# Explorer Build - My sad attempt to pretend I know what I am doing.



## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

So, as some of you may know, I bought a junky LP copy a while back that I was planning on refinishing. That plan has made it to the graveyard but what arose is this new idea of mine.
I am going to attempt to build an explorer style body with a bolt on neck because that is what I have and that is where my skill level sits right now. I figure if I can get this under my belt, then it might be time to sort out how to build a neck. Neckts time 

So anyhow, this is where we are at. This morning I drew up a template. That went well enough. Inkscape and a laser CNC and voila, I have a working router template.









So that part was easy. Then I went hunting around the house for other projects I have abandoned to see what is in my stock pile of "wood to use some day" I found this










While it is obviously not a matched piece, I rather like the lines on it. I am drying it out now to see if I can get the moisture content down to about 8.5% seeing as that is the EMC of wood in my house with our humidity and temperature at this time of year. While I wait for that, I will be out hunting for the back piece. African Mahogany is what I am after and I will be doing that in one piece. It will require around 2.25 board feet at an inch, so that opens a lot of doors for pricing. I will also be out on the hunt for a different top piece because I am not sold on this one, but it is leading the pack seeing as it is here and already joined. I would rather a single piece however.

Here is a shot of the layover. Somehow my children do not have chalk, so one has to use their imagination










That is where things are at right now. Oh and well, there is this wonderful bit of kit I picked up from @bentwire17 










Them beauties are 2 81's and a 60 and I think all three are going in because, why not!!

Either way, it should be a ton of fun and maybe if I am lucky I will have something I can play on the other side of it all.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

So I found my back piece. Or should I say I made it. 
Lumber yard had some Sapele that I thought I would give a whirl to. They might not be book matched but they are very close to a match (i am fairly sure the exact match is out on my table saw bed because I had to true them up), so that is a win. Now I kind of want to make this the top. There are too many choices.









Either way, I am off to work over night tomorrow so it will be Wednesday before I can get the template routed out and that is ok, that joint will be good and strong by then.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Just so we all know what I already know..... I have not abandoned this dream but work has taken me in a slightly different direction this week than I had planned so I find myself working some very long days and not getting home in any kind of headspace to start playing with a 1/3HP router 
I am hopeful that tomorrow is the day.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Alright, I got the outline of the top routed. This might not sound like as much of a feat to someone who has a wood working shop, or garage, or car port... or a space anywhere that is not their deck, uncovered. I turned my old covered porch into my office so I am a little space depleted these days.

Got the rough out done, that went well









So I thought, if I can do that, I can do anything. Outside I went to router the thing and put my head between my knees and kiss me arse because all I have is my hand held 2HP plunge router... here goes nothing.










Turned out really well considering that I clamped it to my glass patio table and went for broke. You might notice the elongated neck, this is to accommodate the fact that I will be using a bolt on. I figure I am going to do it Strat style and align it with the outside on what would be the right hand side in the picture and then bevel/round-over/taper the rest of the top here into the neck. I don't need a lot of top access above the 15/16th fret, so that should not be a problem.

Then I thought, what the hell, lets play pretend. Obviously the dimensions are not quite right and I had to lay it up with a 10 month old attacking me, but this is the "more or less" what the idea is. I think in the end I am going to have to source a black saddle and bridge, black/clear pots. The quarters represent the pots.










Yup, that is about it. I sanded the top down which was finished with Tung oil and it probably will be Tung oil again and then some nitro, I do not want to lose that gorgeous wood.

Now I am debating getting another piece of walnut for the back or still using the sapele... haven't made my mind up. 

Have to order some collets for my laminate router to do the cavity work as I have a tendency of breaking them. I do not trust the plunge router for the finer details, but I love me my hand held.

I have had a lot of fun just getting it to here and soon the real work begins. Thanks for following along. 
Also, while we are on it, let's not judge my 5 year old girls messy ass room. She is a Tornado inside of a hurricane, kinda takes after her dad.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

So today I finally had some time. Armed with my hand router, some mdf, a few chunks of hardwood for depth and a bottom flush bearingless bit... I thought, hell with it, use what you got. 

So I mashed up a few templates seeing as I had to use the shaft as a bearing, getting the offset from the shaft to the cut width was a pain in the ass but I persevered.

The end result is a strong 83% which is well over the standard of good enough for my first guitar built out of an old coffee table. Next I will do the pickup cavities, bridge and tail piece and pots. That shouldn't cause too much stress I don't think.

