Seriously considering a Gibson Explorer...what should I be aware of?

[mrid]

How's the weight compared to a Paul? Are they easy to sit down with?

[B2D]

Re: Seriously considering a Gibson Explorer...what should I be aware of?

I find that they're about as heavy as Pauls are but the weight distributes itself kinda strangely. They sit on your knee fine but my arm keeps sliding forward on it and it gets too cramped for me. I haven't tried one standing up. The sound is a little mellower than Pauls are too.

[Russ]

Re: Seriously considering a Gibson Explorer...what should I be aware of?

Seriously considering a Gibson Explorer...what should I be aware of?

..I 've never played one, but if your under 6-foot you may look like a dwarf slinging the '76 Explorer axe. ..The X-plorer Pro & the Swamp Ash Studio are 10% smaller & have better balance(so I've read).

[Zerberus]

Re: Seriously considering a Gibson Explorer...what should I be aware of?

As on SGs, the Neck-Body joint can be a source of problems. But other than that Explorers are quite dependable, I need to get one again soon as well

[milkbone]

Re: Seriously considering a Gibson Explorer...what should I be aware of?

I always loved Explorers! My first experience when I was 11-12 was my friends brother had an Explorer and a Marshall stack! I always longed for one, then one day not this past summer but the one before, I got my musicians friend and on the cover was THE Explorer I've always wanted on clearance for 799! 76' with a naturalburst finish. I ordered it right away. I've been playing for about 20 years and don't remeber being so excited buying a guitar. I think we all have "that" guitar in the back of our head that we always wanted but just never bought. So the perfect oportunity arrived! Awesome price, the exact finish I wanted and a boyhood dream fullfilled! I got it 4-5 days later and was stunned by the beauty of it! I pulled the plastic off of the pickgaurd and plugged her in. Sounded very nice, fit good, just something wasn't right. the g string had a "deadness" to it. The action was setup WAY high. "OK, I'll put some of my strings on it and adjust the action, intonation and neck relief". This helped some, but something was still not right. Then I started to nitpick, the frets were not finished so well, a bit rough on the edges, the hardware, in my opinion, was garbage! The tuners were loose and sloppy, the bridge saddles looked very cheap and cheesey. The only other thing is the case is GIGANTIC! No way to change this, just the way it is. It looks like a keyboard case. Upon all of this, I returned it. Here comes my comparison. I compared it to my Carvin that I had bought 3 years prior. The Carvin came to me and just "fit". Everything was perfect, the hardware, fit and finish, the feel and most of all the sound! I was dissapointed in the product that the "largest guitar builder in the world" had put out. Sometimes I think back and wish I had kept the Explorer and just lived with what I believe were shortcomings, but I think in the end it just would have frustrated me more. Could it be my expectations were too high? Probably. I guess my lesson was, 1- mail order can be a crapshoot, it payed off with my Carvin but not the Explorer, 2- am I TOO picky, yes! But I demand a certain level of quality from manufacturers. So I guess my advice is, play the Explorer if you can before you buy and check the small details. This is just my opinion and I'm sure lots of people have great luck with Gibson products. Enjoy your search!
PS, if you were wondering, it was a Gibson, not an Epiphone(not putting Epiphone down)

[GuitarGuy503]

Re: Seriously considering a Gibson Explorer...what should I be aware of?

MRID,

They are definately not a "sit down" guitar IMO. I have sat down and played one before and the rear of the body got in the way and my arm would slide forward which was quite irritating. I personally would never buy an explorer unless I was rich and had the extra money to burn. Don't get me wrong, they got a wicked look to them, however, I didn't find them at all comfortable to play sitting down because the rear of the body is so bulky and high when sitting down.

[Rainmaker]

Re: Seriously considering a Gibson Explorer...what should I be aware of?

Milkbone, like point number one, you can never ever expect to order something from Gibson without first trying it out, or any company for that matter.

Hey, but at least you have (or had) more than one guitar! Some people aren't past that stage... but then I guess you can look at certain people (*cough*GJ*cough*) and then everything feels like nothing

I don't need to explain it - I'm sure you know: always try the guitar before you buy it!

Bee

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Seriously considering a Gibson Explorer...what should I be aware of?

Just know this...You will never look as cool as James with your Explorer...even if you do wear Black jeans and a black T-shirt!