1980s Explorer, may or may not be a Gibson, "customized" and with a lurid paint job

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Bill Cesavice kindly flagged this guitar up for me on our Facebook page. Oh dear... where to start with this one?

OK... It's been given a paintjob that I guess might have been inspired by Clapton's CRASH Stratocasters. However, it strikes me as odd to go to all that trouble and then have such a crudely cut-out pickguard which looks as if it's been shaped using a kitchen knife. As for the Gibson stickers on the headstock (I guess because the original logo was painted over), well, the less said the better.

And WHY the three pickups laid out in a Strat formation? That is something that seriously bugs me, the way people think that if you have three pickups you MUST angle the bridge one. Why follow the Strat template? Just what is the logic? Yeah, I know these are singlecoil-sized humbuckers, but still...

So... Gibson or not? Well, it's a set-neck and the shape appears to be accurate so it's perfectly possible that there is a real Gibson beneath the paint, stickers and "customization". But we only have the seller's word on that.

With a Buy It Now price of $900 on eBay, I'd approach this one with caution.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!