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Like you said, they’re not the Dirty Fingers, but they do remind me of the DF bridge and T-Top neck that’re in my ‘85 Scorpions Explorer, which oddly enough has a mahogany neck and body.
You just summed up gibson... that people still buy their bull💩 blows my mind! They are worth like 600$ if you look at quality but they ask 5x the price. It´s all brandname you pay for. But people are stupid....
@@nick_be9159 indeed. I bought a Les Paul Gibson standard 60’s to clarify I bought at a pawn shop. Overpriced 🤦🏻♂️ almost average priced if you would’ve bought it new at the guitar shop. It’s my first Gibson 🙄 since I’m a fender guitar guy 😂 I’ve had my first fender Stratocaster when I was 16. Any who not liking the tones on this Gibson I’m already doing my research changing the pick ups. Or I must just sell it. They hold there value. I also own a 1986 Ibanez RG440 that sounds way better than this Gibson from the factory 😂 you pretty much nail it.
For sure way, ..... better than Gibson explorers , I had a real 2007 Olympic white MX 250 , and it was my unicorn . I wish still had it . Much better quality overall
@@syracuse6651 I bet on that! Amazing guitars, after searching for month I gave up because of the horrendous prices. I will safe up money and get myself a nice Luthier-made Explorer. I will pay around 2-3 grand for what I want, but it will be worth it and you know... it's one of those "One in a life-time" purchases. I play guitar everyday so I need a good tool!
The crooked tuners are a major quality fail, I would return it, a simple thing done so sloppily can not be acceptable, not at the price Gibson charges.
@@Lord_Raptor No it's not. That's a little harsh. I have 2 dozen perfect Gibsons. Built between 2000 and 2018. I've never purchased a "bad" Gibson. That said, I always buy "barely" used. So maybe somebody else before me had to deal with the problem. Know what I'm sayin'? I don't buy new cars either. Same reason.
I tried one of these and I must’ve played a unicorn cause it was as close to perfect as someone could make a guitar (playability and sound wise at least), still pretty barebones for 2.5k though, especially considering the specs aren’t as accurate as they should be for an 80s reissue
@@TheJeffcurran It's not so much that Gibson guitars are crap, it's that their QC either has low standards in what they will pass, or, QC inspectors only checks one or two in a batch. Either which way, it points to sloppy practices in the factory. For the price Gibson asks for retail, near perfection should be guaranteed unless sold as B stock.
It never ceases to amaze me that Gibson get away with this level of quality, consistently. Brands supplying instruments at 20% of the price of this Gibson are criticised and shunned for quality issues that are not even as bad as those of Gibson.
They dont getting away with it. They were bankrupt not long ago, and were bought.....and after every takeover in industry they monetarize even more. And they always begin with "Less quality, more price" They will be bankrupt again. Everyone knows it. Some people, mostly boomer and fanbois, think: "hey when they are gone, prices will skyrocket like a Burstie" And the fanbois do their fanboithing "Hey it has nitrofinish, you can hear and feel this.....really....." To satisfy the fact they bought a average guitar for prices where they can have top notch custom shop guitars from other brands. Look at their endorser page. Some old Dudes. But if you want to sell guitars, you need to reach younger people. And the prices, and the models say "no". 80s is not "fresh" anymore. There was a short Stranger Things Hype, but now young people like the style of the end 90s, early 2000s.....a time where gibson did not had a new model for 15 years. And even the Guns and Roses Hype was long gone. Fender is better at this point: Look what the bands at coachella play. You wont see any gibson but plenty of fender, schecter, suhr.....whatever. Gibson is the guitar you granddad plays. But what should they do? Some fancy LPs with pastel pink finish? The Boomerfanbois would outrage. Gibson has to wait til the boomers are dead, and then release fresh models. But then they will be bankrupt and chinese or smth. And no....a old fart like Hetfield wouldnt make a difference. Metallica is a Band of old guys. They dont sell to young people.
Thanks for the review. Sorry you had to take a hit on the Explorer. The guitar should have been sent directly to the Gibson Demo Shop, priced at $1799, and conditioned labeled as fair. Explorers are my fav, I own eight. I was suspicious of this model, and there is one sitting at a shop in my town. Pass.
I'm unimpressed. I got a real Gibson Mahogany Explorer about a year ago. They're now $1999, but I beat the price increase. I'm thrilled. I wouldnt pay for one of these.
is it just me or does the QC have been slowly declining over the last year? I had to send my SG std 61 back because the nickelplating on the hardware was flaking off and even worse with a neck relief of 0.10 and the bridge all the way down to the body the action on the high E couldn't go lower than 5/64th and on the low E at 6/64th. already a high action for my taste but absolutely no room for adjustment in the future it should have never passed QC. The one i got after sending the first one back was much better. no cosmetic issues and still some adjustability at the bridge if needed in the future.
