Well, I’m happy to say that the prediction we made back in June was correct… Gibson today announced its Guitar Of The Week #36, and as expected it’s the rather industrial looking Explorer New Century in Satin Ebony.
As mentioned in our previous post, the big news here is that the “New Century” line of guitars, which is infamous for its hideous mirrored pickguard, has been updated (at least for this Limited Edition run) with a much more stylin’ recessed pickguard made from carbon fiber.
Besides that, as far as I can tell the Satin Ebony finish is pretty much the only thing setting this guitar apart from its production-level counterpart.
Specs include a Mahogany body, Mahogany neck with ’60s “slim taper” profile (24 3/4″ scale length,) rosewood fretboard with 22 frets and dot inlays, chrome-plated hardware, stopbar tailpiece, tune-o-matic bridge, black top hat knobs, and chrome mini Grover tuning machines.
Electronics will include a 496R ceramic magnet humbucker at the neck, 500T at the bridge, dual volume controls, single tone control, and 3-way pickup switching.
As part of Gibson’s Guitar Of The Week series, the Explorer New Century in Satin Ebony will be made available in a limited run of just 400 instruments.
- EGR’s Gibson Guitar Of The Week Index
- Gibson Accidentally Lets The Cat Out Of The Bag :: Guitar Of The Week #36?
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #13 :: Explorer Pro Heritage Cherry
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #31 :: Flying V New Century
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #4 :: Explorer Pro Vintage Sunburst
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #20 :: Les Paul Studio Satin Ebony
- Gibson Introduces Les Paul Special New Century
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #32 :: SG Special With EMGs
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #35 :: ‘61 SG In Satin Antique Walnut
- Spoiler Alert! Next Ten Gibson Guitar Of The Week Models
- Gibson Jumps The Gun, Reveals Next Twelve Guitar Of The Week Models
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #21 :: SG-3 Fireburst
September 25th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Boring….here’s to hoping the rest of this series will be more than just cosmetic changes to their current production line of guitars. I’d love to see some re-issues of long out of production models or at least something truly innovative and useful.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Yeah, I had high hopes for this series when it was first announced, but apart from a handful of good looking instruments there has been very little in the way of innovation.
I’m guessing the general public is feeling the same way, because at least one of the online retailers has recently slashed their prices on the GOTW line… must not be selling like hot cakes, eh?
September 25th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
How ’bout a “Split Tail Explorer”– yeah, that’s the ticket!
September 25th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
The only guitar I’d consider buying so far has been the natural SG with the 3 single coil blade pickups.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Wouldn’t sticking a bleeding huge pickguard on a guitar reduce your sustain drastically? What’s the point of that?