I have had my Lzzy Hale Explorer for about two months now. The reason why i bought the guitar; is not because i am a Halestorm fan. It was the sound, look -and feel of it that grabbed a hold of me. Today i have about 10 high end Gibson brand guitars. And this one has certainlly earned it's rightful place among them. However; it took abit of doin' on the guitar to get it theere. It's pretty amazing to axeprerience the positive effects of the Lzzy Hale -when the guitar is set up just right. I HIGHLY RECOMEND all the LH Explorer owners to put in that extra little effort into the guitar.
Here is what is done on mine:
The biggest issue om my guitar was that the PU routing on the bridge pick up was way too tight for the covered PU mounted in the hole. This resulted (like on many other gibsons) -that the pick up could not tilt properly against the stringangle over it. The neck bobbin was way closer -compred to the bridge bobbin on the PU. This even with a correctly angeled mounting ring. To get it right needed a small routing job on the back/bridge wall in the PU chamber. The natural angle positition for the PU is in a parallell angle against the stringtilt over the body -NOT parallell to the body. Soundwise this resulted is a pretty big difference. I Think it's remakable that Gibson doesen't put more/better attention to theese things in their factory.
The second thing i do on all my Gibsons -is to replace the small multi wire that usually runs between the electric chamber and the PU selector switch. That thing is a tone sucker! This wire can be replaced with 4 single wires -or 3 braided Gibson style wires. I personly prefer the braided one. It keeps the instrument a little more quiet in terms of hum on a more demanding stage with alot of stagelights.
The third thing is pick up pole adjustment. When You buy i brand new Gibson guitar -or a replacement pick up; The polescrews are just adjusted in a pretyy much staright line. What needs to be done; is to match the pole height to the bridge radius of the guitar. Without this done; the strings in the middle will just sound tired and flat -or the edge strings will sound too much.
The fourth thing concernes the Gibson standard fretlevelling job. The Gibson PLEK machine produces a great result in "routing" the top of the fretheight perfectly across the entire fretboard. However: This also often leaves a harsh edge on each side of the flat spot on each fret. (You can easily spot this by simply scraping with Your nail against each side of the frets.) Theese harsh edges needs to be tended to -in order to get that truely smooth payability in the guitar. It also increases the note sustain against the frets -and the is alot less anoying "saw-sound" when You are really rubbing the srrings against the frets.
With this said: The Limited Edition Lzzy Hale Explorer is a truely remarkable instrument in every way. It totally owns soundwise in just about every Music style out there today. It's realiable -and is totally ready to get to work every day. -No issues, -all business, -all the way.
Finally some personal comments on Lzzy's choises on her signature guitar:
I Think it's pretty inpressive for a female artist to go with a fatter neck profile. This is a importatnt thing in getting the true sustain that the Les Paul Customs are known for. (One of the main reasons i bought the guitar myself.) I have had the Sammy Hagar signature Explorer Before -and that thing is just plain sissy compared to the Lzzy. The Lzzy Hale Explorer is truely a solid statement -and a belive it's here to stay.