Matthias Jabs with his X-Plorer Pro and
Rudolph Schenker with his Flying V Voodoo |
Rudolph Schenker and Matthias Jabs, rhythm and lead guitarists for
German rock band the Scorpions, made an impromptu visit to Gibson USA
in Nashville on Monday, June 17. In town for a Tuesday show, Schenker
and Jabs were excited to see the changes that have taken place at USA
due to a plant expansion in the late ‘90s. After their tour, Gibson’s
Kevin Young and Tom Montgomery presented the very first and as yet
unreleased Flying V Voodoo guitar to Schenker, while Jabs received an
X-Plorer Pro from the new, upcoming X-Factor model series, only the
second one to leave the factory.
“This is excellent, beautiful!” exclaimed Jabs, who’s been
playing Explorers
since 1987. “It’s got a mahogany body and maple top like a Les Paul.
You grab a guitar, and you either like it or you don’t. This one is
sympathetic to my playing; it rings well and sounds good.”
Schenker, who owns between 90 and 100 Flying Vs
by his best estimate, was equally thrilled with his new Voodoo model.
“It’s very light, and a little more open,” he said. “I can already feel
it.” The guitar, made out of swamp ash with a mahogany neck, has a
red-stained JuJu finish, Black Magic pickup and black chrome hardware.
A red skull inlay at the 5th fret gives it a little added mojo.
When choosing a guitar, Schenker says he listens closely to
how the
wood sounds. “The humidity in the wood makes a difference to how it
comes across. You are very close to the sound of the vibrations from
your hand to your body,” he explains.
Schenker purchased his first Flying V in 1972 in Hamburg,
Germany. He
saw blues guitarist Johnny Winter play a limited edition model, and he
really wanted one. Younger brother Michael, then lead guitarist for the
band, called to say he had just bought a Les Paul, and
the guitar shop had a Flying V
in stock. Schenker was low on funds at the time, so the kindly dealer
worked out a payment arrangement with him, and he got his guitar.
Later, at an outdoor concert in Hanover, Germany, Michael
unwittingly
locked his instrument in a girlfriend’s apartment, so Schenker gave him
the Flying V while he played another guitar. Michael liked it so much
that he never gave it back, much to the elder Schenker’s dismay. So it
goes with brothers and guitars.
In another moment of artistic inspiration, Schenker took his
Flying V
collection - which by then had expanded considerably - and arranged the
guitars side by side in a star-shaped pattern on his lawn to photograph
them. Suddenly it started to rain, so he and guitar technician Peter
Kirkman ran around frantically grabbing up the guitars to move them
back into Schenkman’s house. They succeeded, but not before a number of
the instruments got wet. “Fungus on a Flying V is not a good thing,”
said Kirkman with an ironic chuckle.
After the guitar presentation, Schenker and Jabs were
transported by van to the Gibson
Custom, Art & Historic
division. Grinning like two kids in a candy store, the rockers strummed
and tested their favorite models for the better part of an hour. It was
a good way to kill an afternoon, they said, and their collections
expanded by a few more guitars. Now if they can just get them through
security at the airport.
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