Gibson Guitars: Years that had mediocre wood

[tones_RS3]

At one point in time I had a black 1984 Gibson Explorer. Just like James Hetfield's original white Gibson Explorer. Its the model that ESP copied and got sued for by Gibson. 3 controls at the bottom corner, selector below the tail bar....

I probably had the same guitar as you dude! Unless yours is a 76 reissue?

I'll have to take a photo of the actual guitar, but it looks exactly like James Hetfield's guitar as well, but all black.
I changed out the tone and volume knobs same as the ones James has here, but all black.

That metal scene was the ****ing best back then from the 80's till like mid 90's. Killer.
I miss that style Metallica.

 

[Revvv]

I had just never seen a wood pickguard prior to this one.

Really?

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[OETKB]

Really?

Strats, mid grade Taylors, and old Yamahas were the length and breadth of my guitar universe. You mentioned rosewood fretboards. I didn't find those to be scarce, but I'd not seen a rosewood pickguard before.

 

[RedVenom48]

I'll have to take a photo of the actual guitar, but it looks exactly like James Hetfield's guitar as well, but all black.
I changed out the tone and volume knobs same as the ones James has here, but all black.

View attachment 1578153


That metal scene was the ****ing best back then from the 80's till like mid 90's. Killer.
I miss that style Metallica.

Hell, James' first name brand guitar was that Explorer. The White Flying V he recorded Kill em All and Lightning with was a copy. The only real Gibson was Kirk's '75 Gibson V. Then they got huge and ESP snatched them up!

If Im being real here, Gibson continually misses the mark. If they would make THAT style Explorer, YOUR Explorer, as the standard they would sell like hotcakes. but nope, noooo its got to be the 76 Reissue because "We're Gibson. We know exactly what our players want."

No the **** you guys dont.

 

[Revvv]

Strats, mid grade Taylors, and old Yamahas were the length and breadth of my guitar universe. You mentioned rosewood fretboards. I didn't find those to be scarce, but I'd not seen a rosewood pickguard before.

There are a lot of older acoustics with wooden pick guards. They are generally on the pricey side of the guitar world.

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[Junior00]

Wonder what a '68 Gibson Custom Super 400 in sunburst is worth? My step father has one and it's mint.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

Wonder what a '68 Gibson Custom Super 400 in sunburst is worth? My step father has one and it's mint.

realistic or inflated value? lol
Insurance purpose I'd put a 10-12K price.
Inflated I'd say 8-9K
Most will sell 8K or lower with $6500 a Realistic deal for me....

 

[Junior00]

realistic or inflated value? lol
Insurance purpose I'd put a 10-12K price.
Inflated I'd say 8-9K
Most will sell 8K or lower with $6500 a Realistic deal for me....

I haven’t seen it in years, I want to say it was electric but not 100%...then again I know jack shit about guitars for the lost part but I do know it sounded fantastic! Always was a drum guy.

I know when he took it to the store, the guy quoted him a 16 or 18k price tag to have one made now just like it from Gibson through the custom shop, which I thought was outrageous.

 

[CV355]

Don't forget the tree huggers in the DOJ were all over their ass a few years ago for the kind of wood they were procuring.

Brazilian Rosewood. The same wood that most guitar manufacturers use for fretboards. Gibson's CEO is Conservative while most of the rest of the guitar mfg's execs are hardcore liberals. What happened to Gibson was totally unfair.

Personally, I'm not a Gibson fan. I know plenty of people who own $3k+ Les Pauls and the Epiphone equivalents who prefer the Epiphone. I played a Gibson Hummingbird, and I swear my 20 year old Takamine plays better.

If you are a traditionalist and want a Gibson because Gibson, mid 90's is where the quality started going downhill. 90's and older are good guitars, if they haven't been demolished or bubba'd. Or, opt for their higher end custom shop (I swear, anyone who pays for a "custom shop" guitar that has a solid painted finish needs to be strangled).

For the money, there are far better guitars to be had.

 

[prs97]

2012 seems to be the year that a lot of people don't care for due to their issues with the feds and the 2 piece rosewood fretboards.

As far as custom shop guitars go, there's usually a lot of debate on "good wood" years and the consensus is that every year has good and bad guitars.

