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Products Electric Guitars Explorer Gibson USA
Don't Go Out at Night—This Explorer Might Take Your Life!

More than just a great-looking wood, with a broad and pronounced grain, swamp ash is beloved for its low weight, superior resonance, and balanced tone, with firm lows, a punchy midrange, and sweet highs. In the body of the Explorer Vampire Blood Moon, swamp ash offers all the power you could ever seek in an Explorer, along with a sweetness you've never heard before. To this, Gibson adds a glued-in neck cut from a single piece of solid quarter-sawn mahogany for superior strength and resonance, and carves it to a slim, super-fast profile that yields unimpeded shred potential right up to the 22nd fret.

And where does all your vengeance and fury go? Shred, metal and thrash artists have long appreciated the virtues of active pickups, and every fiery lick you throw at the Explorer Vampire Blood Moon gets sucked up and spewed out by a pair of Gibson's new active humbuckers, powered by a 9V battery accessed through its own door in the back control plate. Some of the most powerful pickups ever produced by a company known for pioneering the humbucker, the pickups on the Explorer Vampire Blood Moon offer a new fidelity and clarity that high-output passive pickups have difficulty matching, with a power and presence that goes way beyond anything demanded by the most extreme music. Controls are a straightforward three-way toggle switch, an independent volume for each pickup, and a master tone.

But to really tap your own vein of evil, you demand even more—and the Explorer Vampire Blood Moon delivers. A high-performance Schaller™ vibrato tailpiece provides everything from hypnotic wobbles to soaring divebombs, all with outstanding return-to-pitch tuning stability thanks to a Schaller™ Locking Nut at the headstock end. Black Mini-Grover™ tuners cap off the hardware—while all-black styling with ominous blood-red inlays and highlights accentuate the full menace that this guitar delivers.

The Explorer Vampire Blood Moon comes with a Gibson hardshell case and is covered by Gibson's famous Limited Lifetime Warranty and 24/7/365 customer service. Sink your teeth in now at your nearest Gibson dealer.
Body and Finish
The Explorer Vampire Blood Moon follows the iconic lines of the legendary Gibson Explorer, but updates the format with a body of solid swamp ash for a balanced tone and outstanding resonance, as well as an instrument that's light enough to stay strapped on for hours. A black grain-textured Juju satin finish shows off this wood's broad grain, which is further accentuated by subtle red filler highlights.
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The Explorer Vampire Blood Moon is crafted in classic Gibson style with a glued-in neck made from solid quarter-sawn mahogany with a fast, slim profile, and topped with a North American rosewood fingerboard with 22 medium-jumbo frets and red "blood drop" inlays. It has a back-angled headstock in the six-a-side style of the original Explorer.
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Pickups and Electronics
The Explorer Vampire Blood Moon carries two GEM active open coil humbucking pickups, an entirely new design from Gibson USA. These units offer unprecedented power and fidelity, with firm lows, sweet highs, and outstanding sustain. They are routed through a traditional three-way switch, independent volume pots for each pickup, and a master tone control.
Click Here To Learn More Hardware & Electronics Hardware
The hardware set on the Explorer Vampire Blood Moon echoes the dark soul of this evil instrument. All entirely black plated, it features a Schaller™ high-performance vibrato tailpiece with fine tuners, a Schaller™ Locking Nut, and efficient Mini-Grover™ tuners. Strap buttons are Gibson's traditional aluminum type, but also in black chrome.
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