O'Hagan Flying V

I BELIEVE AN 81 OR 83 ITS BLACK WITH EBONY OR ROSEWOOD FRET BOARD AND TWO DIMARZIO HUMBUCKERS ONe VOLUME ONE TONE AND A 3 WAY SWITCH WITH A german made two piece wraparound bridge with intonatable brass saddles neckthru, origonal case and it is over all a tad smaller then a gibson V and it is AMERICAN made baby although the controls are asian

I rock and I blues Or mostly noodle like crazy and this does it all with aplumb I use mostly fender vintage tube amps and some danelectro vintage tube some laney tube a gibson vintage tube a vintage airline tube some old Kustom tube amps a vintage silvertone(danelectro) tube amp and solid states from fender,laney epiphone and marshall.for effects everything from tape echos and ts9's to zoom and boss and dod a great and grand variety. This takes them all with gusto as long as you mate the effect the amp and the guitar right for instance this sounds good with my solid state amps but not if with an outboard effect except my boss me30 but thats perty canned anyway. with my zoom uf01 on a tuber like my 74 twin reverb or my 75 bassman 100 with 4x12 it is awesome with a dod classic fuzz and dod compressor thru my 1950 denelectro vibrovox special its pretty wild straight into or through a volume pedal either a dod or an old fender or 60' dearmond into my early 80's Kustom studio 4 valve or the studio 6 valve is just heaven its actually pretty versatile but just a little hot for ol' timey blues but it still does the job

bought it used i took care of the set up and it rocks the bridge is a little different but it works everthing is straight and functions topper most its a solid black so dinks or dents show up pretty good but i am awful anal so its in real good shape like 98 or 99 percent and nothing thru the paint or full on noticible as amatter of fact 99 percent is not quite enough but it is used so 100 percent would be too much

this thing is a kick butt guitar i would gig it alone no sweat but you should always have back up i usually take three or four of my guitars my o'hagan model 22 my o'hagan lazer my 78 fender tele and my 79 hardtail strat and sometimes others dependant on the gig i always go thru used guitars to make sure all is there and tight especially the pots and the jacks and the strap buttons this one was fine i will soon replace the no name pots on this like i did my lazer and the jack as well and then it will be future perfect the ones in it work fine but HEY quality tells so go ahead and replace them keep the old ones for collecter sense

out of business 22 years now so uhuh but i have found guitar guys to help me out like PHIL at the phoenix Sam Ash store he is awesome a 7 for them being gone but with guys like Phil around its an 11 really

playing at it over 30 years and i still suck as for gear well i will give the highlights 01 inca silver tele 78 ash blond tele 79 ash natural hardtail strat 81 black ohagan model 22 81 ohagan natural lazer 56 blond supro ranchero 65 two pickup silvertone ampincase 61 airline 1 pickup ampincase 05 ibanez ga30 w/mods 71 gibson melody maker 71 harmony nylon string 65 hagstrom nylon string 67 framus parlor sized nylon string 02 liberty reso some various dobros both square and round necks from 1970 to 86, 76 regal bicentennial commerative acoustic steel string 80's alvarez 5 string banjo 70 harmony banjo 5 string of course 71 stella(harmony)mandolin and other stringed stuff as for amps 2 1950 danelectro vibrovox specials 67 bassman 74 fender twin 75 bassman 100 79 bassman 10 95 fender psc 90s kustom studio 4 valve 2x12 80s kustom studio 6 valve 1x15 silvertone amp case airline amp case laney vc30210 w ext 1x12 laney gc50a an epiphone ss a marshall ss a fender frontman 15r and i am sure there are some in my storage i have forgotten i used to be a music gear jobber and i worked for guitar center many years ago and i have been aquiring gear since the seventies so i have a s*it load of stuff if it were stolen i would turn to black magic and kill the perp and recover or replace as soon as possible i love the look feel and sound the only real major change i would make is it would really rock if it were stringthru but it kicks da' bootay now so.....

I was lucky enough to come across a friend who said "I found the coolest Flying V" I said, what a "Gibson?" He says, "No, O'Hagan." Right away, I thought it must be junk. One day when I was at his house, I played it. I fell in love. Head over heels!! So long story short, I had a Gibson RD Artist series that I was looking to get rid of. I traded him straight up...and the V was mine.

When I originally got it, I was playing speed metal and punk. Man did it suit well for that style of music. I was running it thru an Ampeg 120. No noise. Beatiful sound. Very crunchy pickups.

