Heads up about the pickups, in order to get the Raw Nickel IronGear Blues Engines you might have to email them about availability, I cant see that they have updated the site for Raw Nickel covers option yet. Again, give them an email to make sure as the drop down option that says Nickel is not the same as raw nickel. Will update as soon as I know more.
Got an email back this morning that they're not officially out now. But they had a few in the shop and they updated my order. Don't know when they will be on the site, but you definittely have an inside track :-)
Hi Dave, Tom here, previous owner of this Explorer :) I couldn't be more proud of this guitar's second life. It's beautiful, trully! Well done, well done! You certainly know what you;re doing sir!
Once again you just molded what life threw at you into what you wanted. Great stuff Dave. Awesome guitar and thanks for sharing your inspiration, it is infectious. ACHOO! Peace!
Sick. With my Epiphone Gothic Explorer I wanted to make it more metal. The upgrades I've got in it is a emg 85/81 set, graph tech nut and saddles, black knurled knobs, Gotoh locking tuners, and a xgp brass tailpiece 🤘
Wow, this is easily the best looking Explorer I've seen. Amazing finish and having the variation in the burn really works with the body shape. Great tips too, thanks Dave!
Looks cool! I did one a few years ago with the burn around the edges and a burst stain from the center. I called it a sunburn! Can't wait to see it done.
Nice job Dave. Never thought of using a head gun to burn the finish! I was actually going to do a burnt finish with a blow torch for a steam punk guitar I'm working on and then sand some of it back to leave different burnt patterns on the grain. BTW I got in touch with iron gear and pretty reasonable international shipping. I'm just waiting on some stuff to come back into stock and get a few over here.
I've got the same Explorer! I put a Seymour Duncan Black Winter in the bridge, Duncan distortion in the neck, and an orange drop capacitor in her. I also put Celtic fretboard marker decals on the fretboard, and few different spots on the headstock and volume/tone controls. They've been on there for years, and they don't come off! She's my Metal Monster! I love the killswitch on the tone control as well.
Did I miss the re-fretting job you said you would show? I would have put in on/off/on switch for the kill switch. On normal, off (kill) on out of phase or coil tap. I also noticed that you changed the pickup ring on the neck pickup. I would have done metal pickup rings. I love the finish you did on it,Dave. I showed it to my wife (who's from England) and she liked it better than the flat black too.
I have already played it at rehearsal, you will just cry when you hear how good this thing sounds, it was a crap metal guitar but its a killer classic rock machine :)
I really like that it doesn't have dot, (heaven forbid) trapezoidal inlays in the fingerboard. I noticed you achieved the "burst effect" from the heels, toward the center of the body by moving the heat gun in that direction. However, along the top/bottom, straight edges you just ran the heat gun along (linear) the body edge. IMO, this didn't give you a consistent, "burst" effect throughout the whole, face of the guitar. For what it's worth, I think a tortoise shell pickguard, raw nickle, or chrome bridge, tailpiece, and tuners, would look better than the black, and if you stripped/oiled the face of the headstock to match the body. Well done, unique looking, (I imagine sounding) Explorer.
This is really cool Dave ! Indeed, that raw nickel is dope. Didn't knew that you could order that from "Axetec" Irongear. Good to now. To be honest, i was a bit afraid that the glue on the set neck would come loose with that heat gun. I use a cut apart empty cola can and fold it around the neck to spread out the heat when i do burns. A tip: if you want other good pickups for a low price, take a look also at VANSON pickups on Ebay. They are the official distributors for Wilkinson in the UK also. But they have their own Vanson brand and have really good '59 and 57 humbuckers and i measured it out. They are 95 % same specs and sounds the same as the Seymour Duncans. Only a lot cheaper.Around 40 US $ per piece without sending. Just saw your meeting with Chinaguitarsceptic and went over to here. You've got a new subscriber. You are a cool dude. Take care Dave. Cheers from Belgium.
Man, I really wanna grab one of these, just for the hell of it. Such a glorious shape. Most Epiphones are pretty damn good, honestly. Shit, they aren't 2nd best at all. People use these in my studio a lot.
You have to check with them about the raw nickel, make sure you get the Raw Nickel, if you have already ordered make sure you email them and specialy ask for raw nickel not the std nickel.
good ol' Dave -brilliant customization -you should get Gibson or Fender to hire you on mega bucks in their Relic division...When are you going to upload some more videos of your band??
Could have soaked some steel wool in white vinegar for a few days and stained it with that. Gives it that old barn wood look. Strain the liquid with filter and get the steel wool out that is left.That looks great, what you did.Looks cool like that. You might try what I said on one later.
