For fierce riffs, eviscerating tones, and all-out metal mayhem, there's no one heavier than Dethklok... in the imaginations of their creators, at least. As the resident death metal merchants on Adult Swim's Metalocalypse, Dethklok epitomize no-hold-barred rock excess; but as much as the band members on the TV show are fictional, the music itself is very real. As performed in the studio by Brendon Small, who also does the voice for Dethklok's Gibson Explorer-wielding lead guitarist, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, the guitar playing behind this animated phenomenon is powerful and compelling, and has garnered enough fans to warrant two actual album releases--The Dethalbum (2007) and Dethalbum II (2009)--and a series of live tours, with Small and supporting musicians playing live, accompanying animated characters on the big screen.

In honor of this virtual/actual sensation, Gibson USA introduces the Dethklok "Thunderhorse" Explorer, a top-flight metal guitar that is very much real, and patterned after Skwisgaar Skwigelf's weapon of choice. Dressed in a stunning Silverburst finish, appointed with the finest electronics and hardware available, and rendered in the shape of the most radical electric guitar in the history of the instrument, the Gibson Dethklok "Thunderhorse" Explorer is a fitting tribute to the musical achievements of Small and his animated partners in rock, although the guitar--unlike its namesake--is entirely flesh and blood... or, wood and wire at least. It packs all the meat… read more and muscle to lash out the most menacing metal, yet is capable of purring sweetly when desired, and offers the kind of stellar playability that you have come to expect from more than a century of Gibson guitars.

Gibson Dethklok Thunderhorse Explorer Guitar Features

- Solid Mahogany body with satin Silverburst finish
- Super-fast slim neck profile
- Thunderhorse engraved on truss rod cover
- BurstBucker 1 in the neck and BurstBucker 2 in the bridge
- Mini-Grover tuners with an efficient 14:1 turn ratio

A slim, fast neck profile with a thickness of .800 inch at the 1st fret and .850 inch at the 12th fret makes it easy to get your riff on with speed and agility, right up to the 22nd fret of the black ebony fingerboard, thanks to the Explorer's classic easy-access shape. A dense Corian nut, cut on the computerized PLEK for total precision, enhances the transfer of vibrational energy into the neck, while that classic pairing of ABR-1 Tune-o-matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece at the body end provide the perfect blend of adjustability and solidity, and all of these critical components work together to optimize the guitar's resonance and sustain.

To maximize all of this tonal splendor, the Gibson Dethklok Thunderhorse Explorer is equipped with a calibrated set of Gibson's popular BurstBucker humbucking pickups, which comprises a BurstBucker 1 in the neck position and a slightly hotter BurstBucker 2 in the bridge position, for the perfect output balance between the two pickup selections. Made with unpolished Alnico II magnets and unpotted coils that are wound to slightly different numbers of turns of 42-gauge plain enamel-coated wire, just like the originals, these are some of the finest reproduction PAF (patent applied for) style humbuckers available today.

Wrap it all in Gibson's menacingly beautiful grain-textured Silverburst finish in nitrocellulose lacquer, which offers a tactile matt surface to the touch and a fast-feeling neck, and this tribute guitar has got the looks to play the part, too. read less