The Explorer made its debut in 1958 it offered a radical "futuristic" body design which was the final development of a prototype design which years later Gibson marketed under the name Futura.
The Explorer's initial run was unsuccessful, and the model was discontinued in 1959.
In 1976, Gibson began reissuing the Explorer and it was around this time I fell for the sleek design after seeing a photo of Eric Clapton playing one and watching Rick Nielson of 'Cheap Trick' playing his Hamer Explorer on "Top Of The Pops" from the "Cheap Trick at Budokan" video (his stage persona was very influential on me), I was lucky enough to have two Explorers made for me by the one and only Melvyn Hiscock and these were my stock guitars for about seven years until the arrival of 'The Edge' and various metal bands brandishing them along with Flying V's with legs in full wide apart mode proved too much for me.
(Tweets 1979: And I was worried about the legs wide apart Rock bands!)
