[maplebaby]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

I'm with you 100% on the mahogany part - got four all-hog acoustics and an SG Reissue bass, owned one of the very first '61 SG reissues back in the '80s (the ones that came in the hideous oversize blue-lined plastic case ), so I'm quite familiar with the tonal virtues...

That said, I've also had the experience of handling four original korina instruments from the '50s - three Flying V's and the Explorer bass assembled in the early-60's with a mahogany neck, purportedly used by Lonnie Mack's bassist - as well as a fair number of late-model Explorers; from what I've seen this is one that Gibson does right - the body wood tends to be higher quality than would be expected given their reasonable price and, as I stated, apparently selected for its on-stage visual resemblance to korina IME. As far as color is concerned, maybe it's my computer but two of the original Flying V's, as well as a couple of '83 reissues I played back in the day, were similar in shading to not only your guitar but several other modern Explorers I've encountered (the other original V and the Explorer bass were in fact lighter, as you state) as well as the back of my own '11 P-90 LP goldtop. Given the well-documented inconsistency of late-50's Gibson finishes as well as the vagaries of time/owner care (particularly prominent on LP 'bursts), IME the range of coloration indeed extends into the lighter end of the golden-brown spectrum seen on current production, particularly on straight-grained examples like your own - YMMV...

great post...thanks for sharing your experience!