I love Explorers. The only reason I didn't buy the antique natural one is because you can see the seam lines in the multipiece body. It's a shame because I prefer natural over black or white.
I have been wanting an Explorer for many years, and bought one about 3 years ago (just like yours). It was a beautiful guitar and had a great all around sound and feel. The Burstbucker 2 and 3 pickups were well suited for clean or high gain, and had surprising clarity and definition. My complaint was more with Gibson’s quality control. The guitar had a terrible buzzing/popping noise when you touched the strings or pick guard, and when I turned the bridge pickup volume to 10 it would crackle an go silent. If that wasn’t bad enough, the neck pickup was canted rearward (out of the box!) caused by the threaded pole piece screws hitting the neck tenon… requiring them to be cut short so the pickup could be adjusted and sit level. Rather than sending it back under warranty (and wait 2+ months just get it back unresolved), I opted to use shielding paint and replace the controls and wiring with a Starr Guitar pre-wired control set. Problem solved 👍🏻 It’s unfortunate after spending $2,000, I had to wind up spending a couple hundred more to make it right. Great video just the same 👍🏻
great demo, I really like that you included clean tones which most demos of Explorers always skip. I have an 08 explorer and a 70s tribute that I really like and they are easily my best playing guitars. sometimes I wish I had one in the natural finish with nice grain like yours.
Just yesterday I got the left handed Gibson Explorer “Antique Natural” that I ordered from Sweetwater. It was a demo model but it’s so clean I can’t tell it was on their store floor for a bit. Not too many lefties so I imagine it didn’t get played as often as the right handed versions on the floor. Mine was PLEK’d, I’m assuming by Sweetwater, by default. I say “by default” because the price for my demo model was $1799. I just pre ordered (just before ordering this Explorer) one of the new Epiphone ‘58 Korina Flying V’s (lefty of course) and the normal price for those is $1299. I paid an extra $379 for it to be PLEK’d and to have the PLEK machine cut a new TUSQ nut as well as set it up with 8-38 strings (so the strings cost something like $7). I also ordered a new Levy’s strap for it too. All in, tax and all, it was just a hair over $1800. So, I’m guessing they PLEK’d my Gibson by default because I’m not seeing any extra cost added to it. Anyhow, my Explorer also had the same photograph of itself in the case too. I assumed it was it being checked over by Sweetwater but after seeing your video I can only assume it’s a pic of it while it was in Nashville at the Gibson factory. Cool. At any rate, so far I’m loving it. It’s my first Explorer and it feels GREAT. Plays super fast and easy. The PLEK really made it feel incredible. I have many “high end” guitars (Gibson LP’s, an Ibanez JEM7V, a USA Jackson Soloist among many many others….about 24 so far) and this Explorer feels just as high quality. I’m glad I snagged it when I did. For us lefties it’s only a matter of time before Gibson cuts us off of the Explorer and this one’s value will increase quite a bit. Like my USA Soloist…..Jackson isn’t offering the USA Selects in left hand any longer….so it’s worth currently around $3800. I paid $1300 for it back around 2018. Score! Anyhow, nice guitar.
I got my grail Explorer this past weekend…. A Natural finish vintage Japanese Burny REX-80 and it is by far the best guitar I have ever played, and I have played Peter Frampton’s Phenix!!! The Americans may have invented the LP and Explorer and Flying V but the Japanese perfected them!
Yeah, I thought about sending it back, but in real life, it is not actually noticeable unless you shine a light on it at an angle. It plays like butter and sounds great so I decided to keep it.
@@jimyounger9490 I didn't notice until after I made the video, but I mentioned it in the text description of the video when I posted it. Thanks for watching!
I Love my Gibson Explorer. I got it 6 months ago and it pretty much became my Go-To guitar. I have other Gibson Custom Shops I play less. I Love the Neck. It's just fat enough and the fret board is flat and comfortable. You can fly down that fretboard.
thank you for pointing the camera at the case so the interior is exposed when opening, not the back so we can't see jack shit. Nice to see the candy as well.
I don’t know, blind maybe! I am getting older and my eyesight is going downhill! In reality, those chips aren’t that noticeable, and the guitar plays and sounds great, so I just decided I don’t care enough to go through the trouble of sending it back. I’m just going to rock the shit out of this guitar and not worry about it.
