midiman56 Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 We got the Explorer and Les Paul Special II GT in today at the store. I must say, I am kind of impressed! They are smaller than the regular body size ... not quite a 3/4, but close, and both are painted a faded but completly opaque black. All five of them (3 LP's and 2 Explorers) were set up surprisingly well with none of the "blood letting" fret ends I've been encountering on the full-size Special II's as of late! The bolt-on necks were solid and straight and they seemed to hold tuning pretty well (although I wouldn't do a lot of "dive-bombing" with the LP's trem. They both sounded good through an amp ... not as loud as their big brothers, but not muddy either. I found the Explorer uncomfortable to play, however. Due to its smaller size, the back "fin" was hitting my arm in an awkward spot where it sits comfortably under my arm with a regulation size Explorer. The "Kill Switch" , which is operated by pushing the Tone control worked just fine ... no popping at all. All in all, a pretty darn good $199 guitar, especially for a younger (smaller) player! Thought you might be interested ... Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjael Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Interesting to hear, Jim. I've been curious about the Explorer, as I find the large body and angles on my Explorer make it extremely comfortable to play standing or sitting, shrinking it considerably had to upset that. How's it balance? I know shifting the strap button to the neck heel on mine only just managed to strike an uneasy balance, and the body is substantially larger than the GT's... Also, your signature is very distracting. That will be all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskank Sally Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 I had tried the Explorer GT in Guitar Center this past weekend. It was a hot little guitar that sounded great and kept in tune and it sounded much better than the SG Special II I tried along with it. The pickups on the GT are really good and the price of $179 as I saw it was great and I was tempted to buy it but .... maybe after Christmas is through I can buy one. I need to spend some $$ on other people for a change! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midiman56 Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 Sjael - The balance on the Explorer was actually quite good. I never played it with a strap, but it didn't seem to be neck-heavy at all. I was also impressed by the nice job Epiphone did carving the body of these guitars ... very smooth and nicely rounded on the edges. It almost felt molded rather than carved. Like I said, they are impressive little axe's for the money ... too flippin' SMALL for me, but neat! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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