Most Likely A Gibson 'Employee' '58 Flying V Re-Issue.

2001 Gibson Flying V 'Korina' '58 Reissue.

This is most probably a Gibson 'employee' Korina Flying V. This guitar weighs just 8.10 lbs. and has a 1 5/8 inch thick, two-piece Korina body with 'ribbed' black rubber insert on treble edge. One-piece 'Birds-Eye' Korina neck with a huge nut width of just under 1 13/16 inches, a scale length of 24 3/4 inches and a wonderful thick profile. Rosewood fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and pearl dot position markers. Headstock with gold plastic "Gibson" logo and bell-shaped, black over white plastic truss-rod cover with two screws. Individual Gibson (Japan) Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons. Serial number "8 6324" stamped in black on back of headstock. Two Gibson Humbuckers with outputs of 13.81k and 13.54k, each engraved on the underside "Gibson". The neck pickup with the traditional 'braided' steel lead and the bridge pickup with the gray plastic lead. Three-layer white over black plastic pickguard with eight screws. Three controls (two volume, one tone) plus three-way selector switch. Black plastic bell-shape "Bell" shaped knobs. Gibson (Japan) 'ABR-1' non-retainer Tune-O-Matic bridge with metal saddles, modernistic "V" shaped metal tailpiece. The potentiometers are all stamped "EP 086 0149 (CTS, December 2001). All hardware gold-plated. This great playing 'V' is in near mint (9.25) condition with just a few small marks on the treble edge of the body. Housed in a brown three-latch 'V' shaped hardshell  case with maroon plush lining (9.25).

This is a very interesting guitar which varies in several ways from the usual 1998 onward Historic '58.
The body is slightly thicker at just over 1 5/8 inches compared with the usual 1 1/2 inches. The headstock shape is far more similar to the original '58 flying V (less pointed that the historic re-issue). The nut width is far wider at 1 13/16 inches than the normal 1 11/16 inches. Whatever the story we are offering this great looking, great playing Korina 'V' at a bargain basement price - the first person to try this guitar will buy it…

The original Korina Flying V, introduced in 1958,was produced in very small numbers (1958: 81 guitars; 1959: 17 guitars). Legend has it that there were also a few more built in 1962-63 which were assembled from leftover parts.
The second version flying V's 1967-1970 were made with mahogany bodies - again in very limited numbers with a total production run of just 175 guitars. There were then three other versions made between 1971 and 1979 - again all with mahogany bodies. The fist time that the Korina bodies appeared again was in 1981 - and they were made in the old Kalamazoo factory in very limited numbers - again legend has it that they produced only 100 guitars in the first year of 1981 and similar numbers per year through 1984.