Explorer Guitar Copy Review + Demo 

Dude sounds great! Also, you're fucking funny dude. Those screaming Lzzy segments and the sad explorer montage really tickled me.

Dude that guitar is beautiful. Maybe im coping because im broke (and probably will forever be lolol) but buying cheap guitars and customizing them with better parts always make me feel great. Almost like a bonding experience with the guitar. Thats something that i don't think I'd ever get out of a $20k guitar that I'd be too scared to even really ever bust out. Great work man.

Bro your editing is Supreme. Good work, i’m thinking about doing this exact method with some gibson pickups just as a shredder. Super informative

Inspirational! Thank you for making this video. Nicely done, all around.

Love Lzzy that said always love tricking out a guitar. Chibson, Partcaster and so on some upgrades always help!

Hey, New Subscriber here and this video popped up after Trogly. Great vignette, and your entertaining personality and excellent writing and video skills are solid!

Cool song at the end. Keep the videos coming!

It looks and sounds excellent. I just found your channel I like it. I’ll look forward to some more of your videos that came out really good. I too heavy chibson Explorer and I did some upgrades and I love it.

Large sections of your jam session at the end sounded a lot like Kyuss. Not all of it, but the majority of it was very Kyuss-esque. I dig it.

cool project dude keep rocking

Enjoyed the vid. Great playing too

It sounds amazing! Great video

This was a GREAT video, nice work

That came out AWESOME! And I love that you opted for no "Chibson" decal...made it your own!

Looks perfect with those mods! Awsome guitar!

Awesome video man! And I've never noticed you're really tall until you mentioned it, but the Explorer was really a good comparison for me. I've had an explorer copy a few years ago and that guitar was too big for me (I'm 5'6") but it looks awesome with you, like it fits :), for me, even a Les Paul looks big haha

Fantastic video!

Yah I enjoyed watching your video, great choices you made to actually own and modify your explorer into a Beast! All done without breaking your bank account. Rock On!

Nice video! I've been thinking of buying an Ibanez Iceman replica in white.

Damn your videos took a step up! Subscribing man, good work 👍

Great vid! Can we dive into the instruments of the rest of the Foo? I'd love your perspective on Nate's rig as well as Pat & Shifty's!

That. Looks. EPIC! And sounds great to boot!

Damn man I love your composition skills ❤

Looks and sounds great!

Jeej, its hilarious how you are an unofficial Chibson Guitar Explorer for us lol! You are an invaluable resource for some of us who may take a small gamble into seeing how some of these guitars will be for us in the Future! Keep the vids up and keep rocking out man! This guitar gives me Dave Grohl mid 2000's vibes!

Great video! watched your DG-335 vids a while back and took the plunge with a Chibson. First guitar was confiscated and destroyed by HMRC (customs in UK) - even after telling the seller to NOT to label the guitar as Gibson or DG-335, the case & guitar had Gibson logos. Fortunately the site I purchased from had buyer protection, so I got a refund. Better luck with my second purchase however all they'd done was put some masking tape over the Gibson Logo! (Sigh). Like you I changed all the electrics, pickups and tuners for Gibson & Govers. I even had the neck re-shaped, slimmed down and re-sprayed (I'm 5ft8 to your 6ft7!) - at which point ! discovered it wasn't painted genuine Pelham Blue. The worst part of it was that the intonation was off. I ended up taking it to a luthier who did the best they could - we even checked all the fret spacing and bridge positions against my epiphone ES-335 and everything was with 1-05.mm tolerance, but the notes all went sharp around the 4-5th fret, especially on the G string - we just couldn’t work out what was wrong! Such a tragedy as it was the guitar I’ve always wanted, but I fell out of love with it and sold it for far less than it cost me in total (new components & luthier work). I’ve played many Chibsons (mainly LPs) and some where exceptional - I guess I was just unlucky. The real rub is that I don’t think I can quite bring myself to spend £1,200 on an epiphone DG-335. As you say - if you have a bit of skill and patience you can end-up with a bespoke hot-rodded DIY-custom shop guitar to your own specifications. Personally I wouldn’t buy another Chibson, unless it was 2nd hand and I could try before I bought it. Keep up the great vids - thanks!

