Epiphone Explorer "Inspired By Gibson" Electric Guitar - Ebony Reviews

Had this guitar almost two years. I'm a simple player. Classic rock, blues heavy rythem. This is a fun guitar to play and sounds pretty amazing with the correct setup. Looks amazing as well. Highly recommend.

Let me start by thanking Andy at Sweetwater on his help in making this happen. I've wanted an Explorer shaped guitar for years and now that I've finally pulled the trigger I couldn't be happier. This is a beautiful instrument at a very reasonable price point. The neck is very comfortable, frets are well done and no fret sprout. Pickups sound great as well. It obviously handles distortion well and is a great rock and metal guitar but sounds amazing clean as too. It arrived from Sweetwater nicely set-up and only needs slight tuning. The only flaw on this instrument is a slight paint imperfection at the end of the fret board just above the neck pick-up but this is a very small thing and doesn't detract from the overall impressiveness of this guitar. Thanks Andy and thanks Sweetwater.

Epiphone Explorer is absolutely amazing and the sound is incredible! Don't let the shape fool you by the sustain and the tone I get from the buckers! Just a great comfortable guitar !

Out of the box it was flawless. Action was great with no fret buzz. Plugged it in. Didn't like the epiphone pro bucket 3 on it. A little bassy and not enough of that crunch I like. Put a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge totally turned ot onto a great sounding axe. Also put my gauge/ brand of strings on it. ( Ernie Ball Hybrids) plays buttery and easy bending. It has a slight neck dive but nothing too drastic you can't deal with. I normally don't buy Chinese made guitars, but it seems the quality is pretty good since Gibson/Epiphone have upped their game. Too bad it didn't at least come with a padded gig bad. But, definitely not a deal breaker.

I've had this guitar for about 9 months now and I still love it as much as the day it arrived. Epiphone really hit the nail on the head with the details of this model. The knobs are smooth, pots consistent, pickups great, consistent paint, etc etc.
One thing that blows me away about this guitar is how well it holds tune. I probably only tune it once every 5 times I pick it up, and even then it's small adjustments. The intonation was fantastic right out of the box and hasn't needed any adjustments.
My favorite thing about this instrument is the sustain. The body is so massive that it holds notes forever - playing lead and open chords on this guitar is a dream. But that's not all it can do, it'll chug with the best of them, even with the stock Probuckers.

Thank you Noah for helping me get this fantastic instrument!!

Always loved the look of this Explorer ever since I can remember. I decided to buy this as an upgrade from my Ibanez Gio, and they seemed to be in short supply, so I ordered as soon as I could.

The Guitar: I've had this guitar for about a month and I love it so far! I've heard that Epiphone frets are sometimes rough from the factory, but the one I got feels great. All in all, sounds great, and is extremely comfortable to play. For the fraction of the price of a Gibson!

A word of advice, however, if you are going to be playing standing up, get yourself a decent strap. Or buy Ernie Ball Strap Blocks. The angle of the strap button by the neck can mean the strap works itself off as you play.

Buying from Sweetwater: I have never had customer service this great. The day after I bought the guitar, Skylar McGlothlin gave me a call to let me know they were on my order and when it was likely to ship. Once the guitar shipped, they sent me photos of my guitar which was a nice touch. And when the guitar got to me, it really could not have been more secure in the box. I have absolutely no complaints.

This guitar is awesome. My first guitar a friend sold me to learn on was some cheap guitar that looked just like an Explorer. All white and it had these built in effects on it. Surprisingly it played and sounded really good. Ever since I always wanted to own a real Explorer one day. I love this guitar. Feels great, sounds great. The action is excellent. Very comfortable to play. Now I see why james Hetfield has played Explorers for so long lol. Thanks you Sweetwater. Shout out to Justin Dunn!!!

The guitar is amazing! Plays great and sounds fantastic but I want to highlight the amazing customer service theses guys do. After I purchased this guitar online I received a call asked about it and had a great conversation with someone named Ben over the phone about music and bands. When ordering this online you rarely get this type of service and usually it isn't a real person you get to talk to so thank you for this amazing service!

Great guitar. The neck feels awesome. Love it

I texted my sales rep, Mike Godlove, about this guitar after checking out some reviews, and needless to say he was right on it. Super attentive guy who I've been working through for many years. Definitely a "Mike Fan" as much as I am of this guitar.

Being a "budget minded" purchase, I was expecting a good playing, decent sounding guitar. I got a lot more than that though. I love Explorer guitars and still have my '99 Gibson Gothic, and that was the measuring stick. Needless to say, I'm pretty flipping impressed with the quality and if not more so, the sound. As with most budget guitars I would expect to have to replace the pickups. Not here. I'm super pleased with these stock pickups. I feel like they'd pretty much work for any situation. I play hard rock / heavy metal, and these will do just fine.

Fit & finish of the guitar is good, and it's decently balanced. The neck shape is a bit different than I'm used to, but I dig it. Overall, I'm very pleased with this purchase and appreciate the Sweetwater touch.

Thanks Mike!

JD

Awesome guitar right out of the box. Sweetwater is the best. Got it quickly (once it was in stock) and the condition of it was mint. Perfect. A thing of beauty. I love the Explorer. It has become one of my favorites and I would definitely do business with Sweetwater again.

I was a little hesitant about buying a guitar online, let alone with this shape, just because I wasn't too sure how comfortable it would be to play and or how long I would enjoy playing the guitar. Every negative thought I had about the guitar was put to rest the moment I opened the box and played it for the first time. Surprisingly comfortable to play sitting or standing, sounds very nice and I am able to get a pretty wide range with it. The pick guard was slightly scuffed but not too noticeable if you aren't aware of it. The finish of the black looks fantastic and overall I am very pleased with the guitar, and ordering through Sweetwater was very pleasant as well. Will definitely buy through Sweetwater again.

