Gibson V/XPL/FB Shaped Guitars

My guitar is a Gibson RD Artist in natural, made in 1978. I bought it used almost 25 years later, it is still in all original condition except for the Schaller straplocks. I think the features of this guitar are well-known by now. Active MOOG electronics with bright/compressor/limiter switch, bass and treble boost/cut. All maple construction, mine is the early version with the Fender-style 25.5" scale. This guitar can sound from tinny-bright to deep. I guess it may work well for some fast country picking. I think with some bass boost and bright switch it can produce jazzy sounds very nicely. As for distortion sounds, this guitar sounds best when keeping the electronics on zero. The gain sound definitely don't benefit from the electronics. Jimmy Page used this guitar on one song on their performance in Knebworth 1979, seems he didn't know how to handle the electronics (you can see a clip of it on YouTube). Also Steve Howe used an ES Artist which has the same electronics as the RD. I think this guitar is well in hands of fast pickers, Tele-players, jazz players who like to use guitars like the Gibson L-5S. It is also well for clean funky riffs. The neck can become sticky with sweaty hands. I think it looks like a great rock guitar, but I think it isn't. Maybe the 2018 RD Artist edition is more of a rock guitar, as it is all mahogany construction, 24.75" scale and without the Moog electronics (which I happen to like, though it sounds dated), yet newer active electronics. It is neck heavy the weight is moderate (which I can't say for the RD Artist Bass that I also own, that thing is heavy!).

This guitar seems to be another attempt by Gibson to lower the overall quality of their products. This is the Melody Maker Explorer. I dont know why anyone would buy the regular Melody Maker and this is no different. The quality on this guitar is below that of all but the cheapest Epiphones. This guitar has a maple body in a slightly smaller Explorer shape. The body has a satin faded finish. The neck is a huge set mahogany neck. It is the standard Gibson scale. The headstock is like a mini flying V headstock for some reason. The tuners up top are pretty poor. The bridge is a wraparound bridge but its a Gibson wraparound bridge so the intonation is not very good down the neck. The single pickup in this guitar is Duncan Design pickup so its like a half quality Seymour Duncan. You get a single volume knob for controls to complete the melody makerness. UTILIZATION The quality on these super low end Gibsons is laughable. At some points it is hard to believe that these guitars are made in America. The tuners are the cheapest Ive come across on any modern guitar. They do not hold tune well at all. The wraparound bridge design was bad back in the 50s and it is still bad. This is no PRS bridge. The intonation on this guitar is bad past the 12th fret and it is mostly because of the bridge. Having a guitar with bad intonation is the worst because you can tune it and tune it but everything will always sound slightly off. The neck on this guitar is huge. It is like a 50s Gibson neck. I guess a bigger neck is easier to make. The frets on this example were not leveled very well and there was buzzing up and down the neck. It is quite amazing to see the differences in quality between a guitar like this and other Gibsons which are all made in America. The baked maple fretboard even though there is nothing wrong with it, the pale look of it to me makes the guitar look cheap overall. If they threw some varnish on it and darkened it up it would look a lot better. SOUNDS Gibson was pretty clever. On the specs it says the pickup in this guitar is a Seymour Duncan HB-103. On the surface that makes it sound like this guitar has good Seymour Duncan pickups but when you look up what a Duncan HB-103 is it just a Duncan Designed pickup which is what they put in cheap low end guitars when they dont want to use no name pickups. The pickup in this guitar does not clean up well because it is jsut a bridge pickup and there is no tone knob. The maple body in this guitar gives it a different sound than you would normally get with a Gibson. The sound is brighter and that kind of accentuates the low quality of the pickup. With gain it has a sort of harsh but muddy high end tone to it. OVERALL OPINION I really wouldnt recommend this guitar to anyone. You can get much much better quality Gibson style guitars if you buy an overseas made guitar. Be it an Epiphone or a copy like an Agile or Edwards. The quality on all those guitars for the same price as this guitar would be head and shoulders over this guitar. If you are looking for a low priced Gibson I would strongly advise you to not get a Gibson like this and to start looking at guitars as a whole and not just a name on the headstock.

