Feature:
This guitar is perfect for me. No Floyd Rose? Fine with me. It just gets in the way (thats why I got rid of my Schecter) and I don't play the kind of music that would benefit from whammy bar shenanagins. No string locks? Thats cool too. Learn to string the guitar correctly and you will never need string locks. No active pickups? Hey, that means no worries of a battery dying mid performance.

Quality:
For the price, I couldn't be happier. I mean, its a $400 guitar that feels and plays like a million bucks. Mine came set up perfectly out of the box and has held up to being lugged around without a case with no issues so far.

Value:
If you want an Explorer and don't want to shell out over a grand, this guitar is perfect. Its just as good as any Gibson Explorer (and better in some cases) but for less than half the price. You'd be crazy not to jump on one.

Desirability:
There's nothing more metal than flat black. Its gorgeoes. And the glossy black pickguard accents it so well, as do the knobs, bridge, and tuners. And I like the neck. I've always though dots to be tacky,so I really like the clean look of the fretboard. The XII inlay is also a nice touch. I really wish it had an ebony fretboard, but then it wouldn't be priced at only $400. This guitar with my camo strap is pure sex.

Sound:
Sound is really nothing more than personal preferance, and for me, it responds great to my Peavy Vypyr. I've also played it on a Peavy 6505 and it still kicked ass. I don't have the "too muddy" problem some folks do. All I can say to them is tweak the amp some more because mine doesn't sound muddy at all. Just good HEAVY crunch. I also play primarily in drop-C tuning, so I guess you can't complain when its that heavy.

Ease of Use:
To me, the guitar couldn't be any more comfortable. The neck's shape and size is perfect. Same with the frets, they're spaced just right for my hands. The knobs are also smooth as silk and easy to use, though I only use the tone knob (all the way up) and only use the bridge pickup, which is good because the switch is kind of awkwardly placed out of the way for manipulating while playing. Also, I've also played $1400 Gibson Explorers that felt like crap, so I suppose there is a variation from guitar to guitar. Seems like I got a ringer- put together with all the right parts.

Support:
I haven't needed it, so couldn't tell you.

Overall:
As far as I'm concerned, this guitar will remain in my arsenal until I die. I will never sell or trade it, rather I will buy it new siblings and always consider it my favorite. It will be spoiled. Its my drop-C king, as others will be tuned in drop-D and drop-B accordingly, and I primarily play in drop-C.

Feature:
I wouldn't say that the Goth Explorer has the greatest accessories but it does have some pretty good ones like for instance, it has the all black chrome gear like the groover tuning keys and the roman numerals on the 12th fret to add a certain feel to it which is kinda cool to have. I'd say that you would still need a switch pedal and either a Marshall or Crate amp to make it really perform, but that just in general. For a certain type of music you may need for gear then just a switch pedal and amp.

Quality:
Qualtiy wise I'd say it is pretty good. Like it does have good tuners and stuff like that but I'd say it still needs to get some active pickups in it for it really be amazing.

Value:
Id say the price is pretty good.

Desirability:
Depending on what kind of music you are playing this guitar can be good. Like if you are playing Metal/Hardcore it is good because of its all black finish but other than that I'd say it really wouldnt be that great.

Sound:
In my opinion i believe that the Epiphone Goth Explorer is a pretty decent guitar for guitarist who are looking at playing two different styles of music. Such as either a Metal/Hardcore feel or a Blues feel because of this guitars ability to pickup and produce suck a great sound when the guitarist is performing shredding solos or just getting in the mood and jamming with a Blues/Jazz band. This guitar sound pretty good on its own but is great when used in cooperation with other instruments a.k.a a band. The only way for this guitar to be fully appreciated is for it to be put to the test and used in a band that is playing what this guitar was made to play. Otherwise you are merely wasting your money in my personal opinion. I have never used this guitar for recording so I can't help any of you on that category but from how it performs when not being used to record i'd say that i must be pretty good for recording. When i used this guitar, it was on a Fender amp which wasnt the greatest but never the less the guitar still perform to my excpectations. In my opinion I'd say that for this guitar to get its true sound heard that it should be played on either a Crate or Marshall meaning that you need to spend a little bit more money then you thought but if you are buying a guitar like this odds are you are not afraid of spending a little money to get what you want.

