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Korina Explorer help needed

rsrelic

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Jun 26, 2002
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I'm trying to find build details on the 58-63 korina Explorers. Does any one know of a site, or have any details they can share?
 

rsrelic

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come on guys some one has to know about these guitars. Help a brother out.
 

steelknuckle

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May 12, 2002
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What exactly do you want to know? I'm having a '58 explorer custom built from the original drawings at a non-Gibson shop.
 

rsrelic

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steelknuckle said:
What exactly do you want to know? I'm having a '58 explorer custom built from the original drawings at a non-Gibson shop.

where did you get the drawings?
 

RickN

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Since my original post on this thread, I've also commissioned a privately-built Korina Explorer. The builder is using tracings of a Gibson Historic Explorer, which is close enough for me.

I believe the originals were one piece bodies based on the one in this pic (the original of each of those guitars are the ones on the right):

burstv.jpg



The one I'm having built will have a two-piece body and a two-piece neck.
 

STREET SURVIVOR

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it is believed in most guitar circles that 38 total were made of the original 1958 korina explorer. a possible "extra batch" of 40 may have been produced, but that has never been proven.

the original explorers were 1 piece, natural finish korina wood bodies [unlike the v, which was 2 piece].

PATENT NUMBER humbucker pickups instead of p.a.f.

the 2 volume and 1 master tone control all having silver capped black knobs.

stop tail piece.

plastic inserts in the bridge instead of metal.

22 fret korina neck.

unbound, rosewood finger board.

original cost was a wopping $247.50 for each new unit. which is interesting because, as you may or may not know....

the original drawing of the explorer from 1957 had a "V" shaped head stock, like the dean guitars have with 3 tuners on a side. gibsons logo was in raised plastic on the headstock. and VERY small handfull of these V types were the first ones produced and shipped. [i believe 5 all together].

and this is the most highly collectable guitar on the planet. the rarest of rare, even more than the coveted 1959 les paul [colector wise, not preference].

i believe rick nielsen from cheap trick ownes the prototype, serial number 1.

they quickly went to the "scimitar" or chicken head, bird beak, 6 tuners on a side that you see on them today.

allen collins of lynyrd skynyrd played a "scimitar" head 58 korina, as well as eric clapton. in fact, i believe that the 58 korina that collins played is in fact the one clapton played very briefly in 1969-70.

allen was a HUGE clapton fan, and by the time he switched to the explorer as his main axe over his trade mark firebirds in late 1976, he could afford to own his heros guitar. [ i can not prove it is the same guitar though]

allen put a maestro vibrolo on his and grover tuners. but you have to remember, these guitars had not hit the huge collector numbers they have today. and in 1976, gibson had just put out the re-issues.

hope some of this helps.


__________________________________________________

"i'm gonna sell the bitch's car and buy myself a cool guitar"

jimmy thackery
 

RickN

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Umm... Street Survivor, I don't know what you copied that out of, but some of those 'facts' are incorrect. What book did you copy that stuff from?

Patent-number pickups... no. The patent hadn't even been granted when those guitars were built. They were PAFs fer sher.

Silver-capped black knobs... no. Show me a picture of an original '58 Explorer with anything other than gold top hats... the only black plastic on the originals was the pickup surrounds.

Plastic bridge saddles... no. Again, show me a picture.

Everything you describe sounds like '60s parts, not '58 parts. Plastic bridge saddles, plastic-insert knobs and Patent-number pickups appeared in the '60s, not in 1958. :ha!
 

Cody

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The info Street Survivor quotes is for the leftover ones shipped in '62 or thereabouts, with '60s nickel parts.
The ones shipped in the '50s are as Mofinco said: gold hardware, gold bonnet knobs, PAFs.

