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My list of known original '58 through '63 korina Explorer serial numbers

abalonevintage

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Joined
Dec 31, 2002
Messages
3,186
The only photos I've seen witht eh "G" logo are of the explorers and one J-200 acoustic that had an explorer style neck on it that was supposedly made for the same NAMM show in '57.

I think my heart actually stopped beating when I read this!

I GOT to see that J-200!!!!!!!!!!! :hmm
 
R

Reedy

Guest
I think my heart actually stopped beating when I read this!

I GOT to see that J-200!!!!!!!!!!! :hmm

I just learned about this the other day, funny enough. I've seen a reprint of the picture from the original article. The guitar was owned by a man named Benny Joy. The photo of him with the guitar is from a 1965 magazine called “Country Song Hits” which did an article on him. There is a photo of him holding his acoustic guitar that has and explorer shaped headstock with a single “G” on it.

I read about it in this book, there's a copy of the photo in there: The Strat in the Attic: Thrilling Stories of Guitar Archaeology. By Deke Dickerson
 

kadowaki

New member
Joined
Dec 9, 2003
Messages
691
Hope this thread stays active for a long time. I have been collecting Explorer's since the 80's. A 76 Limited Edition Explorer was the first real quality guitar I played and it took me to a whole new level. After that I couldn't get enough quality guitars.

I have talked to a lot of dealers and collectors over the years and here are a couple things that come to mind.

More Explorer's left the factory in the 60's than were sold in 58/59. I heard this more than once.

The years 62/63 were not the only years for left over Explorers. A few were sold in 60/61 and several after 63. There were a couple that left the factory in the early 70's and a finished one that remained at the Kalamazoo factory well into the 80's.

Not all the Korina Explorer's were built to be sold. Some were built personally by employees and some may have even been built outside of the plant. I heard of these stolen part Explorer's several times in the 80's.

Not all 60's Explorer's got nickel hardware. There are a few original examples with gold.

More than a few 60's Explorer's had black pickguards. The reason you don't see a lot more now is because many of them had the pickguard changed to white to match the earlier ones.

I have seen white 3 ply, white 4 ply and black 3 ply front pickguards. All of the jack plates have been black 3 ply. I have seen solid brown, solid white and black 5 ply on the back control plate. I am not sure on the solid white back plate being original as it was a little thin and left a pretty high lip of wood around the edge. The rest I have seen a few examples of each and am pretty sure on, but one never knows.

Just a bit of new info for the moment to chew on in this great thread.

This post is a listing of the justifications that have been purported for all the forgeries!
 

landminelenny

Les Paul Froum Member
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
3,204
Perry Margouleff seems to own or have owned an original Explorer.

l.jpg

Perry has a number of them
 

VonPrikler

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Feb 1, 2011
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516
This thread gets my vote for one of the best of all time.
Funny because the info on here is better, more accurate, and more complete than anything that I have ever read from guitar experts and authors, in books, elsewhere on the web.
A book strictly documenting these 40 or so guitars would be fascinating. I would read it.
 

59gibson

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Joined
Feb 3, 2002
Messages
1,710
I think my heart actually stopped beating when I read this!

I GOT to see that J-200!!!!!!!!!!! :hmm

A little late to this thread, but Eric, ask and you will receive.:dude:
From my memory, I received these pics back in 2006.

Gibson_01_59J200_front.jpg


normal_Gibson_03_59J200_headstock_front.jpg


normal_Gibson_04_59J200_headstcok_back.jpg
 

Bill Hicklin

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Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
194
Very interesting picture!
Check out the neck tenon in that shot on the bottom right. If I'm not mistaken, the original Explorers had a neck tenon that actually extended so long that it went beyond the neck pickup cavity. The neck tenon on this Futura looks similar to a standard Les Paul tenon of that era, which I think is interesting. I wish I knew more about Futura specs :)

I know this is an old thread, but since this ties in with a current project of mine--

The answer is simple: the "Futura", like the Les Paul, had a 16-fret neck, so the 4-inch tenon wound up under the neck pickup. Production Explorers and V's had 19-fret necks, so the tenon stuck about 2 inches further into the body.
 

Bill Hicklin

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Jun 9, 2005
Messages
194
The ribbons in the wood around the knobs and on the back make it look like its made of African Mahogany, IMO. Although African Mahogany looks very similar to real mahogany, its not really Mahogany at all.

The best Honduras mahogany demonstrates lovely ribbon figure if quartersawn. One reason African "mahogany" (sapele) has become so popular is that it mimics the ribbon figure of good Honduras.
 

Three13

Member
Joined
May 7, 2011
Messages
852
I have an additional number that the list on here and that is 8-4563 which is or was reportedly owned by Neil Young. I found the list of numbers posted here really helpful I changed my spreadsheet and I think the list much more complete. My count is 38 guitars which seems to fit well with the idea of a batch of 40 being made originally.

Neil's Explorer was sold via Perry into the Ziff vault, I think.
 

TM1

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,349
Back in the late `70's a good friend of mine & I built an Explorer. Now there's no way it could ever be sold as a Gibson because we inlayed his last name on the headstock "Reeder". That is unless someone overlayed the peghead with a new Holly veneer. But we built in around `76 or `77. I know he sold it to Norm a year or so later, but this was when we both lived in So. Texas. I'd love to know where it's ended up.. (BTW, "Reeder" inlayed looked better than "Butler" and the guitar was his idea to begin with).
If anyone comes across this, please let me know. It was Honduran Mahogany and a Braz board.
 

dazzaman

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Joined
Dec 16, 2011
Messages
63
I can add another (unverified) number to this list. The December 2014 issue of Guitar World has a full-page ad on page 13 for www.privatereserveguitars.com. The image is of a white-guard Explorer with text that reads "Gibson Custom 1958. Mahogany Explorer. serial No. 85433, 7.65 lb.".
I don't see it listed anywhere else in this thread. It has a few things that look a bit odd to me - seems to have a gold selector, strap button and pickup screws with everything else nickel, but that could just be the light in the photograph.
 

mesaman

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Joined
Apr 25, 2003
Messages
65
I can add another (unverified) number to this list. The December 2014 issue of Guitar World has a full-page ad on page 13 for www.privatereserveguitars.com. The image is of a white-guard Explorer with text that reads "Gibson Custom 1958. Mahogany Explorer. serial No. 85433, 7.65 lb.".
I don't see it listed anywhere else in this thread. It has a few things that look a bit odd to me - seems to have a gold selector, strap button and pickup screws with everything else nickel, but that could just be the light in the photograph.

I just pulled that up and it is a reissue:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guit...ahogany-explorer-lightly-aged-electric-guitar
 
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