NGD Gibson Explorer - My first American guitar

[Señor Voorhees]

I have 2 explorers, and can understand the 'dead wood' issue. I resolved it on both of mine by swapping pickups (well, quite a few sets of pickups), and now they're both sublime.

I gave up after trying four different sets of pickups, swapped the original set back in and sold it. Even acoustically it sounded dull and lifeless. I still want one, and I will definitely buy one at some point, I just ain't doing it without trying it first.