Gibson '76 Reissue Explorer

It is a 96 model, cherry color and gibson 57+ on the bridge w/ 57 on the neck. Other than that original stock. I gave it 8 on this because I had to replace the stock pickups in order to get the sound I was looking for.

I think I was very lucky with this guitar. I own a 2000 white custom, a 99 gibson 335. 2 american strats, and a 71 les paul deluxe. This guitar in particular gives me the sound and It is the most versatile guitar that I have. I really believe it is a huge mistake to think the explorer is mainly for heavy metal. I play pop rock with some latin fusion and it works amainzingly good. It is an extremely delicate guitar soundwise. You can get any sound you are looking for by dynamics. If you want a sharp sound just strike it hard with your pick. If a raound sound is what you are looking for play your dynamics with your pick and start fooling around wiith the volume knob and the tone knob. You can even get a very deep round sound by playing with your fingers instead of your pick. This thing vibrates all over your body. I believe It has something to do with the shape. It balances better than any other guitar and the frequency that you get playing with a great tube amp at nice volumes cuts through perfectly at least in my band. Yes it is trebly but what do you have the tone knob for anyway. besides when you play live that high frequency is what you really need to cut through the band. When you turn those volume knobs down and start playing any of the three positions you can get anything for anyone. I really love the sound. I nice tip is play it with any amp that is based on poweramp distortion such a plexi head or a komet amp. Believe me you won't be dissappointed. And if you like that early van halen sound (you really got me was recorded with an explorer) that iswhat you are going to get.

The factory set up was perfect with a strong string tension. My down strokes are really hard so I put 10's on it and it is perfect for me. It is a hard guitar to play but that is what you need if you like dynamics. It takes a while to get used to but once you do there is no going back. The finish is ok as all other gibsons are. But you buy a guitar for its sound and belive me If looks are important for you the explorer shape will deliver.

I have play a two-year tour all over the world with this guitar and it never gets out of tune. I wouldn't use without a backup. Who does anyway. But I am planning to get another one for the next tour becouse evry night I play my other guitars seem to fell more and more comfortable on the rack. It is built like a rock. so 10 for this category.

1-800-gibson is their number they are great people very helpful and very easy to deal with.

I have been palying for 15 years now I wish I could have own one of this before. If It gets lost I would cry and cry and cry. But they are no expensive guitars so I would buy another one in a second.

Read everyone elses.

The sound is perfect for rock and anything harder.

This all depends on you you buy it from. I had mine set up by a company called Rosetti and they really made this guitar look and feel amazing - They also offered a free service after 6 months which
I had to turn down because:

1. I spilt Caustic soda on the pickups and nearly smoked my hands. I later changed them to Emg's, which made a great sounding guitar even better.

2. I Installed a Floyd rose trem. This was a tough job, but it has really held up and feels just as solid as any other guitar with a floyd rose.

The guitar can easily withstand punishment, the tuners needed changing though. As far as finish and everything goes... I'll have to admit that it was perfect out of the box.

Never used.

This guitar has really grown on me over the year or so, at the start I didn't seem to impressed and had to customize it for myself. If it was Choured I would't buy a new one unless it had a real Floyd rose(Bugger that for a laugh) or decent pickups, which for 700 squid is not going to happen. So I'd probably save up a little more and get something else. Although having said that, this is a gibson, it was perfectly set up, It sounds mental and looks as tight as a dogs arse, so I'll give it a 10. oops boged up

Bought it in December 2000 - You know the score, US made, TuneOMatic bridge/tailpiece, twin humbuckers, one piece (I think) mahogany body, set neck, Grover machineheads and a pink, plush lined Gibson hard case. I've given it a mark of 8 because it has all the features I wanted, but may not suit everybody.

I play a fusion of hard rock/punk/pop and use it for recording via a Line 6 POD. It sounds the absolute bollocks, both for rhythm and lead work - a sound straight out of the 1970s, which is exactly what I wanted.
For 'clean' sounds I use an electro-acoustic and I wouldn't have bought an Explorer for that - or if I wanted a guitar for country, jazz or classical. You get the right tool for the right job. For what I do it's ideal.

