphone and Chinese.
3) Chinese: Twin humbucker pickups and Fender-style classic saddle hardtail bridge assembly, cut into white pick guard. Back plate on rear of guitar. No tremelo arm. Printed decal artwork over ebony base. Manufacturer - Chinese. Illustrated below at left.
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| Different bridge setups: Floyd Rose (type 3) and tune-o-matic (type 2). |
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Jimi Hendrix Experience, Montparnasse, Paris, 11 October 1967 - The Wind Cries Mary, Chris Stark, YouTube, duration: 3.21 minutes.
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4. Experience
The author experienced one of these Chinese copies during 2026. It sold for Aus$348 (circa US$238) + GST$35 [1625.09 CNY + 162.91 CNY = 1791.96 CNY]. This appeared to be an extremely good price, as the writer had been monitoring this type of guitar for a couple of years. They usually retailed online for around Aus$560, and there appeared to be more than a single manufacturer, therefore prices could vary by a small amount. However, this guitar was listed as "on sale", with the price slashed from the "normal" Aus$830.59. Whilst the item was advertised as the "last one", a couple of hours after the sale went through, another four appeared and the price had risen by almost $60 to Aus$406.99, whilst still claiming to be 50% off. This new set of four guitars appeared to be of a slightly lower quality, perhaps from a different manufacturer, and without a tremelo arm. What appeared to be a higher quality version of the guitar was also offer for sale on AliExpress at that time for Aus$560, some $210 more than the above "on sale" example. It will be interesting to compare the actual guitar on arrival with those variants offered for sale on the Chinese retail sites. The following are details concerning to ordering process.
The guitar was ordered on 31 March 2026, with a scheduled delivery date of 15 May, being the standard six weeks from China to Australia on a boat. It was expected to arrive in a well-taped, solid foam package as a special Flying V guitar case had not been ordered. Processing and shipment details were as follows:
- Purchase date: 31 March 2026
- Departure from factory / Shipment commenced: 2 April
- Departure from country of origin / Global transit: 12 April
- Arrival in Australia: 25 April (at airport)
- Cleared customs: 28 April
- Item received: Friday 1 May; unboxed Monday 4 May.
- Condition upon receipt: Perfect condition. No problems due to transit.
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| Unboxed, 4 May 2026. |
This was the third guitar ordered from China by the writer since 2022. The previous two were of a high quality and no problems occurred in transit or thereafter. One was a Gibson Les Paul copy and only the pickups were replaced following purchase; the other was a Jimmy Page Telecaster copy and it was left as is. Both guitars were given a post-delivery check and setup by a local luthier. Both were also left-handed models, as the writer is a leftie.
From 2019 a limited edition, hand-painted Gibson Custom Shop Hendrix Flying V '67 copy sold for around $21,000 as only 300 were made, whilst the unpainted Sparkling Burgundy version retailed for US$5,499. The later 2019 "Epiphone inspired by Gibson" Hendrix versions are much more common and sell for about $3,000 on sites such as eBay, with used copies going for as little as $2,000. The price for Chinese copies can range from $350 to $800, as noted above, but most are around $560.
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5. References
Bacon, Tony, Flying V, Explorer, Firebird, Hal Leonard Corp., 2011, 160p.
Brewis, David, How I discovered Jimi Hendrix's psychedelic Flying V, Reverb, 3 January 2019.
Five Watt World, The Gibson Flying V: A Short History, Five Watt World, 18 June 2020, YouTube, duration: 26.14 minutes.
Fjestad, Zachary R. and Larry Meiners, Gibson Flying V, 2Blue Book Publications, 2008, 104p.
Gibson, Gibson Custom 1967 Mahogany Flying V reissue, gloss, sparkling burgundy, Gibson Custom Shop, 2019.
Jimi Hendrix and the love drops story: The magic Flying V, The Flying V Documentary, 27 December 2027, YouTube, duration: 8.33 minutes.
Jimi Hendrix Epiphone "Love Drops" Flying V - full demo, Official Epiphone, 28 November 2024, YouTube, duration: 6.20 minutes.
McGuinness, Tim, The amazing story of how one of Jimi Hendrix's famous guitars ended up in a Newcastle music shop, Chronicle Live, 17 November 2020.
Meiners, Larry, Flying V: The Illustrated History, Flying Vintage, 2001, 72p.
Organ, Michael, Jimi Hendrix psychedelic Gibson '67 flying V, blogger.com, 25 September 2021.
-----, Jimi Hendrix Flying V 1967 copy, blogger.com, 30 March 2026.
RB, classicGear - Gibson Flying V, Guitarist, #463, September 2020, 130.
Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Play It Loud, 6 June 2020, YouTube, duration: 2.12 minutes. Exhibition featuring the restored original Hendrix 1967 Flying V.
The greatest guitar Jimi Hendrix played - the Gibson Flying V, Worst Guitar, 29 March 2020, YouTube, duration: 9.42 minutes.
The 1958, 1967-71 Gibson Flying V website, accessed 22 April 2026.
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Jimi Hendrix: Catfish Blues | Flying V 1967 | Flying V 1967 copy | Martin Sharp poster |
Last updated: 4 May 2026
Michael Organ, Australia
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