Sheepdog1969 Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 In 1984 I purchased a new 1983 Custom Shop Edition Gibson Explorer. To my eyes, it has a "yellow" finish with a black pickguard, a black faced headstock with the Gibson logo inlaid in pearl and the "Custom Shop Edition" label on the back of the headstock above the "Pressed" serial number and directly below the tuning pegs. It has all gold hardware (including gold "covered humbucker" pickups), inline "gold" knobs with white numbering, a three position selector switch on the "horn" with a white "cap", a rosewood fretboard with pearl dot inlays, and an 8 digit serial number showing it was made on March 10th, 1983 in Nashville, TN. Although I have not been able to find another one just like it in person or online, I think it is a "Korina", and not a 1983 Heritage, (based on the gold hardware and Custom Shop Edition marking.) It is completely original, and is by far the best playing/sounding (tone/versatility) guitar I have ever played. (Every professional/semi professional guitar player that has played it says the same, and each one wants to buy it from me.). I have spent years trying to determine exactly what it is and what it may be worth, (I currently have it insured at $10,000, which may be too much, but I would rather pay a few dollars more each year in premiums rather than under valuing it.) I have been told that only 500 Explorer Korinas were made between 1981-1984. If true, I assume not all were "Custom Shop Editions", and obviously not all were set up like mine. (I also heard that in 1983, at the Nashville Gibson shop, each Explorer had a unique woman's name carved into the body of the guitar beneath the "neck" pickup. As I have never removed the pickups in mine, I cannot attest to this. If true, I don't know if this was just a 1983 thing in Nashville with the Explorers made there, but I would love to find out the truth.) Can anyone help educate me about my guitar and help me separate fact from fiction?? #1 Were all 1983 Custom Shop Edition Explorers Korina's? #2 Were all 100 1983 Korina Explorers labeled "Custom Shop Edition", not including the 100 1983 Heritage Korina Explorers? I would love any idea of value for insurance purposes only, as I will never sell it. https://imgur.com/gallery/3tL4ZRa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaco Posted September 22, 2022 Share Posted September 22, 2022 Lovely guitar! It is indeed a Heritage Custom Shop Korina Explorer, finished in Ivory White (later changed to Alpine White). A very rare guitar! Most of these were Natural. Some were black, then some red and a small number were white. I think that $10K is about right. Have you changed the knobs on it? I have only seen black top hat knobs on these, but perhaps there were variations... If you can add good photos of the control cavity (where the potentiometers are) I would be able to tell you if it's indeed Korina (99% it is). While you're at it, I'd appreciate it if you could make a photo of the bottom of the ABR bridge. I always wondered what they've used on these guitars. Cheers J 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepdog1969 Posted October 13, 2022 Author Share Posted October 13, 2022 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 It blows my mind that Gibson would market a Korina Explorer, only to apply coats of paint over it. A crime to cover up such beautiful wood. 🤔 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepdog1969 Posted October 18, 2022 Author Share Posted October 18, 2022 UPDATE! Thanks to "Jaco", I am confident that my '83 Custom Shop Edition Explorer is indeed Korina, based on his assessment of some extremely hi-def pics of the "cavity" containing the "pots". It is becoming clear that all 94-96 of the 1983 Custom Shop Edition Explorers were/are "Korina". Thanks again, Jaco, for all your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepdog1969 Posted October 18, 2022 Author Share Posted October 18, 2022 On 10/16/2022 at 5:17 AM, sparquelito said: It blows my mind that Gibson would market a Korina Explorer, only to apply coats of paint over it. A crime to cover up such beautiful wood. 