@@themanncave2143 You should care. It's the fretboard. Even my cheap Harley Benton Explorer doesn't have that and if it did it would be going back to them. That's not even acceptable for under $300.
nice, too bad about the fretboard but if it play well, it's all right, should have filed for a reduction on the cost tho... I picked up 2 LP's from Gibson recently via Long and McQuade and they were both perfect... having a great time adding character to them in my own way ;)
Explorers don't really sound like les paul standards . The all Mahagony explorers sit in between an SG and an all mahagony les paul custom but also have their own thing going. Explorers have an early clear midrange which is why metal players like them so much. They cut trough a Dense mix and stay defined under heavy drive the way a les paul standard won't. If you like SGs but want something bigger sounding with more bottom end and top end. An explorer is a great choice. If you want one thinking it' will sound like a les paul standard then buy something else .
It's the Korina explorers that are usually around 7 pounds. The gibson USA explorers and Certain custom shop models are made from mahagony and those ones are much heavier then the Korina ones. The original explorers from 58 were Korina and when Gibson brought back the explorers in 76 they were made with all mahagony they were meant to be Korina but when Gibson got the shipment of Korina it was deemed unusable due to the quality so mahagony was used. Gibson did not do a Korina explorer Reissue untill 1983. It's hard to source Korina of good quality in the amount Gibson would require. So Korina reissues are aways limited and only happen sporadically people argue and say that is BS and will point to epiphone and say look epi can do constient Korina models so why not Gibson ? Well it's simple epiohone Korina guitars are not real Korina. They are alder bodies with Korina veneers on the back and front
There is a few things that drive me crazy about Gibson's. Why all the pick guards on Pauls, Exploeres, Vs and SG's. And the terrible placement of strap mounts on Paul's and Vs. That guitar is awesome looking, but the pick guard just ruins it IMO. I got a new Dave Mustaine V-EXP and that is perfect. Stram mounts in the right place, no pick guard and black hardware.
It was lighting and angle - they were tooling marks, but not really noticable in real life. Still, for that much money, maybe they shouldn't be there at all.
You should have been patient and ordered it from Sweetwater and got it pleked. It sucks they don't give you your choice of pickups and color. It weighs too dam much. Come on Gibson!
Someone mentioned they are pleked at Gibson. The setup is pretty great on it, so I believe it. That doesn't explain that Les Paul of mine, but whatevs.
Gibson gives all their production guitars the plek treatment now, while Sweetwater makes you pay for it. The Les Paul you got that wasn't setup well must have been from before they started giving their guitars the plek treatment?
Thanks! The Explorer played perfectly straight out of the box, so that makes sense. I thought I just got lucky! I bought the Les Paul in November '21 from Guitar Center, but no telling how long it was in their warehouse before I got it, so maybe it was made before Gibson started Plekking them.
That guitar did not arrive like that with the chunks out of the fretboard. It was definitely boxed up and opened for the video. The poor acting gave it away. Not caring about glaring flaw says you did that. Just be honest.
I love Explorers. The only reason I didn't buy the antique natural one is because you can see the seam lines in the multipiece body. It's a shame because I prefer natural over black or white.
I have been wanting an Explorer for many years, and bought one about 3 years ago (just like yours). It was a beautiful guitar and had a great all around sound and feel. The Burstbucker 2 and 3 pickups were well suited for clean or high gain, and had surprising clarity and definition. My complaint was more with Gibson’s quality control. The guitar had a terrible buzzing/popping noise when you touched the strings or pick guard, and when I turned the bridge pickup volume to 10 it would crackle an go silent. If that wasn’t bad enough, the neck pickup was canted rearward (out of the box!) caused by the threaded pole piece screws hitting the neck tenon… requiring them to be cut short so the pickup could be adjusted and sit level. Rather than sending it back under warranty (and wait 2+ months just get it back unresolved), I opted to use shielding paint and replace the controls and wiring with a Starr Guitar pre-wired control set. Problem solved 👍🏻 It’s unfortunate after spending $2,000, I had to wind up spending a couple hundred more to make it right. Great video just the same 👍🏻
great demo, I really like that you included clean tones which most demos of Explorers always skip. I have an 08 explorer and a 70s tribute that I really like and they are easily my best playing guitars. sometimes I wish I had one in the natural finish with nice grain like yours.
Thanks!
Just yesterday I got the left handed Gibson Explorer “Antique Natural” that I ordered from Sweetwater. It was a demo model but it’s so clean I can’t tell it was on their store floor for a bit. Not too many lefties so I imagine it didn’t get played as often as the right handed versions on the floor.
