Keith Richards’ 1958 Gibson Flying V

Keith was seen playing this guitar during the Hyde Park gig in 1969. Apart from this, it does seem like he didn’t use the guitar at all.

Based on the looks, Keith’s Flying V had to have been 1958, or a 1959 model. Gibson started the production of the model in 1958, and stopped only a year later, after selling only 98 pieces in total. Another batch of Flying Vs was produced in the early 1960s, but these didn’t have gold-plated hardware like Keith’s guitar did, so those are out of the equation.

There’s also some talk online that Keith’s guitar was a prototype of some sort. This could be the case, as there are known Flying V prototypes that look exactly like Keith’s – apparently one of them owned by Eddie Van Halen. Allegedly, there were twelve of these in existence, and today only three are accounted for.

Keith’s Flying V is unfortunately not one of those three, as it was stolen from Villa Nellcote where Keith was staying in 1971.