Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
(opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)
  • Guitars
  • Amps
  • Pedals
  • Drums
  • Synths
  • Software
  • Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Recording
  • Buyer’s guides
  • Live
  • DJ
  • Advice
  • Acoustic
  • Bass
  • About us
  • More
    • Reviews
Magazines
  • Computer Music
  • Electronic Musician
  • Future Music
  • Keyboard Magazine
  • Guitarist (opens in new tab)
  • Guitar Techniques (opens in new tab)
  • Total Guitar (opens in new tab)
  • Bass Player (opens in new tab)
More
  • 9 next-gen drum plugins
  • SampleRadar: 163 tape loops samples
  • Best free music-making software
  • Best electric guitars 2023

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Guitarist

Old gold: Mid-90s Malmberg Explorer

By Guitarist
published 17 November 2015

A Malmberg with a mystery behind it

  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
Introduction
(Image credit: Joby Sessions/Future)

Introduction

This month, the guitar we’re looking at is something of an oddball that required a fair amount of sleuthing on our part to gather all the details...

It was made by a builder called Göran Malmberg, about whom very little is known

It was made by a builder called Göran Malmberg, about whom very little is known and whose website seems more concerned with custom-built sports cars than it does the instruments that have passed through his workshop!

However, a guitar of his can be seen in the hands of no less than Eric Clapton in an early Cream video and there are speaker cabinets bearing the Malmberg marque behind Jimmy Page in a Led Zeppelin performance filmed during the late 1960s.

Page 1 of 4
Page 1 of 4
ABBA accomplice
(Image credit: Joby Sessions/Future)

ABBA accomplice

Possibly Malmberg's most celebrated instrument was used by Björn Ulvaeus during ABBA’s 1974 Eurovision success in Brighton.

Remember the guitar shaped like a star? That was made by Göran

Remember the guitar shaped like a star? That was made by Göran. But what about the angular Explorer-type guitar in our picture? It was made for a player called Flavia Canel who played in the Swedish heavy metal band called Drain STH.

Page 2 of 4
Page 2 of 4
Exploring the past
(Image credit: Joby Sessions/Future)

Exploring the past

Drain STH flourished for a while, picking up an award or two here and there, including the magazine Metal Edge’s ‘Female Performers Of The Year’ in 1999.

Sadly, they disbanded shortly afterwards and Flavia switched to playing bass, which led to this instrument’s arrival at Guitars: The Museum in Umeå, Sweden.

From what we can ascertain, the guitar was never meant to be modelled on Gibson’s famed Explorer

From what we can ascertain, the guitar was never meant to be modelled on Gibson’s famed Explorer, but instead after a Japanese guitar brand, the exact identity of which seems to have been forgotten by all concerned.

Certainly, Ibanez has had some angular body shapes in its catalogue over the years, but the same could be said for a few other Asian makers, too.

Page 3 of 4
Page 3 of 4
Mystery Malmberg
(Image credit: Joby Sessions/Future)

Mystery Malmberg

In any case, it has a carved top and allegedly weighs about the same as two Les Pauls.

The guitar’s intimate details remain shrouded in mystery

A brass bridge aids some singing sustain, but many of the guitar’s intimate details remain shrouded in mystery. Rare, because there are so few Malmbergs about - all of which adds to the puzzle.

Page 4 of 4
Page 4 of 4
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
Guitarist
Guitarist
Social Links Navigation

Guitarist is the longest established UK guitar magazine, offering gear reviews, artist interviews, techniques lessons and loads more, in print, on tablet and on smartphones
Digital: http://bit.ly/GuitaristiOS
If you love guitars, you'll love Guitarist. Find us in print, on Newsstand for iPad, iPhone and other digital readers

  1. Positive Grid Spark Go amp
    1
    Positive Grid reveals the Spark GO: a really small guitar and bass amp
  2. 2
    Best Epiphone guitars 2023: our budget spanning picks of the greatest Epiphone guitars available right now
  3. 3
    Watch Miley Cyrus’s Flowers being recreated in GarageBand for iPhone in less than 10 minutes
  4. 4
    How to sound like Depeche Mode using soft synths in your DAW
  5. 5
    Tony Banks on why he would have “screwed up” In The Air Tonight if Phil Collins had given it to Genesis
  1. Super Bowl XLI, Dolphin Stadium, Miami, Florida, 2007
    1
    5 things guitarists can learn from Prince
  2. 2
    Positive Grid reveals the Spark GO: a really small guitar and bass amp
  3. 3
    Best Epiphone guitars 2023: our budget spanning picks of the greatest Epiphone guitars available right now
  4. 4
    Watch Miley Cyrus’s Flowers being recreated in GarageBand for iPhone in less than 10 minutes
  5. 5
    How to sound like Depeche Mode using soft synths in your DAW

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab).

  • About Us (opens in new tab)
  • Terms and conditions (opens in new tab)
  • Privacy policy (opens in new tab)
  • Cookies policy (opens in new tab)
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers (opens in new tab)

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.