🤔 I have heard that the approximately 48, 1983 Korina Custom Shop Edition Explorers that were "painted", (approximately 20 in Red, approximately 20 in Black, and <10 in "Ivory/White"), may have had wood grain patterns/appearances that were "lesser"/not as "stunning" as the approximately 50 "natural finish" '83 CSE Korina Explorers, and the 100 '83 "natural finish" Korina Heritage Explorers that were made. The fact that Explorer bodies are made of multiple pieces of wood may lend credence to this claim, since vastly different grain patterns on connected pieces would detract from a natural finish appearance, and would highlight the multi-piece construction. It is plausible that Gibson only made 150 or so natural finish '83 Korina Explorers, (CSE and Heritage combined), because that's how many of them were able to be "fitted together" with Korina "sections" that had complimentary grain appearances. One would assume that the 100 Heritage bodies were "cherry picked" first from the approximately 200 Korina bodies that had been assembled in '83, leaving just short of 100 to be used for the Custom Shop Editions. Since only 50 or so natural finish Korina CSE '83 Explorers were made, that number may have simply been the number of remaining Korina bodies that looked good enough for a natural finish. I would be interested to hear if anyone with a factory painted '83 CSE Explorer has tried to "strip it down" to expose the Korina, and then apply a "factory" natural finish. This would "expose", (pun intended), the accuracy of the assumptions made above. Obviously, the beauty of a guitar's wood grain/natural finish does not necessarily correlate to it's playability and/or tonal output. Conversely, a painted guitar of the same model, wood type, year, and series of it's natural finished siblings, does not necessarily denote a less "playable" guitar with lesser tonal output. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted October 18, 2022 Share Posted October 18, 2022 14 minutes ago, Sheepdog1969 said: I have heard that the approximately 48, 1983 Korina Custom Shop Edition Explorers that were "painted", (approximately 20 in Red, approximately 20 in Black, and <10 in "Ivory/White"), may have had wood grain patterns/appearances that were "lesser"/not as "stunning" as the approximately 50 "natural finish" '83 CSE Korina Explorers, and the 100 '83 "natural finish" Korina Heritage Explorers that were made. The fact that Explorer bodies are made of multiple pieces of wood may lend credence to this claim, since vastly different grain patterns on connected pieces would detract from a natural finish appearance, and would highlight the multi-piece construction. It is plausible that Gibson only made 150 or so natural finish '83 Korina Explorers, (CSE and Heritage combined), because that's how many of them were able to be "fitted together" with Korina "sections" that had complimentary grain appearances. One would assume that the 100 Heritage bodies were "cherry picked" first from the approximately 200 Korina bodies that had been assembled in '83, leaving just short of 100 to be used for the Custom Shop Editions. Since only 50 or so natural finish Korina CSE '83 Explorers were made, that number may have simply been the number of remaining Korina bodies that looked good enough for a natural finish. I would be interested to hear if anyone with a factory painted '83 CSE Explorer has tried to "strip it down" to expose the Korina, and then apply a "factory" natural finish. This would "expose", (pun intended), the accuracy of the assumptions made above. Obviously, the beauty of a guitar's wood grain/natural finish does not necessarily correlate to it's playability and/or tonal output. Conversely, a painted guitar of the same model, wood type, year, and series of it's natural finished siblings, does not necessarily denote a less "playable" guitar with lesser tonal output. Thank you for this information and perspective, good sir. That's great to know. I must confess that I coveted a Stratocaster copy recently that appealed to me mainly because the wood grain (visible thru the sunburst finish) was so oddly-assembled and imperfect. It was a lot like this one. I'm weird, I know. I loved it. 🤫 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepdog1969 Posted October 18, 2022 Author Share Posted October 18, 2022 8 minutes ago, sparquelito said: Thank you for this information and perspective, good sir. That's great to know. I must confess that I coveted a Stratocaster copy recently that appealed to me mainly because the wood grain (visible thru the sunburst finish) was so oddly-assembled and imperfect. It was a lot like this one. I'm weird, I know. I loved it. 🤫 Being left handed, like my grandmother and my daughter, I find myself gravitating to high quality items, (and people), that posses unique characteristics that differentiate them from the "cookie cutter", homogenized sameness of what is traditionally expected of said. When someone thinks a high quality item of mine is "weird" simply because it looks different than every other item like it, it tells me that they are jealous. And, yes, I think that Strat is beautiful, and I would never have noticed the "miss-matched" wood grain, other than to find it appealing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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