A friend and I were at Sam Ash Friday talking with their luthier. He was extolling the virtues of the Explorer as an ideal players guitar--you can control the angle of the guitar to your body with the back of your forearm pushing on the top "fin", something not as easily accomplished with a Strat-style body. This made sense to me.
I mentioned that I have always been interested in acquiring an Explorer (or an SG) myself. I always thought the body design looked great, and some of my favorite players play(ed) Explorers. The only problem with them, as far as I could tell was weight. A heavy piece of wood! The luthier said they weren't any heavier then the Les Pauls, particularly if you can get one made of korina.
Well, all this talk of Explorers started me thinking once again about putting one together myself from parts (since it seems almost certain that I would never be able to afford a "real" Gibson Explorer). In fact, when I built my first Warmoth guitar I was contemplating an Explorer style set up back then (10 years ago?). The friend that was with me at Sam Ash is already talking about putting one together too. (He might change his mind after seeing this post, I dunno...)
This is a shot of the Gibson Explorer '76 available from Music123Currently listed at $999 (includes a free Gibson
hard shell case that retails at $159)
The question is, can I build a similar model for less? Let's find out...
I have completed some calculations based on Warmoth's current pricing, and the answer is YES, it can be done--if I am willing to apply my own finish to the body. Otherwise, based on the options I selected plus having them apply a finish to the body & headstock, NO.
Now, as I mentioned previously, I have done this DIY guitar thing before. I am no stranger to building out a guitar from parts. I got exactly the guitar I wanted (minus active pickups, I could not afford them) by doing it this way. That is one of the huge advantages of the DIY guitar. The other is the quality of the Warmoth necks & bodies--particularly the necks. Their compound radius design for the fingerboard makes playing on them a dream. I am not an expert but I would daresay they are the best necks made, and they have been in the business for quite a while now.
Having gone this route before, I put together pricing for two variants on the Explorer theme that I think would be very nice. Both deviate from the standard Explorer shown above--both would lose the pickguard in the routing process. Both would have a single volume & single tone control (as opposed to two volume pots on the model above). The body would be alder. The neck would be maple with an ebony fingerboad, satin finish on the maple. Graphite nut, and stainless steel fretwire (which offers longer life then the widely used nickel wire). I am thinking a white body/headstock, black accents, and chrome hardware. I think it would look great, play great, and not break my back (with the alder body).
The second variation differs even further from the standard model shown above. Here I forego the Tune-O-Matic bridge and non-locking Gotoh SG38 tuners in favor of a Gotoh Wilkinson tremolo bridge, keep the graphite nut, and install Schaller Mini Locking Tuners. You see, I refuse to purchase another floating tremolo ever again1.
Another radical departure I would consider is replacing the three-way pickup selector switch with a 5-way switch hooked up to three Seymour Duncan pickups in an Bridge/Humbucker - Mid/Single - Neck/Humbucker style, wired in a "Steve's Wizardry" configuration. According to Totally Guitar (page 103) this configuration uses the five-way switch to coil-split the humbuckers in the 2 and 4 position achieving hum cancellation in all positions (except 3--the single coil alone), plus it should approach/approximate the classic single-coil tones of the 2 & 4 positions found on Strats. This would be a really cool mod to try out, IMO. 2 & 4 are my favorite tones on the Strat. I'm still trying to picture how this thing would look though, I haven't seen many Explorers that didn't have the Tune-O-Matics on them...