Quick Question, does anyone know if it is important to ground the tailpiece of should it just be the bridge seeing as that should be the only path between the anything electronic and the pickups?

Anyhow, here are some poorly shot pictures of how well (ish) it turned out.










You can see where I jumped the router, but a little saw dust and glue will take care of that in a jiffy when the time comes. 










Right side fits pretty good. I have to take about 0.5mm off the bottom left of the pocket, but that is ok, that is easy enough.










Left side is minty. That gap at the bottom will be resolved when I sand that bit off. I was gonna cheat it for the picture, but why lie to you all 

I did not think I would still be at this but I have been working a lot of weekends lately and am feeling generally unmotivated. Then there is the fact that the only therapy I have is PLAYING guitar, I don't need to get frustrated at building this one.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

a nice hard wax over the tung oil would look amazing and still protect it nicely. Just buff once a year or so


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## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

Brunz said:


> So today I finally had some time. Armed with my hand router, some mdf, a few chunks of hardwood for depth and a bottom flush bearingless bit... I thought, hell with it, use what you got.
> 
> So I mashed up a few templates seeing as I had to use the shaft as a bearing, getting the offset from the shaft to the cut width was a pain in the ass but I persevered.
> 
> ...


Looking good!
It doesn’t matter if you ground the bridge or tailpiece.
Either or is fine.

Nathan


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

knight_yyz said:


> a nice hard wax over the tung oil would look amazing and still protect it nicely. Just buff once a year or so


This is the direction I am headed. I sanded it down to level it off a bit, then got all kinds of sad about how it was looking so i threw some more oil on it because I couldn't handle it.

I haven't definitively decided on open oiled, wax or a couple of coats of poly. No matter what I do it is getting oiled as a base. With wood, I usually just let it tell me what I am doing.

I really need to get a wood shop set up. Half my tools aren't at my house, half of them aren't worth getting out and all of them are how many I need.

I would also like to point out, I know it is backwards, I thought i was being original.... then I looked at the internet and the internet beat me to it


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Just make sure you let the tung oil dry out before you put something on top of it. Or the oil will bleed through. 2 weeks minimum depending on humidity


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

knight_yyz said:


> Just make sure you let the tung oil dry out before you put something on top of it. Or the oil will bleed through. 2 weeks minimum depending on humidity


LOL
This is a lesson I learned the hard way


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Well I learned a valuable lesson tonight...
When you are trying to pressure fit the doohickeys for the bridge to bolt into, don't use too much pressure...









Oh well, where one dream dies, another begins.










It really is ok, I was kind of more in love with this sapele anyhow and now that I do not have a choice, I will just go and get some more. 

I also think I want to make the body a bit bigger, a bit harsher on the lines and probably run it back the normal way. I think the universe was telling me not to be different.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

Glue the other back together and sell it as a charcuterie board. Somebody will buy it because it's not called a cutting board. "Custom" charcuterie board.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

very unfortunate how that explorer body split on you. It will glue back together if you are not finished with it. 

We learn way more from our failures then we do from our successes.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

I was going to glue it back together, the split obviously matches very well  but you know, I wasn't entirely in love with it. My original router of the body was a little wonky because my template was not beefy enough, I did not entirely like the walnut over the sepele and I bungled those 2 spots on the neck because I tried to route it all out in one shot. That is enough for me to give up and just make another go. 

I haven't done a lot of fabricating of things that are not just out of my brain, so this whole process is new to me. I am ok with mistakes, it is rather the joy of the hobby of wood craft to decipher what you made errors on and improve. I tried to fit the grommets because I was impatient and wanted to see some progress. I did not have the right drill bit and I knew it, then I went and installed it on a wee angle because I was too lazy to go get my drill press, these are errors I knew I was making and chose to anyway, that won't happen again. If all I wanted was an explorer body style, I would just buy one lol. I figure I will make enough mistakes this first time around that even the finished product won't last in my life all that long but I have never attempted to go from blocks of wood to a usable instrument so what do ya do. Learn, try again and throw some tools across the lawn to take out your frustrations


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Well the weekend got me back to where i started.... whoopee!

I think I actually like the sepele better. This might end up being the back as I wasn't paying a lot of attention when laying it up and i am still undecided about that dark chunk on the top.... it might bother me or I might decide to fall in love with it. Either way, we have body blank 2.0. I am headed off to get a proper router but after work so I can get that neck pocket put back in and route out the pups.

