(Mark buys a) Gibson Explorer reissue (for Uwe)

[Dave W]

Uwe is right, dealer is wrong. Preciosa is a naturally dark wood from the Amazon, not related to maple. It's been called a rosewood, but it isn't.

[OldManC]

Tired of guitarists getting all the hip alternative axes while bassists seem stuck in the middle of the 20th century? Grab onto the Explorer Bass from Gibson USA, and ram the low end right into the 21st century

Henry really needs to fire his copywriters...

[slinkp]

Maple sounds snappy, but looks a bit cheap and naked except on certain models, rosewood and pao ferro sound better (or should I say characteristic?) than ebony which neither takes away or adds much sonically and a dark (though it's mostly dye anyway) ebony board is a looker, but in the end ...

Huh, really? My ebony-board LPB1 has my favorite unplugged sound by far.  It has a beautiful resonant character (mahogany body/neck?) combined with a nice bright snap on top, and I always thought the latter came from the fingerboard.

I don't know for sure what's under the paint but I always assumed mahogany body and neck (I think the guy I got it from said so).

Whatever it is, to my ears there's something magic about that bass that makes it really nice to play around the house.

(Personally though, I've always thought that wood doesn't make a huge difference once you're plugged in ... pickups, amps, speakers matter a lot more to me.  Not much of that bright snap translates through the TB Plus pups. Still sounds awesome though.)

[uwe]

Yes, ebony is supposed to sound snappier and it is also more durable, hence the ebony boards of most fretless basses. But I prefer the warmth of rosewood, matter of taste only.

[uwe]

"Quote from:  from Gibson Explorer page
Tired of guitarists getting all the hip alternative axes while bassists seem stuck in the middle of the 20th century? Grab onto the Explorer Bass from Gibson USA, and ram the low end right into the 21st century

Henry really needs to fire his copywriters..."

I guess, internally here, Mark would have something to observe about ramming or rimming or reaming low ends right into anything, no? Other than that I liked the jab at the Fender shape "bassists seem stuck in the middle of the 20th century", it made me smile, never mind how the Explorer shape is from 1959 and therfore a child of that tail fin ridden era (as is clearly evident by the design of the bass) too. But few people know that, so it was alright for the marketing people to insinuate that tail fins are somehow something modern. Say what you will, but playing a Gibson Explorer bass will have nobody thinking you are a Fender player. +1 for corporate identity. If I had been Gibson's marketing department, I would have launched Explorer and Flying V bass together as "Return of the Modernists - Back to the Future". With a pic of Ted McCarthy



and the comment "Not everything in the McCarthy Era was bad ... and these two axes may even be used for traditionally American activities ".  

For the benefit of our younger readers, watch this from 6.15 onwards ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDfdzcLD1s4&feature=related

This guy here is Joseph and not Ted McCarthy!



I fear Joseph would have thought the V and Explorer "un-American" too!  


Uwe

[godofthunder]

 Thanks good to know!

Uwe is right, dealer is wrong. Preciosa is a naturally dark wood from the Amazon, not related to maple. It's been called a rosewood, but it isn't.

[Dave W]

Ted McCarty, not McCarthy.

[Dave W]

Thanks good to know!

I just looked it up, the botanical name of preciosa is aniba canelilla. So definitely not a rosewood, which are the various dalbergia species. But google aniba canelilla and you find that the bark is used for a medicinal oil sold as "rosewood oil." Go figure.

[uwe]

Ah - that tricky little letter "h"!!!

Paul McCarthy was quite an influence on me as a bassist though!

[PhilT]

Where are all these hip alternative guitars then? Surely he can't mean the Firebird X?

[Dave W]

Where are all these hip alternative guitars then? Surely he can't mean the Firebird X?

They're in the Dean catalog. 

[uwe]

You have to grant it to them, all Dean models are immediately recognizable. I like the aspect of catalog order too.

[Basvarken]

didn't know they're called wings... 

[uwe]

Certainly a concept that, errrm, flies with the targeted consumer group. Most Dean players have pimples, are way past their "best use"-date, no girlfriend and still live at home with their mother ...

I didn't say that Joey DiMaio!!!

[TBird1958]

teh metals...............



Just an update on the Explorer as of 11/03/2011, it's not due until 1/20/2012  .