This Gibson Explorer is part of the 2009 run of limited edition guitars. Gibson came up with a new gimmick guitar every month for this series and in my opinion the Tribal Explorer and V were the best guitars to come out of that run. The Flying V and Explorer were way ahead of their time when they were first introduced in the late 50s but in the 80s they came into their own. This guitar emulates the style of the time with its finish and hardware. This Explorer has a mahogany body and neck like most Gibsons. The set neck has an Ebony fretboard with 22 frets. Up top you get no locking nut or even locking tuners which normally would be fine but since you have a Floating tremolo its just a sign of lazyness. The Kahler model on this guitar isnt even a good one its just a top mount model that goes into the tune-o-matic posts. You get two standard Gibson pickups on this guitar. The 496R in the neck and the 500T in the bridge. The controls are simple with a master tone and master volume with a 3 way toggle. You get silly black graphics on the white finish of this guitar. Kind of looks like a tribal tattoo mixed with the Van Halen logo. UTILIZATION Without the tremolo system this would just be a normal Explorer, but the tremolo system makes it worst. It makes the guitar worse because it does not have a locking nut to keep it in tune. It has locking tuners which are nice but with a tremolo you need a locking mechanism at the nut because tremolo use will cause binding and snagging at the nut. This guy comes with the 50 baseball bat neck which does not lend itself to fast playing unless you have huge hands. The ebony fretboard is nice. The model I tested out was a bit dry but some linseed oil fixed that up. SOUNDS The pickups in this guitar are nothing special. They are Gibson pickups that they put in just about every guitar that they think needs a modernish sound. You get the good mahogany base which is key to the sound on any Gibson. The 496R is kind of bright for the neck position but 80s tone is all about brightness. It can really cut through. The bridge pickup 500t is nice and crunchy. It has decent output and nice string clarity on every string. The Gibson pickups are alright but with the style of guitar this is some hotter or active pickups would have been better. A set of EMG pickups would have gone well with this guitar. White Explorer with EMG's is a classic metal look and it would have the classic metal sound. OVERALL OPINION This guitar is another one where Gibson was close to getting it right. They have Explorers that come with locking nuts so I dont know why they couldnt have put one on this guitar. They have Explorers with Floyd Rose tremolos that come with locking nuts. Why bother putting a Kahler on this guitar without a locking nut. Why didnt they just paint the Floyd Rose guitar white with the tribal stuff. That would have been a better guitar overall. People like Floyds more than Khalers anyway. If you are looking for a white Explorer than get a white Explorer. If you are looking for an Explorer with a tremolo than get one with a Floyd Rose and locking nut.

The Flying V faded is Gibsons budget version of the Flying V. Gibson noticed that people were starting to like worn in looking guitars. They decided to start a line of Faded guitars that do not have the final clear coat on them to give guitar players a line of new guitars that look old. The guitar is made from solid mahogany with a mahogany set neck. The neck is 22 frets with a rosewood fretboard. The neck is not bound. It has two volume knobs and one tone knob and a 6 way chicken head pickup selector. The tuners are non-locking as well as the bridge which is a tune-o-matic. On this version you get 3 Gibson 490s which are mellower than what you normally get in these guitars. UTILIZATION These guitars are pretty comfortable. They have a lightweight design that is a welcome change compared to many other Gibsons. Because of the V design the upper frets are easier to reach than on a Les Paul. The set neck design means there is a bit of a heel at the neck joint but on this model it is not bad. Because there is no clear coat on the final the guitar feels very smooth and it does not ever get sticky. Because of the shape you may have to play in a classical position when you play sitting down but this is not a problem for me because I always play in a classical position. Some models have a rubber grip on the bottom so you can play them in a normal position but this one does not. SOUNDS The 490 pickups in this guitar have a slightly mellower tone than what you would normally get in this guitar. The 3 pickup configuration gives you many tonal combinations. The pickup selecting is done with a 6 way chicken head knob that takes some getting use to. The first position is the bridge position. Which gives you your traditional trebley bridge tones. The next position is the bridge pickup and the middle much like a strat. The middle pickup gives more low end and thickness to the bridge tone but it can also get a bit muddy. The next position is just the middle position. I am not a fan of middle pickups by themselves. I prefer the middle pickup when it is mixed with something else. Like in the next position which is the middle and the neck. This mostly is your neck position tones with a bit more clarity and high end from the middle pickup. After that you get your neck position tones which are your traditional super smooth bluesy and jazzy tones. This is where I do most of my lead playing because I like the smooth sound. Finally you get your traditional middle position with your neck and bridge pickup. I like this sound for cleans because you can get the smoothness of the neck with some clarity from the bridge. It is similar to the neck and middle in sound on this particular guitar. OVERALL OPINION The Gibson Flying V faded is not a bad guitar. This model is just a way for Gibson to get more life out of the model. This model is not bad either. Some people may want the extra tonal capabilities of the middle pickup. Not many Gibson users care for a middle pickup because they have gotten by without it for so long. If you are dead set on having a middle pickup by all means get this guitar but if you are just looking for a decently priced Flying V the normal Faded version is plenty of guitar for the money.