They had to make a whole Reverb shop for all the guitars they couldn’t sell in stores, I know they’ve made a few custom ones to sell there (also “factory 2nds”, just modded) and they’ve sold like 1,400 last time I’ve checked, and have 100 listed. So atleast 1,500 blemished, poor quality guitars sold that they couldn’t sell in stores, or were returned for the horrible QC. Gibson needs to step it up
The Dirty Fingers sounded quite muddy on clean, whereas the new ones were much more open and the new neck one sounds amazing no matter if it's clean or gain, has that creamy solo tone!
For $2500 it should be perfect and exactly like the original specs. The tuners askew; a jig is probably available for setting them, so no excuse. Strap buttons, etc… all should be PERFECT! Thanks for the review, AUSTIN! You’re our voice of reason with Gibson👍.
Gibson has lost touch of reality.. Although I really want one (in white), $2500 is crazy for what it is.. The white one from the teaser photo also looks like to have an Ebony board, which I really hope it has, if not, that's some dark Rosewood. The 3-way toggle placement doesn't seem well thought out. Although I'm fine with them being made out of Mahogany, it would've been cool to get Alder-Maple, although it's a solid finish I like the woodgrain on Alder and Maple a lot more than Mahogany.
Holy hell! The Q.C. on that guitar is so poor! For $2500 I would not expect to find so many things wrong. A few years ago I bought a secondhand epiphone 84 custom x-plorer. It was a ltd edition model too. It cost me a total of £375. It has grover tuners, I couldn't tell you what the bridge or tailpiece makers are. All the hardware is black, the guitar is white. The epi logo is M.O.P. The pups are an EMG 81 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck. It plays beautifully, looks badass and just fits when I wanna play a bit of Metallica! It has one volume and one tone. If I was given the choice of that one and mine, I choose mine. Oh and its mahogany body and neck, with rosewood board.
For $2500 (and even less than that) I expect an absolutely flawless instrument unless purposely made to look aged. I doubt the Epiphone '84 Explorers (or just epiphone in general) uses real MoP inlay as they don't have the colours or dance to them that real MoP has. The '84 Explorer came with EMG 81/85 stock. I had one in Black, didn't seem possible to get it as low as I wanted it to go.. Oh and a funny and ironic thing, the Epiphone '84 Explorer has the control layout of an ESP MX/EX/Snakebyte and the body looks more like the ESP MX-220 than anything Gibson lol
QC issues aside, it sounded good. That price though. If wait a year until the novelty wears off, and get a used one for much less. These will be all over Reverb for $1500.00 by then. Bring on the Flying V!
It's like Gibson doesn't care about the little details anymore? On certain guitars they seemed to care alot. But this and the Greeny Standard? Not so much.
This one is a big ol' nope for me. It's not like the 80's explorer should be a difficult guitar to reissue properly but somehow Gibson managed to screw it up still. And if I were you Trogly, I would be sending that guitar back to Gibson for the QC issues.
Think I would rather have the Harley Benton and throw in $500 worth of pickups + upgrades. I could do that to 3 guitars and still not put a dent in the asking price of this thing with it's bad finish (uneven, rippled and swirled from lazy polishing). That is a $600 guitar on a good day. It doesn't matter what it cost to make when the competition offers more for around $600 - $1000. Great review and demo as always Trogly.
Either your camera is too brutaly honest, or the QC on this guitar is beyond the acceptable. I just purchased a Les Paul Standard '60s and it came flawless. Thanks for the review Austin.
You really have to wonder if any of the builders at Gibson actually give a f**k about the guitars they're building or if they're actually that incompetent.
Would be amazing to have a Hetfield signature, but he has a contract with ESP to make his signature guitars with them and considering they just came out with the vulture… I don’t think that contract is going away anytime soon.
So does Kirk. ID wager that once you reach the level of success as the boys from Metallica have, you can have multiple contracts and no one will complain.
At first, I was very excited fot this 80s explorers but when I realised that they ignored VERY IMPORTANT details, my already low respect for gibson has dug a hole. How hard can it be to just remake your own guitars??
As a fellow Crying Star owner I second that, at this point why even bother with Gibson? Get a Navigator if you want to spend that kind of money and you'll get far superior quality for it. And getting a good Edwards is even less than half the price of a Gibson
Trog. There CNC Programer must be on a lazy Side. With Today’s CNC they could have each Guitar perfect. As for the Gibson Logo it should be All inlays. For What you Pay for it I would be Ashamed to have my Company guitar going Out like That. Yes I Work on a CNC for 15 years. And I ran Parts the Had + - .004 Tolerance. Also your working with Wood.
100% man. It’s perfect. Screw that it’s not exactly like the 84. I can careless. The fact they brought these new guitars back with no pickguard and triangle knob placement is all that matters. That light weight mahogany is amazing. Alder wood holds too much moisture which contributed to the bad checking the old ones used to do.
@@charlesrocks 💯 agree. The new one is LEGIT af. I also own an esp version snakebyte and I like the new Gibson just as much. Ot course the esp is much more polished and perfect in every way but this Gibson is truly bad ass. Just ceramic coat it like I did and it’ll make your life much easier.