As far as the USA line, I've heard the quality is really hit or miss. Play a bunch and see if you like what you feel/hear.

 

[RedVenom48]

Brazilian Rosewood. The same wood that most guitar manufacturers use for fretboards. Gibson's CEO is Conservative while most of the rest of the guitar mfg's execs are hardcore liberals. What happened to Gibson was totally unfair.

Personally, I'm not a Gibson fan. I know plenty of people who own $3k+ Les Pauls and the Epiphone equivalents who prefer the Epiphone. I played a Gibson Hummingbird, and I swear my 20 year old Takamine plays better.

If you are a traditionalist and want a Gibson because Gibson, mid 90's is where the quality started going downhill. 90's and older are good guitars, if they haven't been demolished or bubba'd. Or, opt for their higher end custom shop (I swear, anyone who pays for a "custom shop" guitar that has a solid painted finish needs to be strangled).

For the money, there are far better guitars to be had.

True statements. Unfortunately, Gibson makes the only Explorer design I care for. Bastards! The ESP Explorers are going for literally 10's of thousands of dollars. I havent played a Hamer explorer that Ive even remotely liked.

I remember reading the articles about Gibson getting raided and was like "sooooo they had wood stock..... and got in trouble for it?"

The Jackson Kelly is an interesting guitar. Its a metal Explorer, but its 9/10 the size. The Jeff Loomis signature Kelly is such a badass axe! The $7000 price tag.. not so much... Jesus, I remember when a USA made Jackson was $2000 brand new. If it wasnt for the current retail price of $4000, they would be getting a consideration.

Im not a big Floyd Rose fan though. I thought the Kahler trems were cool. big fan of the Tune-o-matics; simple easy to adjust etc.

 

[Revvv]

True statements. Unfortunately, Gibson makes the only Explorer design I care for. Bastards! The ESP Explorers are going for literally 10's of thousands of dollars. I havent played a Hamer explorer that Ive even remotely liked.

I remember reading the articles about Gibson getting raided and was like "sooooo they had wood stock..... and got in trouble for it?"

The Jackson Kelly is an interesting guitar. Its a metal Explorer, but its 9/10 the size. The Jeff Loomis signature Kelly is such a badass axe! The $7000 price tag.. not so much... Jesus, I remember when a USA made Jackson was $2000 brand new. If it wasnt for the current retail price of $4000, they would be getting a consideration.

Im not a big Floyd Rose fan though. I thought the Kahler trems were cool though. big fan of the Tune-o-matics; simple easy to adjust etc.

I had a Hamer, and wish I still had the thing. Mine was not an Explorer though. I've never been a fan of the Explorers or Vs. Personal preference.

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[RedVenom48]

I had a Hamer, and wish I still had the thing. Mine was not an Explorer though. I've never been a fan of the Explorers or Vs. Personal preference.

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First few times I played an Explorer it felt very awkward. Was was so used to my first guitar, American Standard Stratocaster. After a few tries at the local guitar shop though, it felt natural.

The Flying v's really all depend where the strap buttons are. If they are in the wrong spots they will hang in an uncomfortable manner.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

True statements. Unfortunately, Gibson makes the only Explorer design I care for. Bastards! The ESP Explorers are going for literally 10's of thousands of dollars. I havent played a Hamer explorer that Ive even remotely liked.

I remember reading the articles about Gibson getting raided and was like "sooooo they had wood stock..... and got in trouble for it?"

The Jackson Kelly is an interesting guitar. Its a metal Explorer, but its 9/10 the size. The Jeff Loomis signature Kelly is such a badass axe! The $7000 price tag.. not so much... Jesus, I remember when a USA made Jackson was $2000 brand new. If it wasnt for the current retail price of $4000, they would be getting a consideration.

Im not a big Floyd Rose fan though. I thought the Kahler trems were cool. big fan of the Tune-o-matics; simple easy to adjust etc.

If you haven't played a hamer that you even remotely liked you need to find someone else to do the set up.
I've played $400 guitars that you swore were $2000 all because of the man who set it up.