The Gibson Explorer Gothic is a limited edition electric guitar. A number of years ago Gibson put out a number of different Gothic style guitars, including this one, an SG, and a Les Paul. As far as I know, it is pretty similar if not the same in make up to a normal Explorer. It has two humbucker pick ups with the traditional pick up selector switch and knobs for tone and volume. UTILIZATION Playing and using the Gibson Explorer Gothic is definitely a fun thing to do. As far as getting your tones, as long as you understand how to work any electric guitar, you won't face a problem with this one as it is pretty standard. It is easy to play all around the neck, with the very upper notes not being a problem at all to reach. The weight of the guitar is little bit heavier than average, but it isn't too heavy to carry around or anything like that. It has the classic Explorer body and look, matched with the all black Gothic colors. SOUNDS In terms of sound quality, the Gibson Explorer Gothic absolutely sounds like your classic Explorer. It has a very thick sound, as the humbucker pick ups give it an overall fat signal. You've got a good amount of control and versatility as the bridge and neck pick ups have nice contrasting tones. I've used the Gibson Explorer Gothic edition with a Fender Hot Rod Deville amp, without any effects, for a few different recording sessions. While the look will indicate that this guitar should be used for metal and heavy rock, it definitely has the capabilities to extend beyond these genres. OVERALL OPINION Like all of the Gibson Gothic edition guitars, the Explorer Gothic is no longer being made. I don't think that I would recommend this version of the Explorer over any other, as it is pretty much the same guitar in a different look, as far as I can tell. The price of a used one of these will be priced somewhere in the middle, as these aren't the most readily available guitars since they are no longer made. If you're a fan of Explorers or are looking to get one in general, the Gothic edition is like your normal Explorer, worth researching and playing to see if it will work for what you're looking for.

The Gibson Faded Flying V is an affordable, no-nonsense guitar with enough class to stay ahead of other gibson USA models in the looks department. The Faded V features a solid Mahogany body and set neck, coupled with a rosewood fingerboard. The 496R and 500T pickups pair perfectly with this guitar, lending it a powerful feel when gain is applied. The controls are made up of two separate volumes and a shared tone pot, which leads to less output resistance and more power. The looks of the guitar are surprisingly fair, unlike other guitars in the faded series. UTILIZATION The tuning stability of the V is average. I found that the B-string on the particular guitar I tested had issues with keeping in check. The neck profile is flaunted by gibson of being a cross between the 60's slim taper neck and the thicker 50's style. I couldn't discern any great benefit to it, but the neck did feel wonderful in the palm. The pickup selection for this guitar is perfect, they give the V a very "hot" sound that allowed for enhanced playing feel with aggressive styles. SOUNDS I played the Gibson Faded flying V through a JVM210h. Mesa 4x12 cab. No pedals. If my previous review was any indication, I am not a fan of the JVM series amps at all. This guitar, however, managed to make it pretty enjoyable to listen through. The clean sounds aren't exactly crystal, but they are useable. The focus of this guitar was gain sounds, and this is what I spent most of my time using the guitar for. The guitar allowed for fluid lead runs with oodles of sustain. I could have easily spent a day playing the same riffs on this guitar and not realized the time past. One of the best guitars I've played for aggressive styles of music. OVERALL OPINION The Gibson Faded Flaying V is a rock/metal guitarist's dream. The guitar is inexpensive, fetching as low as $500 on the used market, while not being stripped of features to the point of damaging desirability. The V retains the gibson aesthetic cues that fans of the brand crave, without set fire to their wallets.

