Opinions required: what looks better? (Gibson Explorer content)

William Williamson

Thinking of updating the looks of my main squeeze at the moment:

http://imgur.com/a/nCeMc

Thoughts?

Altho this guitar is more Metallica than BB King, I'm really liking the look of the red/cream/nickel...

mikeyrob73

cream guard, cream rings, nickel covers for me 

John_P

Number 3 with the cream guard is my fave.  

William Williamson

Added cream knobs as an additional image - might be a bit much tho?

usedtobe

2 and 5, in no particular order, although I've just gone from 2 to 5, on mine, but that was mostly because I fancied a change, and I figured the white guard would give it a bit of a lift..

spark240

Think Id go with one ...

WezV

mikeyrob73 said:

cream guard, cream rings, nickel covers for me 

Either this or all black.

cream knobs are a definite no

Nerine

Vanilla with nickel covers is the correct answer. 
The darker options are a bit more "metal" but I always think the metal look looks a bit cheap. The cream is gaudy on wine red, and I'm beginning to prefer covered pickups on pretty much any Gibson. 

Sorted. 

normula1

Black guard with nickel for me.

olafgarten

normula1 said:

Black guard with nickel for me.


Same for me

ICBM

I would have covered pickups, black pickup rings and knobs, cream pickguard.

PolarityMan

id go with the white scratch plate....then put it in the bin...and have the whole guitar black, with silver hardware.

stickyfiddle

Black with covers is best. 

Though the actual answer is to "definish" it and go proper-'76

Moe_Zambeek

All cream!

ennspek

3 is the magic number.

William Williamson

PolarityMan said:

id go with the white scratch plate....then put it in the bin...and have the whole guitar black, with silver hardware.

Well, I got it for £650 NIB because someone waggled the pickups and they rocked front to back (that's what they do) rather than the £999 (and now £859) they're charging Black and chrome would have been my go-to given a full choice.

It seems black/nickel is winning with half-cream second and nickel covers ALWAYS. 

I'm thinking of getting covers for the HB's rather than new ones entirely - it seems with a smidge of silicone between the slug and the cover followed by a solder it's perfectly fine. 

Bucket

This one.

http://i.imgur.com/EHOQ3je.png

RocknRollDave

Telecaster.







J/k Black plastics with pickup covers on, for me.

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

I would have covered pickups, black pickup rings and knobs, cream pickguard.

I think I agree with that - almost like the '50s originals but with an "aged" scratchplate.

Otherwise the cream rings, cream scratchplate... but definitely not cream knobs.

Maynehead

Number 2, black guard black pickups, fo sho.

Neil

Number  4 for me.