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Epiphone Limited Edition Joe Bonamassa 1958 Amos Korina Flying-V is Bonamassa’s fifth custom Epiphone signature model and honors one of his most cherished vintage guitars, the rare “Amos” Flying V, one of the first Flying-Vs produced in 1958 that he purchased from Norm Harris of Norm’s Rare Guitars in California.

Vinage guitars and the vibe that surrounds them many times is the story and history behind them as much as the tone and playability. Such is the story of the original Gibson “Amos” Korina Flying-V guitar. Way back in 1958 Gibson felt they needed to make some radical changes to compete with upstart Fender. They needed to show young players they were not just archtops that Jazz guys played. Gibson when futuristic and build the Flying-V (and the Explorer). Just try sitting down to play one like the Gibson archtops were shown in their ads. Looked like a deal breaker.

When a small town music shop owner in Indianapolis named Amos Arthur received probably the first Gibson Flying-V it must of looked like a rocket ship to him. Wondering how to sell this must have been going through his mind when he took delivery of this odd, wedge-shaped Gibson guitar. This guitar featured then new, unproven, humbucking pickups, and the guitar case that resembled a coffin. At a time when big bands and archtops ruled and the “Stratocaster” and “Les Paul” were not known to many players.

The original run of Korina Gibson Flying-Vs were made between 1958 and early 1959. Pretty much a flop on release with only about 98 are documented from the original factory run, and only ten of those sport the black pickguard found on this specimen. The new guitar was immediately lambasted as ugly. Even laughable. Years later, one of the true holy grails among guitar collectors. Valued at between $200,000 and $300,000, these once odd guitars are now the crown jewel of any rare guitar collection!

Amos Arthur, founded Arthur’s Music Store in 1952, a family-owned American guitar shop (and still open and run by his daughter and grand-daughter), in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her was quite forward thinking and recognized the power of rock ‘n’ roll and stocked his store with the newest guitars, basses and amps he could find to suit a new generation of players with contemporary tastes. Arthur ordered one in spite of the initial negative reaction. If nothing else, the shrewd businessman thought, the futuristic-looking guitar would be a fun conversation piece and draw customers. The Flying V that Gibson sent to Arthur’s store — serial number 8-2857 — was among the first made in a run of only 81 the company shipped to dealers in 1958. Fewer than 100 would be made before production stopped in 1959.

Arthur featured his new Flying V in newspaper ads for the store. One showed the store owner playing the Gibson. He’s dressed in a cardigan sweater, white shirt, neck tie and dress slacks. Holding the pointy guitar, which years later would become synonymous with heavy metal music, Arthur looked more like Ozzie Nelson than Ozzy Osbourne.

Amos and his staff while generating publicity, led to one of the best photos of the Flying-V. Popular in the ‘50s, “pole sitting” was a publicity stunt frequently employed by radio stations. And in 1959, a 17-year-old girl named Mauri Rose Kirby spent 211 days in a tiny shack 40 feet up on a telephone pole down the street from Arthur’s. Kenny Si, one of the shop’s salesmen at the time, would go on the roof with a guitar and teach Kirby, who had a little acoustic up in her perch, how to play. One day, he decided the Flying-V would make an impression during their rooftop jam sessions.

Arthur continued selling guitars and other musical equipment from his small store until his retirement in 1978. When he stepped away from the business, his daughter, Linda Osborne, took the reins. Later, her daughter, Amy England, joined the business.

Interest in the Flying V that Arthur had sold in 1959 was rekindled a few years ago when England began posting old photos — including the pictures of her grandfather and Kenny Si — on the store’s Facebook page. That coincided with a booming collector market in which original Flying Vs became highly coveted vintage electric guitars. But no one knew what happened to it. The store didn’t have a record of who purchased the guitar. Over the years, however, there were rumors about its fate.

“That was the first Korina guitar I ever bought in my life. I’ve had it since 1975 or ’76, somewhere around there,” Harris says. “It was a guy who was actually just a collector. He had come through my store and brought it in to show me. I knew I wanted it and had to pry it out of the guy, I think I traded him a sunburst Les Paul for it.”

Well the original Flying-V purchased from Arthur’s music store ended up in Norm’s private collection for over 40 years. Norm purchased the guitar in 1975. This guitar has been featured in books, magazines and in the 1984 movie “This Is Spinal Tap” in the famous Nigel Tufnel guitar collection scene ensuring the going to “11” was best. Christopher Guest, who played the role in the movie (and also a customer of Norm’s) selected the guitars to be featured in the scene himself.

“I had it for years,” Harris said. “It was an integral part of my collection. It was a major guitar. Gibson only made about 91 of them.”

