Lucy is the name given to the Gibson Flying V and a series of copies owned by blues guitarist Albert King. King apparently picked the Flying V (at a time when few other guitarists did) because of its style, and in return helped make it famous.
Contents
First Lucy
The "original" Lucy, named for Lucille Ball, was a right-handed 1959 Gibson Flying V made of korina, and it is the guitar King used on almost all of the important recordings he made for Stax Records. The guitar was stolen but later recovered. King bought it in his St. Louis days, in the late 1950s, when his career was beginning to take off. He kept the name secret for a while, for some reason, and then revealed it as Lucy; Stax played up the revelation by releasing the single "I Love Lucy", which became a hit in 1968.
King played a second Flying V, a 1966 model, after his 1959 model was stolen. Reportedly this one was given to him by Gibson; this is the guitar he used to record "Born Under a Bad Sign". The 1959 V was recovered and it was retired in 1974, to make way for the second Lucy.



