The Delta Snake Review: Musical Gear Review and Music Article Archive: Review: 2006 Epiphone Korina Flying V

Review: 2006 Epiphone Korina Flying V

The Epiphone Korina Flying V is one of those guitars that has to be judged on two levels. One, as a solid body guitar in the very competitive medium price bracket. Two, as a replica of a famous guitar that very few people will ever own even if they had the tens of thousands of dollars in hand to buy one. Only 100 were sold in its short production life of two years.

The original Gibson designers chose Korina because it was similar to mahogany in sound and appearance after finishing. Also, it was a light wood, giving them plenty of freedom in conceptualizing a futuristic shape that would put Gibson ahead of Fender in the innovation game. It was their answer to the Stratocaster and other late 50's Fenders, and other companies that were cashing in on the solid body craze.

As related elsewhere in many accounts about this guitar model, it failed to capture a market even though there were some noteworthy users like blues great Albert King, and later, Dave Davies of the Kinks.

That would have been the end of the story except in the recent decades when the collectors market heated up to unreal levels. Flying V's were going for tens of thousands of dollars. Gibson then reissued the guitar in limited numbers throughout the 90's as both the '59 and '58 Reissue Flying V's (the Korina, not the production model made of mahogany). Ironically, those have ended up being almost as rare as the originals and list at over 13,000 in some cases.

This says two things. It is a classic design that commands top dollar in the collector market. However, the Korina is, and always will be a cult taste in the high-end market, and will never be like the Les Paul. Which serves a purpose, of course, there are some who will want to be different and have a guitar that helps them make that statement.

Regular Gibson V's run around 1200.00 to 1600.00 street price and aren't seen that much. Interestingly enough, low-cost Flying V's have become somewhat of a fixture on the rock scene. The Gibson faded V did fairly well, and got good reviews overall, and companies like Jackson and Dean have respectively made the Randy Rhoads and Michael Schenker style V's quite popular. In fact, the latter V's are what most players are used to seeing as the archetype in hard rock and metal.

In other words, the V is actually a relatively popular instrument that sells well if priced at a certain sweet spot. That's generally the 300.00 to 600.00 price range.

This brings us back to the Epiphone Korina V. It's currently a 500.00 (internet) guitar, and goes head to head with Jacksons and Deans in the same price category. Also, it competes with the Gibson faded V, which is around 150.00 more.

I've owned both a mahogany Gibson and the regular Epi copy and had decided a while back that the V wasn't my kind of guitar (except for liking its looks). Several weeks back, a local Guitar Center marked an Epi Kornia down to 320.00 and I decided to look at maybe getting it as a specialty buy.

I played it for quite a while, as I wanted to like it, so to speak, then left, and came back the next day and tried it again. Although I liked it, I ended up buying a Baja Telecaster instead. You guitar players know how that goes.

As said earlier, it should be judged in two ways. As a medium-priced solid body, it's a good deal. It's a light guitar with a fine short neck that just invites fast playing. The hardware and wood are quite handsome, and the tuning pegs are more than good enough.

There have been complaints about the tuners, if you tune correctly, that is to say, you drop the tone below the correct note, and tune upwards, then the tuner will lock better and stay in tune. If you tune directly to the note, then it may slip a bit as the gear may not be firmly locked. In the 500.00 and up range, most tuning pegs are competent.

The pickups are another matter. The output is decent, in the medium range, but not what one would call hot. The clean tone is OK, but as I've heard a Gibson V play silky and sweet at low volume, the Epi pickups are just above average. Without the use of gain/distortion, this can come off as a surprisingly tinny guitar. I should add that the back pickup is the best of the two.

For a rock and blues guitar, the pickups don't qualify as a major flaw. Using the V in that context, the tone at high volume/gain is excellent and has better bite than the Dean and Jackson versions. It doesn't make metal tones better, but that's an easy problem to solve. Just change out the pickups, and given what I've heard in the wood tone, the guitar is an excellent candidate for an upgrade.

There's another reason. It is a beautiful replica of the original V. No other competitor in this price range can match this version's look and aura. The Gibson faded V is better in terms of stock pickups, but looks cheesy next to the Korina. This is one of Epiphone's best reissue jobs.

If you've seen the pictures, loved the design, and are an avid fan of the original Flying V, then Epiphone has done you a favor and made owning one a matter of paying a few hundred bucks. It's very playable as is, or you can upgrade the pickups and have a guitar that sounds as good as any of the mahogany Gibson V's. Considering the price of an original Korina, this guitar is a steal.

Getting a fake Rolex is illegal, but getting the Epi Korina V isn't. Looking classy and rich has never been so easy.

- Al Handa

2006

Note: This review first appeared on the ePinions.com site in 2006. This and other reviews were short takes that accompanied the link to a business that sold the guitar. As a rule, the guitar had to be at least examined and played by the reviewer (and ideally owned). In my case, a severe case of GAS made it possible to have at least owned the reviewed instrument for a short while. I'm reprinting these as having another source on a guitar never hurts, even if the reviews aren't definitive. Other than minor corrections, these short takes are unchanged from the original text. I figure that it might be helpful to keep the older perspective.

The Quitturz by Al Handa