As bought, the action was OK, but the intonation was all over the place. I took it to my local friendly guitar repairer who did a fine job on sorting it out (thanks Dave), but it really was piss-poor as bought.
The finish is fine, a beautiful cherry lacquer, I love the 'dry' Gibson rosewod fretboard and the frets are well finished, but I can't get over the intonation problems. Minus 100 points to both Gibson and the dealer for that.

Something that really surprised me was how much I had to change my playing style. I was originally a bassist, so my picking style is quite heavy. I have a battered old 1980's Ibanez six string (as well as a couple of Jazz basses) all of which have stood up to years of abuse with no complaints, but the Explorer just hates a heavy picking style. Being as it's basically a rock guitar I was surprised at this.
As such, I probably wouldn't play it live. The Grovers seem durable enough, but I'm not entirely convinced of their ability to keep it in tune for an hour or more with a heavy picking style.
Apart from that I'm sure I could depend on it to get me through a gig (although I'd never gig without a spare) and I'm yet to break a string, but whether that's down to the necessary change to a lighter playing style, I'm not sure.
As with most people, I immediately changed the strap buttons for a set of Schaller locking ones.

Didn't bother to contact customer suppost over the intonation issue - it was much less hassle to spend #40 on a setup in my local town. I've never contacted them.

I originally went into the shop to buy a '67 reissue Flying V and came out with the Explorer instead. It just felt so much more 'right' for me. Despite the moans about intonation and having to change my style, the Explorer's sound more than makes up for it.
My favourite thing is that I wanted to get a particular sound and with the Explorer / POD combination I got exactly that sound.
If it were stolen I'd be gutted. What would I replace it with? I think I'd be torn between another Explorer, a Les Paul or even a humbucker/Floyd Rose loaded Strat. But I hope I'll never have to make that decision - I'm quite happy with things the way they are.

This is yesterday?s future finest (the one that never was), the Gibson Explorer ?76 reissue. Features on this babe are as classic as it gets: solid Mahogany body made in the USA, with bolted on, rounded profiled, Mahogany neck; Rosewood fingerboard (thanks God for rosewood!) with regular dot inlays. 24 3/4?/1 Scale and 11/16? width at nut. Hardware is Gibson simple approach: all chrome, 6-in-line Gibson tuners, tune-o-matic bridge and stop bar. Pickups and electronics are the key here (mostly due to the resonance capabilities of mahogany) all passive, 496R ceramic magnet humbucker and 500T ceramic magnet humbucker are controlled by a simple two volume, one tone and three-way angled switch array. Available finishes are ebony, cherry and classic white.

Even while this one is a great, classic axe, my impression is that pales before the Gibson's Explorer ER3, which I used to play in the early seventies. Another options, if you want to boost your contemporary "darker" side, might be the brand new "Gothic Explorer", which may suit yer fancy even while the sound is well below this reissue. Anyway, my highest recommendation is to try to get the ultra exclusive "Designer's Series" Explorer from 1983, which excels both in the sound and looks department.

The Explorer was and is the design I love the most. This wonder was designed by Ted Mc Carty, who was president of the Gibson guitar company from 1950 until 1966. In addition to this extraordinary contribution to the guitar world, he was the first to introduce boldly shaped electric guitar (together with the Explorer and the Moderne). Unfortunately, the design proved too extreme for Buddy Holly impersonators and sales lagged, terminating production within two years. Ted also designed the Les Paul, as well as patented numerous pickup devices, successes which made this drawback is nothing to worry about confronted with the total sales at the time. Even when this guitar was not popular at the time (neither the Flying V) of its introduction, it nowadays become one of the de facto choices for players everywhere. In this market-driven economy, makers of electric guitars often emphasize materials, finishes, and overall design as much as the technological aspects of their instruments. Style and craftsmanship are important to the marketing success of electric guitars, and solid-body designs provides them greater freedom to reflect and influence cultural values, since amplification of sound does not substantially depend on the shape of the body. The Explorer (arguable the best balanced instrument ever) is a prime example of this.

If you wan to check pictures of this beautiful guitar, or any other of my 40 guitars, get the full story at my homepage, http://electricguitar.50megs.com.

