Epiphone korina explorer and flying V

[Mikelamury]

Epiphone just released a korina explorer and flying V in collaboration with the Gibson custom shop. White and black pickguard versions of each are available with Gibson burstbucker 2&3 pickups, CTS pots, Mallory capacitor, CTS jack, aged finish.

https://www.epiphone.com/en-US/

 

[jeremy]

i saw that. i knew the old 58 v and explorer were rare, but didnt realized there was only 19 explorers shipped!

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Those look great!

I have an Epiphone 1959 that is pretty solid. If those are around the same build quality, I'd say, they'll be pretty good.

I did use to have one PRS SE Singlecut Korina that was abnormally light (I read Korina is like naturally light, tho?). I'm pretty sure that one was using cheap Korina, but it sounded like shit. I hope these aren't like that.

 

[JMP/HBE]

The Epi's are Korina veneer not solid. They've done that for decades.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

The Epi's are Korina veneer not solid. They've done that for decades.

Not the "Collab with Gibson CS" series. The rest of the stuff, yes. But the Les Pauls and SG's are all two piece bodies (without veneers) on the back.

Looks like the ones on the pics follow the same pattern, but I've read nothing about that, so I could be wrong. But these are probably not going to be cheap, so they better stick to what they're doing on the LP's and SG's.

Honestly, the Epi/Gibson CS stuff is pretty decent as far as build and finish goes. My Epi 1959 looks prettier than my Gibson Tribute, TBH.

 

[Mincer]

Korina is a wood that should be more popular than it is.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

In the UK they will be around £1200, and yes, that's street price.

Interesting that they put an ABR-1 on them, compared to the '59 LP and '61 SG/LP.

 

[v8stang289]

I've heard a lot that the older "'58 korina" Epiphones are not Korina and just have a veneer, but what is the logic of a Korina veneer on a solid color (ie black) guitar?

Just curious since even the older ones were available in natural and ebony finishes.


I'm sure body is multi-piece at best, but all the descriptions do say Korina body and mahogany neck. They could be playing loose with the definition of korina.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Interesting that they put an ABR-1 on them, compared to the '59 LP and '61 SG/LP.

Oh, I hadn't noticed! Hope they used a good ABR-1. The Epi Locktone bridge is attrocious.

 

[Mikelamury]

The Epi's are Korina veneer not solid. They've done that for decades.

It says there solid korina bodies and necks with long neck tenon,(no rosewood board)

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Pretty sure they're at least two piece. They look like that on the pics. Even the originals were two piece.

But I hope they don't do the veneer thing like they did in the lower-end Epis.

I think they won't based on what they do on the SG and LP.

 

[Mikelamury]

Pretty sure they're at least two piece. They look like that on the pics. Even the originals were two piece.

No doubt either two or three piece bodies but it says it is solid korina (not a veneer on a mahogany body)

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Oh, the older Epi Korina Explorer V's did have Korina bodies, but they were like 4-5 pieces. Still "solid" Korina, but they added a korina veneer to mask how many pieces they were using. Before these Collab with Gibson CS stuff came out.

They're still doing that (but with mahogany bodies/veneers) on the lower end LP's and SG's. But not on the Collab with Gibson CS stuff.

 

[JMP/HBE]

Just another gimmick to sell a $300 epi for $900 >

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Oh, kinda disappointing. The rounded edges do look kinda odd on the Explorer.


But on the V, they look fine.

 

[JMP/HBE]

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Oh, kinda disappointing. The rounded edges do look kinda odd on the Explorer.


But on the V, they look fine.

I can see the veneer seam on the edge of the body. Same old sh*t.
$900 bucks for a "indian laurel" FB, no thanks.
PRS has super nice Rosewood slabs on all their SE models. Why Gibson insists on cutting corners is pathetic.
Ever since Mark Agnostic took over that company has gone to the dogs.
Beware the bling cuz its just bling.

 

[Mincer]

I don't know enough about Indian laurel to make a call on how suitable it is for fretboards. There are a lot of woods that would probably be fine. I am not stuck on any one thing.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I can see the veneer seam on the edge of the body. Same old sh*t.
$900 bucks for a "indian laurel" FB, no thanks.
PRS has super nice Rosewood slabs on all their SE models. Why Gibson insists on cutting corners is pathetic.
Ever since Mark Agnostic took over that company has gone to the dogs.
Beware the bling cuz its just bling.

The laurel fretboard on my LP 1959 is alright. No complaints here. I don't think it's a lesser-quality wood so much as a way to get around the CITES issue.

And PRS SE's have multimultimultipiece bodies as well, my man. At least all of mine had. And OK-ish hardware and pickups. And veneer tops. There are some aspects where PRS SE has Epiphone beat, but I wouldn't put them miles above Epiphone either, TBH.

The Korina veneer thing is indeed kinda pathetic, though. But it's one thing or the other. I had a Korina PRS SE that had like 3 seams where the pieces didn't match at all. It looked pretty bad as well.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Yep.

 

[Mincer]

Wow, those PRSs look great!