Ken Lawrence Explorers

[jlb32]

No those were made for the USA market in the late 90's, if you look at my photobucket none of my ESP explorers have bolt on necks.

I would not buy a ESP exp with a bolt on neck.

IMO the ESP MX's are way overpriced now for what they are. The prices on them have raised to outrageous amounts in the last several years. They are good guitars but to me personally they don't sound or play any better than Gibson explorers.

I also wouldn't count out a used ESP EXP(bolt-on) explorer if you can find one for a decent price. I sold all 3 of my ESP MX-250's a few years ago but still own a ESP EXP explorer. To me there is just something about the tone of the EXP's that I liked much more than the MX's.

Either way you go keep searching but personally I wouldn't pay 3K or more for a ESP MX-250 explorer. If you are paitent you can find mint used ones for much cheaper.

 

[EXPcustom]

No those were made for the USA market in the late 90's, if you look at my photobucket none of my ESP explorers have bolt on necks.

I would not buy a ESP exp with a bolt on neck.

IMO the ESP MX's are way overpriced now for what they are. The prices on them have raised to outrageous amounts in the last several years. They are good guitars but to me personally they don't sound or play any better than Gibson explorers.

I also wouldn't count out a used ESP EXP(bolt-on) explorer if you can find one for a decent price. I sold all 3 of my ESP MX-250's a few years ago but still own a ESP EXP explorer. To me there is just something about the tone of the EXP's that I liked much more than the MX's.

Either way you go keep searching but personally I wouldn't pay 3K or more for a ESP MX-250 explorer. If you are paitent you can find mint used ones for much cheaper.

I think you like the tone of the bolt on EXPs better because I am a 100% sure they had a maple neck. That's a personal prefrence but to me the reason I say not to buy one is because ESP thought Americans would buy anything Metallica related so they made it as cheap as possible and used a bolt on neck. The custom guitars logo is misleading as well since they are not true ESP custom shop guitars. Japanese market stuff was always neck thru, or set neck never bolt on because in Japan they sweat the details.

Now which Gibson explorers are you refering to? The 84 reissue was a joke when it came to quality, finish etc. The mid 80's ones are all hit and miss, had two with really bad back bow issues, neck twisting etc. In the 90's they made some nice ones but once again you got that ugly pickguard.

If you look at the exchange rate of the Yen versus the dollar there are not too many good deals to be had right now. ESP of Japan kept raising the prices on the MXII/MX250s so the yen went up as well and now you have MX250s for 3k easy. You got to look but there are deals from time to time on the MX250 but the days of getting one for under 2k are pretty much over.

 

[dbsens13]

shit balls! where's $3,550 when ya need it. . .

https://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ESP-MX2-MX-Hetf ... 2a066f6656

 

[Les Zombie]

shit balls! where's $3,550 when ya need it. . .

https://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ESP-MX2-MX-Hetf ... 2a066f6656

3550 + 130 shipping= 3680.00
damn that seems like alot for that guitar, 3yrs ago you could buy one for 2200.

 

[dbsens13]

shit balls! where's $3,550 when ya need it. . .

https://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ESP-MX2-MX-Hetf ... 2a066f6656

3550 + 130 shipping= 3680.00
damn that seems like alot for that guitar, 3yrs ago you could buy one for 2200.

Ya I was too lazy to add in the shipping. Way expensive. I was quoted a fully customized to my specs Ran guitar for less than that. Still one bad ass mofo! One of these day's I hope to find one on eBay or from a forum member for (hopefully) less.

 

[RJF]

That is totally ridiculous really.... It's a simple guitar, you're paying for the name I think.

I have a knock off Ken Lawrence and am pretty happy with it, especially since I only paid $400 of it.

 

[SuperFlyinMonke]

That is totally ridiculous really.... It's a simple guitar, you're paying for the name I think.

I have a knock off Ken Lawrence and am pretty happy with it, especially since I only paid $400 of it.

I guess the extra 6 grand is to make the tuning pegs straight.

That looks decent. I would love to build one.

 

[Badronald]

That is totally ridiculous really.... It's a simple guitar, you're paying for the name I think.

I have a knock off Ken Lawrence and am pretty happy with it, especially since I only paid $400 of it.

I guess the extra 6 grand is to make the tuning pegs straight..

Classic.

 

[RJF]

I'm referring to the ESP explorer, $3500 is nuts.

 

[jlb32]

That is totally ridiculous really.... It's a simple guitar, you're paying for the name I think.

I have a knock off Ken Lawrence and am pretty happy with it, especially since I only paid $400 of it.

The ESP MX's are good guitars but like you stated they are very simple guitars. The ESP MX explorers are Custom Shop over the ESP EXP's standard production but for me the feel, playability and overall build quality wasn't much different. The MX standing for "Metallica Explorer" has alot to do with the price IMO.

I think you like the tone of the bolt on EXPs better because I am a 100% sure they had a maple neck. That's a personal prefrence but to me the reason I say not to buy one is because ESP thought Americans would buy anything Metallica related so they made it as cheap as possible and used a bolt on neck. The custom guitars logo is misleading as well since they are not true ESP custom shop guitars. Japanese market stuff was always neck thru, or set neck never bolt on because in Japan they sweat the details.