@@GluedBarstoolAll of Hetfield’s Gibson Explorers are MAHOGANY BODY, MAHOGANY NECK, AND ROSEWOOD FRETBORD. Poplar is such a shitty wood. Plus the 80s Reissue Explorer has EVERYTHING a Metallica fan could want.
6:54 Trogly, I've always wondered where the middle position output came from and I realized it's less the half of half of each pickup. Let's do some math: 15,82/2=7,91 (one coil of the bridge); 7,42/2=3,71 (one coil of the neck); but (7,91+3,71)/2=5,81. Is there some kind of loss of signal in the third position?
Middle position isn't using one coil. It's both full humbuckers, usually wired in parallel. The formula you'd use is more like ... Parallel resistance = 1 / (1/15.82 + 1/7.42) = 5.05
These guitar companies are lucky people buy these guitars for the brand name... with this qc standard for the price why would I just buy an epiphone? Lol
Arctic White, alder body, maple neck, ebony fretboard and dual Dirty Fingers-humbuckers? Nope. A standard Explorer without a pickguard and a different control layout? You got it! Gibson in a nutshell...
I am all kinds of disappointed with this. My dream since 86 was to have "That weird whit guitar" James Hetfield was playing on the Cliff 'EM All cassette. No matter how many shops I went to and asked about one, I have never seen a white one in person to this day. In high school (around 1992) I found a black example at a Daddys Junky Music rt 1 Peabody MA for $350, I bought it that second. I eventually traded it in towards a wine red studio. I can't afford what the market wants for one non Kahler original pups so I got excited when I heard these were coming I got excited. The shape, lay out and pups kill it for me. Great video as always though bro.
The thing ive always loved about this type of explorer is the switch placement, so close but not in the way but the og explorer feels like you're travelling continents
I would like to hear the neck pickup on the one I just got but the switch won’t stay in the neck position. Always pops back into the middle position….lol Can confirm the guitar is very light. I got it used for a fair bit less and it barely feels worth the amount I paid. It’s such a bare bones guitar and they want to charge almost what a Les Paul with a figured maple top and binding costs. This guitar should be no more than $1499 new. It does play pretty well and the pickups are growing on me (hotter than I’m used to). It’s hotter but leaner than my 1985 V with Wolfetone Marshallheads in it (hot PAF). Which actually works well going into a fuzz or mesa recto for a tighter, meaner response. No boost required. If where I got it from will fix the switch and check some other things (nut is very poorly cut) I might invest in some black hardware, jumbo frets and rock this Mutha.
Love the pick-ups in it. Wonder if Gibson will sell just the pick-ups in the future? I'd definitely pick up a set. And serious question, what's wrong with a mahogany body and neck together? Just curious that's all
Cool guitar but the overall black and no pickguard is too plain for me IMHO. Sounds good though! Thanks for the review Trogly looking forward to the V as well 👍
Every time I feel like gibson cant get any worse, they do. All those blems are so unacceptable even for an 800$ guitar. If a custom guitar had even one of those flaws, it would be lawsuit worthy.
I'm sorry Trogly. All I'm left with is saying "So what?" I "rescued" an Epiphone with a strat style body and an Epiphone/Gibson labeled "banana shape" headstock neck. I separated up this EVH mutant from itself a got a korina explorer body for the "Explorer" neck and another maple neck for strat body. I haven't built out my "separated conjointed twins" but I have high hopes for success it any case!
I wish they could've nailed the shape and control layout to the exact of the original. Stuff I've read though is the 80s Explorers is that they had a random wood options. Mahogany bodies were used, along side alder, and I read mahogany necks were also used on top of maple. Dream Explorer is a 1984 in white with alder body, maple neck and an ebony board, just like Hetfield's, but also I enjoy the specs just sounding not like Gibson with all mahogany.
Back around 1998, my former musical instrument retailer in the town of Monroe, New York, Gregg van Gelder, had an ebony-finish Epiphone Explorer in his inventory. It was almost a dead ringer for this Gibson version that just came out. At the time, I owned a BC Rich solid body in banana yellow, and my father said that I shouldn't turn loose of it for an Explorer just because I liked the look better.
Probably nothing, @@potatoman8510. I will say that I wound up getting an Epiphone Explorer 10 years later. I loved it and played it frequently for about 3 years. By the summer of 2012, it was just taking up room. I realized that I had traded on looks alone instead of real interest.
what would u guys reccomend the 80s or 70s? for V and explorer (For me i think the 70s are a better bang for your buck?) i could be wrong idk and the white looks nicer then the ebony espcially when it yellows
I tried one of these yesterday and it played and sounded great. But the fingerboard looked almost orange it just looked wrong on a black guitar. I think the black with chrome makes it look kind of cheap. It would look so much better with classic white (hint hint) id also not say no to an ebony fingerboard with nickel hardware
I hope Gibson fixes that over tightening of pickup screws issue to the point the screws keep turning. That means the wood holes are STRIPPED. And for the insane price of $2499.99 for the explorer and the flying V that is unacceptable! To all guitar players spread the word and get involved.
