Gibson has just introduced both a 1958 Flying V and Explorer into their Gibson Custom Shop: The Collector’s Edition, both of which are Murphy Lab-aged clones of the original models. For those unaware, the Murphy Lab is led by industry pioneer Tom Murphy, which uses a combination of chemical processes to artificially age guitars all the way back to the 50s. You can check that out here.
As for the 1958 Flying V and Explorer, they’re made with Korina bodies and necks and Brazilian rosewood fretboards just like the originals. Gibson pointed out that the company only shipped 19 Explorers and 81 Flying Vs in 1958, making the new clones that much cooler. It’s also weird to think that both the Flying V and Explorer came out in 1958, considering they’re so commonly associated with metal… and that wasn’t invented until over a decade later.
So why are these new models clones? Because the originals in museums and collections were scanned with a 3D wand, and every dimension and contour was put into a digital model and precisely reproduced. So yeah, they’re literally clones.
Check both the guitars out here.
