Korina Explorer LE 2016 #19 NGD

[Des]

I see a lot of mention that the best Korinas are the early Korean models. After owning a few of each and browsing many listings of both I believe that the Chinese made models from 2016 on are actually the superior versions and one of the best values around in the used market right now.

I present my new explorer as evidence. It is production #19. Clearly they had some great wood to choose from. Korina neck, 1 piece veneers on both sides. Great side grain. Dark smooth rosewood. Sounds amazing.
I paid about $500 USD.

 

[Noodling Guitars]

Wow! You found a really nice one!!! Congrats

 

[Des]

An intersting tidbit. These things are huge, it barely fits a Gibson case. The body is bigger and The headstock touches the edge of the case whereas my 76' reissue has more than an inch to Spare.

 

[Noodling Guitars]

Oh weird. The body seems to fit exactly though. So somehow whatever specs they were building it to had a different neck joint?!

 

[Des]

Oh weird. The body seems to fit exactly though. So somehow whatever specs they were building it to had a different neck joint?!

No, it doesnt fit perfectly, it fits barely. look at how tight it is all the way around. There is zero give and I had to really finesse it the first time. So the body is wider as well as longer and the headstock is much longer. I might be 2" longer overall.

 

[Des]

Heres a better comparison. Its hard to see the difference in the body but trust me its there.

 

[Noodling Guitars]

yeah, I see the difference. It's almost like they traced the shape around the outside of a Gibson to make the template without taking into account tolerances due to the tracing (probably not the case, but reminds me of how Chinese factories used to copy stuff).

 

[Des]

yeah, I see the difference. It's almost like they traced the shape around the outside of a Gibson to make the template without taking into account tolerances due to the tracing (probably not the case, but reminds me of how Chinese factories used to copy stuff).

For sure, to be fair the 58s had slighlty different shapes than the modern Explorers post 1976. Heres my 2019 Lzzy to add to the comparison. production #15284. its spot on.

 

[Noodling Guitars]

I like how the post bankruptcy stuff is pretty much made to spec. That's a beautiful explorer. Really like the white/gold combo