Gibson Standard Explorer

[houndman55]

Am I the only one who thinks that there should be a standard gibson explorer and flying v line? It's a shame that gibson doesn't do that. But then again perhaps it's well motivated since I'm pretty sure those two models don't sell as much of what they sell in bundles of Les Pauls and SG's.

[capmaster]

They are not discontinued, they just don't make them at the moment. From time to time limited artist models appear and are sold out rather fast usually, and same applied to the Government and Government II series.

 

So it seems they have no basic problem with manufacturing them. Probably you are right assuming it's about turnover - Les Pauls and SGs sell faster and more predictably. Dealers may think or have experienced that way and don't order Explorers and Vs, therefore Gibson don't make them. Sad, but true.

 

Moreover, lots of young players intending to play hard & heavy rock go with cheap knockoffs. In most cases they buy for looks mainly, extreme gain will dominate their tone anyway, and they rarely take the costs for upgrading into account. Cheap guitars often come with microphonic pickups, useless for high-gain applications.