The acoustic, unplugged character of this instrument leads you to believe that you?ll get massive low end and sustain to spare from this babe. Even while slightly disappointed when I did plug in, the tone is roughly similar to a Les Paul Standard, but has an interesting ?extra punch?, obviously at the expense of extra weight. Sustain is reasonable and its distorted timbre is kinda harsh, yet effective. If you play blues or rock, this one will be on its natural environment. If your fancy is to drop tuning, this one will equally deliver. For rhythm guitar, this one is a sure shot, ?pushing? even the weakest groove. For leads you might desire some extra bite. I tried to replace the bridge pickup for a Di Marzio Super Distortion first and then a Seymour Duncan 59 and the tone experimented dramatic changes, proving once again that mahogany provides a solid foundation for a rock guitar. Clean sounds, on the other hand, are nothing to rave about, yet useful and musical. Obviously, the Explorer was conceived for rockers, and mellow tones are tricky to get.

Also regarding sound, I?ve got to admit that I?m no friend of Mahogany (commonly associated with Les Pauls), strongly preferring basswood or korina. Notwithstanding, is pretty obvious that, at least in this case, the full resonance of that tonewood contributed largely to the density of this guitar. For the record, I checked this babe out with several rigs during five years, including a Marshall Valvestate 80 (old model), 1981 full stack, 1987 half stack, 25th anniversary full stack as well as through a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier rackmountable, my ADA MP2 with an ADA MicroTube 100, both through Crate and ADA Cabinets ?mono and stereo-. This one was captured on tape several times, being myself pleased with the results.

Let?s start saying that no adjustments (neither relevant nor minor) were required in order to accommodate the axe to my own personal playing style, being the neck perfectly aligned and balanced and the action suprisingly low. From there, nothing serious was to fix or adjust ever since. Construction details are flawlessly done (including finishing and fret polishing), classy, neat and clean, and no issues (including action problems) have surfaced so far. The fingerboard is tight and alive, with no dead spots or buzzing whatsoever. Good fit, action and finish condition was the rule.

I always took good care of this guitar, but vis-a-vis these features doesn?t require particular attention. The guitar came with a classy hardshell case, so profit from it and expect a friend for life. All hardware is above standard and the chrome finishing on traditional hardware like this should present problems to no one. Nitrocellulose finish coating is correct, so this guitar is reliable like few others, and the simplicity of approach guarantees a durable instrument. Be confident, she will be with you for a long time. Crowd surfing with this guitar might be hazardous to your health anyway.

Attention of the local retailer was professional, informative, kind and quick. Never contacted the manufacturer regarding this particular instrument but their site is informative and please the eye.

I've been playing for more than 20 years now, and own roughly 40 guitars, including this one. If you?re interested in pictures, original wiring diagrams, parts debriefing or just further details on this amazing babe, be welcomed to my homepage at HTTP://ELECTRICGUITAR.50MEGS.COM

made in usa, 1997. 2 volume, 1 tone, 500t and 496r, 3 way, all mahogany, solid black finish, stop tailpiece, great gibson tuners (six in line) 24.75" scale neck (smaller and faster than my les paul studio's neck, quite comfortable), nice hard case (huge tan case with combination lock if you want to use it, pink plush lining with a silk cover thing inside, shaped for the explorer inside, best case ive had.) it is a very compfortable guitar sitting down and standing.

play all rock, punk, metal, bit of blues, it sounds great. when you play it acoustically you can tell the wood rings nicely. the pickups are nice and hot, and bright, and are great for overdrive, you can nail great classic rock to full out metal. sounds pretty close to my lp studio. im playing it through a master volume single channel jcm800, and mostly just a jeckl and hyde od pedal. this guitar is so good for rockin tone.

plays good, looks good.

feels really sturdy, more so than alot of other gibsons. the hardware seems quality, and the finish is thick. id like to get some good straplocks, im using plastic ones right now. seems as sturdy as you can get with a set neck gibson. i can depend on this axe.

dont know much about gibson, but they reply to emails in good time.

been playing quite a while, i own a gibson les paul studio, gibson explorer (obviously), fender telecaster with hotrail, squier mij jagmaster, hagstrom viking, jcm800 4010, marshall nice old 1x12 ext. cab with a ev speaker, line 6 pod, vox wah, visual sound dr jeckyl and mr hyde od pedal, ibanez ts-5 tubescreamer, and have owned lots of other stuff. this is my favorite guitar so far, and i got a great deal on it. they sound great, play great, etc.

