Sounds great, the neck is wonderful (after sanding the glossy finish off) and the bigger frets are nice. Much easier to play than e.g. a les paul in my opinion. It would however be nice to have some more sculpted features where the arm rests. It's also quite heavy, and very difficult to play standing up (possibly the strap pin location). Build quality was fine, but the volume knob was quite stiff and started scratching after 2 years (electronics "spray" solved it completely). It has increased a lot in price since I bought it, so it is probably not the best of deals but still a good guitar if you really want an explorer