Heavily debating tight fitting the pups without rings and adding access from the back. I like that clean no ring look and figure if I bungle it, rings can save me 










I harshed the lines a little from the first go around but it is basically the same. Better luck this time.... not that luck has anything to do with it I just need to not get impatient.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

Is it just me, or do you take a pic at a new spot each time? On the couch, your kids crafts table, the kitchen counter, the laundry room... Is this deliberate, or literally you work where ever the mood strikes you, and can find a spot?


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

SWLABR said:


> Is it just me, or do you take a pic at a new spot each time? On the couch, your kids crafts table, the kitchen counter, the laundry room... Is this deliberate, or literally you work where ever the mood strikes you, and can find a spot?


It's the second one. There are 5 of us living in 900 sqft with a dog. You fight for what space you can get and run with it.

Good perception though, its true.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

As you might all already know, the weekend is upon us once more and we all know what that means. More Progress!!!!

Got home from work today and after laying up the pieces for the back section last night I came home and routed that out. It went rather well. Unfortunately I did not purchase quite enough wood to center the light section, but what the hell this isn't exactly selling for millions... or anything, I am just learning. 










I haven't sanded anything and it is pretty raw, but I like it.

Then for anyone who remembers how not great neck pocket 1.0 turned out, we have version 2.0. A marked improvement.



















Still needs a touch of sanding to seat that bottom bit perfect and snug, but it is a far cry from how terrible the first go around was. 

Then I sanded the purple headstock on the neck I bought and discovered this beauty










I think black tuners will look just about right on that thing there. 

So this weekend I want to get the pickup pockets routed out, probably the electronics cavity, all the routing for the electrical and that will be about it. 

If I get really ambitious I might start carving the top up, but I think that I will wait until it is all together for that as I want to have a feel for the finished thing and not just attack it from the top. Best to be patient as I learned the hard way. 

I know that it is going to need a refret, but I want to at least get to play it first and I think what I am going to attempt to do in the whole vein of learning and what have you is to remove the existing fretboard and replace it. That is the long term plan, short term I just want to hear those damn EMG's. I so very much regret destroying the guitar that this is inspired from because I could have at least been playing that 

The body weights in at 6.7 pounds on the old bathroom scale, without the neck and hardware and I would really like to keep it around 8.5 so I am going to have to do some solid carve, which is fine by me, I want to really contour that top.


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## Mikev7305 (Jan 6, 2020)

Your build pictures look like mine, almost always a kid's toy hanging around


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

There is not a place in this house that isn't

a: A mess
b: Overrun with children
c: Overrun with children's stuff
d: Horizontal and not covered in laundry. 

I fight for those inches. Nice to know I am not alone.


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## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

That same ninja sword is hanging out on my workbench too!

Nathan


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

So the joy of having a Laser, I can craft infinity runs of templates with ease. This took about 4 minutes and a set of calipers. 










Now I just need the wife to wake up and we are golden. 
After my first attempt at doing the neck pocket, I realized how dumb I was to not include center lines on EVERYTHING. Silly man, why make life hard.

I have only allowed about 0.5 mm for clearance so they are nice and tight in the pocket. I wanted to go and do them without rings but then I realized that might not be the best idea, I don't need to reinvent the wheel here and I did not really want a giant gawdy back plate. Next time perhaps.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Center lines are very important. 😋


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## 1SweetRide (Oct 25, 2016)

Brunz said:


> It's the second one. There are 5 of us living in 900 sqft with a dog. You fight for what space you can get and run with it.
> 
> Good perception though, its true.


Five? In 900 sq/ft? That’s like 180 sq/ft each. I feel guilty that there’s two of us in our much larger space.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

When I bought the place, there were 3 of us and an old 600sqft out building. Now there are 5 of us and I tore that thing down and have yet to rebuild as it was not nice and 1/2 of it was on an easement that I was not comfortable with.

Much as I would like to get a bigger house, being mortgage free has left me in a mental state that I am not prepared to take on more debt. Presently I am squirreling away 300K to tear this down, take a year off and build a new place, but I have an explorer to build first.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Brunz said:


> When I bought the place, there were 3 of us and an old 600sqft out building. Now there are 5 of us and I tore that thing down and have yet to rebuild as it was not nice and 1/2 of it was on an easement that I was not comfortable with.
> 
> Much as I would like to get a bigger house, being mortgage free has left me in a mental state that I am not prepared to take on more debt. Presently I am squirreling away 300K to tear this down, take a year off and build a new place, but I have an explorer to build first.


Doctor Who fan? If only you could figure out how the Tardis does it?


