Gibson Explorer score

[Shuie]

I found this one on ebay. The serial number was obliterated, and even though it was bastardized and refinished '80s style, I had a hunch it was a either '76 Limited Edition or a '77-'79 guitar from the pictures in the ebay auction. After I got it home from the Post Office I proceeded to completely disassemble it. The date codes on the pots indicate the 52nd week of 1975, so it turns out that its a '76 LE.

The '76 LE Explorer was the first Gibson reissue of the 1958 Explorer. Other than the species of wood they are made of, and the horrible mid '70s electronics, these guitars are very true to the 39 original 1958 Explorers. To this day, Gibson has never made a better reissue, IMO.

Within 72hrs, I'd stripped the sparkly white refinish job, refinished the entire thing in natural, and replaced all of the electronics, and threw in a set of PAF copies from Pelicanite Wolfe Macleod. The end result is nothing short of amazing, IMO. This thing kills. It's a keeper.

FWWI, in collector grade condition, '76 LEs are selling for $7.5k these days. Players are $3.5k+. I've got about $850 in mine so far

Here are a couple of pics of the ~72hr transformation process:

[bell]

nice work, good score

[Victor]

Originally posted by bell
nice work, good score

+1

That really looks the part now.

[nostatic]

i've always been a strat guy, but do like Explorers, in part due to seeing pics of Clapton playing a '58 in the mid 70's.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally posted by Shuie
I
Within 72hrs, I'd stripped the sparkly white refinish job, refinished the entire thing in natural, and replaced all of the electronics, and threw in a set of PAF copies from Pelicanite Wolfe Macleod.

My ears are burnin!

Nice score man! great job on the refinish too. That white just didn't cut it.
Those must be the DrV's, yeah? Recordings!

[Victor]

While we are here Shuie, here are some pics of the top of the Gibbo I picked up the other week

[Shuie]

Nice Lester, Victor! Congrats again!

It does look the part now, but the more important thing is that it sounds better. I stripped a pretty heavy coat of paint and a really sticky thick coat of primer from the guitar. Yep, primer. Thick finishes like this dont help the tone of the guitar at all.

I used a Birchwood Casey gun stock refinish kit. The kit cost about $11 at Academy and has everything you need to finish a guitar in natural. Its basically a hand rubbed varnish. It gives you a very thin and hard finish (a good thing for a guitar) thats very easy to apply and repair. It's perfect for guitars like this.

Wolfe, yes they are the Dr. V's. My last set, actually. Im going to need more. I don't have any clips, sorry.

FWIW, Clapton owned at least 2 of the original 39 Explorers that were made, 8-3876, 8-4541

[Rick Lee]

My Les Paul looks identical to Victor's.