The Dave Barlow re-fret video, I'd watch that. I have an old cheap strat copy neck, nice and straight, nice grain to the rosewood fingerboard, but the frets are badly worn. I'd like to strip the finish off the back of the neck as it's a bit sticky feeling for my liking, probably sand the headstock as well to match, re-fret it with stainless steel frets and put it on a hardtail strat body if I can find one for cheap.
Hello Dave , i want to do this on my Gibson Explorer but its nitrolack ...you think this is possible with a nitro lack remove it easy ?? They tell me that is very difficult to remove Nitro lack .. Hope you can help with a answer ... I love that guitar here from you 🥰
Dave, I found my gothic to be a bit neck heavy so make sure to move the strap button to the heel of the neck at the back. (Like the Gibson explorers have it) The guitar will balance perfectly. Cheers!
No I didn't actually but they may explain the top heavy feel. It was a nuisance for me until I moved the strap button and suddenly it was like having a brand new guitar, try it out and see what you think.
I play it for a while, sometimes I will gig with it. If I have a good vibe I will upgrade it. The thing with Epi's is that they are a very well put together guitar and second hand they go for next to nothing, I just change the pups, strings and frets (don't know why but epi frets wear out real quick) and I like big frets so I can get my fingers under them :)
No, I have to say that this guitar is very stable and is in top playable condition, CGS played it, he thought the same. This is also one one of the best sounding guitars I own.
Mate I’m buying a goth and doing the same thing that looks hotttt better than a damn Gibson although my e2 with flame maple top I bought in 80 was the nicest thing Uber played and seen and sold it coz I was young and dumb and regret it but I’d be happy with this that now looks like a warm rick machine with that black scratch plate just looks amazing surprised u didn’t do the whole thing lol
I'm confused, were you saying you were replacing the killswitch that came on the goth, or you were removing the kill switch. The goth comes with a kill switch doesn't it?
@@DaveBarlowGuitar the previous owner must have altered it, I want to get a goth explorer just because it is one of the few low priced models that come from the factory with a kill switch. I'm not great with tools and I think I'd fuck up something if I tried to add a killswitch to any other guitar.
@@DaveBarlowGuitar I've been TH-cam stalking the epiphone goth explorer since I saw this video at the 6:50 mark he hits the killswitch and I'm trying to find out for sure if it comes with a killswitch built in, but no guitar stores in my area have one to see before I buy. Do you know for sure if it comes with a kill switch from the factory or not? th-cam.com/video/C78gFBGGxdE/w-d-xo.html 6:50 in the video
Dunno its a big body so it looks a bit like an old chopping board to be honest but that goes for all guitars when I see the natural wood. Think I would have just rubbed it down in places and given it that worn look.
My son had a band and the singer/guitarist borrowed the guitar on loan, anyway my son left the band so was quite awkward for me, in the end I said to the guitarist just pay me a few hundred quid for the guitar but if for any reason in the future you dont want it anymore make sure you sell back to me. I learned the other day that he sold it to someone else last week. I am a bit gutted but life goes on. :(
Oh man that sucks. You put a lot of work into that, too. They still turn up from time to time on Reverb and Ebay, but not as often as they used to. Now it's mostly the newer ones that have been reintroduced.
I would have made this one a 3 pickup too. The guitar looks great.
6 ปีที่แล้ว
And tell us the other story about the Explorer. I have been surprised at how many Gothics are out there much, much cheaper than the trad ones. Personally, I want a korina one some day. Maybe when I sell a couple of dozen of others I have to get rid of...
Shit....I've got too many guitars.....I want an explorer now..........I used a blow torch on my guitar neck.......it's now black and feels sweet 😁😁😁😁😁😁🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
The earlier models didnt have a killswitch. Mine is an ‘06 Korean model without one. Not sure what year they started putting the killswitches in them 👍🏼
Heads up about the pickups, in order to get the Raw Nickel IronGear Blues Engines you might have to email them about availability, I cant see that they have updated the site for Raw Nickel covers option yet. Again, give them an email to make sure as the drop down option that says Nickel is not the same as raw nickel. Will update as soon as I know more.
Got an email back this morning that they're not officially out now. But they had a few in the shop and they updated my order. Don't know when they will be on the site, but you definittely have an inside track :-)
Cue up Deep Purple's "Burn".
Hi Dave,
Tom here, previous owner of this Explorer :) I couldn't be more proud of this guitar's second life. It's beautiful, trully! Well done, well done! You certainly know what you;re doing sir!