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

I cannot say I am a Dr. Who fan Paul, however I am familiar, loosely familiar I should add.

Any reference would be lost on me  Ok, not any.... I do know the Tardis is the phone booth time machine thingy, but that is about where my familiarity ends.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

The Tardis is very large inside:


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Paul Running said:


> The Tardis is very large inside:
> View attachment 407383


You know, it might be kind of like that but no matter how hard I try I cannot find the controls for it.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Time to lay it up lads and lassies. 

Got the Pups routed, the top half of the control cavity, the routing, sanded it flat... it is go time. I do not have the hardware with me right now, so the battery box placement was a guess and as for the jack placement, I am still up in the air for where that is going but it will be close enough to the cavity that I can find it easy enough. 

Going 18V box on this one because I figured it is easy enough to only have 1 battery and rewire slightly then regret not having it and wanting to try it out some day. 

I was going 2 tone and 2 volume pots, but then I realized that I don't need to. Backed it off to 1 and 1, I can see playing this thing a lot in the bridge position but I can always add more if I decided somehow it was a mistake. 

Off to lay it up now. Then the sanding and carving can begin!!!










The top pup was a little wonky, but the covers will hide all that. Got it under control on the bridge position. 










Like I said, battery box goes... somewhere? I will sort that out later, but I have options with that routing there. 

All I could get for 25K pots off Nextgen were short shaft, so that cavity is down to just over 3mm so I kept it nice and narrow but there is ample room for a 25mm pot and some wire 

I am very pleased with how things are going and if the layup and finalizing the control cavity and what have you continue on this path, but the end of next week I should have a usable instrument. I won't say good, maybe not even playable, but I will be able to use it lol

This is a lot of bloody work!!


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

And then you realize you do not have quite as many clamps as you thought you did and need to move onto plan B

..... plan B is not ideal, but it is a 3 ton jack under my generator shed with the body sandwiched between 2 shelves. Not ideal... I have a plan B for the failure that will result from Plan B.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

What are you laminating??


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

SWLABR said:


> What are you laminating??


Top and bottom halves.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

Brunz said:


> Top and bottom halves.


How thick will that make it? Seems standard thickness already. Or is that the magic of the camera?


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Camera 
it's 2" full thick and im gonna carve the balls out of the top, or I should say taper.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Ah ha...now we know your secret for compressing mojo into the guitar...a 3-ton trolley jack


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

HOLY HELL!!!
It is so pretty!

Ok, self gratification time is over, but I love it and that is what really matters here the most. I abandoned the carveout top because I got concerned that my limited tool kit/ability/patience might not allow me to do what I had in my head and I was afraid of what I might be left with, plus at a later date, if I go crazy and just cannot help it I can always alter the body. You cannot put back that which you have taken away however. 

Got all the shape sanding/routing done. Decided just on a round over front and back and I am glad I did. It looks kinda like this











and a little like this....










And I look a little like this.....










Clearly, I lack Paul's photo editing skills.....

And the weight, with full body and the neck sitting on top is...









7 Lbs 5.7 Ounces. That isn't bad. I figure even with another pound for pups, pots, tuners and other hardware and we are still in around 8 lbs. 

To answer another question, the body ended up at 47.11mm which is 1.87" according to google. My Strat measures 45.13mm so I am gonna say that is good enough for me 

I am jacked to get that hardware now and get this thing going. I am beginning to contemplate a high gloss white paint though.... so I need to hurry!


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Well all my stuff showed up today, so that was a nice plus. I didn't expect to see it until tomorrow.

Thanks to Next Gen for an order out the door under 24 hours after it was placed.










That is a whole lot of happy siting on the counter that is.

Then I decided to get the Saddle and Stop installed. That went a lot better this time, the guitar is still in once piece. Threw the pick ups in for "sexy effect"










They are all kinds of wonky because they are just loose and so are the covers, but still.... effect 

Then I got the ground wire attached to the end stop. For the record this is something you want to plan a LOT better than I did. Drilling over at an impossible angle into the hole and then praying you can fish that wire back up, well let me tell you I will not be doing that again. I got it, but it was a lot of no fun.










On the plus side, I managed to get the battery box perfectly lined up with the channel I had routed out in hopes that I could find it again someday for just this purpose. 

This is where the fun stopped. I put the tuners on the neck and started to string it up. I figured there was no point wiring a guitar that was unplayable and I wanted to see how things sat. Well, they did not sit well at all. I misplaced the saddles, little too far to the high E side. So that wasn't a big deal, those posts are tiny and moving them was easy. Then the problem started.... having had to move the saddles, the stop needed to move too because now it was misaligned. Problem with this is that the stop has massive ferrules and removing those is going to suck and leave giant holes in the body. I have lots of room to move them back, that isn't the problem but man I am sad. 

