NGD! Explorer (African Padauk)

I built about 70% of this lovely lefty beast. I am a luthier in training
Deep set neck, solid body 1.5" thick African Padauk exotic wood.
Sperzel locking tuners, Solid billet brass bridge with locking saddles and locking bridge also. String through with G&L aluminum ferrule block for a little extra. 24.75" scale like gibson but I blended the heel and made the reach better. Ebony Fingerboard with Jescar Gold EVO XJ frets. Gold MOP inlays. Graphtech Tusq XL 42mm nut. Thinner than a gibson neck profile.
-EMG 81X/85X "for the heavy metals."
-Tung Oil finish

DAAAAMN! That looks awesome. Love the wood choice. How does it play/sound? Also any recommended resources for learning how to build guitars? Especially any tips on working with the exotic wood (if there are any special considerations). I am interested in the art myself. Haven't gotten a chance to experiment yet but the ideas are still there. Anyway...great looking guitar. I'd definitely love to own one like it (it would have to be righty though).

edit: also...love the gold hardware

Take Care,
John

I really like the look of that. Great job. I especially like the control cavity cover also. Is that a laminate over a plastic control cover or an actual piece of wood?

Hamner1 said:

I really like the look of that. Great job. I especially like the control cavity cover also. Is that a laminate over a plastic control cover or an actual piece of wood?

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Thanks for the kind words, I put alot of time into this.
As for the cover, I dont skimp on my builds. Its from the same Padauk slab, planned down and recessed in the control cavity.

JKMV12 said:

DAAAAMN! That looks awesome. Love the wood choice. How does it play/sound?

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Like a sledge hammer. This is by far the heaviest (in lbs) guitar I've ever pickup up.
Sound is Massive, with sustain for days. Great balanced tone. Padauk is an amazing species.

JKMV12 said:

Also any recommended resources for learning how to build guitars? Especially any tips on working with the exotic wood (if there are any special considerations).

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Exotic wood is usually just harder to find and more $. Some woods are easier to work with than others. I got extremely lucky in my situation learning to build from an amazingly talented guy, who is now a great friend of mine. There is so many tricks and methods that really make a great looking but also a great playing instrument. I learn better hands on, but there may be videos out there. We build from scratch, but kits might be a good way to experiment. I took woodshop back in high school which also helped tremendously to give me a good grasp on using alot of the machines and tools.

I don't mind the pots and switch up there.

wakeguitar said:

I don't mind the pots and switch up there.

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????
You mean down there? Its a lefty

Wow. Great work BSW. Padauk is some killer looking wood. Great tone too. I recently had the handles of a pistol handmade from Purpleheart. Turn out really cool.
Love the guitar. Hit us up when you go into buisiness. hahahaha

BigBrewtus said:

Wow. Great work BSW. Padauk is some killer looking wood. Great tone too. I recently had the handles of a pistol handmade from Purpleheart. Turn out really cool.
Love the guitar. Hit us up when you go into buisiness. hahahaha

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Thanks buddy. I love being able to get diff wood choices for builds, opens a whole new door of possibilities. I've thought about using purple heart before. Nice choice!

Very nice work
I always wanted to build my own, but fear, even with a kit, I'd do a crappy job....

ctgblue said:

Very nice work
I always wanted to build my own, but fear, even with a kit, I'd do a crappy job....

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Thanks, Its just like anything. If you do it enough, youll prob get good at it. Alot of trial and error and looking at other designs helps. What's awesome about crafting your own, in my situations, theres things I liked about gibson and esp explorers. So i combined what I liked of each

Sexy. Let's hear it 8)

Amazing work !! I've also always had the burning desire to build my own custom axe. Like most of the folks here I have a couple of decades of experience with electronics and setups, but the one thing that scares the heck out of me is doing a re-fret. Just don't have the time to practice that skill to get it perfect like it must be. And I've read volumes on the subject. So I have the utmost respect for the folks who can build an amazing piece of art like you did and do the fret work. Just amazing. . . . .

Deisel401 said:

Amazing work !! I've also always had the burning desire to build my own custom axe. Like most of the folks here I have a couple of decades of experience with electronics and setups, but the one thing that scares the heck out of me is doing a re-fret. Just don't have the time to practice that skill to get it perfect like it must be. And I've read volumes on the subject. So I have the utmost respect for the folks who can build an amazing piece of art like you did and do the fret work. Just amazing. . . . .

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Thanks for the kind words, It really is very time consuming, Im glad others can appreciate it. Fret jobs are an art, but after a while you get the hang of it. Its just hours after hours of leveling, checking, filing, and so on. I feel like its almost an art.