Well, the bottom line is the bottom line. So, what did I come up with? Here it is:
| Explorer 1 | Explorer 2 | Variance | |
| Fully Finished | $1,059.70 | $1,221.20 | $161.50 |
| Neck Finish Only | $824.70 | $986.20 | $161.50 |
| Variance | $235.00 | $235.00 |
Explorer 1
| P/N | Price | Description |
| $190.00 | Explorer Body, Alder, 2H Routing, No Pickguard | |
| $35.00 | Contoured Heel | |
| $10.00 | Angled Neck Pockets (for Tune-o-matic) | |
| $185.00 | Finish, Body, Solid (White?) | |
| $189.00 | Neck, Explorer Warmoth "Pro" Construction, Maple/Ebony | |
| SS6105 | $20.00 | Stainless Steel Fretwire |
| NBGG | $24.75 | Nut, Graphtec Graphite, Cut & Installed |
| $115.00 | Finish, Satin (Solid Black Peghead) | |
| TOM1C | $16.00 | Bridge, Gotoh Tune-O-Matic Stud Mount, Chrome |
| STP1C | $13.00 | Bridge, Gotoh Stop Tail Piece, Chrome |
| SG38LC | $25.50 | Tuners, Gotoh SG38, Chrome |
| BK1B | $4.00 | Knobs, Black (2ea) |
| CTS500 | $3.00 | CTS Brand 500k Pot, Volume |
| CTS250 | $3.00 | CTS Brand 250k Pot, Tone |
| ??? | $160.00 | Pickups, Seymour Duncan (2) |
| n/a | $12.00 | Straplocks, Dunlop (Sam Ash) |
| NP1C | $4.50 | Neck Plate, Chrome |
| SLP1B | $11.50 | Straight LP Switch Black with Black Knob 1/2" mounting hole |
| LPSP1B | $1.25 | LP Switch Plates |
| NS2C | $1.60 | Neck Screws (4) |
| HBRT1B | $7.00 | Pickup Rings, Tall, Angled, Black (2) |
| TFS1B | $1.40 | Pickup Mounting Screw, Black, Stainless Steel |
| MJ1 | $2.50 | Jack, Mono |
| SJP1C | $5.00 | Jack Cover, Chrome |
| $1.50 | Capacitors | |
| CST1 | $7.00 | Copper Shielding, 8” (10” linear) |
| CST2 | $5.25 | Copper Shielding, 2” (21” linear) |
| WK1 | $5.95 | Wiring Kit |
Explorer 2
| P/N | Price | Description |
| $190.00 | Explorer Body, Alder, H-S-H Routing, No Pickguard | |
| $35.00 | Contoured Heel | |
| $185.00 | Finish, Body, Solid (White?) | |
| $189.00 | Neck, Explorer Warmoth "Pro" Construction, Maple/Ebony | |
| SS6105 | $20.00 | Stainless Steel Fretwire |
| NBGG | $24.75 | Nut, Graphtec Graphite, Cut & Installed |
| $115.00 | Finish, Satin (Solid Black Peghead) | |
| WT1C | $89.00 | Gotoh Wilkinson Tremolo |
| $10.00 | Gotoh Wilkinson Tremolo, Stud Installation | |
| SMLC | $48.00 | Schaller Mini Locking Tuners |
| MS1 | $4.50 | Mini Switch On-On 1/4" mounting hole |
| BK1B | $4.00 | Knobs, Black (2ea) |
| CTS500 | $3.00 | CTS Brand 500k Pot, Volume |
| CTS250 | $3.00 | CTS Brand 250k Pot, Tone |
| ??? | $234.00 | Pickups, Seymour Duncan (2H, 1S) |
| n/a | $12.00 | Straplocks, Dunlop (Sam Ash) |
| NP1C | $4.50 | Neck Plate, Chrome |
| CRL5 | $12.00 | CRL Brand 5 Way Switch Includes 2 Chrome Mounting Screws |
| SSK1B | $1.25 | Strat® and Tele® Switch Knobs (Black) |
| NS2C | $1.60 | Neck Screws (4) |
| HBRT1B | $7.00 | Pickup Rings, Tall, Angled, Black (2) |
| TFS1B | $1.40 | Pickup Mounting Screw, Black, Stainless Steel |
| MJ1 | $2.50 | Jack, Mono |
| SJP1C | $5.00 | Jack Cover, Chrome |
| $1.50 | Capacitors | |
| CST1 | $7.00 | Copper Shielding, 8” (10” linear) |
| CST2 | $5.25 | Copper Shielding, 2” (21” linear) |
| WK1 | $5.95 | Wiring Kit |
I'm confident I could do the finish on the body, but I want a "factory" finish on the neck. It's vital that that is done correctly.
BTW, I haven't taken the time to determine the precise model pickups I would want, but I do have a very close estimate on what they would cost for both of these Explorer variants. Seymour Duncan all the way baby!
Well, it's a pricey endeavor no doubt, and not for the faint of heart (hint: practice your soldering well in advance of trying to wire up a guitar!!).
1While I love the versatility and functionality of the Schaller Licensed Floyd Rose tremolo on my first Warmoth, it is a total pain in the butt to set up (which is costly) and if you break a string it takes forever to get it all back to pitch again.
2All trademarks mentioned above are owned by their respective owners. I've heard guitar companies freak out when you mention their product names for some reason, so there! I have done my civic duty. Warmoth is Warmoth; Strat (Stratocaster) is Fender; Explorer & SG are Gibson. If I forgot anybody else, you (and everybody else) knows who you are...
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