This is the part where experience would have told you to string the thing and check the path before you just decided to think "this" was where it goes. I am completely OK with the failure, as I have said before on this very forum, I learn best from mistakes. Well lucky me, I made another one. Maybe by the end of tomorrow I will have this all sorted and can try it out. Who knows, someday I might even have a guitar


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)




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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

You know Paul, I have to say, for a topic that has more readily available information than conspiracy surrounding the moon landing I looked at NONE OF IT. I dove in feet first and figured I would just go and make mistakes all on my own. So far, there are a few. That post grounding was one, the neck plate is horrendous in relation to the heel. I knew better, I even said to myself "self, do not round this over.... you don't want to do that" and then router in hand, away I went. The neck pocket is not quite tight enough, and I thinks I can sneak it back about 8mm and make up for that, but we shall see. About the only thing I am happy with is the body, but that comes as no surprise, I have the woodworking ability, it is this whole "guitar working" thing that I don't know a lick about. Better luck next time. I am going to finish this thing and then more than likely instantly turn around and start all over again. No harm in trying, wood is not prohibitively expensive yet and there is much more to learn and refine. That being said, I can see why folks just buy body blanks


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.............I can turn any piece of wood into a toothpick in very little time. THIS, is why I'll always by bodies that are ready for finishing, or hardware. I have no skills with wod.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

You cannot learn if you don't try my friend. I mean, there is a lot of investment in learning, and if it has no value to you the bother of it all would not be worth it. It would take a lot of blanks to equal what I have in tools and time and frankly I will never get that value back, but I will someday have a guitar I can play  
Maybe....


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Years ago, I used to be pretty hard on myself when I made mistakes. I later realised that if I wasn't making mistakes, I was not learning much. It took a while to accept that fact. As long as you are not endangering your or anybody else's life, it's all good with me, now.


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## 1SweetRide (Oct 25, 2016)

Whoa, interesting build diary. Does not inspire me in the least to go this route though. I would buy a complete kit instead. I'd have lost my marbles long before you did.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

1SweetRide said:


> Whoa, interesting build diary. Does not inspire me in the least to go this route though. I would buy a complete kit instead. I'd have lost my marbles long before you did.


it doesn't inspire me either lol It is still exciting though.
but I am a stubborn bastard and will soldier on


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

A lot of things have gone wrong. I broke the bolts off the the end stop. Who knew I was stronger than steel.... except they are not steel. Gotoh has gotten a lot cheaper than what they made 40 years ago, because that is what went back in there. I was not going to be defeated!!! 










Like I said, a LOT of things have gone wrong, but those my friends are S T R I N G S on that baby and she plays and has buttery action and is excellent. 
It is stupid resonant, I might not even need to put pickups in it  
..... I am off right now to put pickups in it, I just was super excited that its strung and holds together and I can play it. That is massive.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Brunz said:


> I am off right now to put pickups in it


Okay, thought those were the new Phantom pickups shown...heard they sound quite sinister.


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## sjp (11 mo ago)

I love this story. I can't wait to see the finished article. Make sure you keep these photos, they are the perfect snapshot of life right now.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

sjp said:


> I love this story. I can't wait to see the finished article. Make sure you keep these photos, they are the perfect snapshot of life right now.


unfortunately the finished piece is finished.... not because it is finished but because I am done with it!

Someday soon, coming to a flooring forum near you will be Explorer build 3.0 lol


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## sjp (11 mo ago)

Mark Brown said:


> unfortunately the finished piece is finished.... not because it is finished but because I am done with it!
> 
> Someday soon, coming to a flooring forum near you will be Explorer build 3.0 lol


Nooooooooo! And presumably we don't get to see the kid's katanas and general family life chaos any more. I loved those bits. 

It was an ambitious project, so well done for getting where you did.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

sjp said:


> Nooooooooo! And presumably we don't get to see the kid's katanas and general family life chaos any more. I loved those bits.
> 
> It was an ambitious project, so well done for getting where you did.


Its a playable instrument. Thats about the good. I missed the end stop placement no less than 3 times.... so there is that. When I am slightly less disappointed with myself I'm gonna go at it one more time, fill all the holes and prep it for paint. I had not planned on painting it but oh well. The process is my enjoyment so of there is more process I will just enjoy more


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