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tjon901 « Familiar design »
Published on 07/30/11 at 06:54Gibsons guitar of the week series is a run of guitars that allows them to make a new guitar every week and make a guitar that might have been from their past or something that they could have made years ago. This guitar should look very familiar to anyone who has listened to metal music in the last 30 years. This guitar is pretty much a reissue of the mid 80s Gibson Explorer that was very popular at the time in thrash metal. The specs are pretty simple the body and neck are mahogany. The fretboard is ebony with 22 jumbo frets. It has a control layout similar to a flying V with 2 volume controls and 1 tone control with a 3 way switch near them instead of on the lower horn. The pickups are a very 80s fare as well with a old school set of EMG's that include an 81 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck. It has a clean white finish with no pickguard so you can easily tell whos guitar this is based on.
UTILIZATION
The Explorer design is a pretty decent design. Its radical shape leads to pretty much perfect balance. The ebony fretboard lets you really glide over the fretboard. The jumbo frets let you bend at will and let you set the action super low. The neck is nice and beefy so you can really get your hand around it.
SOUNDS
The 81 and 60 set is a traditional EMG set that you do not see much anymore. This set gives you the best of both worlds because it gives you awesome high gain sound in the bridge position and the 60 provides a very good clean sound for an active pickup. The 60 is designed to be clean alternative to the 81 and the 85. This limits the pickups use in metal where you would normally use active pickups. This pickup is pretty much a neck only pickup. This guy does not have the output of the 81 or the 85 and does not sound that great with high gain distortion. This pickup is best for cleans. Its most famous user is James Hetfield from Metallica. He used this pickup in the neck position of his guitars for many years and used it for its clean tones. Clean tones are something that Is usually not too good in active pickups so EMG made one just for cleans. The 81 is a metal machine in the bridge. It has a searing high gain metal sound. When I play music with a lot of palm muting I can get an awesome tone. The 81 really shines when you are playing tight chugging riffs. Tight chugging riffs and single note lines are what this pickup is best at. When you downtune all these traits just help to keep the sound nice and tight. It is very hard to get a muddy sound from this pickup. This with the huge Explorer body means this guitar has tones of metal tone.
OVERALL OPINION
Like a lot of the guitar of the week models. Gibson really could make this a full time model but they would rather make it a limited run and built exclusivity. Also Gibson does not like making guitars with other peoples pickups in them so of course this is going to be a limited run. With this particular Explorer the only alternatives you can get are from Japan. If you are looking for a true Gibson Explorer in the classic 80s layout you should try and find one of these.
UTILIZATION
The Explorer design is a pretty decent design. Its radical shape leads to pretty much perfect balance. The ebony fretboard lets you really glide over the fretboard. The jumbo frets let you bend at will and let you set the action super low. The neck is nice and beefy so you can really get your hand around it.
SOUNDS
The 81 and 60 set is a traditional EMG set that you do not see much anymore. This set gives you the best of both worlds because it gives you awesome high gain sound in the bridge position and the 60 provides a very good clean sound for an active pickup. The 60 is designed to be clean alternative to the 81 and the 85. This limits the pickups use in metal where you would normally use active pickups. This pickup is pretty much a neck only pickup. This guy does not have the output of the 81 or the 85 and does not sound that great with high gain distortion. This pickup is best for cleans. Its most famous user is James Hetfield from Metallica. He used this pickup in the neck position of his guitars for many years and used it for its clean tones. Clean tones are something that Is usually not too good in active pickups so EMG made one just for cleans. The 81 is a metal machine in the bridge. It has a searing high gain metal sound. When I play music with a lot of palm muting I can get an awesome tone. The 81 really shines when you are playing tight chugging riffs. Tight chugging riffs and single note lines are what this pickup is best at. When you downtune all these traits just help to keep the sound nice and tight. It is very hard to get a muddy sound from this pickup. This with the huge Explorer body means this guitar has tones of metal tone.
OVERALL OPINION
Like a lot of the guitar of the week models. Gibson really could make this a full time model but they would rather make it a limited run and built exclusivity. Also Gibson does not like making guitars with other peoples pickups in them so of course this is going to be a limited run. With this particular Explorer the only alternatives you can get are from Japan. If you are looking for a true Gibson Explorer in the classic 80s layout you should try and find one of these.