This 2023 80s Explorer pre production example looks like it has potential for a 2024 model, once all the production kinks are worked out. Good thing you got it at a steep discount. But with no demo stamp. /sarc
What do you know about an 1984 Explorer Sport ? The toggle switch is on the top near about the strap knob it looks like this one but it should be shorter scale?
Great review as always. I dunno but they don't sound like the 80s maybe your amp settings? I'm really not happy with newly-made Gibson guitars as I tried them in music stores and quite different to the ones I bought from the 90s.. they just don't feel right
How do you feel about the new 80s Tribute Humbuckers?
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Like you said, they’re not the Dirty Fingers, but they do remind me of the DF bridge and T-Top neck that’re in my ‘85 Scorpions Explorer, which oddly enough has a mahogany neck and body.
So basically all the small details that make an 80s explorer different were ignored then they topped it off with poor QC and a high price.
sounds like gibson
Yep. Gibson 😂
You just summed up gibson... that people still buy their bull💩 blows my mind!
They are worth like 600$ if you look at quality but they ask 5x the price. It´s all brandname you pay for. But people are stupid....
@@nick_be9159 indeed. I bought a Les Paul Gibson standard 60’s to clarify I bought at a pawn shop. Overpriced 🤦🏻♂️ almost average priced if you would’ve bought it new at the guitar shop. It’s my first Gibson 🙄 since I’m a fender guitar guy 😂 I’ve had my first fender Stratocaster when I was 16. Any who not liking the tones on this Gibson I’m already doing my research changing the pick ups. Or I must just sell it. They hold there value. I also own a 1986 Ibanez RG440 that sounds way better than this Gibson from the factory 😂 you pretty much nail it.
I had a feeling they would have poor qc
Who would've thought gibson made a guitar as cheap as possible and call it a "reissue" while pricing it way too high. I'm shook
Thats what they do ,its all marketing.
ESP really got it right with the explorers
ESP does Gibson better than Gibson 😅
@@CammedFox I had to laugh hard, thank you! That's just straight facts :D
For sure way, ..... better than Gibson explorers , I had a real 2007 Olympic white MX 250 , and it was my unicorn . I wish still had it . Much better quality overall
@@syracuse6651 I bet on that! Amazing guitars, after searching for month I gave up because of the horrendous prices. I will safe up money and get myself a nice Luthier-made Explorer. I will pay around 2-3 grand for what I want, but it will be worth it and you know... it's one of those "One in a life-time" purchases. I play guitar everyday so I need a good tool!
ESP, $5K and up.
Gibsons quality is very poor, $2500 no way
The crooked tuners are a major quality fail, I would return it, a simple thing done so sloppily can not be acceptable, not at the price Gibson charges.
For sure. And for that money, wow... Sloppy stuff.
Agree, for they money they should use a jig that assured straight tuners, the pups do sound amazing
The nut and tuner mounting are pretty damn poor. I would send it back. That should not have made it through QC.
Not at 2500 bucks that's for sure
That's Gibson for ya.
@@Lord_Raptor No it's not. That's a little harsh. I have 2 dozen perfect Gibsons. Built between 2000 and 2018. I've never purchased a "bad" Gibson. That said, I always buy "barely" used. So maybe somebody else before me had to deal with the problem. Know what I'm sayin'?
I don't buy new cars either. Same reason.
I tried one of these and I must’ve played a unicorn cause it was as close to perfect as someone could make a guitar (playability and sound wise at least), still pretty barebones for 2.5k though, especially considering the specs aren’t as accurate as they should be for an 80s reissue
@@TheJeffcurran
It's not so much that Gibson guitars are crap, it's that their QC either has low standards in what they will pass, or, QC inspectors only checks one or two in a batch.
Either which way, it points to sloppy practices in the factory.
For the price Gibson asks for retail, near perfection should be guaranteed unless sold as B stock.
Gibson has to improve QC for those prices ATD!
Truth.
No, they just need to lower their prices. Totally blown out of proportion.
It looks like a fucking used guitar 😡
Well....as long as the jaded consumer accepts these authentic flaws. ..
Gibson will gladly spike these B-stockers
@@evangibeau4489 ....and here is outside the box thinking Gibson needs. Lower the price to match the quality? Huh....👍
It never ceases to amaze me that Gibson get away with this level of quality, consistently. Brands supplying instruments at 20% of the price of this Gibson are criticised and shunned for quality issues that are not even as bad as those of Gibson.
They dont getting away with it. They were bankrupt not long ago, and were bought.....and after every takeover in industry they monetarize even more. And they always begin with "Less quality, more price"
They will be bankrupt again. Everyone knows it. Some people, mostly boomer and fanbois, think: "hey when they are gone, prices will skyrocket like a Burstie" And the fanbois do their fanboithing "Hey it has nitrofinish, you can hear and feel this.....really....." To satisfy the fact they bought a average guitar for prices where they can have top notch custom shop guitars from other brands.
