Until the advent of the most recent Gibson Ltd Edition Explorer a few years ago, even the
old Epi Explorers were the best ones you could get, better than the initial 80ies Gibson Explorers which suffered for medium scale, poor pups and unremarkable woods. The only let-down of the old Epis were the pups, those could be replaced, the wood (underneath the veneer), while dent-prone, was light and responsive with a nice blur, the hardware looked cheesy, but did the job, the scale was finally right, if there ever was a bass that demands long scale then it's the Explorer (along with the T-Bird).
From the pics, this new generation Epi Exi is not all that different - bridge still looks cheesy, but will do the job -, pup-positioning the same, toggle and controls, scratch plate, high E and F, all check, I believe the "nose" of the headstock past the G tuner is a bit more extended than on the Epis of yore. The unveneered limba looks good and already sounded well on the short-lived Epi EB-3 Elite/Elitist a decade or so ago, no complaints there. The big question are the pups which to me look uncomfortably similar to the old ones, new name(-dropping) aside. But I'm prepared to give this a try; if need be I always have some tried and trusted TB Plus lying around!
That natural "korina" look is of course gorgeous, automatically puts me in Allen Collins mood/mode, 10 minute Free Bird solo mandatory!
And to me and the way I play/stand, the Explorer shape is the most comfortable/ergonomic one imaginable.
