Moonstone FLAMING V flying v 1984 - Natural Paduak & maple burl

Near mint condition Moonstone Flaming V, completed by master luthier Steve Helgeson on June 7th, 1984. A rare one off example of the Moonstone flying V with Dimarzio pickups, chrome hardware, Schaller tuners, no fingerboard dots, and no mini toggle phase switch. 

The weight is 7.80lbs and the body woods consist of Paduak wings, maple burl veneer with the neck being maple and Paduak neck through construction, common to the California Bay Area builders Moonstone and Alembic during this era.

This guitar is one of four built in 1984, and second to last of the 52 total built from 1980-1984. These V’s were typically outfitted with brass hardware, a Starz Guitars Strat style tremolo, Sperzel tuners and Bartolini pickups. Notations in Steve’s shop build ledger mention the Badass bridge and no fretboard dots on this guitar but no mention of who it was built for.

The original case (similar to what Gibson and Hamer were using then) is in great condition with the exception of a rash type tear in the tolex on the curved surface, see photo. Frets show so little wear, electronics are clean and functioning properly. 

This is a museum quality example of this model with a pro setup and built 42 years ago by one of the true legends amongst boutique guitar builders and a truly kind individual.

Update- I had several people ask about the electronics, specifically the crackle commonly associated with these original Allen-Bradley pots. Back when I purchased this guitar, the pots had a large amount of crackle in them, and I went down the rabbit hole of cleaning up the solder on the screw heads in order to open them up and clean them. The job was challenging and took several hours, but it was successful.

I tested the guitar last night and noticed that the crackle was back in all three potentiometers, along with some other mysterious inductance issues. So I made the decision to swap out the pots with a modern set of CTS 500 K audio, which solved all the problems. The original pots and wiring will be included with this guitar, should you choose to have them reinstalled at a later date.

A big thank you to Andy Grossman, master builder who worked at Moonstone, for his help and insight researching this beautiful and unique Flaming V.