The Gibson Explorer was introduced in 1958. It was an outlandish design for the time, and as a result, low demand caused only 100 to be made. These are now incredibly collectible, sometimes fetching 6 figures on the auction block. Gibson shelved the design, and reintroduced it in the 70's with a few updates, one of them being the choice of pickups. By this time, the Gibson 496 and 500T pickups had been introduced, giving players more power over the previous model of humbuckers, which were lower output. As a result, the Explorer quickly became popular for the evolving sound of rock n' roll that pushed for more distortion and sustain. The modern Explorer remains rather unchanged from its 70's incarnation, still sporting the 496R/500T pickup configuration, the hybrid 50's/60's set neck with 22 fret rosewood fingerboard, tune-o-matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece, and two-volume/one-tone control configuration with 3-way toggle switch. UTILIZATION Someone at Gibson must have visited a psychic while designing the Explorer. The psychic would have said "guitar players will have the desire to play fast, much faster than today." because that's exactly what the Explorer is designed for - blazing speed. One listen to Brenden Small's guitar playing on any Dethklok album will confirm that shredding is a breeze on this guitar. Access to the higher frets is open, making those wide runs easy. To facilitate this, the fretboard radius feels rather flat all the way down the neck, allowing for easier bending and faster runs than more traditional radius fretboards. Still, its nut width and scale length are Gibson standard sizes. It doesn't take a keen eye to see that the Explorer isn't the most ergonomic design in the guitar world. In fact, it's rather large and awkward, which is ultimately why I ended up selling mine. Moving around a small stage or practice area almost always resulted in bumping the headstock or rear corner of the body on something or someone. However, despite its size, the Explorer is surprisingly light in weight. SOUNDS The Explorer does well with a variety of sounds, but it would be a mistake to assert that its forte is not rock and metal. The 500T comes alive through a properly distorting tube amp, driving the preamp into harmonic armageddon and evoking a midrange grind that is addictive. This pickup works well with everything from Bad Company-style plexi gain to Stoner Metal to compressed, soaring power metal. The 496 does cleaner tones and alternate-picked runs surprisingly well, although lower notes tend to blend together on fast runs. It has a very warm, mellow quality without being weak. OVERALL OPINION The 2009 Explorer I owned was immaculately constructed, leading me to wonder where the complaints of quality with newer Gibson guitars was founded. The guitar played well, sounded excellent, and looked badass. I actually regret selling it, and will likely own another some day. Gibson guitars have a lifetime warranty, and are still hand-made right here in the USA. There are plenty of great guitars made elsewhere for less money, and there are many excellent values from many manufacturers. I think every guitar player should own at least one Gibson in their lifetime, to have a chance to connect with a great American legacy that has helped shape an artform and a culture for more than 75 years.

Exclusive to Guitar Center. Gibson's Explorer Traditional Pro features a solid mahogany body, 60's slim taper neck, and a rose wood fingerboard. As for electronics, the guitar has a '57 classic in the neck and a burstbucker iii in the bridge position, both sporting exposed zebra coils. Although the scale length remains the same as a regular explorer (24 3/4") the body is reduced in size by 4% --lending it a very compact feel. I very much enjoyed the wine red finish and appreciate the bound body and fretboard, appointments typically not seen at this price point for Gibson USA models. UTILIZATION The plek'd fingerboard translates to great playability and feel. The reduction in size feels exaggerated by the shape making the guitar seem very light and easy to get around. The neck profile feels very good in the hand and allows for quick position changes for those with medium sized hands. Tuning stability was very good, i felt very confident with the equipped grover tuners and felt no need in replacing them. SOUNDS I played the Traditional Pro through a Mesa boogie Royal Atlantic. Mesa 4x12 combo. No pedals. The pickups are very hot. Played through a el34 based tube amp, I could easily get both bluesy and searing high gain tones from the combination Gibson provided. The coil tap feature was excellent and allowed for very nice single coil tones, before unheard of from an Explorer body. OVERALL OPINION It's the nicest iteration of the Gibson Explorer series since the E2 models from the early 80's. The Traditional pro is essentially a reboot of the 2007 GOTW explorer pro's, featuring updated electronics. At $200 less than the typical explorer, it's great value for money. It can be noted that not many of these guitars are circulating in the used market.

I've been playing guitar and other stinged instruments for well over 40 years. I got 'em all fenders, gibsons, rickys, marshall and on and on., As well as effects up the yin yang. Been in bands and performed as a solo performing artist for all my years. Musical Tastes, all vintage rock and roll. After a lot of hours thinking and planning i gave in and ordered a FirebirdV Was hoping gibson could match their longstanding reputation for quality and tone. Paid $1685 and was not let down. After about a week on a ups delivery plan (5 day ground) in February suspicions rose about cold weather effects for that kind of time enroute and shipping to Maine but arrived and without waiting it was opened and the played. For a couple of minutes there was a little sting buzz but shortly dissapeared. I'll tell ya, what a piece of art and craftsmanship. Perfect tone and construction and looks. What a guitar. A good choice, Absoustely perfect! Was counting on a tan /purple/shroud gibson case. instead got a black/no shroud/lizard case, WTF!!! oh well its just a case. Had to return the first case because it didn't fit thed bird as expected, but MF made good and replaced it no problem. Of the highest quality.. Impressive stock from a mail order catolog. X-treme!! Nice!! If you want a guitar with a special sound, look, feel and simply a dynamic instrument. BUY A GIBSON FIREBIRD V You wno't be dissapointed!! I wasn't!! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