Got this same hale copy model about a year ago, used it on plenty of recordings and it’s a favorite to jam with. Never even changed out the pickups

a cheap guitar with a decent neck is a lot of fun for people who like modding. i live in a small apartment so kits are kind of a pain since i don't have room to paint a body or cut a headstock. i think every guitarist should have a project guitar or two.

Great vid , love it . Fiddling with my Koa Chibson . Maybe mahogany . Faber Hardware and soon some nice American ‘59 pups . 58 wiring with CTS pots and input jack . Anyway , I love it ❤

I just snagged an un-branded Explorer off of ebay. Banana headstock. No Gibson logo. Binding on the edges and neck. Seller had 100% feedback and shipped from within the USA. Guitar is nice and heavy. It had trouble getting in tune and needed the action raised. Still needs a set up. Initially sounded terrible. But my first mod was to change the strings and that made a huge difference. Pickups are low end but not microphonic. Electronics are crappy and tuners are bunk. But I have some spare pups that I'm gonna throw in there to make it chug. I'll wait to change the electronics and tuners. But in all, priced lower than a Firefly FFX. Feels really good in my hands and has good bones to upgrade without spending a fortune.

Hey man, great vid, I appreciate you putting the final cost, but if you noticed, on the 0:58 frame, starting from the left theres a black Explorer for 599, so it's not like it's that much worthy, I mean, it is in your case because you had the tailpiece and wanted that white paint, but I only recommend getting Chibbos if you're after certain specs, for example, if you want an RD? there's no way to get one under 2k, if you want a maple fretboard LP, or I don't know, a LP DC, those are getting really expensive, but if you're into traditional 50's Les Pauls I would get an Epi and call it a day. I think if you had searched on FB Marketplace you would eventually land on a good deal. But yeah, getting anything that isn't a Les Paul or an SG is kinda hard. There's also IYV who do similar things but from Vietnam.

Awesome , knowing stuff will always save ya money . I understand being a bigger dude and guitars looking hilariously small . I played bass in a band and one day I picked up my girlfriends guitar to play and everyone started laughing about how small the guitar looked LOL . I have a late 2018/ early 2019 Gibson Explorer and it has been my fav . It was part of the first batch Gibson sent out under new ownership so I'm thinking it was made to impress . I've play other Explorers during the 2010's Henry Era and they just didn't have it . Keep up the great work !

Great job and you have a great guitar without spending a ton of money !!

I own a Chibson Les Paul custom plays great

That instrumental bit was tasty af.

Can you do an update video with one of those lead checking kits, check the frets!

Fun video!

Great video! Also, you can get the bridge post ferrule thingies out by screwing in a longer bolt of the same thickness. (In case you wanna replace them with chrome ones). Edit: Oh and by the way, my mom with face blindness thought you were Dave Grohl.

Guitar looks and sounds fantastic, well done. You mentioned it was heavy-what does it weigh? What about the neck-was it fatter or thinner?

I have often thought about buying a Chibson but with no electronics and no hardware but was scared of it coming with a logo, I have seen videos where a guy had ordered one and specifically asked that no logo be on the headstock and they agreed but then just ignored him. As long as the neck and body are built well the cost is much less than it would even cost me to to buy the wood in the UK and it would even be painted and lacquered. I have a collection of 8 white guitars but don't have an Explorer

Great review and song at the end. How did you record the bass and drums? Does anyone know if any "brand" has basically done what was done here? Seems like a missed opportunity to not upgrade these guitars with solid hardware and electronics and sell those upgraded "Chibsons" and hit that $500 price point where the end user doesn't have to upgrade anything as they're getting quality components from the purchase. I think far more people want something great out-of-the-box rather than to upgrade and hope the ROI is there. If I were a Chinese seller, I would definitely try that myself.

You can get rid of the bubbles on the pickguard by putting a tinny pin prick in the middle of them then squeeze them down.

The boy can play😮

I have a ChiESP Explorer and love it!! It is amazing how they can get these to us from China with headstocks perfect condition. Those shipping boxes are kinda bullet proof with all the foam cradling it. Surprised the neck joint took a jolt.