Look at their endorser page. Some old Dudes. But if you want to sell guitars, you need to reach younger people. And the prices, and the models say "no". 80s is not "fresh" anymore. There was a short Stranger Things Hype, but now young people like the style of the end 90s, early 2000s.....a time where gibson did not had a new model for 15 years. And even the Guns and Roses Hype was long gone.
Fender is better at this point: Look what the bands at coachella play. You wont see any gibson but plenty of fender, schecter, suhr.....whatever.
Gibson is the guitar you granddad plays.
But what should they do? Some fancy LPs with pastel pink finish? The Boomerfanbois would outrage. Gibson has to wait til the boomers are dead, and then release fresh models. But then they will be bankrupt and chinese or smth.
And no....a old fart like Hetfield wouldnt make a difference. Metallica is a Band of old guys. They dont sell to young people.
Seems to be Les Paul Studio specs in an Explorer. Looks nice and sounds nice, but I’m not seeing why this guitar costs more than $1700 or so. 🤷
especially with that poor quality control. my Epiphone 84 explorer has less flaws and I bought that one for 600 bucks
These look worth 900 new at best
Thanks for the review. Sorry you had to take a hit on the Explorer. The guitar should have been sent directly to the Gibson Demo Shop, priced at $1799, and conditioned labeled as fair. Explorers are my fav, I own eight. I was suspicious of this model, and there is one sitting at a shop in my town. Pass.
I'm unimpressed. I got a real Gibson Mahogany Explorer about a year ago. They're now $1999, but I beat the price increase. I'm thrilled. I wouldnt pay for one of these.
Right. Alder body and maple neck is hardly a true Gibson.
No mention of the chips around switch huh? Tuners hard to mount? straight edge on flat sections above screw. Done. 2,500? Not a 2nd either. Can't
is it just me or does the QC have been slowly declining over the last year?
I had to send my SG std 61 back because the nickelplating on the hardware was flaking off and even worse with a neck relief of 0.10 and the bridge all the way down to the body the action on the high E couldn't go lower than 5/64th and on the low E at 6/64th. already a high action for my taste but absolutely no room for adjustment in the future it should have never passed QC. The one i got after sending the first one back was much better. no cosmetic issues and still some adjustability at the bridge if needed in the future.
They had to make a whole Reverb shop for all the guitars they couldn’t sell in stores, I know they’ve made a few custom ones to sell there (also “factory 2nds”, just modded) and they’ve sold like 1,400 last time I’ve checked, and have 100 listed. So atleast 1,500 blemished, poor quality guitars sold that they couldn’t sell in stores, or were returned for the horrible QC. Gibson needs to step it up
It's in everything , even food quality has dropped
So, Gibson can’t replicate a guitar that they originally made??? A Ghibson? As an owner of an original ‘85 Flying V, I guess I’ll just hold onto it…
Apparently, they just can't do it. Absolutely amazing
The Dirty Fingers sounded quite muddy on clean, whereas the new ones were much more open and the new neck one sounds amazing no matter if it's clean or gain, has that creamy solo tone!
I love Gibson guitars, but for the money I will take a Charvel Super Strat. I can say enough money to eat for a year.
For $2500 it should be perfect and exactly like the original specs. The tuners askew; a jig is probably available for setting them, so no excuse. Strap buttons, etc… all should be PERFECT! Thanks for the review, AUSTIN! You’re our voice of reason with Gibson👍.
Well said!
For my $ I'd take a Epi Korina over this.. it's WAY too overpriced for what it is, IMO
More garbage QC from Gibson. It seems foolish to expect anything else from them at this point. It would be nice if they actually gave a damn.
Gibson has lost touch of reality.. Although I really want one (in white), $2500 is crazy for what it is..
The white one from the teaser photo also looks like to have an Ebony board, which I really hope it has, if not, that's some dark Rosewood.
The 3-way toggle placement doesn't seem well thought out.
Although I'm fine with them being made out of Mahogany, it would've been cool to get Alder-Maple, although it's a solid finish I like the woodgrain on Alder and Maple a lot more than Mahogany.
Holy hell! The Q.C. on that guitar is so poor! For $2500 I would not expect to find so many things wrong. A few years ago I bought a secondhand epiphone 84 custom x-plorer. It was a ltd edition model too. It cost me a total of £375. It has grover tuners, I couldn't tell you what the bridge or tailpiece makers are. All the hardware is black, the guitar is white. The epi logo is M.O.P. The pups are an EMG 81 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck. It plays beautifully, looks badass and just fits when I wanna play a bit of Metallica! It has one volume and one tone. If I was given the choice of that one and mine, I choose mine. Oh and its mahogany body and neck, with rosewood board.
For $2500 (and even less than that) I expect an absolutely flawless instrument unless purposely made to look aged.