:wail
 

Zeppelinguy85

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STREET SURVIVOR said:
allen collins of lynyrd skynyrd played a "scimitar" head 58 korina, as well as eric clapton. in fact, i believe that the 58 korina that collins played is in fact the one clapton played very briefly in 1969-70.

allen was a HUGE clapton fan, and by the time he switched to the explorer as his main axe over his trade mark firebirds in late 1976, he could afford to own his heros guitar. [ i can not prove it is the same guitar though]

allen put a maestro vibrolo on his and grover tuners. but you have to remember, these guitars had not hit the huge collector numbers they have today. and in 1976, gibson had just put out the re-issues.

hope some of this helps.


__________________________________________________

"i'm gonna sell the bitch's car and buy myself a cool guitar"

jimmy thackery

I am sure that Allen Collins didn't buy Claptons because Claptons is the one that has the bottom sawn off. Also Allens is a 63, where I believe the vibrola was an option on it so it my be original. All this is on the Collins Explorer. Oh and another thing the Firebird is more linked to Clapton than the Explorer. Allen bought the Firebird after seeing Cream perform while Clapton was playing his I...
 

RickN

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Cody said:
The info Street Survivor quotes is for the leftover ones shipped in '62 or thereabouts, with '60s nickel parts.
The ones shipped in the '50s are as Mofinco said: gold hardware, gold bonnet knobs, PAFs.

:wail
What leftover, shipped in '62 Explorers? I heard that about Vs but are there substantiated Explorers shipped in the 60s?
 

Zeppelinguy85

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mofinco said:
What leftover, shipped in '62 Explorers? I heard that about Vs but are there substantiated Explorers shipped in the 60s?

Yep the Collins Explorer is believed to be one. I assume what happened is after the originals in 58 flopped they didn't finish the bodies and then in 62-63 found them finished them and shipped them out.
 

burstman59

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Mofinco,
Gibson did indeed finish and shipped some leftover Explorers as well as some V's in the early 60's. Depending on what stage of completion they were in when production was put on hold in 58/59 the ones shipped in the 60's have the above mentioned features such as nickle hardware, pat # pickups and chrome capped black knobs and a black case with gold lining simialr to a Firebird case of the same period. The experts say since Gibson wanted to get rid of the so called "dead wood" they put the less Expensive nickle hardware on them to save money. Where it gets confusing is some of the Explorers shipped in the 60's as well as some V's were converted to gold hardware in the late 70's and 80's because people back then thought since the original 58 versions had Gold hardware and Pafs they were worth more money. The general concensous today is that these guitars are so rare and valuable that it dont matter what hardware they have. I had such an Explorer ser# 8 4543 bought in 1984 for 475.00 and had to borrow the money to buy it. I traded it to Gruhn in 86 for a 60 burst and some boot.Some or most of these 60's Explorers have an original 58 ser # but a few at least 3 I've seen have a earlys 60's impressed ser as you would find on any Gibson solidbody of the period. Also some of these have a small round plate on the back of the treble side horn to access the toggle switch from the back althouth most originals dont have this feature. The late Allen Collins Explorer had the round plate as well as Rick Derringers original "split " peghead Explorer. I will try and post a pic of my 58/63 Explorer. I also have a ser # list I have compiled over the yrs of known real Explorers. I'm sure there are several forgeries and replicas out there as well. http://www.lilypix.com/photos/showpic.php?aid=1557&uuid=471&pid=26542 Here I am in 85 with my 58/63.
 
Last edited:

burstman59

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I would like to add that the 60's Explorers had nickle 6 on a metal "strip " plastic button round Klusons where as original 58 Explorers had 6 "bass" side individualy cut single line gold keystone button klusons. Also mine as well as a few others had a short nickle vibrola as found on a firebird III of the same period. I aggree with some people that only one batch of 40 or less was made and half of them shipped in 58/59 with the rest shipped between 61 and 63. It seems that there are so few original Explorers that the current owners could come up with some type of database that they could account for nearly all of them. I have collected photos of Explorers for over 15 yrs and can account for 18 of them although I dont know where they are today.
 

STREET SURVIVOR

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ZEPGUY wrote......