2 hot humbuckers 3 way switch black paint white pick gaurd mahogany body and neck grover tuners tunomatic bridge rose wood finger board

i play metal and this guitar kicks ass. i play threw a marshall mg100 rcd head and a marshall speaker cab and play alot of metallica. my setup is explorer, small clone chorus, mg100 rcd. the only bad thing is when i play clean i have to roll the volume back. i never have problems with noise except for feed back but what guitar doesnt feed back. it has a very crunchy tonethat sounds great specialy when you palm mute.

every thing was just where it was supposed to be all i did was lower the bridge and put size 11 strings on it. the selector is silent and it has a good thick paint job and everything else was great.

i gig with this all the time but i would never gig without a back up no matter what guitar i had because you never no when a string might break

i own this and a Jackson Fusion XL (I love that guitar) i dont know which one i like the most and ive been playing for 5 years. i used to own a epiphone explorer (what a peice of shit)but i traded ot for the jackson. the gibsons a lot better than the epiphone.

Hot-ass humbuckers (the ceramic 500T just RIPS man), set neck, ebony finish, heavy piece of log, (mohogany if im correct)

I play this thing tuned down to C# (a la pantera) loaded with 13 - 56 gauge strings (d'addario jazz mediums) and i never heard something so beefer in my life. I shouldnt neglect to say i also play through a Marshall valvstate 8100 with practically every knob cranked. No effects, although a noise gate wouldnt hurt, i get some hiss when im playing with distortion, but those pickups are so HOT, its impossible NOT to get it. Great defenition, clean sounds muddy on the bridge pickup, but nice round, full tone on the neck magnet.

This thing was bought in a hock shop, and i assume it was stolen (because the lock on the case was busted) it has some nice knicks and bruises, but nevertheless still sounds like a gibson. Action is perfect, when i slapped those heavy gauge strings on i didnt even have to play with it. Again i dont know about the finish, i bought it with character.

I dont take care of my guitars, but i can fix them myself...this thing took alot of beating in the past, the present and will in the future. The neck is surprisingly very strong, i had to adjust the rod once (for the strings) and its been great ever since. I gig with this thing all the time, and its the only guitar i own....never had a problem yet, and its been a good 4 years

im sure gibson has their shit together

If this thing were stolen, id for sure get another one, after i hunt down the damn thief and stick this one up his ass.

2 humbuckers, white pick guard, heritage cherry (or similar to the heritage cherry) finish, and 3 way toggle switch. Its pretty cool

Sound great! No hum, fat tone, great tone, great with dist, great with out dist, rich full sound that serves my needs perfectly. I keep the toggle switch in the middle. My setup is: 76Explorer>Boss Metal Zone>Boss super phaser>Dunlop JH1 Wah Wah>Marshall g80rcd

beautiful, its the best looking guitar ive seen. I pretty much covered this area in the features area

Well the only thing i ever heard about gibson was their reputation for warped necks and when that happens (if it happens) you cant fix it so you have to sell it or live with a warped guitar but that hasnt happened yet and hopefully it will never happen but then again ive only had it for 3 weeks so who knows but everything else it fabulous but i dont think i trust gibson and their damn nonbioflex necks

if you play hard rock or metal or even just plain rock n roll this is a fantastic guitar and is very versitile

Well if i werent so worried about the neck i would give it a 1 but since i AM worried i give it 9 (9.5 actually but i cant put that down on that category thingy down there)

USA made, 1999 vintage, 22 fret, all mahogony construction, rosewood fingerboard, 2 humbuckers, 2 vol, 1 tone control. Gloss black nitro finish.

Not got lots of toys but then you wouldn't buy a Gibson Explorer for toys.

I chose this particular guitar because it is acoustically very loud and vibrant. Original pickups are OK but I swapped them for a set of Fralins which are awesome - I love the sound of this guitar. I play mostly dirty tones - classic rock style. I think that you just have to know what you are doing with Gibsons - I also play an SG and a LP - both with Fralins - both are very different to this beast. That said, I tried a couple of other 76 Explorers that were just dead - you can not buy this guitar in a hurry - just keep on trying them until you find an individual that you like.

Rating is for original pickups. As an acoustic platform for the Fralins it's at least a 9.