I doubt the Epiphone '84 Explorers (or just epiphone in general) uses real MoP inlay as they don't have the colours or dance to them that real MoP has.
The '84 Explorer came with EMG 81/85 stock.
I had one in Black, didn't seem possible to get it as low as I wanted it to go..
Oh and a funny and ironic thing, the Epiphone '84 Explorer has the control layout of an ESP MX/EX/Snakebyte and the body looks more like the ESP MX-220 than anything Gibson lol
That guitar is a masterclass in how to separate rubes from their money.
QC issues aside, it sounded good. That price though. If wait a year until the novelty wears off, and get a used one for much less. These will be all over Reverb for $1500.00 by then. Bring on the Flying V!
Yet another example of if you want vintage accuracy, you go Custom Shop. Gibson USA always screws up the details.
It's like Gibson doesn't care about the little details anymore? On certain guitars they seemed to care alot. But this and the Greeny Standard? Not so much.
This one is a big ol' nope for me. It's not like the 80's explorer should be a difficult guitar to reissue properly but somehow Gibson managed to screw it up still.
And if I were you Trogly, I would be sending that guitar back to Gibson for the QC issues.
Welcome back everyone! Finally the 80s explorer!
Just a couple of years ago standard explorers were $1600 or so. Gibson, please explain why I should pay $2500 for a shittier version?
I've owned several mid-80s Herfield era Gibson explorers. They were tasty axes, indeed!
how much you sell them for?
@@markdoolan3424 They used to be just a used explorer so the rosewood was $900 and the ebony I got a little more at $1,050. Ahhh the good old days.
@@wretchedrider2157 Ah man yeah I let things go that would also be worth alot now!!
Think I would rather have the Harley Benton and throw in $500 worth of pickups + upgrades. I could do that to 3 guitars and still not put a dent in the asking price of this thing with it's bad finish (uneven, rippled and swirled from lazy polishing). That is a $600 guitar on a good day. It doesn't matter what it cost to make when the competition offers more for around $600 - $1000.
Great review and demo as always Trogly.
I mean yeah I am sure it's a great guitar but for 2,5k... Gibson is milking it too hard. It's a barebones Explorer...
I had an ebony fingerboard on my 86 Explorer and my 86 V.
Weird that the cutout near the high frets is about a fret shorter than the original
As far as ceramic Gibson pickups go I prefer the 496R and 500T. Clear definition, tight, tons of bottom, lotsa top. Have them on several guitars.
Where can you get these pickups? They sound like they are good. H9w powerful are they?
cant wait for the white version or Mod collection on 80's explorer
ooohhhh, MOD collection will be FUN
Either your camera is too brutaly honest, or the QC on this guitar is beyond the acceptable. I just purchased a Les Paul Standard '60s and it came flawless. Thanks for the review Austin.
You really have to wonder if any of the builders at Gibson actually give a f**k about the guitars they're building or if they're actually that incompetent.
$2500?? For that??? Hell no.
Should be around $800 max
I should've bought all my Gibsons decades ago when I could afford 'em
Would be amazing to have a Hetfield signature, but he has a contract with ESP to make his signature guitars with them and considering they just came out with the vulture… I don’t think that contract is going away anytime soon.
So does Kirk. ID wager that once you reach the level of success as the boys from Metallica have, you can have multiple contracts and no one will complain.
His guitar would set you back Rediculous amount of cash, no way I'd do that.
I tried one at the the Gibson garage in Nashville. The guitar felt and sounded great but the side of the neck was nearly scalloped!!!!
At first, I was very excited fot this 80s explorers but when I realised that they ignored VERY IMPORTANT details, my already low respect for gibson has dug a hole. How hard can it be to just remake your own guitars??
that nut was a mess!
Ooo! Tune that puppy Austin...
I’ll go with my Edwards crying Star over these any day! True Alder body and maple neck and sounds much better for half the price!
As a fellow Crying Star owner I second that, at this point why even bother with Gibson? Get a Navigator if you want to spend that kind of money and you'll get far superior quality for it. And getting a good Edwards is even less than half the price of a Gibson
Edwards would destroy it 🤘
I bought some foam discs that seem to help keep my strap on the button. Haven't had it come loose since.
Trog. There CNC Programer must be on a lazy Side. With Today’s CNC they could have each Guitar perfect. As for the Gibson Logo it should be All inlays. For What you Pay for it I would be Ashamed to have my Company guitar going Out like That. Yes I Work on a CNC for 15 years. And I ran Parts the Had + - .004 Tolerance. Also your working with Wood.
I like the edges. It’s not a true reissue, but I’m glad it isn’t. It looks beautiful.
100% man. It’s perfect. Screw that it’s not exactly like the 84. I can careless. The fact they brought these new guitars back with no pickguard and triangle knob placement is all that matters. That light weight mahogany is amazing.
Alder wood holds too much moisture which contributed to the bad checking the old ones used to do.
