# Serious GAS - KEN Lawrence explorer



## trickae (Oct 6, 2010)

Has Anyone checked this baby out? Its 14,500 USD - seriously thinking of selling my car for this bad boy.


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## Prydogga (Oct 6, 2010)

I saw that the other day in one of my frequent checks of Meestur's listings. I don't really like it.


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## Joelan (Oct 6, 2010)

It looks alright, but I can't justify that pricetag on a solidbody guitar, especially when you could get something practically identical from RAN for a less outrageous (but still expensive) price.


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## MurderersMuse (Oct 6, 2010)

Very nice, and i cant stand anything other than a les paul or superstrat body...but that is bitchin!


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## thesimo (Oct 6, 2010)

No guitar is worth that much.. I mean, you are literally paying for the name. Sell car, get a ran rip-off, and spend the rest on a new rig. Sorted


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## drmosh (Oct 6, 2010)

That price is just ridiculous.

Fucking awesome guitar though


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## Xk6m6m5X (Oct 6, 2010)

id kill for that guitar...but not at that price


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## MaxOfMetal (Oct 6, 2010)

Argh! Price! Argh! Not worth it! Argh! 

Man, someone needs to keep these price pirates at bay.

Interesting enough, the first piece of neg-rep I ever got on this site was for saying a Ken Lawrence Explorer was overpriced.


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## That_One_Person (Oct 6, 2010)

Yeah... a new one is like half that.


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## caughtinamosh (Oct 6, 2010)

I don't care all that much for the guitar, but I love wenge.


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## Rich5150 (Oct 6, 2010)

You can get 2 new ones and have some $ left over for what he is asking for that


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## MaxOfMetal (Oct 6, 2010)

You folks know what the term "Or Best Offer" means right?


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## Hemi-Powered Drone (Oct 6, 2010)

MaxOfMetal said:


> You folks know what the term "Or Best Offer" means right?



Clearly they fit in to the demographic the seller is trying to get to, people who do not read the entire page. It doesn't work, though, as these people clearly don't have the money.

It does look pretty sweet, though.


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## MaxOfMetal (Oct 6, 2010)

He probably put the BIN really high to keep out the "riff raff".


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## Prydogga (Oct 7, 2010)

'Or best offer' or not, it may have Wenge, but I still wouldn't be willing to pay more than $2000 or so for a used Explorer, Ken Lawrence or not, it still has a TOM, pickup rings and EMGs, not what I'd want for the price. Still, it looks pretty cool.


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## misingonestring (Oct 7, 2010)

That shit ain't mass produced, that's why the price is that high.

Then again I don't know much of anything.


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## Andromalia (Oct 7, 2010)

A new one is along the 7KUSD price tag. The guy is not dead. I suppose his waiting queue is rather impressive though.

That said I'm not a fan of this one, inlay is too much and that wood color isn't my favorite. I dig the Hetfield ones much more. There's a guy on the dean forums who has a black quilted one which is absolutely gorgeous too.


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## Prydogga (Oct 7, 2010)

Still, there are hundreds of small shop Luthiers that could probably build an explorer with this level of quality for about 10k less.


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## Mindcrime1204 (Oct 7, 2010)

trickae said:


> Has Anyone checked this baby out? Its 14,500 USD - seriously thinking of selling my car for this bad boy.


 
Has gear in Australia really gotten to the price point where you must give up your means of transportation


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## Prydogga (Oct 7, 2010)

It's driving me ever closer to that point.


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## The Echthros (Oct 7, 2010)

Meh. You're paying for the Lawrence name and the fact that Hetfield plays one now and again. You could get something from a quality luthier that is on par or kicks the shit out of that thing. On top of that, if I want an explorer I'm going Gibson. Maybe not the bullshit guitars they are puting out now, maybe an E2 though. And if not a Gibson give one of the Gibson off shoots like Heritage and First Act a ring.


