EPIPHONE PROPHECY FLYING V £799

With top-dollar spec and classy finish, is this 2020’s best metal guitar?

- Jonathan Horsley

The distance between Gibson’s entry-level US build and a top-of-therange, Chinese-built Epiphone is closing all the time. Take the Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard, a quite stunning collaboration with the Gibson Custom Shop that is arguable better dressed than a Les Paul Tribute. Or take this Prophecy Flying V, which takes the high-road when it comes to spec.

Here we’ve got a mahogany body with a AAA flame maple veneer – like the ’59 LP – though it is also available in Aged Satin Black. The Prophecy V has a set, mahogany neck, carved into Gibson’s Asymmetrical Slim Taper profile. Originally the asymmetrical carve was an accident, with variances on hand-carved necks meaning some had an ever-so-slightly fatter profile on the bottom-strings’ side and a thinner profile down under the top strings. But then it became a feature, offering the best of both worlds, speed and comfort