When you think of the Scorpions, you think of lean riffs, high volume, striped spandex tights, painfully high vocals... and of course, Gibson Flying V's.

"I started out with a German guitar but I was always dreaming of playing a Gibson guitar," Schenker said. "My first Gibson guitar was a (ES)175, a kind of jazz guitar. I'll tell you, going through the Marshall it was like [makes growling feedback sound]. I had to come up with all kinds of tricks to avoid feedback. Then the first time I saw Johnny Winter's poster with the Flying V 58 I said I have to have this guitar, this is my guitar. Since 1972, I've played a Flying V and I love it. For me, there's no guitar better than the Gibson Flying V. I've tried other ones too because companies often came to me and asked me to play their products, and I always went back to my V because it was love at first... sting."

In the early days, according to Schenker, he once loaned his beloved first V to his little bro Michael. The younger Schenker accidentally locked up his Les Paul in his girlfriend's house and needed an ax for a gig. He like it so much, poor Rudy never got it back. As to that guitar's current whereabouts, Rudolf says it's existence is doubtful due to his brother's treatment of fretted instruments.

"I'll tell you one thing, in those crazy days, he'd smash the guitars so often and they'd have to be repaired and he told me, Rudolf, believe it or not, after each crack, and repaired, sounding better.'"

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