"I am sure that Allen Collins didn't buy Claptons because Claptons is the one that has the bottom sawn off. Also Allens is a 63, where I believe the vibrola was an option on it so it my be original. All this is on the Collins Explorer. Oh and another thing the Firebird is more linked to Clapton than the Explorer. Allen bought the Firebird after seeing Cream perform while Clapton was playing his I...


CUT off at the bottom? i have about tem pics from various books with clapton and his 50's EXPLORER, no cut off bottom.

allen collins explorer IS A 58, it is not a 63. and he did have the vibrola installed. his firebird [1 of them] did have the factory vibrola.

his daughter amy owns the guitar and regularly shows the 58 korina at guitar events. does she own it right this minute? don't know.

yes, clapton owned firebirds and a explorer, both of which he played for about 3 minutes. the sg, 335 and the strats were all much more identified with clapton by the mid 70's than the explorer and firebird.

yes, allen did get his bird after seeing eric. but a year later, clapton was playing the explorer. and allen saw that two. allen couldn't own 2 models of the guitars his hero played?

again, i never said i had proof that they were the same guitar, but, i have had a person or two on the skynyrd official site who new allen personally said that was indeed claptons! for what thats worth..........


the 60's explorers were leftover 58's that didn't get shipped. no difference. the only difference in the first original batch is the V headstocks. those were the first ones.




BURST:

i do not own a 58. i am not that rich. but they are one of my favorite guitars, and i have owned 15 or so explorers over the years.

i do have some knowledge of these guitars though.

you want book you say? ok.


A.R. DUCHOSSOIR'S book "gibson electric".

pg's 93-94, 96-99.

does it really matter if the info was out of my head or a book?

please explain.

and if you want more books, i will provide those with pages also.

cuz let me guess, mr. duchosoir was branded a gibson heritic and this book was debunct by the REAL knowledgable gibson guys years ago? right?


________________________________________________________


"i'm gonna sell the bitch's car and buy myself a cool guitar"

jimmy thackery
 

Zeppelinguy85

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STREET SURVIVOR said:
ZEPGUY wrote......




"I am sure that Allen Collins didn't buy Claptons because Claptons is the one that has the bottom sawn off. Also Allens is a 63, where I believe the vibrola was an option on it so it my be original. All this is on the Collins Explorer. Oh and another thing the Firebird is more linked to Clapton than the Explorer. Allen bought the Firebird after seeing Cream perform while Clapton was playing his I...


CUT off at the bottom? i have about tem pics from various books with clapton and his 50's EXPLORER, no cut off bottom.

allen collins explorer IS A 58, it is not a 63. and he did have the vibrola installed. his firebird [1 of them] did have the factory vibrola.

his daughter amy owns the guitar and regularly shows the 58 korina at guitar events. does she own it right this minute? don't know.

yes, clapton owned firebirds and a explorer, both of which he played for about 3 minutes. the sg, 335 and the strats were all much more identified with clapton by the mid 70's than the explorer and firebird.

yes, allen did get his bird after seeing eric. but a year later, clapton was playing the explorer. and allen saw that two. allen couldn't own 2 models of the guitars his hero played?

again, i never said i had proof that they were the same guitar, but, i have had a person or two on the skynyrd official site who new allen personally said that was indeed claptons! for what thats worth..........


the 60's explorers were leftover 58's that didn't get shipped. no difference. the only difference in the first original batch is the V headstocks. those were the first ones.





________________________________________________________


"i'm gonna sell the bitch's car and buy myself a cool guitar"

jimmy thackery

Gibson's unofficial reissue of the Clapton Explorer (I don't have a pic of the original but it is from a Music Man Amp ad from the 70's
http://www.gibsoncustom.com/Limiteds/Archives/windows/images/explorerec.jpg

Also I assume that the Collins Explorer had the serial number removed when the headstock broke and repaired so we can't really know but going by the fact that it has the plastic tip tuners and Vibrola, chrome hardware (all details from the 60 Explorers) I was left to assume that it was a 63 but at the same time you are right because either way the body was made in 58 the guitar just might have been shipped in 63.
 
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