Quality Would you consider this product to be made well? How dependable? It's a Gibson, so I was pretty sure it would have some mojo. Reliability How has it stood up over time? Just got it , but seems pretty solid. General Your general opinion of this product. A Gibson with a swamp ash body set neck n a German Floyd. Lots of potential. Playability and Feel How does it feel, Heavy, Fast, Chunky? How was the neck? Are the controls easy to get to while playing? Fat neck. ..needs some work in this area, but its worth it. Tone Bright and snappy? Dark and smooth? Were the pickups hot, mellow, thick, thin? Great tone Finish How did the stain or paint job look? The case is beautiful. The guitar finish is really light so the guitar can breath n resonates. . Action How was the action out of the box? Now, here's were u need to put some work into the guitar. Action was high, neck adjustment was need it n Floyd adjusted The nut has been shimmed. I've put a lot a of time in here, but it has paid off! ! This guitar just screams. .

Quality Would you consider this product to be made well? How dependable? it's very well made, except for the finish. the case is beautiful (though huge as it always is for explorer models). the smell of the nitrocellulose is just heavenly. Reliability How has it stood up over time? as with all gibsons, the track record speaks for itself. i've no reason to question. if i have probs, and i've several gibsons, i'd be shocked. General Your general opinion of this product. for the price, a good buy. i bought this as a 'kick around' guitar, and it's much more than that. I'm used to very high end instruments, so it was difficult to settle for a mid/lower level finish.. fact is that the playability and tone are fantastic. Playability and Feel How does it feel, Heavy, Fast, Chunky? How was the neck? Are the controls easy to get to while playing? feel is quite good, though i'm not used to a satin feel finished neck, it's very fast. it stays in tune very well. tremolo is great. guitar is light in weight. neck stays put, guitar stays put, in other words, when you let go of the neck, there is no worry about it falling down. the body resonates appropriately and offers good sustain. Tone Bright and snappy? Dark and smooth? Were the pickups hot, mellow, thick, thin? tone is fantastic...very balanced- these pickups are really hot active pickups, yet very useable. it's marketed as a 'shred' guitar, however, the clean is fantastic, and you can dial back some of the 'grit'. compared to a les paul, this is only slightly hotter. it's tone lends itself for pretty much any form of music. gibsons description of the guitar is loaded with goofy 'gothic' references and heavy metal shred logo. kinda silly..after all you can play heavy metal with an es 175 if you wanted to. Finish How did the stain or paint job look? ok-here is the only thing i don't particularly like about the guitar. i was unaware that the grain of swamp ash would be so pronounced. so the guitar is NOT glasslike smooth on the outside of the finish. i thought it would be a smooth satin finish, and it is, however, you can see the growth rings and feel the growth ring high spots as they transition into 'valleys' which are stained red. the red is barely visible. i thought the black satin finish was fine, but did not like the fact that the wood is not smooth. fact is that it looks 'weird' and doesn't reflect light evenly -when you are used to seeing explorers with a premium finish. i guess this was a cost saving measure. is it worth $400 more to get the white explorer with the tremolo..and premium finish? i don't know, probably not. it's not 'BAD' just different. the blood fret inlays are really cool.. the silkscreened gibson logo in red is barely visible. Action How was the action out of the box? neck is nice and thin, action was perfect, setup was perfect, intonation was perfect and it was ready to go right out of the box. action is fairly low, no buzzing to speak of. i like it low.

Quality Would you consider this product to be made well? How dependable? Gibson quality still shines.10 out of 10.i believe this guitar will be naturally reliced. Reliability How has it stood up over time? so far so good,haven't unplugged it yet,almost a month,my new #1 guitar. General Your general opinion of this product. classic body with Gibson innovation Playability and Feel How does it feel, Heavy, Fast, Chunky? How was the neck? Are the controls easy to get to while playing? first played it without a strap,sitting on my lap.the neck was very easy to scale up and down,with the new set of strings,had to retune every so often with the use of the tremelo.tone and volume knobs a little slippery at first,now easier to turn after some use.only gets better. Tone Bright and snappy? Dark and smooth? Were the pickups hot, mellow, thick, thin? i like my tone to be on the bright side or half way.this guitar satisfy my needs.it can get muddy if you like it that way.dail in what you want. Finish How did the stain or paint job look? the color of the black satin stain with the highlights of the red filler makes the body look outstanding. Action How was the action out of the box? after closely inspecting guitar before playing,the action was good enough to play.

Quality Would you consider this product to be made well? How dependable? It's a Gibson.....nuff said! Reliability How has it stood up over time? General Your general opinion of this product. Overall this guitar is friggin' awesome. I wasn't sure about the pups since there's no reviews out there on 'em, but be assured these things are awesome! I love the thinner neck, looks and the sounds that come from it most of all. I ordered this thing in January and finall got it last week. It's been hard to put it down!!! Playability and Feel How does it feel, Heavy, Fast, Chunky? How was the neck? Are the controls easy to get to while playing? Tone Bright and snappy? Dark and smooth? Were the pickups hot, mellow, thick, thin? Finish How did the stain or paint job look? The finish is pretty good....I like it! Action How was the action out of the box?