@@GluedBarstool Yeah man the actual 84s are jankey as all hell. Alder, Poplar, ash, sometimes maple....those OG explorers were mongrel trash
@@charlesrocks 💯 agree. The new one is LEGIT af. I also own an esp version snakebyte and I like the new Gibson just as much. Ot course the esp is much more polished and perfect in every way but this Gibson is truly bad ass. Just ceramic coat it like I did and it’ll make your life much easier.
@@GluedBarstoolAll of Hetfield’s Gibson Explorers are MAHOGANY BODY, MAHOGANY NECK, AND ROSEWOOD FRETBORD. Poplar is such a shitty wood. Plus the 80s Reissue Explorer has EVERYTHING a Metallica fan could want.
The 80s buckers have all the crunch and more clarity. I wouldn’t be able to get past the QC issues.
i’m glad they did this, mind blown it took me a year to find out they released it but i’ll gladly keep my ‘84 epiphone rerelease..
Most epi's have better qc than that. That is disappointing
6:54 Trogly, I've always wondered where the middle position output came from and I realized it's less the half of half of each pickup. Let's do some math: 15,82/2=7,91 (one coil of the bridge); 7,42/2=3,71 (one coil of the neck); but (7,91+3,71)/2=5,81.
Is there some kind of loss of signal in the third position?
Middle position isn't using one coil. It's both full humbuckers, usually wired in parallel. The formula you'd use is more like ...
Parallel resistance = 1 / (1/15.82 + 1/7.42) = 5.05
These guitar companies are lucky people buy these guitars for the brand name... with this qc standard for the price why would I just buy an epiphone? Lol
Those sharp corners look like an 80's ESP MX-220. Is this the base for a Hetfield Gibson?
There is a 2011 Explorer Melody Maker that has a Maple Body that you have yet to cover. Just throwing that out there.
Too bad those medium brown rosewood fretboards ruin the entire aesthetic. Otherwise would have been cool.
Nice video not an explorer id want.. natural finish mahogany is my choice
Iron Maiden used to rock Ibanez Destroyers, Japanese explorer equivalent. Cool, black not my bag though.
Not worth 2500 in my opinion
Got excited thinking more sub £1,000 Gibson’s so choked when saw the price for such a bare bones model!
It totally is. I got mine for 1900 tho 😂
Not even close to being worth that price
Totally agree with you, however Gibson knows that there are people who feel otherwise and end up buying one.
With the white version selling out in minutes of restocks, how many do we think Gibson will produce of each 80s colorway?
Watching this makes me think that the 84 epiphone explorers are all together better guitars for a quarter of the price.
What’s your take on Gibson’s CEO change?
Arctic White, alder body, maple neck, ebony fretboard and dual Dirty Fingers-humbuckers? Nope.
A standard Explorer without a pickguard and a different control layout? You got it!
Gibson in a nutshell...
For what you get, it should cost between a tribute and a studio.
Rt on...in between TRIBUDIO....
I’m not a fan, but I’m happy for people that are into them.
They sound amazing when you play them. Like fog lifted from your ears
It's true. Gibson are tone monsters
My b string tuner was exactly the same way. I replaced them with all black and straighten them 😂.
I am all kinds of disappointed with this. My dream since 86 was to have "That weird whit guitar" James Hetfield was playing on the Cliff 'EM All cassette. No matter how many shops I went to and asked about one, I have never seen a white one in person to this day. In high school (around 1992) I found a black example at a Daddys Junky Music rt 1 Peabody MA for $350, I bought it that second. I eventually traded it in towards a wine red studio. I can't afford what the market wants for one non Kahler original pups so I got excited when I heard these were coming I got excited. The shape, lay out and pups kill it for me.
Great video as always though bro.
The thing ive always loved about this type of explorer is the switch placement, so close but not in the way but the og explorer feels like you're travelling continents
Big warning to Gibson, get your quality standards Up Fast, this is not good enough.
Gibson USA has consistent QC issues you never ever see on Indonesian-made PRS SE series instruments that cost a third as much.
High price for an average guitar with quality issues. Thanks trogly 🤘
I would like to hear the neck pickup on the one I just got but the switch won’t stay in the neck position. Always pops back into the middle position….lol
Can confirm the guitar is very light. I got it used for a fair bit less and it barely feels worth the amount I paid. It’s such a bare bones guitar and they want to charge almost what a Les Paul with a figured maple top and binding costs. This guitar should be no more than $1499 new.
It does play pretty well and the pickups are growing on me (hotter than I’m used to). It’s hotter but leaner than my 1985 V with Wolfetone Marshallheads in it (hot PAF). Which actually works well going into a fuzz or mesa recto for a tighter, meaner response. No boost required.
If where I got it from will fix the switch and check some other things (nut is very poorly cut) I might invest in some black hardware, jumbo frets and rock this Mutha.
A Hamer Standard version of the Explorer would destroy this in detail and workmanship
Pickups sound good, I like the weight and, though I don't generally like black guitars, it looks pretty good. Price just too steep.
