Others say all four guitars were shown, and that while the Flying V , Explorer & prototype Futura achieved their goal of “game changer” at the show and getting into limited production no Moderns were ever proved even in a photgraph. There is a black & white picture of a guitar-( Futura with no control knobs) at the NAMM show showing an executive holding it)many thought was a Moderne but was not. There’s speculation that only the Flying V, Explorer and a Futura with split headstock and no control knobs, made it to the show, and that the Moderne was scrapped. Patent drawings for all four models) from the one hundred or so that were submitted, prototypes were made to be shown at the 1957 NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show in Chicago. After settling on three designs ( there are four U.S. McCarty realized Gibson’s solidbody guitar line Les Paul Standard & Les Paul Custom were great but he decided to show the industry that Gibson can produce & manufacture wild guitars inspired by futuristic, space-age angular concepts. Ted McCarty, Gibson’s president during their golden age of the late 1950s, commissioned three “modernistic” guitars in response to disparaging comments about Gibson’s old school image from Leo Fenders- Fender Guitar Co.
Ibanez of Japan made a copy in the 1970’s. So far the history of this guitar, in the over fifty-six year search for at least one original example, has only yielded myth, mystery, stories & rumors. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top is purported to have one. , not a single Moderne has ever been verified as original by anyone, although there have been forgeries, copies, and many false sightings/ fish stories of “the one that got away”. The Flying V, Futura and Explorer made it into very limited production ( some had Split headstocks), but the Moderne seemingly never was released or produced, until Gibson finally issued a limited run in 1982.
Gibson flying v drawing series#
It was designed along with the Flying V, Futura and Explorer as part of Gibson’s “Modernistic” series in 1957 (the era of Sputnik & the space craze), to compete with Fender and show Gibson’s modern versus conservative image.
To collectors and aficionados in the vintage guitar realm, the Gibson Moderne is thee ultimate mystery: the Lochness Monster, Maltese Falcon, Holy Grail, Flying Saucer, Martians and Sashquatch.
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