Thanks dude, thanks for selling it to me :)
I was sceptical about you taking off the finish at first, but it looks sick. Good job man.
Once again you just molded what life threw at you into what you wanted. Great stuff Dave. Awesome guitar and thanks for sharing your inspiration, it is infectious. ACHOO!
Peace!
Sick. With my Epiphone Gothic Explorer I wanted to make it more metal. The upgrades I've got in it is a emg 85/81 set, graph tech nut and saddles, black knurled knobs, Gotoh locking tuners, and a xgp brass tailpiece 🤘
Wow, this is easily the best looking Explorer I've seen. Amazing finish and having the variation in the burn really works with the body shape. Great tips too, thanks Dave!
You've definitely made it your own. Gotta love that.
Looks cool! I did one a few years ago with the burn around the edges and a burst stain from the center. I called it a sunburn! Can't wait to see it done.
I fucking love the burnburst look. This came out looking awesome.
That looks great on video, I bet it really looks amazing in person! Fantastic job man!
Nice job Dave. Never thought of using a head gun to burn the finish! I was actually going to do a burnt finish with a blow torch for a steam punk guitar I'm working on and then sand some of it back to leave different burnt patterns on the grain. BTW I got in touch with iron gear and pretty reasonable international shipping. I'm just waiting on some stuff to come back into stock and get a few over here.
That finish came out awesome!!!!
Awesome job with that dude!!! Looks waaaaaay better.
Great job! I really like the burnt look, and those pickups are perfect!
Love the way it looks.... absolutely love it....
I've got the same Explorer! I put a Seymour Duncan Black Winter in the bridge, Duncan distortion in the neck, and an orange drop capacitor in her. I also put Celtic fretboard marker decals on the fretboard, and few different spots on the headstock and volume/tone controls. They've been on there for years, and they don't come off! She's my Metal Monster! I love the killswitch on the tone control as well.
Dude, that looks killer! Two thumbs up
Gorgeous look! I have an old Korean made SG () lying around that might get just this treatment... 1974 here I come!
Do it!!!
How did you not call it a "burnst".
I dont k now :)
Did I miss the re-fretting job you said you would show?
I would have put in on/off/on switch for the kill switch. On normal, off (kill) on out of phase or coil tap. I also noticed that you changed the pickup ring on the neck pickup. I would have done metal pickup rings. I love the finish you did on it,Dave. I showed it to my wife (who's from England) and she liked it better than the flat black too.
That turned out bad ass! I dig that look. Looking forward to hearing it in action. Cheers!
Great job buddy. Looks fookin awesome.
That's a nice SunBurnst. Good work!
Sweet job Mr. B..... Nice one. Looking forward to hearing you rip on that thing!
I have already played it at rehearsal, you will just cry when you hear how good this thing sounds, it was a crap metal guitar but its a killer classic rock machine :)
Really enjoy the vids, great job on Mr. Explorer burn unit.
Looks great Dave, I'm tempted to pick one up myself.
Fantastic job on the Explorer!
Love my Epiphone, great job Dave
Wow! Looks amazing
Hey man, that tip about the raw nickel was brilliant
dave thanks them blue engine pick ups are brill
Great vid, liked and subbed. Can't wait to see more of these types of vids
Looks epic Dave, can´t wait to hear her!
It looks fucking amazing IMO, i would rock that any day.
Its also the best sounding guitar I have IMO :)
I really like that it doesn't have dot, (heaven forbid) trapezoidal inlays in the fingerboard. I noticed you achieved the "burst effect" from the heels, toward the center of the body by moving the heat gun in that direction. However, along the top/bottom, straight edges you just ran the heat gun along (linear) the body edge. IMO, this didn't give you a consistent, "burst" effect throughout the whole, face of the guitar. For what it's worth, I think a tortoise shell pickguard, raw nickle, or chrome bridge, tailpiece, and tuners, would look better than the black, and if you stripped/oiled the face of the headstock to match the body. Well done, unique looking, (I imagine sounding) Explorer.
Yes, see my videos for sounds also my live band channel to see it inaction.
Great job, it looks awesome
superb video i have reliced some jim deacon and encore strats in the style of rory gallagher they came up well, working on a squire now .
great job.. was thinking of doing the same thing for the same reasons. love it
That’s beautiful!
Looks great !!
If you sold that I would buy it lol
fucking beauty cheers man, now i think i want to do a gothic v like that
Thanks Dave, this is brilliant.
