Gaskell XBass  2008 - 2012

Gibson Guitars introduced the Explorer bass in 1981. Since then, they have never made it in left hand, not even as an Epiphone. I have never been able to identify another major guitar brand outside of Japan, that makes a production left-handed Explorer bass. 

 

The X-BASS was my first left-handed bass guitar, introduced in 2008.

 

I used the same body shape and size of my 6-string Explorer which itself is slightly smaller and rounder than its Gibson inspiration.

 

This smaller Explorer bass body actually makes the bass easier and better to play. It does not suffer from "neck dive" as you might expect. It has my standard Gaskell "duck bill" headstock, used in just about every other Gaskell guitar. 

 

This was always a very popular model and players are in just about every country in the world. It was a no-brainer to continue it as a Custom Shop guitar after we were forced to discontinue factory production after 2011.

 

UPDATE. Since Gibson successfully sued Dean Guitars in 2022 for making Explorer guitars, despite the fact that Dean had been making them since 1977, I (and every other brand in the world) have been forced to cease making Explorer-shaped guitars. My headstock shape is not a copy of a Gibson, and even though my body shape is also not the same, I do not trust the corporate wheels of a company that "can't play with others nicely." I have never had much good to say about Gibson over the years and my opinion has not changed. After all, they discarded us lefties like trash for 50 years. Never forget that.