New Explorer Day

BloodEagle

Ive been after one of these in decent condtion for a looong time and today was the day I finally scored one. 1982 Gibson Explorer E2. In absolutely fantastic condition, its obviously been extremely well looked after. The body contours make it very comfortable for the pick hand and perfect for the particular brand of lunk headed no frills metal/punk that I like to play, but most importantly it also goes marvellously with the bamboo flooring in my work room. Heres a pic

Jetfire

That's awesome!

Tenebrous

BloodEagle said:

Ive been after one of these in decent condtion for a looong time and today was the day I finally scored one.

Glad to see you've finally found what you've been looking for.

(I'll get my coat).

Looks REALLY clean - Nice find!

robgilmo

Sweet Jesus, that's drool worthy.

webrthomson

That is epic - love it - HND

sawyer

Nice!

HarrySeven

Lovely!

rsvmark

Not that I am questioning anything but the body appears to have a few chamfers and a small belly cut. Is that normal for explorers? 

BloodEagle

Its an E2 Explorer - it is normal for them, yes - part of the appeal of them in fact

WezV

rsvmark said:

Not that I am questioning anything but the body appears to have a few chamfers and a small belly cut. Is that normal for explorers? 

No, but it is normal for E2’s

V2’s have similar, but look much worse than the explorer version

Neil

That is saucy!

Philly_Q

WezV said:

rsvmark said:

Not that I am questioning anything but the body appears to have a few chamfers and a small belly cut. Is that normal for explorers? 

No, but it is normal for E2’s

V2’s have similar, but look much worse than the explorer version

I've always liked the look of V2s, although the pickups (and scratchplate) are a bit silly.

Nothing silly about this E2 Explorer though, very nice.

revsorg

In my humble opinion the TP6 tailpiece sounds better than normal Gibson tailpieces. I've no idea why.  I've spent an inordinate amount of time switching them back and forth. 

dazzajl

Not my normal bag at all but I do love that. It’s outrageous and understatedly elegant at the same time. 

Very cool indeed 

WezV

dazzajl said:

Not my normal bag at all but I do love that. It’s outrageous and understatedly elegant at the same time. 

Very cool indeed 

Whereas the V2 just looks like its been left in the sun too long - although I still have a soft spot for them 

BloodEagle

Yeah, the V2 is almost on a par with the reverse v for ugliness

OilCityPickups

I kinda like the V2 ... the trouble is the pickups ... by making them that shape they instantly cut out the ability to fit anything else. That would have been okay if the originals were half way decent, but they were weedy and totally underwhelming. 
  

Funkfingers

In 1984 or 85, a friend of mine sold almost every bit of guitar gear he owned to purchase an secondhand E2 Explorer. The construction of his example was the reverse of the OP. i.e. More maple than walnut. It weighed more than the typical Norlin-era Les Paul. 

TheGuitarWeasel said:

the V2 ... the trouble is the pickups 

Agreed on all points. 

Considering that the E2 came with the original Dirty Fingers humbuckers, the V2 *Boomerang* things were always going to lose out by comparison.

ESBlonde

Back in the early 80s I was in an originals band and the other guitarist had a collection of Gibsons (quite unique back then) including one of these. iirc the sound was usually overdriven into a marshall and sounded quite focussed (he was an accurate player by any standards). It was certainly a nice sounding guitar and quite the looker.

OilCityPickups

Funkfingers said:

In 1984 or 85, a friend of mine sold almost every bit of guitar gear he owned to purchase an secondhand E2 Explorer. The construction of his example was the reverse of the OP. i.e. More maple than walnut. It weighed more than the typical Norlin-era Les Paul. 

TheGuitarWeasel said:

the V2 ... the trouble is the pickups 

Agreed on all points. 

Considering that the E2 came with the original Dirty Fingers humbuckers, the V2 *Boomerang* things were always going to lose out by comparison.

Had they made the V with the Dirty Fingers they would have a quite different reputation these days.

gusman2x

That is seriously cool.