Ease of Use:
With any guitar you need have some skill to get a good sound out of a guitar and the Epiphone Goth Explorer is no exception. Although, in general, I'd say it is pretty easy to do.

Support:
I've never dealt with the company so I cant coment on that.

Overall:
I'd say I'd always keep this guitar but I cant say how long it would be before I got bored of it.

Feature:
I only put down a 9 because this guitar doesn't really have any special features, just a bare-boned metal guitar!

Quality:
The quality of this guitar is excellent, for having been made in korea (mine is anyway, I think the new ones are MIC)..

Value:
I think this guitar is a GREAT value, especially if you are looking for a metal guitar on a budget. All I reccomend doing is changing out the pickups, and it sounds like a Gibson!

Desirability:
I was GASsing for this guitar for about a year before I bought it, must be one of the sexiest guitars I've ever seen.

Sound:
This is the ONLY place that this guitar lacks.. The stock pickups aren't too great, they can get pretty muddy under distortion.. I switched them out to a set of Gibson 496R/500T ceramics and this thing absolutely SCREAMS now!!

Ease of Use:
Set up perfect outta the box. I couldn't be happier.

Support:
Haven't neede to deal with Epiphone..

Overall:
Overall, just a wonderful guitar.. Everything about it is great.. It screams "METAL!!", sounds great (after pup upgrade). feels great, you name it!

Quality:
Haven't had any problems.Paint is still glossy.Tuning heads still tight.Knobs are customized,so I don't know as far as the originals.Overall,it's very well put together.

Value:
Definatley worth it.

Desirability:
If you like metal or hard rock,this guitar is for you.It's got that metal crunch,while you can also play something clean and bluesy too.

Sound:
Freakin awesome.Seriously,nice heavy tone.Sounds excellent.It's got an excellent clean tone too.Nice crisp sound.And mine is stock,didn't change the pickups.

Support:
Haven't had to deal with them.No need to.

Overall:
I'm keeping this for years.It's an excellent guitar.

Feature:
For a 400$ guitar you can't expect much more than the basic 22 frets and no whammy bar.

Quality:
Besides the fact that its unbalanced, this guitar is solid. When I bought it, it had no flaws, and after much abuse it still is like new

Value:
You CANNOT do better for only 400$ Ive played many low level guitars and simply put, they don't make genuinely good guitars for 400$

Desirability:
People love the way this guitar looks. I always get compliments.

Sound:
Has a dirty muddy sound. I don't play anything but heavy metal on this guitar because it ONLY sounds good on distortion. Horrible sustain... I mean HORRIBLE!

Ease of Use:
This guitar is unbalanced. When I stand up with it the neck sinks down. Its really hard to play live

Support:
Havnt dealt with them

Overall:
Honestly this guitar can only play heavy metal, especially with stock pickups. After researching, this guitar basically has no name generic humbuckers. The only thing really good about this guitar is that it has a nice neck(IT DOESNT HAVE AN EBONY FRETBOARD!!!) And it looks cool. Does not play well live, or sound good.

Despite the completely unjustified and quite frankly silly name that epiphone have given to the 'goth' collection, this guitar ROCKS!! I have been looking for an explorer for a while and have decided that I will but this one in a few weeks time after having tried it in a shop. It respons clean very nicely, and man when you crank up the distortion it really does sound DARK!! I will use this guitar (when I finally have it) for recording and stage use. It is well a well built, nice souding and good value guitar.

Feature:
People gripe about pickups THEY'RE FINE

Quality:
im about half gothic as it is and when im on stage wearing as many black things as posible it suites me.you could drop this thing a thousand times it still plays ok

Value:
this product is a hell of a lot better than the other explorers

Desirability:
I wanted it the first day I ever saw it

Sound:
this has a nice crunchy toon. and on distortion i have a boss mega distortion and it sounded like anthrax sound.