Mine was PLEK’d, I’m assuming by Sweetwater, by default. I say “by default” because the price for my demo model was $1799. I just pre ordered (just before ordering this Explorer) one of the new Epiphone ‘58 Korina Flying V’s (lefty of course) and the normal price for those is $1299. I paid an extra $379 for it to be PLEK’d and to have the PLEK machine cut a new TUSQ nut as well as set it up with 8-38 strings (so the strings cost something like $7). I also ordered a new Levy’s strap for it too. All in, tax and all, it was just a hair over $1800. So, I’m guessing they PLEK’d my Gibson by default because I’m not seeing any extra cost added to it. Anyhow, my Explorer also had the same photograph of itself in the case too. I assumed it was it being checked over by Sweetwater but after seeing your video I can only assume it’s a pic of it while it was in Nashville at the Gibson factory. Cool.
At any rate, so far I’m loving it. It’s my first Explorer and it feels GREAT. Plays super fast and easy. The PLEK really made it feel incredible. I have many “high end” guitars (Gibson LP’s, an Ibanez JEM7V, a USA Jackson Soloist among many many others….about 24 so far) and this Explorer feels just as high quality. I’m glad I snagged it when I did. For us lefties it’s only a matter of time before Gibson cuts us off of the Explorer and this one’s value will increase quite a bit. Like my USA Soloist…..Jackson isn’t offering the USA Selects in left hand any longer….so it’s worth currently around $3800. I paid $1300 for it back around 2018. Score!
Anyhow, nice guitar.
Im enjoying the fact that everytime you go for the switch its in the "wrong place" compared to an SG for example haha.
Lovely looking guitar!
I got my grail Explorer this past weekend…. A Natural finish vintage Japanese Burny REX-80 and it is by far the best guitar I have ever played, and I have played Peter Frampton’s Phenix!!! The Americans may have invented the LP and Explorer and Flying V but the Japanese perfected them!
That is some gnarly tear-out on the fretboard beneath the 6th string on frets 12-14 @ 4:10
That’s what I saw. But no mention of it. I didn’t understand that either.
Yeah, I thought about sending it back, but in real life, it is not actually noticeable unless you shine a light on it at an angle. It plays like butter and sounds great so I decided to keep it.
@@jimyounger9490 I didn't notice until after I made the video, but I mentioned it in the text description of the video when I posted it. Thanks for watching!
I Love my Gibson Explorer. I got it 6 months ago and it pretty much became my Go-To guitar. I have other Gibson Custom Shops I play less. I Love the Neck. It's just fat enough and the fret board is flat and comfortable. You can fly down that fretboard.
Yeah, the neck feels awesome. I have since gotten an SG ('61 version) and the neck on that thing is pretty great also.
thank you for pointing the camera at the case so the interior is exposed when opening, not the back so we can't see jack shit. Nice to see the candy as well.
Im not sure how you didnt notice those gnarly chips in the fretboard. Id be sending it back.
I don’t know, blind maybe! I am getting older and my eyesight is going downhill! In reality, those chips aren’t that noticeable, and the guitar plays and sounds great, so I just decided I don’t care enough to go through the trouble of sending it back. I’m just going to rock the shit out of this guitar and not worry about it.
@@themanncave2143 You should care. It's the fretboard. Even my cheap Harley Benton Explorer doesn't have that and if it did it would be going back to them. That's not even acceptable for under $300.
I play and LOVE my Gibson guitars.... but at this price point those defects in the fingerboard that are that bad are not acceptable!
Great Demo. Sounds awsome.
Nice guitar. Looks just like mine, except mine is from 1976 and has the baseball bat neck ( limited edition)
Man, those '76's are cool. Like The Edge!
I got a cheap B2 tribute Explorer recently, Im not picking my Strat up much!
Nice! Rock on!
nice, too bad about the fretboard but if it play well, it's all right, should have filed for a reduction on the cost tho... I picked up 2 LP's from Gibson recently via Long and McQuade and they were both perfect... having a great time adding character to them in my own way ;)
Thanks! Rock on!
Explorers don't really sound like les paul standards .
The all Mahagony explorers sit in between an SG and an all mahagony les paul custom but also have their own thing going. Explorers have an early clear midrange which is why metal players like them so much. They cut trough a Dense mix and stay defined under heavy drive the way a les paul standard won't.
If you like SGs but want something bigger sounding with more bottom end and top end. An explorer is a great choice. If you want one thinking it' will sound like a les paul standard then buy something else .
Good observations. I think I am more of an SG/Explorer guy. I recently picked up an SG and sold my LP.