Love the pick-ups in it. Wonder if Gibson will sell just the pick-ups in the future? I'd definitely pick up a set. And serious question, what's wrong with a mahogany body and neck together? Just curious that's all
Nothing wrong with, just not how the originals were spec'd. I'm sure most would view hog/hog as an "upgrade"
@@Trog gotcha 🤘🤘 was just curious that's all
Cool guitar but the overall black and no pickguard is too plain for me IMHO. Sounds good though! Thanks for the review Trogly looking forward to the V as well 👍
I literally just bought the E2 that you used in the screenshot from Guitar Chimp. Can’t wait for it to show up
I looove the esp mx 250 like shapefrom the 80s with them more harder edges!
Every time I feel like gibson cant get any worse, they do. All those blems are so unacceptable even for an 800$ guitar. If a custom guitar had even one of those flaws, it would be lawsuit worthy.
I paid the equivalent of about 2200.00 for my 84. I got my monies worth but this new spec is nostalgia only. Get yourself an 84/85 for the real deal.
The QC on these overall is embracing and anyone who pays retail for them is big dumb
I'm sorry Trogly. All I'm left with is saying "So what?" I "rescued" an Epiphone with a strat style body and an Epiphone/Gibson labeled "banana shape" headstock neck. I separated up this EVH mutant from itself a got a korina explorer body for the "Explorer" neck and another maple neck for strat body. I haven't built out my "separated conjointed twins" but I have high hopes for success it any case!
I have a 1981 E2 Explorer but it doesn't have the contour. It was a great guitar and gigged with it during the 80s.
I wish they could've nailed the shape and control layout to the exact of the original. Stuff I've read though is the 80s Explorers is that they had a random wood options. Mahogany bodies were used, along side alder, and I read mahogany necks were also used on top of maple. Dream Explorer is a 1984 in white with alder body, maple neck and an ebony board, just like Hetfield's, but also I enjoy the specs just sounding not like Gibson with all mahogany.
Speced like the cheapest epi for probably like $600
How is it any different from a Les Paul Studio spec - other than the case? $2500 is way too much.
Im happy with my epiphone extura explorer for roughly 1/3 the price.. I have the white 70s Gibson explorer as well
Thats a shame at $2500 that's a lot of issues. Still looking forward to trying it though
Back around 1998, my former musical instrument retailer in the town of Monroe, New York, Gregg van Gelder, had an ebony-finish Epiphone Explorer in his inventory. It was almost a dead ringer for this Gibson version that just came out. At the time, I owned a BC Rich solid body in banana yellow, and my father said that I shouldn't turn loose of it for an Explorer just because I liked the look better.
Whats to take away from this story?
Probably nothing, @@potatoman8510. I will say that I wound up getting an Epiphone Explorer 10 years later. I loved it and played it frequently for about 3 years. By the summer of 2012, it was just taking up room. I realized that I had traded on looks alone instead of real interest.
what would u guys reccomend the 80s or 70s? for V and explorer (For me i think the 70s are a better bang for your buck?) i could be wrong idk and the white looks nicer then the ebony espcially when it yellows
I tried one of these yesterday and it played and sounded great. But the fingerboard looked almost orange it just looked wrong on a black guitar. I think the black with chrome makes it look kind of cheap. It would look so much better with classic white (hint hint) id also not say no to an ebony fingerboard with nickel hardware
Trogly - can you do a shootout between the 70s and 80s Explorers? Review both at same time. Maybe could be a new series idea from time to time.
I hope Gibson fixes that over tightening of pickup screws issue to the point the screws keep turning. That means the wood holes are STRIPPED. And for the insane price of $2499.99 for the explorer and the flying V that is unacceptable! To all guitar players spread the word and get involved.
10:22 Damn bro. Good catch. I’d be pretty pissed to see that kind of screw up after paying retail for a new Gibson.
I have a 2008 GOTM Shred X Explorer. This new guitar appears to have an identical body. (Apart from the Kahler routing.)
Zero chance Hetfield leaves ESP. it would be cool to see him do a limited edition run, but I just don't see him leaving ESP
Why would be leave ESP??? Kirk plays both ESP and Gibson ;)
The volume controls are way closer to the edge of the guitar than it was on the originals.
Any news on releasing the white Explorer? The last word I got was that Cesar misspoke and it’s not going to happen. Should I buy a 70’s instead?
This 2023 80s Explorer pre production example looks like it has potential for a 2024 model, once all the production kinks are worked out. Good thing you got it at a steep discount. But with no demo stamp. /sarc
What do you know about an 1984 Explorer Sport ? The toggle switch is on the top near about the strap knob it looks like this one but it should be shorter scale?
The Union Jack Explorer 1984 🇬🇧 would be the winner winner chicken dinner!! 🎉
Great review as always. I dunno but they don't sound like the 80s maybe your amp settings? I'm really not happy with newly-made Gibson guitars as I tried them in music stores and quite different to the ones I bought from the 90s.. they just don't feel right