SeriesEpiphone Explorer

This is a cool new guitar from Epiphone. Recently Gibson reissued a small number of 84 Explorers as part of its Guitar of the week line. Now Epiphone has a model out. I dont know how long they make it for but I hope they make it for a long time because it is a great model. It is called the 1984 Explorer EX. It is based off of the famous mid 80s Explorer that James Hetfield is most famous for using. It has all the right hardware as well. It has a mahogany body and neck with a 22 fret rosewood fretboard. These 84 Explorers had no pickguard and nor does this one. It has fully active EMG's in the Zakk Wylde set. It has an 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck. The controls are simple with a master volume and master tone with a 3 way switch. Uptop are Grover tuners and the bright is a Locktone tune-o-matic and stop tail setup. UTILIZATION Explorers are nice guitars for the most part. The neck is pretty big but not too big. It is a D profile. The Explorer shape is all about balance. The guitar balances perfectly as you play it. Epiphone threw in some locking strap buttons on this guitar which are great. Small useless strap buttons can kill a guitar like nobodies business. The active EMG pickups require a battery and Epiphone has included a built in battery compartment so you can quickly change the battery for the pickup without opening up the entire control cavity. Only thing this guitar is missing is locking tuners and a locking bridge. SOUNDS The active EMG pickups mean this guitar punches above its weight class. If you played the Gibson version right next to this guitar (and I have) you wont be able to hear a difference. The pickups in this guitar are a classic metal setup. The EMG 81 and 85 are used by just about everyone in metal. They are a known commodity when it comes to metal. I am glad they didnt cheapen out and put some passive pickups in this. The 81 is a great bridge pickup. It has a great high end grind and lots of output and distortion. You can get your big chunky riffs with it and and it has a nice high end crunch. The 85 in the neck is great for leads and good for cleans. The 85 has a smoother sound than the 81 with more low end so it has a better tone for lead runs in the neck position. The 85 is also good in the bridge if you want a super thick sound. The 81 is not very good in the neck though. OVERALL OPINION You can get these guitars for about 600 dollars new which is a great deal compared to the Gibson version which is at least a couple thousand dollars. The guitars come with the same pickups and are made out of the same wood. This is the best alternative to the Gibson version. If you want a real 84 Explorer but cant afford this is your guitar. Its pretty rare for Gibson or Epiphone to put out a guitar that doesnt have their pickups in it so if you want one you better get one quickly because guitars like this usually do not last long.

In the late 50s Gibson decided to start a line of more radical looking guitars. Gibson first started selling Explorers in 1958 and their design was way too radical for the time so they were discontinued a year later. In 1976 Gibson started the first reissue of the original 1958 design and now today Gibson is selling reissues of the reissues. Gibson has been producing the '76 reissue Explorer since 1990. Many people say the '76 reissues are better than the original Explorers put out in 1976. The first 50s models were made from Korina wood these are the classic yellow looking Gibsons you have seen. This Epiphone model is made from the Korina wood so it has the yellowish look. They have 22 frets on a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard. Two humbucking pickups which are a Epiphones own alnico humbuckers. Two volume and one master tone control with a 3 way toggle switch pickup selector. UTILIZATION Early 50s Gibsons had huge necks. Today people refer to them as the "baseball" bat necks. In the 60s Gibson switched to slimmer neck design. This Epiphone Explorer today has that 60s design. The 60s Gibson neck profile is one of their most popular and it is what they use on most of the Epiphone guitars. They use this profile on the Epiphones because kids might be playing them and kids will like the smaller profile better. The upper frets are easy to reach because of the Explorers design. The radical shape actually gives the guitar a perfect balance for playing while standing up. The neck will come to rest at a perfect angle due to the large body acting as a counter weight. SOUNDS Gibsons are known for their warm humbucking tones and the Epiphone Explorer is no different. No matter how cold it is outside the Explorer always sounds warm. The Explorer is made from a huge piece of solid Korina and you can really hear it. The Korina has a tone similar to mahogany. The pickups on the Epiphone Explorer have gold covers and this matches well with the korina wood. The Epiphone Explorer sounds like what every Gibson should sound like. OVERALL OPINION This Epiphone Explorer sounds huge, feels huge and is the big man on campus. The design was ahead of its time in the 50s but in the 70s it was just right for the music and players of the time. People may look for the Gibson tone in just Les Pauls but the Explorer can deliver it too. This Epiphone sounds better than some Gibsons with Gibson starting to chamber its Les Pauls the Explorer shape may be the way to go if you are looking for a really solid piece of wood to get tone from.

i baught my explorer from a shop in newcastle called sound control. i paid 340 quid fore it. the guitar is very well manufactured. it has an excelent aggresive look to it and sounds like a bomb going off when u crank the volume up to full. this guitar is by far the best i've played and i recomend every metal loving head banger to buy one. the guitar is a little hard to play sitting down because of the shape. but it can still be played if you have quite a bit of space. my hand started to cramp up a little bit after playing sitting down. on the tone switch i get a little bit of crunching when ajusting it but other than that its wickid quality wise, this guitar comes as good as it gets for its price. designed by gibson you can expect it to be good and it lives up to the name stamped on te top of it. epiphone have made a great job on the construction and theres no problems from whati can see. overall this guitar is awsome. i recomend every metal lover to get 1. it has a great sound even through small amps and i have tried it through a 200 watt stage amp and it blows the windows out. go out and buy 1 and find out fore yourself what im talking about. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Gibson a few years ago started making the Gothic line of guitars. These guitars are meant to have a more metal image than the regular models. A long with thtese guitars Gibson has their budget line Epiphone producing budget version so fthe same guitars. These guitars are pretty much the same. They are built with the same wood and to the same specs but with different electronics and they are built overseas. Epiphones version of the Explorer Gothic model is close to what the first series of Gibson Gothic Explorers were like. These guitars have passive pickups where as the new Gibson Gothic Explorers have active pickups. They have 22 frets on a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard. The rosewood fretboard is dyed to have a darker look closer to ebony. There are no inlays apart from a 12 in roman numerals on the 12th fret. It has two humbucking pickups which are Epiphone pickups. Two volume and one master tone control with a 3 way toggle switch pickup selector. UTILIZATION In the 60s Gibson switched to slimmer neck design. The Explorer today has that 60s design. The 60s Gibson neck profile is one of their most popular. The upper frets are easy to reach because of the Explorers design. The radical shape actually gives the guitar a perfect balance for playing while standing up. The neck will come to rest at a perfect angle due to the large body acting as a counter weight. The guitar has no inlays except for on the 12th fret. This may be a problem for some people. SOUNDS The pickups on this explorer have open coils and are a bit hotter to give you a more metal sound. Epiphone pickups normally are not that great. On many Epiphone guitars the stock pickups will sound pretty muddy. These pickups are a little less muddy and normal Epiphone pickups but I would still recommend a pickup change. The big mahogany body on the guitar helps to give it a big tone. This is what you would expect on an Explorer. You can really feel the body resonate with all that wood. OVERALL OPINION This guitar is a great alternative to the Gibson Explorer Gothic model. It is much cheaper than the Gibson version and with a pickup swap the guitar can sound just as good. If you drop in a set of EMG's in this guitar it will be a metal machine. The Explorer is a classic guitar shape and has a classic metal look. If you are looking for a great budget guitar that has some room for upgrades this is a good bet.