All the way back in January, Tool electric guitar player Adam Jones raised eyebrows when he used a mysterious Gibson Flying V with a split headstock onstage at the band's tour opener at the Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon.
With the launch of the Gibson USA version of Jones' signature Les Paul Standard in March, and the continuous teases of his seemingly imminent signature Epiphone Les Paul Custom, though, you'd be forgiven for letting the V slip your mind in the face of the Tool guitarist's other recent Gibson activity.
Recently though, Jones took to Instagram to give viewers a closer look at what he calls "the most BAMF Flying V ever" (we'll let you Google what that stands for if you don't know already), a gorgeous custom guitar that apparently was designed with assistance from Kirk Hammett, Richie Faulkner and Jim Root.
"This is now one of my top favorite guitars of all time," Jones says in the video's caption, "A stellar Custom Vintage Aged reverse Silverburst Gibson Flying V with a beautiful Murphy Lab finish. My dream guitar made true by my good friend Cesar Gueikian – thank you amigo!"
"I always loved the 1958 Futura headstock & [asked] if [the] Gibson team would be willing to pull it out of retirement. I believe it’s one of the heaviest Flying V‘s Gibson has ever made to date.
"The overall tone – lows/mids/highs – are amazing," the Tool six-stringer continued, "and the heavy body weight also helps me control feedback and sustain just like my vintage LPCs [Les Paul Customs]. I played this epic instrument on stage during the last 2022 Tool tour and it sounds and performs killer!"
The guitar, Jones revealed, is one of only three of its kind. Jones owns numbers 1 and 3, and Gibson's Cesar Gueikian owns number 2.
Furthermore, Jones rounded out the post by thanking Kirk Hammett, Richie Faulkner and Jim Root, among others, for "help/input/support and consulting." Custom Vs do take a village...
Jones' relationship with the Gibson Custom Shop hasn't just resulted in Les Pauls and Vs of late, either. Earlier this year, the firm made a one-off double-neck Silverburst EDS-1275 model for him as a gift.
