Objectively, I don't like the overt commercial exploitation of releasing a guitar like this for "the collector". Subjectively, I don't care for the Steinberger tuners, the copper plated/powdered pickup covers and the (non-deco) art-deco logo.
Oh Gibson...what are you thinking??
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Aug 30, 2008 8:18 a.m. Calacas:
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Aug 30, 2008 8:46 a.m. MarkW:
Actually I kind of like it in a manly sort of way. What the h---does that mean?
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Aug 30, 2008 9:17 a.m. Bear:
do not be afraid said: um, i'm pretty the point is exactly the same as it was for the original Explorer: to try something new, stand out, and get people talking! apparently it's working
Actually, I am old enough to have been around for the initial release of the Gibson Abortion series. The real reason they were created was not to get people talking but to compete with this little upstart company in California called Fender that was kicking their butt all over Kalamazoo. Initially Gibson considered solid body electric guitars as a joke even calling Les Paul's original concept an "Electric Canoe Paddle". The only reason they changed their corporate minds was because Leo Fender was selling a hell of a lot of Telecasters and Gibson wanted a piece of the pie.
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Aug 30, 2008 9:39 a.m. Anni_Lover:
Looks like they hired the same guy that designed the TK-300!!
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- Rated: 204 ↑
Aug 30, 2008 9:55 a.m. Proteus:
I think the reverse configuration looks visually more balanced than the non-reverse, and since there was that wacky reverse/non-reverse Firebird business, why not the Exploder?
I really like the scripty logo on its own terms - looks real classy to me - though I agree it doesn't strike me as classic Art Deco design, and neither its style nor its placement and orientation work on this guitar.
Again, I LIKE the headstock - I thought it looked dandy on the once-legendary Moderne - but its curves do no favors to the rest of this design, and its blackness makes it stand out like the proverbial sore and swollen thumb it otherwise resembles.
I like that the guitar is a dark turdy walnut, a plain and decidedly non-flashy color/texture contrasting with the zippity doodah of the Buck Rogers design. Most pointy guitar makers, when pointy finally had its 80s day in the sun, covered them in flashy colors which complemented their shapes.
In the same way, here's a lightning zap pickguard/applique - rendered blocky and chunky by its thickness and square-shouldered edges. Which, in fact, was part of the aesthetic of the original Gibson shape series...zippy, edgy shapes hewn out of lumber (instead of titanium or plastic or other space-age material). Again, later shape-guitar exponents contoured egdes and sharpened lines, to complete the concept.
Part of the (admittedly limited) charm of Gibson's approach to pointitude to me is this contrast between the shape and the execution. They kinda look like Star Wars light sabres - Skilsawed from two-bys in a shop class at the last minute and perforce left au naturel for a school play.
It's like they didn't quite "get" their own concept - or lacked the imagination to carry it through.
OR, maybe the tension between sleek and blocky is what MarkW is reading as manliness...
While my spontaneous reaction to the Guitar-of-the-Month marketing concept is "what a cynical, transparent ploy", I'm kinda jealous of Gibson's ability to crank out a thousand copies of a new new model twelve times a year. What a great way to try out ideas on the market, like a mini prototype factory.
In Gibson's case, most of the ideas have seemed pretty dumb to me (this is far from the worst), and they're all silly pricey. Much more attractive if they were priced for impulse purchase rather than pitched to the well-heeled Gibso-junky who already HAS everything but still has checks left.
I'm just thinking of all the variations of Gretsch themes we've come up with in these pages, and how cool it would be to see runs of 100 or so of good ones to emerge monthly. I'd settle for quarterly. In my fantasy, of course, they're priced under 1,500.00. But for a company with the resources to commit to it, it seems like a perfect way to throw new stuff at the wall and see what sticks, without betting the direction of the company on it.
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- Rated: 83 ↑
Aug 30, 2008 11:33 a.m. Mark Synchro:
+1 FF909!
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