This turned out really well! Got me an idea haha cheers man!
your welcome, share our idea please :)
This is really cool Dave ! Indeed, that raw nickel is dope. Didn't knew that you could order that from "Axetec" Irongear. Good to now. To be honest, i was a bit afraid that the glue on the set neck would come loose with that heat gun. I use a cut apart empty cola can and fold it around the neck to spread out the heat when i do burns. A tip: if you want other good pickups for a low price, take a look also at VANSON pickups on Ebay. They are the official distributors for Wilkinson in the UK also. But they have their own Vanson brand and have really good '59 and 57 humbuckers and i measured it out. They are 95 % same specs and sounds the same as the Seymour Duncans. Only a lot cheaper.Around 40 US $ per piece without sending. Just saw your meeting with Chinaguitarsceptic and went over to here. You've got a new subscriber. You are a cool dude. Take care Dave. Cheers from Belgium.
Man, I really wanna grab one of these, just for the hell of it. Such a glorious shape. Most Epiphones are pretty damn good, honestly. Shit, they aren't 2nd best at all. People use these in my studio a lot.
Very nice! The nickel covers put me over the top, just ordered a set of nickle Blue Engines and told them I heard about them from you!
You have to check with them about the raw nickel, make sure you get the Raw Nickel, if you have already ordered make sure you email them and specialy ask for raw nickel not the std nickel.
Thanks for that Dave, I emailed them asking for the raw nickel.
good ol' Dave -brilliant customization -you should get Gibson or Fender to hire you on mega bucks in their Relic division...When are you going to upload some more videos of your band??
Too right bro, I am you relic man, band videos coming soon.
Looks fantastic mate
Could have soaked some steel wool in white vinegar for a few days and stained it with that. Gives it that old barn wood look. Strain the liquid with filter and get the steel wool out that is left.That looks great, what you did.Looks cool like that. You might try what I said on one later.
Good job!is beautiful!
Dave I'm epi man, I gig with mine every night. I use s/Duncan's, epi is the way to go, from east Texas rock on bro
That looks awesome!!
The Dave Barlow re-fret video, I'd watch that. I have an old cheap strat copy neck, nice and straight, nice grain to the rosewood fingerboard, but the frets are badly worn. I'd like to strip the finish off the back of the neck as it's a bit sticky feeling for my liking, probably sand the headstock as well to match, re-fret it with stainless steel frets and put it on a hardtail strat body if I can find one for cheap.
so many things to do and such little time, but i will get round to it :)
Fantastic job Dave! Might let you and your heat gun have a go at my Washburn WI-64 Idol.
Great job. Digging it
I have one of those Epiphone Gothic Les Pauls that I put some Seymour Duncans in. I might have to try that stuff, that looks pretty badass Dave.
If not send it to me dude, i'll put some burn on it.
A star washer might solve any future output jack miseries. Those pickups sound good. I watched these backwards
Yes this is true, also thread lock or you can even use a dab of superglue on threads.
Looks epic that mate
ran across your vid, that explorer looks great, i'm gonna do the same
Have fun!
Hello Dave , i want to do this on my Gibson Explorer but its nitrolack ...you think this is possible with a nitro lack remove it easy ??
They tell me that is very difficult to remove Nitro lack ..
Hope you can help with a answer ...
I love that guitar here from you 🥰
Dont do it on your Gibson dude, get an Epi and do it on that.
Okey 🤣🤣🤣 thank you for your answer bro 🤘
WOW...Super!!!
awsome job!
Nice job Dave. Looks much better. Hope it sounds better to.
It does, watch out for next video
Dave, I found my gothic to be a bit neck heavy so make sure to move the strap button to the heel of the neck at the back. (Like the Gibson explorers have it) The guitar will balance perfectly. Cheers!
Hi, thanks for that, yes it's slightly top heavy, did you notice that the back tip of the guitar is hollow (chambered)?
No I didn't actually but they may explain the top heavy feel. It was a nuisance for me until I moved the strap button and suddenly it was like having a brand new guitar, try it out and see what you think.
Dave, how do you evaluate what kind of guitar is a good candidate for upgrades?
I play it for a while, sometimes I will gig with it. If I have a good vibe I will upgrade it. The thing with Epi's is that they are a very well put together guitar and second hand they go for next to nothing, I just change the pups, strings and frets (don't know why but epi frets wear out real quick) and I like big frets so I can get my fingers under them :)
loving this one Buddy, Fret job please. Cheers Paul in Oz.
Soon as I get a chance I will, things are getting busy as we just finished the prototype Marshall amp clone.
More info Please, love the channel, love the live stuff, keep it up. Cheers
FUCK that looks good mate!!!
