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:
