Epiphone launches Inspired by Gibson Jimi Hendrix Flying V

Epiphone, Gibson's Custom Shop, and the Jimi Hendrix family estate have come together for a brand new “Love Drops” Flying V in honor of “a player who took the instrument to places no one else had ever gone before.”

The six-string is an Inspired by Gibson recreation of the instrument that Hendrix frequently wielded between 1967-69, and arrives on the market with a $1,499 price tag.

Hendrix had customized what was originally a Sunburst model that had been re-finished Ebony, adorning it with hand-painted psychedelic graphics. Those Hendrix originals have been carefully recreated.

They decorate a mahogany body and one-piece mahogany neck, sculpted into a C-profile and topped with a laurel fretboard. It comes stocked with 22 medium jumbo frets.

Hardware choices include Epiphone Deluxe tuners and a short Maestro Vibrola bridge, while an Inspired by Gibson custom logo and Hendrix’s signature can be found on the back of its headstock.

Epiphone has talked up its “first-rate” electronics, with a pair of Gibson Custombucker humbuckers – rather than cheaper Epiphone-branded pickups found in standard issue Epiphone Vs – making for a fairly premium appointment.

They are wired to CTS potentiometers, a Mallory tone capacitor, and a three-way pickup switch, and the guitar also comes with a hardshell case that sports Inspired by Gibson Custom and Authentic Hendrix logos.

There have been a number of legendary guitar replicas produced under the Gibson brand umbrella in recent years, from Jeff Beck’s 1959 ‘YardBurst’ Les Paul Standard to Jason Isbell's "Red Eye" Les Paul , formerly owned by Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ed King. Those guitars, released as Gibson Custom Shop models, fetched $10,000 and $22,000 apiece so it's nice to see this Hendrix replica coming in at a more accessible price, via the Epiphone family.

It also comes in at a fraction of the $10,000 a Gibson Custom Hendrix V cost players when it was released in 2020.

Of course, Hendrix was famed for his employment of a right-handed Fender Stratocaster that he played left-handed, but he was known to pick up other instruments. His early '60s-Era Japanese Sunburst guitar , which returned to auction in 2022, and his love for a Gibson Flying V are two fine examples.

The new Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Jimi Hendrix Love Drops Flying V costs $1,499 and is available today as right- and left-handed versions.

Head to Epiphone for more details.

Earlier this year a rare recording of Jimi Hendrix playing with Little Richard , akin to “discovering a musical holy grail,” was sold at auction in May. Hendrix was part of the blues great's band long before becoming a household name.