Explorer fans...Gibson may be granting your wish.

[DarkstarII]

(Que Not Sure if Serious pic) These explorers have 2 volume and 1 tone knob…

 

[soul_lip_mike]

(Que Not Sure if Serious pic) These explorers have 2 volume and 1 tone knob…

I mistook you as saying you preordered three of the guitar.

 

[DarkstarII]

No worries broh! I’ve been waiting 3 or 4 years for this model, but I cant see a need for owning more than two of them lol!

 

[Flick]

Y

No worries broh! I’ve been waiting 3 or 4 years for this model, but I cant see a need for owning more than two of them lol

Yeah man. I’ve been waiting a while for this one too. I’ve always wanted to get one and now I’m at the point where I’ll be able to afford it whenever they release it.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I have not tried a newer explorer myself (both of my Gibsons are 2016 fadeds with stock dirty fingers or EMG 81/60) but from what I’ve read and watched on YouTube, the 80s pups are very similar to the dirty fingers. I think Trogly did a vid on the black 80s explorer and tore it down nicely

Would be interesting to hear the compared to a guitar loaded with a 500T/496R set, because it seems like these pickups are just a rebadged set of those lol.

 

[soul_lip_mike]

So is the play here to just have the dealer put in a black EMG het set before delivery?

 

[Flick]

So is the play here to just have the dealer put in a black EMG het set before delivery?

I’ll keep the 80s tribute just to check them out before swapping. If I do swap, it’ll probably be for a Duncan Invader.

 

[l1ll1]

The 80s tribute PUs are actually quite interesting, I tried the black 80s explorer once. The balance between the PUs is quite drastic, the neck much less output than the bridge, kind of Hetfields settting by design - switching from bridge to neck for cleaner / clean sounds, especially if you adjust the volume a bit as well.
The bridge is amazing for higher gain, I was really into them. First thought not to much of Gibson PUs, but now I'm actually really into the 70s humbucker of the 70s explorer and the 80s ones were also way more interesting then what I'd have thought...

Just didn't like the color on the black one, felt really thick and glossy, but that might go away with normal wear + tear since it's nitro.

 

[Dudley]

I bought a black one fully expecting to send it back after all the shitty Gibson quality control issues I’ve dealt with when I’ve purchased anything by them in the past, I almost wasn’t excited for it to arrive because I knew how likely it was I’d send it back, but within about 10 minutes I knew it was an absolute keeper.

Pickups sound pretty darn good. I’ve got a spare set of Black Winters which I haven’t installed yet, so that’s saying something haha. If I go back and forth between a set of Black Hawks/Black Winter’s/EMG’s then they sound a bit lacking but just taking them for what they are they’re not bad at all.

Whenever I pick the guitar up I end up losing an hour or 2 playing it, it’s just heaps of fun. Made a few upgrades which I’ll post about where I get round to posting a NGD.

Think I might be the only person who isn’t interested in the white one though. I’d love it if Gibson released a few more colours, some metallic finishes would be great and I’d be seriously tempted to double-dip and get another, but the white doesn’t appeal at all… unless I see one with a particularly nice and dark fretboard and buy it for a refinish.

 

[gnoll]

Would be interesting to hear the compared to a guitar loaded with a 500T/496R set, because it seems like these pickups are just a rebadged set of those lol.

If that's the case I would probably just keep the pickups stock because 500T is a great pickup. The only option to me would be DF just for accuracy. Unless I wanted the Emg thing, in which case 81.

Think I might be the only person who isn’t interested in the white one though.

I think so too.

 

[l1ll1]

So apparently they did ship them already to some people... weird infos going around.

 

[Flick]

So apparently they did ship them already to some people... weird infos going around.

Man. I’m jealous. And getting impatient.

 

[Nightside]

I guess they would need to borrow one from James to copy.

All this is is their regular explorer without the pickguard and a different control layout. Like their "70s V" which is just their standard 67 reissue (which itself is as close to a 67 as this Explorer is to the 84 explorer) with pickup rings and for some reason neck binding.

If they put half as much effort into the designer series as they do LPs I'd be happy but I gave up on Gibson getting any of this shit right ages ago.

 

[zw470]

Anyone else get their Sweetwater preorder cancelled because the guitar was "fully discontinued"

 

[l1ll1]

I've been so enarmoured with some (!) of the guitars Gibson put out since 2021, but if they continue to fuck up this release (it's the same guitar thats already in production, just painted white for christ sake), I'll finally turn my back on them too.

 

[DarkstarII]

Anyone else get their Sweetwater preorder cancelled because the guitar was "fully discontinued"

I didn’t get an email or a call…

 

[Andromalia]

Btw anyone tried the black version? I'm curious how the stock pickups sounds.

Who cares, I bet a significant chunk of those will have EMG 81s put in 30 minutes after delivery.

 

[sirbuh]

If that's the case I would probably just keep the pickups stock because 500T is a great pickup. The only option to me would be DF just for accuracy. Unless I wanted the Emg thing, in which case 81.



I think so too.

ideally they are non labeled df going for the cov era morbid angel sound. re white apparently gibson had them up for order on their website for a day or so and cleared out their inventory

 

[Dahlius]

So is the play here to just have the dealer put in a black EMG het set before delivery?

Do the cavities in these models even fit a 9V?

I had a battery box installed in mine (a 2012 model) because it was an uncomfortably tight fit and I wouldn't trust a lot of people with a procedure like that.

 

[l1ll1]

Who cares, I bet a significant chunk of those will have EMG 81s put in 30 minutes after delivery.

I think you're spot on and I also think all those people will miss out on the "80s"-pickups.