That fretboard looks sweet. What do you think is made of ? Richlite?Laurel or pau ferro dyed ? It cant be real ebony. But overall is a beauty and I'm not even a huge explorer fan.

Fret size and neck radius and neck shape?? Thanks and great video!

Hey JEEJ can you provide a link where I can get one? I would love one in silverburst.

Just commented on your paint job video and the next video I saw was this explorer video. 2 years ago I walked into guitar center and on the wall was a used Korina 2008 reissue explorer. Since I’ve never seen an explorer in guitar center I grabbed it off the wall immediately. It’s an Epiphone great shape 275.00 it’s the black with white pic guard. By the way the comment your wife said on the couch sounds exactly like my wife. You seem to know wiring. That kit guitar I painted the neck pickup is not working right. Could that be the ground wire?

Hi Jeremy, as always a great guitar review. Will you buy and review the Epiphone DG-335?I wonder what it will be like compared to your replica DG-335.

Do You Have a wiring diagram for the guitar?

..is the es-335 in the back ground a copy?

cool as fuck dude u should really do a guitar collection vid luv ur vids man

The original pickups sounded killer to me, sounded like they did distortion with a lot of definition. Not sure if new ones are better or not.

I bought 2 explorers, on both guitars truss rod is fake, so neck adjustment isnt possible. For now they looks and played great. But bad thing is that adjustment isnt possible

The multiple tape applications indicated it may have actually been QC'd when it hit the states. I think if I bought a Chibson, id want it to say Gibson on the headstock, just in case it was wall art. At least I could pretend I could afford one.

stupid question especially after this video, but, are you getting the DG-335?

Most importantly, how are the frets and fret ends?

12:29 those are most likely a rebranded Artec pickup which is what they use on Epiphones too🤣 they're pretty decent too especially since they cost around 13-20 USD.

Have you still got your white DG335

In 08, I got an Epiphone Korina Explorer. Was $499.99 off the shelf. The LP Standard Cherry Burst with a stunning top was also $499.00. Now they charge $1200.00. Insanity.

Is there a specific seller you buy from on eBay? I want to order one but I'm afraid of getting ripped off. Any info would be greatly appreciated 🤘🏻

I'd do the truss rod cover in black too, just to break up that headstock a bit. Maybe throw a Decepticon logo on the headstock since it has no official logo in the way

That lead in the demo is fantastic. And, at $493 total cost, that's still the same or less than a used Epi, but better. Sometimes I wonder how actually disconnected the materials/factories/workers are when you're comparing brand-name guitars made in China to the same guitar without the brand name made in China.

I actually think you could do a cool video for something in the Hagstrom line… I realize you are probably at no new guitars for a while other than the Epiphone DG-335… but, that’s one I think you could demo well.

Cool waiting on video graphics! No joking!

Guitar collection video.

Not sure about " moral Grey area ", I think counterfeiting is a pretty black and white wrong thing. But it is cool that they didn't put Gibson on the headstock

Couple things I bought off of eBay. I did some research and it came from AliExpress.

White nail polish is what you want for touch up paint

I kinda like that they didn’t have a Gibson’s logo on the headstock

i figure they are jus finished and painted guitar kits for an extra 100 bucks give or take. i really wanna get the white Hetfield style explorer from china someday

Yeah I would put pickups from ZZound that would cost more then the guitar

Foo part 3

Personally, I'm a fan of gold hardware. But not on white guitars. Goes better with black in my opinion. This Explorer looks much better with the silver hardware for sure. Well, hope it serves you well. I personally own three chinese guitars. A fake strat, a fake Ibanez and an indeterminant bland model. Two of them I had to modify to be well-functional. The third one was custom order so I knew that aside from shoddy soldering it was going to be fine as is parts-wise.

You may have said it, but what was the final total after all of the upgrades?

Looks great! The only really off part for me is the headstock which looks a bit fat and derpy compared to the real thing.

Wife: "First of all, you do not NEED another guitar." Husband: "With my wife fully on board..."😂

5:57 Still looking for a Dg 335 like yours, all the ones out there the diamond holes are not right 🤦

I've been eying unbranded explorer-shaped guitars on eBay for weeks now, and you, my dude, are not helping! Also, your music sample tune is very cool; I even rewound the video to listen to it again. PS: What book was your understanding wife reading at the beginning of the video?

