Overall User Ratings

"A new look for the explorer"

Feature:
It has all the feature of an explorer minus the normal size humbuckers, pickguard, and the body is somewhat smaller.

Quality:
The guitar itself was made really well, but the model I picked up had some glue sticking up between the neck and body joint and the neck pickup was kind of lose in the mounting ring. The paint job is really cool, I played the studio blue colour, and it has a metallica flake sparkle.

Value:
I would say that it is a good deal. It is cheaper then a normal explorer and it comes with a hardcase, so you really cannot go wrong. Though it should be a little cheaper because of the body material.

Desirability:
I would definitly love to buy one of these up, I would rather have the studio then the normal explorer. The body size and the different style is really one thing that I like about this guitar.

Sound:
The sound it pretty good, I've never played a guitar with these mini humbuckers and it was surprising how bright and powerful they were. Though the body is made from poplar instead of the typical mahogany, so the sound is brighter and not as deep.

Support:
I cannot say how Gibson deal with questions, I do not actually own this guitar, but I never had to deal with them, I would say that is a good thing.

Overall:
Good guitar overall, the only way I could see someone wanting the normal explorer is because they liked this guitar so much, they want to have the real deal, unless they already have the normal explorer and they just really like the whole line of them.