Gibson Challenger I Guitar ( 1983 - 1985 )
In 1983 Gibson Introduced a Les paul Style Shaped solid body guitar and named it the gibson challenger , the guitar was single cutaway , had one
humbucker pickup , bolt on maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and dot markers . The Gibson challenger was dicontinued in 1985 .
Gibson Challenger II ( 1983-1985 )
At the exact same time gibson also made the gibson challenger II electric guitar , It still had a lespaul shaped solid body , rosewood fingerboard ( dot markers ) but two Humbuckers . Came in various finishes .
The gibson challenger guitars are very much like the marauders ( bolt on neck ) which were introduced three years earlier .
The challengers never established ground on the market , the pickups were known to be a little noisy , the guitar was solid but had a sluggish sound , and the look just didnt cut it during the early 80s .
However, today these guitars are selling for cheap , seen some gibson challengers guitars for sale at $300 to $400 , in this price range its definitly worth it . Better than most modern guitars in this price range .
Vintage Price Value For 2008 :
1983 - 1985 > $425 to $525 ( Challenger I )
1983 - 1985 > $475 to $575 ( Challenger II )
Avg Upward Trend Of 4% a Year since 2000Buying Advice For Used & Vintage Gibson Challenger Guitars
1. If you want to buy a Gibson challenger guitar, you can find used & vintage Gibson challenger guitars for sale on Ebay .
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i had 2 gibson challengers in my life and i couldn't stand them , they are great guitars for students but nothing more .
in my opinion the original pick ups that were on my challengers were awful ... i had to replace them with EMGs too .
With a little modifications here and there i ended up loving them ...
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totimoshi
this is the one and only guitar I use. I bought a Challenger II to go along with my original '83 Challenger. This guitar sings with the right amp. High gain brings noise and bumps so much that with the right fingers it makes rock and roll perfection. I'd say buy a noise gate with these guitars and let it ride and inersperse noise heaven. Tony/Totimoshi
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I bought my Challenger II new in 84' and played it until it needed a fret job. Until then it always held it's tune and looking back in retro-spect it was a great guitar, and I wish I still had it. I gave it away (free) to a friend of mind who started to luther guitars. Esp gold /silver and a nice re-build. Sounded great,however not as unique as when new..
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I bought my Gibson Challenger new back in '83 and it is a great guitar. It has a "second" on the back headstock. I was told that because of a small imperfection on the body due to an errored screw hole. The guitar has a flat body, no frills, but nice chrome hardware guitar. The color is what I call gray w/ black pick guard, 2 hummbucking pick ups, 3 knobs, 3-way switch and jack all on the front and easy to get to, rosewood fret board w/dot inlays on a maple neck. I love the light weight of this guitar and the action is absolutely perfect. I had to have the jack repaired once because of a slight humming noise. This is my favorite guitar. I also have a '90 LP Standard. The Challenger is a bit bassy in comparison to me, probably due to the covers over the pick ups, but with the right amp set up and tone controls it is fine. I was surprised to learn Gibson made Challenger's with single hummbuckers as well as the Challenger II's with 2 and even 3 pick ups and in production only from '82 to '85.
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owlofok
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Jeff
I have a laguna seca blue Challenger I, my cousin sold it to me for $100 CDN. I tossed it on to my couch and cracked the body, not the neck, the body. The neck joint looks like a les paul neck that hasnt been notched out for a tenon yet, very deep, and the body is no thicker than an sg without the bevels so this produces a very light but brittle neck pocket. Mahogany is not near as strong as maple. So im keeping the body and electronics in a case and then im making a new (thicker) bookmatched body with very minimal routings. This way i still have all the original parts but thanks to the bolt neck i can transfer the nek to another body.
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shester92
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Guitar Hunter
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I have a Challenger 2, I took out the bridge pickup and put in one with a splitter, also moved the input jack to the side so I could ad another tone pot to set up more like a les-paul. love the neck on this guitar. I kept all parts ro return to original but probably will keep as is don't plan on selling it
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I bought my Gray/silver Challenger II the minute it became available! I couldn't afford a Les Paul at that time. I still use it today, but mainly use my Charvel Model 3 (1991) because of the floyd rose bar. As far as the feel of the neck and body, the only other guitar that has felt as smooth is a 1954 Les Paul.
I have a Challenger II and is a great guitar. My main guitar is an Sg special, which is more like an AK assault weapon than a guitar; too much violent and hard rocker. That's why I tried to find somethig to complement the Sg, but in the Gibson boundaries -I just love that tone-. The Challenger is sweet and less agressive. The maple neck -not usual in Gibson- makes it more brilliant. The pick ups are great and not noisy at all. It's a pretty unique instrument.
A. Allard.