Since 1959 the Melody Maker series has brought full and uncompromising Gibson quality and tone to professional-grade electric guitars priced for the player on a restricted budget. Staying true to this agenda, Gibson USA introduces the Melody Maker Explorer, one of four great models in an all-new Melody Maker line up. Like their predecessors, the Melody Makers for the second decade of the 21st century possess everything you need to rock, with none of the superfluous extras that get in the way. All are crafted from select tonewoods, and are built with traditional high-quality features such as a set-in neck, 24 3/4 inch scale length and 1 11/16 inch width at the nut. In short, nothing is spared in the effort to make these genuine Gibson guitars, but they come in a format that saves you a bundle. Each model is crafted in the image of a classic Gibson model-Les Paul, SG, Explorer, and Flying V-and they all look great, too, in your choice of three gorgeous nitrocellulose finishes in Satin Ebony, Satin Blue, or Satin White.

Maple has a long history in electric guitar making, and is one of the strongest tonewoods used in luthiery. The Melody Maker Explorer's body of solid maple gives the instrument outstanding clarity and sustain, and helps it retain sharp note definition even amid heavy distortion. The guitar's glued-in neck is crafted from solid quarter-sawn mahogany for superior strength and resonance, and carved to a superbly fast yet comfortable "Melody Maker profile" that measures… read more .835 inches at the 1st fret and .930 inches at the 12th. In a contemporary departure from the norm, this neck carries a fingerboard made from torrified maple, a heat-treated form of maple that has the rich brown look of rosewood but is superior in strength and durability, and totally sustainable besides. Rendered in the shape of the original Explorer of 1958, perhaps the most radical electric guitar of all time, the Melody Maker Explorer has killer looks, tone, and playability.

To ram it all home, Gibson USA loads the Melody Maker Explorer with one of Seymour Duncan's most versatile pickups the Seymour Duncan HB-103. read less