I always wanted to get an Epiphone Explorer and 3 months ago I went for it. This guitar is fantastic. It plays well, it sounds great and rates right up there with my Gibson. The finish is flawless and the black color really makes this guitar intimidating. I am very happy with this guitar and the quality that Epiphone has put into their manufacturing once again. All the folks at Sweetwater are always fantastic to deal with and are the best in the Industry. A special thanks to my Sales Engineer, Ken, for always hooking me up with great gear to keep me rocking. I've been playing since 1969 and really appreciate the quality that have gone into today's guitars.

I've wanted a big offset for years now and I do not regret getting this guitar one bit. This guitar rips. Neck to me is on the thinner side but is super comfortable and fast. Has a bit of a neck dive when standing but I'm not a gigging musician so this does not bother me because it's so comfortable playing sitting down. Shout out to Mark Magdich for getting me set up with this guitar and having a set of Duncan's installed before is was shipped out!

Love this guitar don't get to play it nearly enough and still getting used to it but it plays and sounds great!

Customer service was friendly and helpful as always! Thanks James for the help!

I've always wanted an explorer guitar and finding one that's not a ridiculous price and still plays like a decent guitar is a hard thing to do. This guitar is a higher quality than I expected everything from pick ups to the neck and tuners is fantastic. This is a great guitar! I highly recommend it!

I was blown away by this guitar! This guitar has the feel,sound and playability I'd expect from a high end Gibson. Epiphone has really stepped up with the Inspired by lineup. It is as close to a Gibson as you can get without buying one.

I actually bought this for someone, but I played it before-hand. The one thing I was kind of expecting was neck dive, but there actually wasn't any, it's really well balanced! The fit and finish is just great, and a big thank you to Caleb for getting it out to me within a day. The neck is really comfortable and you don't have to really fight it. The sound is very well-rounded as well, if you're looking into an explorer, give it a try!

It's amazing that they made it look so classy and nice, but when you plug the thing into a high gain amp, holy crap. It's sounds so nice for cleans but it sounds like there are EMG's in it they are so high output. Absolutely nails Randy Rhoads' tone, sounds amazing for the ...And Justice for All tone, and can pull off Angel of Death very nicely. When you hear Ibanez or Jackson say that their necks are for speed, they are dead wrong. This neck is perfect for speed and shred. Now the guitar does fall flat and sharp a lot, but that might be from it being brand new. I love it!

This guitar feels amazing from all sides. Easy to sit and play, stand and play and sounds great.

For the price point, it definitely is a winner.

This guitar is freakin addicting! The playability is out of this world!

Sweetwater set this thing up to perfection, I had bad luck before ordering a different epiphone from the 2020 lineup when I was sent a poorly set up instrument.

That's far from the case with this thing, sweetwater will take excellent care of you and make sure the guitar is all it can be.

The CTS electronics and graph tech nut are a very nice addition. The pickups are not all they could be, but I was prepared to swap them out anyway. This guitar is an excellent pallet for mods since it plays so nicely straight from the box.

Shoutout to my sales engineer Alex Campos for making sure I got delivered a top notch machine, you're the best!

Really well made guitar, and worth the price of admission. The pickup switch feels solid, unlike the old flimsy ones Epi used to use 10 years ago. The pickups are also much clearer and brighter. My biggest hesitation was having an Epiphone SG years ago that had the muddiest pups. These are a world apart. Lower output, like a PAF or other vintage wind, but really articulate. My guitar was super resonant and only had the tiniest of fret rock on three frets. I lightly filed them, put a little relief in the neck, and can now have action of 1mm treble, 1.5mm bass side. I really dig the sound of this guitar, and I was surprised how much I like the Indian Laurel fretboard... it looks like rosewood but has a feel a bit like ebony. The frets and fretboard blackened by fingers for a few days, even though I polished the frets and cleaned the board. But that's how you know you got an Epiphone lol. If you're not comfortable with potentially filing frets, maybe consider paying Sweetwater to Plex the fretboard. I'm really happy with my purchase.

I've always wanted an explorer and this fits the bill. It feels like a quality guitar, the only thing I find lacking is the pickups. Just not enough punch for my liking, but that should be an easy fix.

Saw this guitar and instantly had to pick it up and try it out. WOW. Was never really an explorer guy but after plugging it into a Marshall, I was sold. Bought it that day and gigged with it that same night. was set up perfectly by the guys in the guitar gallery. sounded fantastic. Very excited for many gigs with this guitar.

The Epiphone Explorer is a lovely guitar that works great on every technical front. There is an issue that I have with explorers in general. I got this guitar as a rhythm machine that I could use for thrash. It does that job just fine though. My guitar has an Indian laurel fingerboard, which I was never a fan of. It does not fit well with the black-and-white color scheme, but it does darken up with time as long as you take care of it well.
The tone and pickups are great, and I think the tuners are some of the best I have ever seen. the bridge is a standard stop bar and keeps in tune. I typically play 9-42 strings on most of my guitars, but I might put 10-46s on this bute.

Now to some issues. I have already mentioned how the fingerboard doesn't match well with the paint on the guitars, but that can be overlooked. The issue is with how the guitar feels to play sitting down, and this is a fundamental issue with the guitar for me. My main guitars are a G&L strat style and a Jackson Rhoads. This can make the guitar feel imbalanced and hard to hold. If I play standing up, then the problem is solved, but practicing sitting down with this guitar is a non-starter.

Overall though, great guitar. I recommend picking this thing up if you are looking for a metal machine on the cheap.