Here we have a 1976 Gibson Explorer that has been through the ringer. Back in the day, some 80's shredder made the fateful decision to install a Kahler into this beautiful guitar and like so many before him, that decision was wrong. When I first purchased this beast my initial thought was "I can fix her" and finally that day has come. I've included as many photos here that Reverb will allow and I specifically wanted to document the plug and talk about that. A good friend of mine here in Nashville owns Acreman Guitars and they had the equipment needed to clean up the old 80's route and they then plugged it with a chunk of mahogany and did just enough sanding in that one spot to get it it smooth. I chose not to refinish this one and just went with a light coat of nitro-cellulose lacquer on the top so you can still see the wear underneath. With the bridge, tailpiece and strings installed you can hardly notice the plug especially from a short distance.

The original tailpiece was in the case so it went back on and the bridge it came with is stamped Germany on the back and I'm assuming it's made by Schaller. I chose to leave it as the patina matches all of the other hardware on the guitar. The gold finish on the original tuners is also heavily worn and pitted but the tuners themselves are fairly tight and hold tune just fine. Strap buttons are newer replacements that have a few years of natural wear. The guitar had a set of strap locks on it when I got it and the base was obviously larger than the standard buttons and you can still see the impressions of them in the finish. At some point the previous owner moved the location of the lower button up an inch or so and filled the original hole in.

All of the electronics, with the exception of the pickups, are original and I've included a pic of the pot codes. The pickguard is original but the truss rod cover is a newer replacement due to the original being cut in half to accommodate the locking nut. I'll include the two pieces in the case pocket. The knobs, switch and switch tip are original as well. The pickups are an older set of Gibson 57 classics.

The back and sides show lots of natural wear that can only come from years of playing and gigging and I've tried to show all of it here. Amazingly there are no breaks to headstock or neck heel. The V shaped scratch that is on the bass side of the neck near the headstock is just that, a deep scratch. The guitar is stamped a factory second but whatever defect was there has been covered with bona fide playing wear. The neck is straight and the frets are starting to level out but the action is low and it plays with no issues. The rosewood fretboard has held up beautifully. It comes housed in its original case which is a little worse for wear but is still sound. That being said both left and right latches are broken leaving only the middle intact.

This is no closet queen, this is for the guy that wants to rock a vintage Explorer and is priced as such. This guitar clocks in at 8.4 lbs. Thanks for looking and feel free to ask any questions.