Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

Well, this was, uh, my brother's guitar. My brother took part in local community theater, and he would also perform in a band sometimes.

APPRAISER

Ah.

GUEST

And he's also a guitar collector. So he passed away about ten years ago.

APPRAISER

Ah, I'm sorry.

GUEST

And I was, uh, lucky enough to, to get this one.

APPRAISER

Well, do you, uh, know what this model is?

GUEST

Yeah, a Gibson Explorer limited edition. And, um...

APPRAISER

And this is the 1976, '76... Is when this was made.

GUEST

Oh, '76, oh, okay. He must have bought it fairly quickly...

APPRAISER

You think he bought it new?

GUEST

I thought he... Yeah, I think he bought it, must have bought it new.

APPRAISER

The original Explorers were made in 1958 and '59, and they were kind of a, a dud. They were made out of Korina wood. This is mahogany, made basically as a reproduction of the original Explorer. Now, Gibson has just done this again, and made a, a reissue of the original Explorer in Korina wood.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

Made like the old ones.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

I think a lot of people were turned off by the shape in the '50s, but then, since then, have be, become a very collectible guitar. The original ones are well over half-million, up to a million.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

Um...

GUEST

Yeah, I do like the tone on that.

APPRAISER

Yeah, these sound great. This is in pretty good shape overall. It has some normal gold wear, which is not unusual, and it's got some pitting, but... And you can't clean this with any solvents. The best way to clean these is saliva.

GUEST

Oh, okay. (chuckles)

APPRAISER

Just enough acid to break down the oxidation without damaging the plating.

GUEST

Oh, that's good to know.

APPRAISER

It's a sought-after year for the Explorer, because of '76, when they came back, was kind of the first time. So retail is probably in the $3,000 to $4,000-ish range.

GUEST

Okay, that sounds good.

APPRAISER

So... Yeah, it's, I mean, it's pretty cool, and I suspect it will go up from there.

GUEST

Well, that's good to know. (chuckles)