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## MaxOfMetal (Oct 7, 2010)

misingonestring said:


> That shit ain't mass produced, that's why the price is that high.
> 
> Then again I don't know much of anything.







Prydogga said:


> Still, there are hundreds of small shop Luthiers that could probably build an explorer with this level of quality for about 10k less.



So which custom shop guitars have you played that compare to the quality of the Ken Lawrence? Also, if you go by what the pricing is on these (the real pricing that direct customers pay) $10,000 less will involve giving you $3000 -$5000 to make you a guitar. 

Read the posts, these only go for roughly $5000 new on average, though I have seen a couple KL's for closer to $8000. That $5000 is the starting price for Conklins, half the price for most Alembics, about $1k more than a Blackmachine, and $1500 more than a Hufschmid. 

These are boutique, custom shop guitars built to the highest order.



il_echthros_777 said:


> Meh. You're paying for the Lawrence name and the fact that Hetfield plays one now and again. You could get something from a quality luthier that is on par or kicks the shit out of that thing. On top of that, if I want an explorer I'm going Gibson. Maybe not the bullshit guitars they are puting out now, maybe an E2 though. And if not a Gibson give one of the Gibson off shoots like Heritage and First Act a ring.



You always pay for the name. Find me a hand built, custom shop guitar where the name doesn't factor in. There might be a couple of "cheap" luthiers out there, but on average, CS guitars go for $4000+. 

If you want a killer Explorer, get a Hamer Standard.


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## noob_pwn (Oct 7, 2010)

MaxOfMetal said:


> If you want a killer Explorer, get a Hamer Standard.



QFT!

also,
i would not dispute the value of a KL guitar. Although it is a disgusting amount of money to pay for a guitar, especially when you consider it is just made of wire and wood, the amount of precision hand labour that goes into one of these artworks (yes i consider KL's to be works of art) is obscene. Just like BRJ although he grossly undercharges his customers IMO. Mass produced guitars are cheaper because they are built by CNC's on production lines, customs, especially higher order ones like KL's are a totally different kettle of fish. You would be challenged to find a higher quality instrument, and although many don't see the point in shelling out that much for a guitar there is obviously a market for them.


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## Prydogga (Oct 8, 2010)

MaxOfMetal said:


> So which custom shop guitars have you played that compare to the quality of the Ken Lawrence? Also, if you go by what the pricing is on these (the real pricing that direct customers pay) $10,000 less will involve giving you $3000 -$5000 to make you a guitar.



Haha, you caught me on that one, I shouldn't post late at night 

I'm just presuming, my guess is, I doubt I'd be willing to pay for the difference in quality between a KxK/BRJ and one of these. That is, at 8000 each.


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## Vinchester (Oct 8, 2010)

I think you'd be better off with other custom shop guitar built to your spec :S

OR you can wait a while and your GAS will naturally change the target (some other guitar that is) ;D


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## Splees (Oct 10, 2010)

AH THE WIZARD!


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## Koshchei (Oct 11, 2010)

The only way it'd be worth that kind of money is if it had a Three Wolf Moon inlay on it.


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## Guitarholic (Oct 13, 2010)

RAN Guitars made a few Ken Lawrence copies:
Ran Guitars Custom Made

There are two in Gallery Part 1, a spalted maple one in Gallery Part 4, two in Gallery Part 8 and one in Gallery Part 9.

A Ran custom is around $2000-3000, depending on your specs.


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## cryogen (Oct 13, 2010)

Guitarholic said:


> RAN Guitars made a few Ken Lawrence copies:
> Ran Guitars Custom Made
> 
> There are two in Gallery Part 1, a spalted maple one in Gallery Part 4, two in Gallery Part 8 and one in Gallery Part 9.
> ...



The spalted maple one is sexy as hell.


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## Guitarholic (Oct 14, 2010)

cryogen said:


> The spalted maple one is sexy as hell.




Yeah it looks awesome. I sent an email to Dariusz to see how much it was.

Edit: Just got a reply - 2240 euros


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