Arjen Lucassen, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist for Dutch band Guilt Machine, is fond of his Gibson Explorers, in part because he is a giant and in part because he needs two similar guitars for live shows when a string comes off or some other calamity occurs. But there are other reasons for the choice as well.

Tell me about your main explorer; what year is it, and when did you get it?

I have no idea how old it is! But it must be old because I got it when I was about 20 and I'm 50 now, heh-heh. One I bought from the guitar player of my first band Bodine (he "saw the light" and the guitar couldn't forgive him his sins; I'm not making it up!) and the other I bought new in a shop. No endorsements -- back then, I was a nobody :-).

Have you modified it at all? If so how and why?

I changed the bridge pick-ups on both. One has Bill Lawrences and the other has Seymour Duncans. I seem to remember that the original PAF pick-ups gave too much feedback. I wanted cleaner pick-ups and get the distortion from my amps. I also put a Shift 2000 tremolo system on both. The best ever. Unfortunately they stopped making them, I guess they were too expensive or something. Luckily I bought all the remaining Shift 2000 tremolo systems I could find, so I have enough spares!

Why do you like the Explorer? What particularly about the guitar lends itself to your music?

I am a tall bastard -- about 6' 8" -- so I need a BIG guitar! Seriousl though, it was all about the look of the Explorer. It looks very spacey and I'm a sci-fi freak. I love the look of a Stratocaster too. . . but it looks like a toy guitar on this giant here!

Is there anything you do not like, or would change (beyond any mods mentioned above) on the explorers?

No, because then I would have changed it already. Well, lately I'm playing 7 string guitars exclusively, so I wouldn't mind having an Explorer with an extra low B string!

Is there a particular style of music or genre the explorer is best suited to, in your opinion?

Of course, it's a metal guitar Pur Sang! It's a show-off guitar. You wouldn't play reggae music with an Explorer. If you did, I'd shoot you.

What amp do you generally use with the Explorer? Is it suited to a particular amp / type of amp?

In the past it was always Marshall because that was the best (and the only?) rock amp there was. Later on it was ADA, then Recitifier. I've also been using the Line 6 POD a lot. I also like the attack of the Sansamp PSA. Last week I tried out the Bogner Ubershall, which is great amp as well.

Guilt Machine's First CD, On This Perfect Day was released earlier in the year. In addition to Guilt Machine Lucassen hopes to get to work soon on a record for his other, sci-fi / metal project Star One.