Ease of Use:
its really easy to get graet sound from this product, just turn the knob to 12 and start shredding.

Support:
nope

Overall:
its a death metal made guitar.the guitar gods are still watching over this one

Feature:
the knobs can be a little hard to work with but apart from that its fine.

Quality:
My kneck humbucker can be a bit of a b*****d at times and cut out and i do worry about the strap pin but i couuld use this no problem gigging i trust it with my life (if not my life then the 350 quid i invested into it) oh and its best to redo the action cause it sucked ass.

Value:
hell yeah. its the best guitar you can get for the price

Desirability:
if you are a metallica fan and a hetfeild wannabe like me then this guitar is perfect and you can get a reeeeal good "puppets" tone with it.

Sound:
The sound is f***ing perfect for metal but it aint the best for a nice clean tone. still its bowel rumblingly good when distorted.

Support:
i havnt had to take it to get anything done so it gets a 5

Overall:
the guitar is perfect with only a few probs so this guitar is like god (i mean cmon he wasnt perfect either)

Feature:
nice responsive pickups, the guitar is very light especialy compaired to other gibson/epiphone explorers. id say its about as light as my king v.

Quality:
the one issue i have with the quality is the pickup switch very rarely cuts out when going from the neck to the bridge giving it a really thin sound and practically eating all my distortion. somtimes i like it though cause then i can turn up the gain all the way on my mt2 and ill sound just like daimond head.:P

Value:
i cherrish this guitar. worth alot more then the $400 i payed for it when it just came out. it stands up to gibson explorers in every feature and beats them in a few (feel, weight and sustain) ill never let this thing go for any price. im getting buried with it. (the casket might need to be shaped funny though)

Desirability:
this is my work horse. it never fails me. sure my RR3 might have lower action and a floyd. my valley arts custom may have duncan humbuckers, and there are like 10000 orther guitars that have features this one dosent. but this thing always comes through for me. its at least 4 years old, completly stock, and it still sends a chill down my spine every time i pick it up. especially if ive negletcted to play it for a period of time. theres never any kind of sound i can think of that i cant get out of it with just twisting the knobs. there has never been a time when i have gigged that i didnt have it ready to pick me up off the ground if one of my other guitars just crapped out on me.

Sound:
When i first got the guitar i hadent been playing long enough to be able to tell, but now after 5 years or so of owner ship i can say that i got lucky as hell. far surpasses my jacksons. this is the only guitar i use to record as long as i dont intend on using a floyd. Perfectly evil dark tone matches the look of the guitar. sounds like the tone satan would get it he played guitar. but its not just heavy. the 2 tone knobs let this guitar become a very versitile instrument.

Ease of Use:
SMoooooth graphite coated neck with low action make this instrument a speed demon with plenty of sustaine coming from the body. perfectly balanced. although every guitar will require getting used too (this one being no exception). once you know how to pet this cat it will roar like a lion.

Support:
the only time i had to deal with these guys was i lost the warrenty card . they send me a new one. easy to talk to. not jerks at all.

Overall:
it is as close to perfection as you can get without going custom shop. the guitar was obviously made to have metal music played on it. just look at it, black on black with black. but it sounds right at home with any style of music. so if you need what i just described (and i dont see why anyone wouldent) but this baby. ive had it in my lap this whole time ive been writing this, just to try and be as precise about it as possible.

Feature:
It doesn't have any special features, but its awesome.

Quality:
Its built well, you could smash it and it could still play.

Value:
Its worth the price, but it should come with an amplifier.

Desirability:
Ive loved it since I first saw it.

Sound:
It sounds perfect to my taste of rock.

Ease of Use:
Its easy to use and its sound is kick-butt.

Support:
I haven't had problems.

Overall:
I'll use it for years until I'm old.