• A light, rockin' genuine Gibson Explorer for only a few clams!

  
  As reviewed by Jim Pearson on 5/24/2011

  Maple body, bright and snarky 491T ceramic Gibson humbucker, low-weight on the shoulder, plays great. So simple, even a caveguitarplayer can use it! One knob. One pickup, vintage-style sealed tuners... I like the thinner neck and the lighter neck balance. Most Explorers tend to pull away from the body when you're gigging, but the Melody Maker model is a little smaller - it stays closer to you and is easier on your shoulder after an hour or so of stranglin' the strings. It's not a Gibby full-size Explorer. It doesn't have the shiny poly finish, and has the wrap-around, non-compensated tail piece. BUT: it's simple and sounds truly rockin'! The finish is an extremely thin nitro coating on beautiful maple wood. You can scar through the finish pretty easily, but I think the finish lets the sound out even better than the thickly-coated guitars. The finish is very similar to the Fender Highway One series in its thin-ness, but a little glossier. You won't find a clean sound from the 491T. It's an awesome new pickup, one that I think should definitely be on Gibson rockers in the future. It snarls with the slightest attack of a pick or finger, and really wails the amp when you dig in and go for it. The only downside is that you can't do the swooshy clean chorus-y phaser-y thing for contrasting passages, and you can't get a jazzy sound out of it at all. Your gig/playing is rock all the way with the 491T. It is Hard Rock/Snarly Country, but is NOT as aggressive as the Gibson Explorer's 500T - that's actually just fine by most folks who've played my MM Explorer. The 500T is for certain tastes only. Overall, the build quality is good. The tongue of the neck into the body is pretty long, the finish is extremely consistent, the neck is light and fast, and the balance is good. Snag one. Cheap thrills and USA Quality for just a few dollars!

  4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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• If its an explorer you want keep looking!

  
  As reviewed by A. Thedford on 5/3/2011

  Thought I was getting a very stripped down explorer, a very stripped down version of Gibson's legendary rock machine. What I got was a boat paddle with a price tag. First thing this guitar is tiny, not even 2/3 size of an explorer. Second, although I thought the flying v type headstock might prove to be cool, it just ads to the weakness of this guitar. Everything about it appears cheap with no feel of quality whatsoever. Uncomfortable to play and what little time I spent playing this (literally no longer that 30 minutes)I was constantly retuning. The pickup did not sound terrible but that is the only non-negative thing I can say about it. In person it doesn't even look cool. Gibson USA should be ashamed to put their name on it. I immediately returned to GC (gotta love that 30 day tryout)for a refund and found a used '98 Explorer in mint condition.........now I am happy to own a 'real' explorer. The only reason I could see buying this guitar is strictly for the collection value (due to limited production numbers it may be worth something one day) but that will be a day I won't live to see and I want an explorer that I can play and this definitely was not it. PASS ON THIS ONE GUYS

  3 of 6 people found this review helpful.
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• hey!

  
  As reviewed by Bob Son of Bob on 7/10/2011

  I would just like to point out the stock humbucker in this isn't gibson, isn't even seymour duncan but a duncan designed hb-103.

  1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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