2002 Gibson – Eric Clapton Explorer 1958 – 1 of 25 – ID 4197

Only 25 pieces were made in the Gibson Custom Shop for the Japanese importer YAMANO, most of them are in the hands of collectors.

1 Piece Mahogany Body and Neck
Rosewood Fretboard
Burstbucker PAF Pickups
Weight: 3180 grams
From the Captain Collection

Comes with the original Hardshell Case, Certificate Of Authenticity, Japanese Hangtags, Warranty Card, Yamano Booklet and a 1975 Eric Clapton Album "There's One In Every Crowd" with a picture on the back with Eric Clapton and his '58 Explorer.

History:
Eric Clapton's 1958 Gibson Korina Explorer
Eric purchased the guitar at Alex Musical Instruments in New York in the early to mid-70s and it can be seen on photos taken during the '74-'75 tour.
The guitar was used for several tracks on the '75 album "There's one in every crowd".
An original 1975 album is included in the sale!
It also can be seen draped around Clapton in a prominent Music Man amplifier catalog of the mid '70's.
A nice laminated print of the ad is included in this sale.
One unique feature on the guitar that attracted his attention was the shortened bass bout (the upper back horn).
Clapton initially believed that this came as a result of the guitar being an original prototype, but that theory was eventually debunked and the guitar turned up to be modified by the previous owner.
This allegedly made Clapton somewhat pissed, up to the point of trying to return the guitar to the store.
Nevertheless, he used this guitar on several songs from the album "E.C. Was Here" released in 1975.
It is also the guitar he was photographed with for the Music Man ad for HD-130 Reverb amplifiers in 1976.
The photo was taken so that the sleeve on Eric's shirt directly covers up the portion of the guitar that was cut off, so this is mostly just a guess.
A laminated print of this ad is also included in the sale.