Bonamassa knew Norman Harris, owner of Norman’s Rare Guitars in Los Angeles, had an original Flying V.

“I expected him to either say no or maybe in a couple years. But he goes ‘yeah, ‘I’ve had it for 40 years and it’s kind of fun but, you know, I want to see it go to a good guy and somebody who’s going to play it and enjoy it.'”

Bonamassa jumped at the opening.

“I’m your guy,” he told Harris.

Joe Bonamassa purchased the Flying-V from Norm Harris in 2015 for his Three Kings tour, which honors blues legends Freddie King, B.B. King and Albert King, who favored the Flying V. The musician-collector didn’t know the guitar’s history when he purchased it, but it didn’t take long for Bonamassa and his guitar technician to figure out the vintage instrument’s Hoosier pedigree once they saw the serial number.

And when they did, Bonamassa said, he did a double-take.

It was the same guitar in pictures he had used as a computer screen saver and on his cell phone — images a friend shared with Bonamassa years earlier. They were copies of the historic photographs of Amos Arthur and Kenny Si with the unique guitar. The images England had posted on the store’s Facebook page.

“I’d had those pictures in my phone and as my screen saver for many years,” Bonamassa said. “I was like ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.'”

The quest to gather stories and the history of his new Flying V brought Bonamassa to Indianapolis.

“I said, ‘why don’t we take the guitar back?'” Bonamassa recalled telling his manager and guitar tech. “This would be one hell of a guitar safari, one hell of a story, to have this very rare guitar that’s been kind of lost for over 40 years or more, you know, return in 2015, almost 56 years later.’”

The 1958 Flying V landed back on the counter at Arthur’s Music Store last month along with a photo of store founder Amos Arthur playing the guitar in 1958.

It was a Friday afternoon when Bonamassa and his friends walked through the front door of Arthur’s Music. They were there to document the history and stories about the guitar Bonamassa has dubbed “Amos” — and to share a mutual appreciation of the rare instrument with Osborne, England and store employees.

The guitar-crazy rock star was just as unassuming as the small music store, Osborne said. He showed up wearing jeans, sneakers and a “Duff” beer baseball cap. Bonamassa graciously posed for a photo with a stunned customer, and gave the man’s young daughter a personalized guitar pick.

When Bonamassa opened the Flying V’s original case — which, alone, is valued at $30,000-$40,000 — to reveal the aging guitar, it was like Christmas morning.

“I love the fact that Arthur’s Music is still open. I love the fact that we brought it back,” he said. “Just to see the look on Amy and Linda’s face when that guitar was put back on the counter … It was just one of those things where you end up going ‘wow this is what collecting is all about.'”

“Amazing,” is how England recalled the unveiling.

“We all got cold chills,” Osborne added. “Amy was just touch, touch, touch. She couldn’t keep her hands off it.”

“We didn’t get to play it,” England said, “but we all got to hold it and have a picture taken.”

Bonamassa also made sure he got plenty of pictures — including one he had in mind long before he climbed onto the plane for the flight to Indiana.

One of his goals for the trip, he said, was to recreate the 1959 image of Kenny Si standing on the store roof with the Flying V. That is, as long as the roof was safe enough for him and his new half-million-dollar guitar. And it was.

“There’s no way I wasn’t getting on the roof,” he explained. “The shot on top of Arthur’s Music is one of my favorite photos of me ever.”

After ogling the Flying V and taking pictures, Osborne and England showed Bonamassa and his friends around the 63-year-old music store Arthur cobbled together from three small houses on South Shelby Street. The place doesn’t look all that much different than it did when Bonamassa’s guitar was new in the late 1950s. They even took him into Amos Arthur’s studio, where Bonamassa spent several minutes playing Arthur’s 1960 Gibson l4-CES guitar, and then to the store’s basement.

“They were digging through everything,” Osborne said. “It was just like American Pickers.”

The guitarheads bought a few items, and Osborne and England gave them a few others, including Arthur’s T-shirts and a “legacy” guitar strap emblazoned with images of Amos Arthur with the 1958 Flying V.

“It was great to walk into Arthur’s and see that history,” Bonamassa said. “You walk into that shop and you go, man, this is a direct link to see … what a music store in the ’50s would have been like. It was totally inspirational. It was a great trip for everybody.”

Bonamassa added it was great to see the third generation of the Arthur family keeping the store going.

“Mom-and-pop music shops are rapidly going away,” he said. “I applaud the Arthur family for sticking it out through the lean times and the great times. Brick-and-mortar retail is coming to a rapid close. It’s very, very difficult to keep a shop open and customers happy.”

