Ibanez "Explorer"

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Author Message   Dave_The_Dude (Dave_The_Dude) Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 7:32 am:    In a Harmony Central review of Epiphone "Explorers", one of the reviewers mentioned that the Ibanez clone of the Explorer in the mid '89's was awesome. I found a couple on ebay for sale, but of course I can't actually "touch and feel" or hear the sound. From what I know, I think that if the body and neck were mahogany, I would be happy with the sound, for sure if I changed the pups. Does anyone know the materials for the body and the neck? Dave   Laaz (Laaz) Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 4:59 pm:    There were no US released Destroyers, so I assume you mean 80's as in 1980-85. The Neck was Maple & the body was Basswood.   Laaz (Laaz) Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 5:00 pm:    Sorry meant to say there were no US released Destroyers in 89...   Craigjc (Craigjc) Posted on Friday, November 21, 2003 - 7:13 am:    The true Ibanez clone of the original Korina Explorer were made in the '70s. Not sure if they were mahogany (korina is a type of mahogany). I have a clone of the original Korina Flying V and I believe the body wood is ash (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Still sounds great, though. I'd recommend the clones even if the bodies were ash.   Harry (Harry) Posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2003 - 3:10 am:    Hello all! You're right about the wood: the Ibanez clones of the V, the Explorer and the Moderne had bodies made of ash. Ibanez never cheated by claiming it was korina wood. They cleverly called it "korina finish", which means that the laquer was given a kind of see-through honey colour, so that the combination of the ash's colour and the laquer would give an optical result that looked like Korina. I happen to have all three in my collection and I must say the Explorer beats the other two by far. I don't know why, because the used woods and the hardware are pretty much the same on all three (except for the V, which has a string-through-body construction) but the Explorer is one hell of a guitar. Maybe it is because I put in brand new ("old stock") Super 70's while the other two guitars have pickups which have been "in use" for more than 25 years? Anyone familiar with this? Kind greetz, Harry   Strat78 Username: Strat78 Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Monday, June 06, 2005 - 1:13 pm:    First tell me more about the new old stock Super 70's! Where do you get them? I have a 1976 ash Destroyer that still has the original Super 70,s however somewhere down the road the pickup covers were removed. The guitar is wonderful with a unique bite but it was a little brittle on the high E and B strings. Then I put pickup covers back on and it sounds much fuller. Pickup covers have had a bad rap for many years and now I beginning to wonder why!   Harry Username: Harry Registered: 03-2001 Posted on Tuesday, June 07, 2005 - 3:26 am:    Hi Strat 78 We were able to lay our hands on some NOS super 70's (and some other types of Ibanez pickups and parts) when Hasy ran into a small music store in Switzerland where they still had a pretty big stock of 70's parts. Pure luck! We invested some money, but since then we have (had) various Ibanez chrome and gold pickups (Super 70's, EB bass pickups- neck and bridge-, Jazz Bass pickups), stop tailpieces, old "cloud" tailpieces, fancy (engraved) tailpieces, various bridges, tuners etc. Some parts are sold, other parts we keep carefully for restoration purpose of our own babies, like the Explorer above. Man, was I happy that I could give this guitar back its original type of pups!. Guess it was a lucky day when Hasy found that store.....which is, by the way, the best way to find stuff: just go into small and old music stores and just ask if they have old parts in stock, new or used. You never know what comes to the surface that's been hidden for 30 years or more. Kind greetz, Harry

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