It was set up beautifully. I have never hard a guitar feel so good in my hand. Pickups were great. Action was awesome. Well balanced. I never had anything adjusted...ever. The finish was beautiful. Had a natural wood finish with a few stripes on it. Very unique looking axe.

It lasted for 6 or 7 years of speed metal/punk gigs. So it must be pretty durable. I never had any problems. Except, when I tripped on the chord and cracked the headstock on the concrete floor. Ouch. Still haven't fixed it to this day. I'm worried they're going to tell me that it's not fixable.

I've never dealt with the company. Matter of fact trying to find ANY information on O'Hagan is nearly impossible nowadays. I do know that they were out of St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

I've been playing for about 25 years. I own quite a few other guitars, but nothing will ever live up to my O'Hagan Flying V. If I could find another, I'd buy it in a second. I've played a few Gibson Flying V's that were similar in feel and sound. But, they just don't seem as unique.

Just to give a little back ground on the guitars. My name is Dave Hennies and in the fall of 1981 I was hired to sand guitars at O'hagan guitars of St Louis Park Mn by Charlie O'hagan himself. What a great guy full of vision. It was a very cool job and I eventually learned everything about making them. One of my main areas was crafting the necks. We had a really good crew there but the job only lasted for me until the bank forclosed and we had to shut the doors. The remainder of our stock was purchased by Knut Kupe of Minneapolis. O'hagan guitars were of the highest quality unfortunately for the company they were about ten years before their time.
I'd like to make a correction on the type of wood used. They were made, without exception, from maple and black walnut or just solid maple. The fretboards were either solid maple or rosewood.
If any of the old gang ever comes accross this write up please email me at david.l.hennies@us.army.mil
or if anyone else has any questions.
One other note, one of the luthiers we had on the team was the late Roger Benedict(sp?) who went on to make some great guitars a couple of which Jackson Brown plays

This is a cool guitar! It is laminated maple and mahogany, with the woods in an alternating stripe pattern parallel with the direction of the neck. 22 frets on a maple fretboard. Neck is maple and mahogany fused together in a rather interesting pattern, with the headstock made entirely of mahogany. the frets are large, but not overly so. I think the pickups are Dimarzios, a super distortion in the bridge and a PAF or something in the neck. the bridge is an odd and weighty sort of stop-tailpiece wraparound combo. Controls are two volumes and a tone, and a three way toggle. the neck is awesome! it is Gibson width, with a thinner back, and almost Fenderish V profile. It is quite smooth and does not wear my hand out even after 5 or 6 hours of playing. Igive it a 10 in this catagory.

The bridge pickup is bright and crunchy, yet reatively clear when sounding open chords at full volume. The neck pickup is a bit too dark for my taste. When I turn my amp up (I use a Marshall JCM 800) ther is a great deal of hom coming out of the guitar, so I have to keep my hand on the strings at all times. But the thing has sustain for days! It can hold a note for as long as I finger it! Despite the misgivings, the guitar has great crunch and sustain, so for sound I'll give it an 8.

I bought it at a pawn shop, and the people knew nothing about guitars, but ironicaly, the set up was flawless. The action is really low, precipitating much fast fingerwork. it is a pleasure to play. only one problem I have found: the controls seem to taper off the tone as well as the volume. When I turn down the bridge volume control, the pickup almost blocks out the higher tones of the high strings. Weird. But I still give it an 8.

I haven't had it for long enough to test the durability, but I know that it never goes out of tune! 10

I've never heard of the company, and neither has any of my friends or Yahoo search, or Ask Jeeves. It was a mystery until I found this site. You see, I went browsing at a pawn shop here in Reno. I had no intention of buying another guitar. But, as fate would have it, I say this cool natural maple/mahogany flying v on the wall. I picked it up and fooled around with it, and it felt great. I had never heard of the brand, but I knew quality when I saw it! The woman at the shop said the price was $400, but she would knock off a hundred because they were having a "special sale." I said "Hmmm, how about knocking off $150?" She took it to her boss who had no idea about what he was looking at (he thought it was sone kind of birch construction) and he approved the sale. I got a hell of a deal!

I have been playng for about 8 years or so. I own a fair amount of sub-par gear, except for my pride and joy 1987 Marshall JCM 800, and my baby 1969 Fender Strat. If someone stole this guitar from me, I would beat the crap out of them, and take my guitar back. It is a one of a kind thing, I have never heard of or seen any others. I love it because it just feels right, you know, when it just fits in your hands and feels good. I wish it wouldnt sound dark when the volumes were turned down, but otherwise it is an excellent instrument.