After a decade of rapid versioning and tiers of the Explorer, Gibson went back to its roots in 1990, pulling the new Explorer's design from the original 1976 re-release. This design would remain in production under various names until the mid-2010s, with the first switch happening in 2002 with the "X-Plorer" rebrand.

Years of Production: 1990 - 2012 

Body Style: Z-shaped solidbody

Wood Composition: Mahogany body, Mahogany neck, Rosewood fingerboard

Design Elements: Dual ceramic (496R and 500T) magnet humbuckers, two volume and one tone control, tune-o-matic bridge, stopbar tailpiece

Notable Players: The Edge, Billy Gibbons, James Hetfield