The business — the oldest, continually running with the same owners, music store in Indiana — was honored by the National Association of Music Merchants in 2013 and again this year as one of the top 100 music dealers in America.

Publicity about Bonamassa’s trip back to Indianapolis with his Flying V created a buzz in vintage guitar collecting circles — thanks to the Internet and the musician’s savvy and far-reaching social media presence.

Nearly 60 years after Arthur took a chance on the strange-looking guitar he hoped would be a “talker” and draw attention to his family business, his hunch is paying off again. This time, though, it is attracting international attention. Since Bonamassa started sharing his “new” guitar’s history on social media, the store has been contacted by vintage guitar fans from as far away as Germany and Australia.

“Mostly they just want to talk to us and make a connection,” Osborne said. “Another lady from the northside of Indianapolis drove down here just to be in the store — and she brought us Famous Amos cookies, which was nice.”

Now, England and Osborne are hoping, that notoriety will also lead to even more talk — specifically information that will help them and Bonamassa fill the gap in the guitar’s history that spans 1959 to 1975.

In the meantime, Bonamassa said “Amos” won’t be hidden away in its case or displayed on a wall.

“It’s 50 feet away in a rack, ready to rock tonight,” he said during an interview before a recent concert. “It’s been played every night. I wouldn’t have forked out that kind of money to have it sit at home and look at it.”

Joe Bonamassa Amos Pickup Set by Seymour Duncan

The “Amos” Flying V
Joe Bonamassa is not only one of the greatest guitarists of his generation, but is also recognized as one of the most knowledgeable collectors of vintage guitars. The new Ltd. Ed. 1958 “Amos” Korina Flying-V Outfit is based on Bonamassa’s priceless original Flying-V first purchased by Arthur Amos’s music store in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1958. Bonamassa worked closely with Epiphone’s luthiers in Nashville to ensure that every detail of the original was reproduced accurately.

Signature Flying-V from Epiphone
Modern blues legend Joe Bonamassa is known for his passionate live performances and dedication to keeping the blues relevant and alive. A prodigy, Joe opened for the legendary B. B. King when he was only 12. Now, in partnership with Epiphone, Joe is bringing his beloved 1958 Amos Flying-V to the buying public. With a body cut and sculpted from beautiful African korina wood — as used on the first Flying V’s from 1958 — this electric guitar soars in both looks and in tone. With a pair of ProBucker pickups, this classic axe howls, moans, and pierces the air with the kind of legendary tone the Flying V is known for in rock, blues, and metal. An FSC certified blackwood fingerboard gives this Flying-V another layer of cool as well. And in keeping with the original ’58 issue, a rounded “C” neck profile puts one of the most classically playable necks right in your hands.

Classic neck
Although known as a largely metal guitar since the ’80s, the Flying V was first used by blues greats of the ’60s, such as Lonnie Mack and Albert King. And one of the standout features these early legends fell in love with was that smooth, fast, and furious neck — the same neck Bonamassa fell for decades later. With its vintage Rounded-C 1958 profile, this neck has become the object of desire for so many pairs of skilled players’ hands that it is a legend on its own. The neck is also topped with FSC Certified blackwood, a rich African wood known for its smooth playability and feel.

Killer pickups
The Joe Bonamassa Custom Flying-V comes with a pair of Epiphone ProBucker humbucking pickups that provide clean as well as crunchy tone, giving you a wide range of stylistic options. And with two volume knobs, a master tone, and a toggle switch, you’ll be able to dial in a diverse range of tone and attack as you hone your own style. These pickups and controls are all about exploration, and exploration is the stuff that breeds legends.

Epiphone Joe Bonamassa 1958 Amos Flying-V Features:

• Based on Joe’s 1958 rare Flying V with Korina Body, 50’s style hardware
• Beautiful African korina wood body for exceptionally rich tone
• Pair of Epiphone ProBucker pickups provide clarity and crunch when you need them
• CTS™ Electronics and LockTone™ ABR-1 Tune-o-matic
• Rounded C-profile 1958-style neck for playability and feel
• Traditional Flying-V with raised “Epiphone” logo on the headstock for that classic, vintage look
• Epiphone Deluxe Tuners with tulip buttons provide solid tuning and classic vibe
• Hand-signed certificate of authenticity and 50’s style hard case

Quality of the build is what I would expect from a guitar built in Indonesia. It is nice and functional, but not a custom shop Gibson. Although Custom Shop Gibsons are not like Custom Shop Gibsons these days either. It weighs a light 6-lbs 9-ozs. The korina body is quite resonant. I mainly bought this because I never owned a Flying-V and wanted to see if I bond with it. It is a very cool guitar.