 

[Revvv]

If you haven't played a hamer that you even remotely liked you need to find someone else to do the set up.
I've played $400 guitars that you swore were $2000 all because of the man who set it up.

Very true. My favorite guitar to play is an Epiphone. No one understands why until they play it. The thing is perfect.

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[RedVenom48]

If you haven't played a hamer that you even remotely liked you need to find someone else to do the set up.
I've played $400 guitars that you swore were $2000 all because of the man who set it up.

I definitely agree. It was more the neck profile of the Hamer Explorers. All had thick necks. I definitely prefer thin or standard necks. If I could get a Jackson neck profile on a Gibson Explorer with a solid top Id be in heaven.

 

[CV355]

True statements. Unfortunately, Gibson makes the only Explorer design I care for. Bastards! The ESP Explorers are going for literally 10's of thousands of dollars. I havent played a Hamer explorer that Ive even remotely liked.

I remember reading the articles about Gibson getting raided and was like "sooooo they had wood stock..... and got in trouble for it?"

The Jackson Kelly is an interesting guitar. Its a metal Explorer, but its 9/10 the size. The Jeff Loomis signature Kelly is such a badass axe! The $7000 price tag.. not so much... Jesus, I remember when a USA made Jackson was $2000 brand new. If it wasnt for the current retail price of $4000, they would be getting a consideration.

Im not a big Floyd Rose fan though. I thought the Kahler trems were cool. big fan of the Tune-o-matics; simple easy to adjust etc.

I'm not saying Gibson isn't a good brand, or makes a bad guitar... Think of how many iconic songs/bands use Gibson. I've seen some absolutely gorgeous custom-shop Les Pauls (drooling over an AAA Quilted Maple CS/LP, but it's $7000). For $7000, I could have a true custom instead of a "our custom shop made this, but to our spec"-custom.

I prefer a standard tremolo vs the Floyd Rose. The tremolo that came on my PRS is perfect. I don't much care for divebombs or whammy harmonics. I use the tremolo for extremely controlled... tremolo. Clean channel usually. I like doing quarter-tone drops with the tremolo arm in distorted channels. Takes some serious practice both with your pick hand and your ear to handle quarter tones, but it makes for some absolutely wicked sounds if you do it right.

One of my Schecters has a FR and I blocked the damn thing. It'd go out of tune constantly and it's a ROYAL pain to intonate. Once they're set up, don't even think about changing string gauge or looking at it the wrong way. NO MORE Floyd Roses for me.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

I definitely agree. It was more the neck profile of the Hamer Explorers. All had thick necks. I definitely prefer thin or standard necks. If I could get a Jackson neck profile on a Gibson Explorer with a solid top Id be in heaven.

Ever had a Ibanez Wizard neck in your hands? There's a reason it is my go to on everything......

Original wizard profile. Not the wizard 2 or anything like that.

 

[RedVenom48]

I'm not saying Gibson isn't a good brand, or makes a bad guitar... Think of how many iconic songs/bands use Gibson. I've seen some absolutely gorgeous custom-shop Les Pauls (drooling over an AAA Quilted Maple CS/LP, but it's $7000). For $7000, I could have a true custom instead of a "our custom shop made this, but to our spec"-custom.

I prefer a standard tremolo vs the Floyd Rose. The tremolo that came on my PRS is perfect. I don't much care for divebombs or whammy harmonics. I use the tremolo for extremely controlled... tremolo. Clean channel usually. I like doing quarter-tone drops with the tremolo arm in distorted channels. Takes some serious practice both with your pick hand and your ear to handle quarter tones, but it makes for some absolutely wicked sounds if you do it right.

One of my Schecters has a FR and I blocked the damn thing. It'd go out of tune constantly and it's a ROYAL pain to intonate. Once they're set up, don't even think about changing string gauge or looking at it the wrong way. NO MORE Floyd Roses for me.

If you were looking for a total custom shop guitar, who would you have build it?

Ever had a Ibanez Wizard neck in your hands? There's a reason it is my go to on everything......

Original wizard profile. Not the wizard 2 or anything like that.

Next time Im at a guitar store, Ill have to look for one.

 

[prs97]

+1 on PRS trems. Smooth like butter and without the hassles of a Floyd Rose.