GIBSON EXPLORER w/Case 2010 Mint Condition

Type

Electric

Brand

Gibson

Plays perfect and in pristine condition. Everything works as it should. It’s a classic Rock Monster! Info: Gibson launched the Explorer model in 1958, and their goal for this and the Flying V (introduced the same year) was to push the envelope and put forth a space-age design. They hit the mark, in my opinion. Consumers did not agree, and the Explorer was discontinued in 1963, only to be introduced again in 1976 when Gibson saw that other manufacturers (especially Hamer) were successfully selling their design. It became an iconic instrument for hard rock and heavy metal guitarists, with James Hetfield from Metallica being the most famous. There have been quite a few changes over the years, but we are going to focus on the here and now as today we are looking at my 2010 Gibson Explorer. We had better start with the body, which is a humongous slab of mahogany. It has a truly bizarre shape with a long lower fin and no forearm or belly contours. This one is covered in a glossy coat of paint, which is thin enough that you can see the pockmarks of the grain. Also a three-layer white pickguard. It is loaded up with a 596R neck pickup and a 500T bridge pickup, neither of which have covers. It is wired more simply than a Les Paul with two volume knobs, a tone knob and a 3-way pickup selector toggle. By the way, it has speed knobs, which have always been my favorite look. The electronics are accessed through a plastic cavity cover on the back of the guitar. The Explorer has a slim profile set neck, which is made of mahogany with a rosewood fretboard. I hear that Gibson is now using granadillo for fretboards, which is a green ebony that comes from trees in West India. No comment. There are 22 frets and some pearloid dot inlays sunk into the fretboard. There is no binding to be found, either on the neck or the body. The Corian nut is the Gibson standard 1.695” width. The pointy (and perfectly chip-able) headstock has the Gibson logo inlaid into the tip, and has the classic bell-shaped truss rod cover. There are chrome plated mini Grover tuners, which match the stop bar tailpiece and Tune-O-Matic bridge.