How? Cash. Where? Pawn Shop. Why? It's a Gibson! How much? $150.00. Plays amazing, sounds terrific, no noise, can be very subtle and clean all the way around to sounds that'll put small animals in therapy! Kahler double locking whammy bar tends to drop it waaay outta tune when dive bombing :( It's a Gibson, need I say more? OK, Quality's outstanding, action has always been spot-on, stays in tune without whammy bar backflips, sounds like God pointed his finger out of the jack, through my pedals and out my amp! I went into my local pawnshop, as usual, expecting overpriced, questionable quality guitars, but when I saw it, I had to have it... when I got it home, I saw just how much it's been played.. The guy before me had to either have died or lost it to an ex-wife... Because from the way this was used, nobody would have let it go without a fight. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Gibson explorer guitar is a fun and rock 'n roll instrument. Just a very look of this guitar just screams hard rock and metal type guitar sounds. The shape is sort of similar to a star shape and it's one of those body shapes that really is marketed towards the hard rock metal type guitar player. It's good to be hard to find these guitars used in any type of Indy or country setting primarily because of the body shape. I find it these guitars have a more versatile sound and then a Gibson Les Paul guitar and some applications. I really find that the guitar has a more mid range focus where the Gibson Les Paul has a little bit more lower and focus with their voicing. Overall these guitars instruments and he find a good deal on one that I suggest picking one up because are a blast to play. UTILIZATION Gibson Explorer Features: Color: Ebony Body: Mahogany Neck: Mahogany with special rounded profile Fingerboard: Rosewood with pearloid dot inlays Number of frets: 22 Pickups: Two Humbucking pickups (496R and 500T) with ceramic magnets Controls: Two volume, one tone with three-way pickup selector switch Machine heads: Mini Grovers Hardware: Chrome plated Hardshell case included: Black reptile pattern SOUNDS The tone of these are very warm and thick sounding when you get a lot of gain or saturation from an amplifier. Since they feature to humbucker pick up when you use a high gain overdrive from a distortion pedal or just a tube amplifier distortion you're going to get a very warm and thick tone. Where these guitars don't really excel is in the clean settings. For example if you're using a fender clean or any type of clean tone, these guitars are really going to benefit in that type of setting. They really are gear towards the hard rock and metal type tones so that's where they really find there sweet spot. OVERALL OPINION These guitarists generally come in new ride around $1300-$1600 depending on the model and the features. These are great guitars for someone he wants that attitude sound along with the attitude look up the body shape. I think this guitar just screams attitude and aggression which really is marketed towards the person to place hard rock or metal type music. Overall for great instruments and they really carry that voicing of the Gibson product line. So if you're a fan of the Gibson tone and you're going I'll feel very comfortable using this instrument.

To Gibson Explorer guitar is a great hard rock. Looking guitar and it certainly has that hard rock tone as well. If you've ever played any type of Gibson instrument then you know that has a nice deep rich thick tone that translates very well into rock or metal type musical setting. This guitar just has that look of aggression and anger it really dries your guitar playing into new sonic stratospheres. I love the look of this guitar and couple that with a nice mahogany wood which gives you a great solid foundation for any type of rock or hard rock tone. UTILIZATION BODY Species: Poplar (90% of regular X-plorer body size) NECK Species: Mahogany Profile: Rounded Peghead Pitch: 14° Thickness at 1st fret: 0.800" Thickness at 12th fret: 0.850" Heel Length: 0.625" Neck Joint Location: 19th fret FINGERBOARD Species: Rosewood Scale length: 243/4" Total Length: 19.062" Nut Width: 111/16" Width at 12th fret: 2.062" Frets: 22 Inlays: Pearloid Dot HARDWARE Plating Finish: Chrome Bridge: Tune-o-matic Tailpiece: Stopbar ELECTRONICS Pickups: Neck Pickup: 496R ceramic magnet humbucker Bridge Pickup: 500T ceramic magnet humbucker Controls: Two volume, one tone, three-way switch SOUNDS This tone has a nice warm suitable tone for any hard rock or metal setting. I pretty much like this instrument and all settings in all types of music imaginable. It has a different sound and voicing compared to Gibson Les Paul but it certainly does follow the product line of Gibson guitars. Most of their instruments have that familiarity to them in their voicing and sound but they do you have a different feel any different tone alter themselves. This guitar has a great tone and will sound fantastic. Whether it be a clean amplifier or a medium amplifier or any overdriven ultrasonic distorted amplifier. OVERALL OPINION These guitar you can find for right around $1100 or so. It's a great looking if you're really into the hard rock or metal scene and this is a cool guitar to have as you're main axe for recording or any type of gigging situation. I recommend this guitar for anyone to use or even to have another guitar collection because it's such an iconic instrument and has such a great sound for pretty much any style of music. It's an extremely versatile guitar and will compliment your guitar collection quite well.