We recently reported that it looked like a Dave Mustaine Explorer model might be coming soon. Now in an interview with Songfacts, Mustaine spills the beans that there definitely is… and there’s a 24-fret Les Paul in the works for either next year or the year after.
“If you go back to my beginning as a guitarist, one of the first guitars I ever had was an SG. The next one I had was a Les Paul copy. After that, a friend of mine loaned me his Destroyer, which is an Explorer copy, and I eventually got a King V because I loved the Gibson Flying V but it didn’t have 24 frets.
“I had gone to Gibson once before, and it was under different management – that almost was the end of the company. So, I passed. Going back to them now with this new company [Gibson is now owned by KKR & Co., Inc.], they’re just fantastic.
“The model that I play, my Flying V, is 24-fret with my neck configuration on it, which is a different shape than the original Flying V’s neck. It has more access where the heel is on the back of the neck joint and the body. The electronics are different. The pick-up switch and electronic knob placement, that configuration is different – it’s my own. I have certain things that I like interior-wise with guitars: fret-wire, inlays, and the nut up at the top, the bridge at the opposite end. They’re all important things.
“The original Gibson Flying V had the input jack on the front, and a lot of guitar players back in the day only had straight guitar cord plugs, and they would stick right up off of the guitar. I can’t even tell you how many people I know have broken cords off when the input jack is sticking out. I use an angular input jack, because for me, it has to be flush with the body.
“I also use the Jim Dunlop strap locks, and they sink into the body. Because of the demand on the guitars I use live, I can’t use the Schaller strap locks. I was using those before, and I don’t know if they’ve fixed it, but back when I was using them, the strap would fall off of the guitar. So, I discovered the ones from Dunlop and they were great.
“So, that’s the story about the different body shapes. Right now with Gibson I have the Flying V, we’re working on the Explorer, and we have a 24-fret Les Paul I finished creating, but this is something for next year, maybe the year after.”
Mustaine and Gibson have already had one hell of a year together, most recently with a brand new Flying V and acoustic series. And clearly those are doing well given the additional two models coming, right?
