No One Can Build Explorer or Flying V Guitars Anymore

The reason I started Gaskell Guitars nearly 20 years ago was Gibson did not make left handed Explorer guitars.

I created my own version of it, and it became the flagship model of Gaskell Guitars for years. Eventually. 10 years later, Gibson started making lefties, and that problem of no lefties became a thing of the past (although options for lefties were and are still severely limited.)

When I started a lot of guitar brands did not make left handed guitars. We were forgotten. Sometimes they threw us a bone. Plenty of lefties lost their self respect and went along with the Stockholm Syndrome that was prevalent at that time. But some didn't. Those are Gaskell players.

Most guitar brands now make left handed guitars. Some even make a lot. It has been this way for quite some time. The situation today is nothing like what it was back then. In a way, I have become obsolete and my original arguments are redundant now.

And now we have this: I can no longer build Explorer-style guitars even in Custom Shop. I was holding off from making this statement, but as of March 2025, there is no question of a doubt. No one but Gibson can legally make Explorer guitars. This applies to every guitar brand and guitar builder in the world.

This is how it happened: In May 2019 Gibson's new management filed a multimillion-dollar trademark‐infringement and counterfeiting lawsuit against Armadillo Enterprises (Dean Guitars) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, accusing Dean of copying the Explorer, Flying V, SG, and ES body shapes plus the “Dove Wing” headstock design.

• May 27, 2022: After three years of litigation, a Texas federal jury finds Dean Guitars liable for infringing Gibson’s body-shape trademarks—including the Explorer—and awards Gibson $4,000 in damages, rejecting Dean’s argument that the shapes had become generic.

  
  

• July 2023: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit grants Dean a retrial, vacating the 2022 verdict on grounds that key evidence had been improperly excluded at trial.

  
  

• July 11, 2024: The Fifth Circuit formally reverses the district court’s decision and remands the case for retrial, setting the stage for new proceedings with revised evidentiary rules.

  
  

• In March 2025, a Texas federal jury handed down its verdict in the retrial of Gibson’s trademark dispute with Dean Guitars’ parent company, Armadillo Enterprises. The case had been sent back for a new trial by the Fifth Circuit in mid-2024, and the proceedings wrapped up on March 21, 2025.

As a result of the 2025 retrial, Dean must continue to cease production and marketing of its V-, Z-, and SG-style guitars in the U.S. However, the verdict is not a clear victory for Gibson. The panel determined that Gibson “delayed in asserting” its shape trademarks—knowing of Dean’s use since the late 1970s—and that this delay caused “undue prejudice” to Armadillo. As a result, damages were set at a nominal $1. The jury additionally ruled that Gibson’s trademark for the ES-335 body shape is generic and should be canceled, effectively stripping Gibson of exclusive rights to that outline.

So there we have it. No one can make Explorer, V or SG guitars, not even custom builders. But we can make 335s.... and Firebirds and Les Pauls? Or will they come after us on those too?