Really did a great job, those 490s kick butt in that guitar, thumbs up to no name chinese made guitars, you can't get anything closer to the real deal, in the budget market,then going this route,

I just bought the Matte black “Les Paul” with the “bigsby” (if you know you know), and the headstock was broken in shipping. The return process was okay but just be mindful that you’re no purchasing from Americans and they will try to get you to keep the guitar without a refund or just a partial refund! Also pots and pickups and tuners are absolute garbage! But for $300? That’s hard to beat

Watch out. They don’t always ship from the states. Check the delivery times.

Yeah, I was a welder in college and I can’t solder worth a shoot

Algorithm brought me here. Your production quality is awesome dude.

that fed ex shit is crazy lol

Sounds totally legit.

As someone who solders professionally, it all comes down to the gear and solder. I use only Pace stations (MBT250 and 350) and multicore solder (several sizes and types) I can solder anything you throw at me. It is not like it is with guitars. Slash can probably make every guitar sound good, I can not solder at the same level with a crappy station like yours. Not enough power, not fast enough to keep a real stable temp during soldering (and that is the most important thing that is overlooked by almost all cheap station reviews, non coated tips etc.

I did this , got the explorer I wanted saved $ 23k even with plus parts .

Dude I’m so 🤏🏼 close to order myself a nice ESP MX Knockoff, they are also around 200 bucks… buying an original nowadays is really NO fun at all because of all those Metallica crackheads destroying the whole market prices 🤦🏽‍♂️ (Up to 15k for a MX-250, WTH???) I’m a player not a collector and explorer shapes go along with my body shape perfectly 🤘🏼

The fact that has no branding makes it something worth considering 😮

I have a few Chibsons, I've revisited the chinese replica/fake guitars multiple times throughout the years, and I can say honestly now they're really good for the money, IF... if you're able to do basic teching on your own. I'm a fan of the LS Custom Shop guitars, I really like the HPL fingerboards and all the ones I've gotten from them have a decent setup and solid feel to them. They're also using Korean rounded frets. Hardware is usually the biggest fault on them, pickups are usually pretty okay, not awesome but not bad. If you buy one of these you might as well factor in new tuners and a bridge into the cost at the very least. I've had various levels of tuner quality, from complete junk to them not feeling quite right, but still hold tune. All the bridges I've gotten suffered from saddle rattle. I immediately swap them for tone pros. The biggest draw to the Chibsons to me is the affordability and neck profiles, I too am a larger human with big hands, the Chibsons always have a meatier neck than their Epiphone counterpart and even sometimes their USA counterpart. My Chibsons get played a lot since they're usually always hanging somewhere nearby. They're something you can get to mimic the instruments of your hero's and not be out boat loads of cash, and at the very least they're inspiring wall art, that's actually usable and playable. Definitely not a USA quality guitar, they do ride in the same lane as a lot of import guitars I've played though, and sometimes better, especially if you like chunkier necks.

Dig it..guitars are too expensive theae days..seems fune too me.as ling as fretd dnt buzz ..why not

Those wonky looking explorers are in fact real Epiphone. They are some crappy limited edition model they put out quite a while ago.

i don't know why people are still surprised by quality "chibsons" these are probably all made by the same people that are making most of the import brand name guitars...they have access to all the parts and schematics...they just un-brand them and sell them for cheap...

"Chip" son

I've just arrived here just after watching the original '84 Explorer. 😁 I can't make a fair comment now.

Sorry to say, that damage didnt happen in shipping. They sent you a reject ie damaged unit. It is very common with Chinese suppliers. You should have processed a full refund under damaged goods clause under Paypal. Then, they would have had a nag, and eventually sent you an undamaged unit. Then you send the damaged unit back and they send it straight out to the next sucker. Untill they find someone that will accept it. 🤔

And noe i want a chibson🥹

It's heavy as Hell?

Now for some tone samples. [Cranks up the overdrive so you get no fucking idea what the pickups sound like.]