Customizing a 1989 Flying V90 Double
(by Marc Fettarappa & Steve Roberts)

Steve Roberts (check some of his other work) , luthier at Servette Music (Phone +4122 733 7073) in Geneva Switzerland has done a number of extraordinary jobs on my guitars. He is as good as can get!
I had the idea of modifying a very ordinary Flying V into something really special. I decided to modify my 1990 Flying V Double (that I had already half destroyed anyway adding a humbucker, doing a lousy paint job to cover extensive "road usage").

The final result : will be a retopping with AAAA Flamed Maple.
  • The top finish  will be a deep sunburst with a wooden (could be boxwood in english) binding.
  • Sunburst specs : The maple will be slightly stained amber (with a touch of orange), then varnished orange to red (actually with a hint of brown and black torwards the edge)
  • The scratchplate will disapear.
  • The tuss rod cover will also be sunburst flamed maple .
  • The body's back will be a Les Paul type dark natural finish.
  • The body thickness will be reduced by about 7.5 mm to a more resonnable 34mm.
  • Pick Up configuration will be 2 Humbuckers with golden metallic surroundings and covers, if possible I will wire coil splitting with pull up knobs)
  • The Knobs should be located in a triangle configuration as on a '74 V (with addition of a volume).
  • Hardware will be golden (Tune-O-Matic and Stop Bar).
  • The neck size and profile will be brought to the specs of the 1981 Flying V 1 (40,3 mm @ the nut).

Steve presenting the guitar  :

Presenting the V body and the rough maple :

Steve has cut and glued the 2 part maple top to then be applied to the V's body. The body's thickness has been reduced to accomodate the top's width (and also to reduce the ovrall body width by 7-8 mm to bring it to the regular V's bodys dimentions).

Body and maple detail :

Bare flamed maple detail. At this stage the wood is still quite rough.

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