Dave Do you have any soldering videos?
No not specific but there are plenty on YT about soldering:)
Yes! Please do a fret job so I can do it too.
soon :)
Just bought the exact same Epiphone Explorer goth 58 for $100 usd today!
Awesome, they are great sounding guitars too (when you put decent pups in them).
very cool !! nice job
Thanks :)
Luv that finish......
This guitar also sound awesome
whoa may u earned my subscribiton!! love from india \m/
How did you find the finishing oil, Dave? I've got a couple of bottles for some projects I have to get on to.
Its brilliant and vey easy to work with, Crimson do some pukka stuff.
sir are you experiencing a neck dive issue on your explorer?
No, I have to say that this guitar is very stable and is in top playable condition, CGS played it, he thought the same. This is also one one of the best sounding guitars I own.
Fucking class mate, keep at it. Inspiring, gonna have a go.
Thanks
nice!!!
Mate I’m buying a goth and doing the same thing that looks hotttt better than a damn Gibson although my e2 with flame maple top I bought in 80 was the nicest thing Uber played and seen and sold it coz I was young and dumb and regret it but I’d be happy with this that now looks like a warm rick machine with that black scratch plate just looks amazing surprised u didn’t do the whole thing lol
watch out for fret wear on the Epiphones, otherwise they are solid.
Very nice 👌
nice
Liked and subscribed.
Have a good day
I'm confused, were you saying you were replacing the killswitch that came on the goth, or you were removing the kill switch. The goth comes with a kill switch doesn't it?
No the goth did not come with a kill switch, so I put one in .
@@DaveBarlowGuitar the previous owner must have altered it, I want to get a goth explorer just because it is one of the few low priced models that come from the factory with a kill switch. I'm not great with tools and I think I'd fuck up something if I tried to add a killswitch to any other guitar.
@@DaveBarlowGuitar I've been TH-cam stalking the epiphone goth explorer since I saw this video at the 6:50 mark he hits the killswitch and I'm trying to find out for sure if it comes with a killswitch built in, but no guitar stores in my area have one to see before I buy. Do you know for sure if it comes with a kill switch from the factory or not?
th-cam.com/video/C78gFBGGxdE/w-d-xo.html
6:50 in the video
Even looks more expensive/better quality than when it had the ''cheap'' matte black paint on top..
Dunno its a big body so it looks a bit like an old chopping board to be honest but that goes for all guitars when I see the natural wood. Think I would have just rubbed it down in places and given it that worn look.
what happened to the Hamer explorer you had?
My son had a band and the singer/guitarist borrowed the guitar on loan, anyway my son left the band so was quite awkward for me, in the end I said to the guitarist just pay me a few hundred quid for the guitar but if for any reason in the future you dont want it anymore make sure you sell back to me. I learned the other day that he sold it to someone else last week. I am a bit gutted but life goes on. :(
Oh man that sucks. You put a lot of work into that, too. They still turn up from time to time on Reverb and Ebay, but not as often as they used to. Now it's mostly the newer ones that have been reintroduced.
I would have made this one a 3 pickup too. The guitar looks great.
And tell us the other story about the Explorer.
I have been surprised at how many Gothics are out there much, much cheaper than the trad ones. Personally, I want a korina one some day. Maybe when I sell a couple of dozen of others I have to get rid of...
I already told the story last year and didn't want to bring it up again :)
Missed it. Never mind. Keep up the good work.
Shit....I've got too many guitars.....I want an explorer now..........I used a blow torch on my guitar neck.......it's now black and feels sweet 😁😁😁😁😁😁🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
You do realize that the third knob on that guitar was a kill switch..........
Originally it was a tone knob, I swapped it out for a kill switch.
@@DaveBarlowGuitar are you sure? I thought it was a tone/kill switch stock....
I just checked the pot I pulled out and its standard, perhaps it was changed by somebody else before I purchased it :)
The earlier models didnt have a killswitch. Mine is an ‘06 Korean model without one. Not sure what year they started putting the killswitches in them 👍🏼
Can you list links on bridge and stop tail piece I need new ones for my epip Explorer thanks
I didn't replace the bridge or tail but Allparts is a good place, or Algree or Axetec :)
A wood pickguard would look great on this guitar.
First.
Your picture does not match up to what you just said.
Sorry, Jamie, what are you talking about?
I mean. I usually see little kids saying "first".
I've never done it before, which is why i did it.
And I'm only 21 , I'll have you know...
Ok. I'll let you off. Lol
the neck is quite beefy in my opinion
not on this one
Awesome!