I've personally never got into the neck construction theroy. IMO it's just a personal preference thing, not a how good the guitar is thing. To me the neck construction isn't a big deal if the guitar is built well, sounds great and plays great. There are a ton of bolt-on guitar manufacturers around that build killer guitars (Fender for example even though there are many more).

I personally just never felt that the ESP MX-250 explorers I owned were built any better than the ESP EXP explorer I still own. Yes the MX-250's are custom shop and the EXP's were standard production models but to me the EXP plays just as good, feels just as good and sounds better. That's the main reason I kept it over the MX-250's when I decided to get rid of most of my explorers.

Most of the Gibson explorers I have owned were late 90's and early 2000 models. Everyone of them were great playing and sounding guitars also. The pickguard doesn't really bother me. I do prefer the ESP non-pickgurad looks better but not 3 times the price better.

 

[dbsens13]

That is totally ridiculous really.... It's a simple guitar, you're paying for the name I think.

I have a knock off Ken Lawrence and am pretty happy with it, especially since I only paid $400 of it.

...and where can I get one? lol I"ve seen some video's on youtube of people playing KL knock offs and some of them do sound good. obviously watching a video on youtube is different than hearing one in real life but still.

 

[dbsens13]

Most of the Gibson explorers I have owned were late 90's and early 2000 models. Everyone of them were great playing and sounding guitars also. The pickguard doesn't really bother me. I do prefer the ESP non-pickgurad looks better but not 3 times the price better.

I've had a couple early 2000's Gibson Explorers and I like them a lot. Well, I didn't like the Gothic as much, but the one I have right now and the white one I played at GC the other day are pretty sweet. Obviously though I've never played any other Explorers so my experience with them is still lacking.

 

[Les Zombie]

I had a 84 reissue gibson last year and i wasnt inlove with it, it sounded good but not great and dont take it the wrong way, im just used to my explorers i guess.
i own a esp jh2 and it has a bolt on neck and sounds great, i had one years ago and sold it and i missed it and bought another one, theres nothing wrong with a bolt on, i think they sound great and on certain guitars i like it better.

 

[dbsens13]

Ya, I dig some bolt-ons. Especially strats 'n teles.

 

[EXPcustom]

Ya, I dig some bolt-ons. Especially strats 'n teles.

I think bolt-ons are great as strats and teles. Explorers not so much and at that cost of a EXP you can get a second hand older Suhr or Anderson. Bolt on EXPs have crappy ergonomics etc. Its like buying a V6 Mustang you are getting something that looks like it performs.

Explorers are supposed to be big huge pieces of mahogony with a set neck that can sustain for days.

 

[dbsens13]

when were these made?

 

[Les Zombie]

I think it was winter of 2007, i ordered 2 of them and when they came in i rejected one of them because it has paint runs marks and on the black painted area of the headstock where the gibson logo sits there was a white thumb print and they clearcoated over it, both of them had overspray on the side of the fretboards too, the one i did keep sounded ok but i liked my other explorers better and sold it.

 

[jlb32]

Ya, I dig some bolt-ons. Especially strats 'n teles.

I think bolt-ons are great as strats and teles. Explorers not so much and at that cost of a EXP you can get a second hand older Suhr or Anderson. Bolt on EXPs have crappy ergonomics etc. Its like buying a V6 Mustang you are getting something that looks like it performs.

Explorers are supposed to be big huge pieces of mahogony with a set neck that can sustain for days.

You probably think that way because most strats and teles have always been bolt-ons and most explorers are usually set neck. I've owned both set neck and bolt-on ESP explorers and there is no difference other than personal preference if both are built well. Some don't like bolt-ons because of the heel and that's just a feel thing that some get along with and some don't. Other than that the tone and sustain is about the same with either neck construction.

I would buy another ESP EXP (bolt-on) in a heartbeat before paying $3k or more for a ESP MX (set-neck). If I had to have a set neck I would go with another Gibson.

 

[jlb32]

I think it was winter of 2007, i ordered 2 of them and when they came in i rejected one of them because it has paint runs marks and on the black painted area of the headstock where the gibson logo sits there was a white thumb print and they clearcoated over it, both of them had overspray on the side of the fretboards too, the one i did keep sounded ok but i liked my other explorers better and sold it.

Yeah, Gibson had a good idea with that run of '84 reissue explorers but screwed it up by rushing them out the door because they were behind on their deadlines. Personally I think those guitars would have been killer if the management of Gibson hadn't forced them out before they were actually ready.

 

[BlinkTwice]

I think it was winter of 2007, i ordered 2 of them and when they came in i rejected one of them because it has paint runs marks and on the black painted area of the headstock where the gibson logo sits there was a white thumb print and they clearcoated over it, both of them had overspray on the side of the fretboards too, the one i did keep sounded ok but i liked my other explorers better and sold it.

Were they a guitar of the month? I picked up their white les paul classic with emg's which was a guitar of the month back in 2007.