“It didn’t work well at the time. Then it just became one of the most popular guitars ever made”: The latest in Gibson and Leo Scala’s Master Artisan Collection is a love letter to the O.G. Explorer – and our addiction to rare guitars

Gibson and Leo Scala have unveiled the latest in their Master Artisan Collection – and if your name is James and/or Hetfield, or Edge/The, then you are gonna love these meticulously aged, über-boutique takes on one of the Nashville brand’s most iconic electric guitars.

You all know the deal with this Master Artisan Collection. It’s a series available exclusively from the Gibson Garage Nashville. The prices range from $25,000 to $40,000. It is Gibson through the looking glass. Past editions have included bizarro takes on the tulip-shaped Theodore, and the frankly awesome 2022 collection of single-pickup Flying Vs.

Well, this is another occasion in which Gibson lets Scala cook and, boy, does he cook, putting together 10 one-of-one custom Explorers that are at once nothing like we have seen before, and yet somehow speak to the very essential of Ted McCarty’s most radical design – a guitar that took some time to catch on. As Scala says, it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea when it was debuted in 1958.

“They only made 19 models, and if I was to look at the Explorer and compare to the other instruments you will have what I call ‘pretty guitars,’ and you will have guitars that are just badass guitars,” he says.

“[The] Explorer… This is a badass instrument and not everybody can wear it and play it – you have to have the persona for the Explorer. It is such an interesting instrument. It was an interesting design. It didn’t work well at the time, and then it just caught up and became one of the most popular guitars ever made.”

Quite so. You really do need to be kind of badass to pull off an Explorer, these great wedges of mahogany – or, as in the original ‘58s, and as we have here, korina.

Gibson and Scala are calling these the ’58 Addiction Explorers, on account of them speaking to both Scala’s addiction to building these mega-deluxe electric guitars, and our addiction to buying them – the rarer the better.

Gibson Master Artisan Collection | Leo Scala '58 Addiction Explorers - YouTube

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All share the all-korina build, with that big ol’ shape carved out of korina, and that big ol’ ’58 profile neck carved out of korina before being glued to the body using hot hide glue. The electric guitar pickup combination stays true to the dual-humbucker format.

But no two are alike. Some have Tune-O-Matic bridges and others have Maestro Vibrolas. The humbuckers have been hand-wound by Scala.

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Each color finish is different to the next. Some finishes are in states of distress that the venerable Tom Murphy might describe as Light Aged, others have finishes that only Cormac McCarthy could describe in his post-apocalyptic fiction.

Post-apocalyptic is how you might describe your finances after buying one of these but then, in this day and age, in which the collector’s market is running hot, you might well see a decent return on your investment.

For more details, pop your head in the door at the Gibson Garage Nashville – or head over to Gibson.