Crap. Routing was caked with polihing compound and the routing itself was ragged - I had to "trim" the edges with a blade (so much for "because only a Gibson is good enough" !!). On top of that, the selector switch was loose, the fret ends were sharp and the fingerboard edges were so sharp that I had to radius them with a piece of fine wet&dry paper. On a couple of others I looked at the finish was sunk around the neck and, on a trans red model the bodywood on the "tail" was at 90 degrees to the rest of the body (Gibson obviously don't think this is an issue - see picture of the sunburst Exp on their Website) which looks truly awful. So - why did I buy this piece of crap? Because 1) I wanted and Explorer, 2) the guitar is very resonant and 3) all the bugs are easily resolved. Very low marks to Gibson though.

Withastand live - yes it does.
Hardware last - yes it will.
Finish last - yes tit will, so long as you know how to look-after cellulose. (Warning - Explorers are long guitars - watch that fin on small stages near cymbals).
Sterap buttons replaced with Dunlop locks - if they fall off its my fault (they won't).
Depend on it - yup
Gig without backup - never - not with any guitar.

Never used it, but Peter Cooks Guitar World gets a thumbs-up. I wanted to swap the selector cap switch for a black one (the original is cream on a white scratchplate?) and they ordered one and sent it on to me - little thing but smells like good service to me.

How long - don't even want to think about it.
Other gear - PL, SG, Musicman Axis, Strat, Tele, Charvell, acoustic, Mesa Recto Verb, Marshall JCM800, Budda Wah, Stamp Auto Drive.
Buy another - it took me months to find a good one - yes, I'd start looking again.
Love about it - I'm 6'2" and the guitar doesn't look tiny on me.
Compare to others - see above.

Rating is let down by that build "quality".

Brand new US made 2000 ebony black Explorer. Solid body mahogany, one piece as far as I can tell, no "glue joints" visible body with mahogany glued neck. Has a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard with a slanted headstock with 6 on one side Grover tuners. Has a tune-o-matic bridge with stop tailpiece. Two Gibson humbuckers, neck 496R and bridge 500T, with a three way toggle switch 2 volume one tone controls. comes with a very nice brown tolex hard shell case.

I play punk, metal, rap-core,... a lot of styles and it suits fine. I play through a Peavey Ultra Head and a 4X12 Marshall cab with a very long chain of effects.
It sounds good!!! The bridge pickup is very loud and defined. Excellent for lead work and furious palm muting. It has very good chunk and crunch. The neck pickup is good for rhythm but gets a bit muddy with distortion. it is a bit on the dark bassy side since the body wood is mahogany, but this makes it even better for palm muting. The leads can also sing. The higher frequency strings sound bright and nice.
The neck is quite fast and very playable. I tell you this is a player.

The guitar had excellent setup for the strings it brings: .09's. I like 011's but I think I'll settle down for 010's. These have behaved well and all the guitar required was filing the nut to accommodate the new strings and a slight adjustment of the truss rod. The pickups were also nicely adjusted.
The routing looks good although the polishing compound was caked inside the cavities.
The frets are very nice: nicely crowned and level. The fretboard has markings going parallel to the frets which makes me think that Gibson was falling behind in filling in the orders for this guitar and they rushed through some parts as did the finish. The place where I bought it from had mine on backorder since November, got it the second week of January. The finish also presents evidence of a rushed job. You can see fine lines from the buffing process which I had not seen in other black guitars I own. In fact the sides of the guitar were a bit dull which required me to bring out the polishing compound and do it myself (I do tech work). The compound was also caked on the neck/body joint.
The electronics work fine and the chrome hardware in Gibsons last forever, even here in Puerto Rico which is very humid.

It's a USA Gibson!!

Never dealt with them!!

I really wish Gibson did not rush through the production and keep their high quality standards. I mean the finish is not a very important aspect of the guitar but for $975 they should attend to these little if insignificant details. I also wish it was set up with real strings. 09's are a joke. Gibson should put some beefy strings.
Aside from this it is one hell of a guitar. I just love it and it is fast becoming my main axe. The pickups are awesome. All of my other guitars have gone through different pickup changes but this one, I'm almost sure will remain stock.
Remember to try it yourself to see if it suits your needs and you really like it.