I don't see much happiness . No smiles or real sense of joy.
It is the crushing sadness of getting a new guitar I suppose....
Someone took an axe to the fretboard! How did this pass QC?! 😕
I don't know, but I really don't notice it or care as it doesn't affect playability.
Does the Baby photo show those 2 big gouges in the Fret Board ?
I didn't really examine the picture. I'm just not worried about it.
Nice guitar man!
Thanks! I like it a lot.
It's the Korina explorers that are usually around 7 pounds. The gibson USA explorers and Certain custom shop models are made from mahagony and those ones are much heavier then the Korina ones. The original explorers from 58 were Korina and when Gibson brought back the explorers in 76 they were made with all mahagony they were meant to be Korina but when Gibson got the shipment of Korina it was deemed unusable due to the quality so mahagony was used. Gibson did not do a Korina explorer Reissue untill 1983.
It's hard to source Korina of good quality in the amount Gibson would require. So Korina reissues are aways limited and only happen sporadically people argue and say that is BS and will point to epiphone and say look epi can do constient Korina models so why not Gibson ? Well it's simple epiohone Korina guitars are not real Korina. They are alder bodies with Korina veneers on the back and front
New Epiphones are solid Korina. Also , I just bought a this Gibson and it only weighs 7.5 lbs 🤷♂️✌️
Muy buena explicacion , tengo una igual y es la guitarra perfecta !!!
¡Agradable! ¡Me alegro de que estés disfrutando de tu Explorer!
Such a sweet axe, congratulations man!
Thanks!
There is a few things that drive me crazy about Gibson's. Why all the pick guards on Pauls, Exploeres, Vs and SG's. And the terrible placement of strap mounts on Paul's and Vs. That guitar is awesome looking, but the pick guard just ruins it IMO. I got a new Dave Mustaine V-EXP and that is perfect. Stram mounts in the right place, no pick guard and black hardware.
Agree with the strap button placement. I was thinking to change the pick guard out to a black one, but I don't mind the pick guard in principle.
Was it just the angle or were there chunks missing out of the fretboard???
It was lighting and angle - they were tooling marks, but not really noticable in real life. Still, for that much money, maybe they shouldn't be there at all.
You should have been patient and ordered it from Sweetwater and got it pleked. It sucks they don't give you your choice of pickups and color. It weighs too dam much. Come on Gibson!
Someone mentioned they are pleked at Gibson. The setup is pretty great on it, so I believe it. That doesn't explain that Les Paul of mine, but whatevs.
Great share!! Enjoy!
Thanks so much!
Don't forget METALICA
I thought about doing the intro from Master of Puppets. I'll save that for another video!
Gibson gives all their production guitars the plek treatment now, while Sweetwater makes you pay for it. The Les Paul you got that wasn't setup well must have been from before they started giving their guitars the plek treatment?
Thanks! The Explorer played perfectly straight out of the box, so that makes sense. I thought I just got lucky! I bought the Les Paul in November '21 from Guitar Center, but no telling how long it was in their warehouse before I got it, so maybe it was made before Gibson started Plekking them.
They've been plekking their guitars for over 10 years maybe even 15
Damn that fretboard looks like ass. Otherwise stunning guitar. I like the finish.
It really isn't as bad as it appears in the video. The angle of the lighting emphasized it. It is hard to actually see in real life.
The picture of your guitar is called the "baby" picture of your guitar.
👏👏👏
GREAT 🎯🤗👋
Thank you! Cheers!
@@themanncave2143 😜👋
Wtf is up with the fretboard?
It adds character.
What Pickups come in that Guitar ???
Burst Bucker 3 in the bridge, and Burst Bucker 2 in the neck.
raising the action not good. derp.
For me it can be too low.
Don't smoke weed before you do a demo.
I neither confirm nor deny your accusations, sir.
Smoke during and after my man.
😂
That guitar did not arrive like that with the chunks out of the fretboard. It was definitely boxed up and opened for the video. The poor acting gave it away. Not caring about glaring flaw says you did that. Just be honest.
You caught me. I am a bad actor. But I have a cool Explorer.
Love the Explorer a beautiful guitar
Thanks! It is a keeper.
Man that guitar is nice I would one in red
They could mix up the colors a bit! All they have are natural wood or white.
Please make a flying v demo and unboxing when u get the chance... Explorer sound so good, damn bro! Great Video
Thanks! I would love to do a Flying V demo.
Gibson: Send me a Flying V!
@@themanncave2143 Gibson send him a Flying V 🤗