Explorerbuilder

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Some of my guitars (photobucket)

Most of my newer guitars * also photobucket, click the albums on the right*

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gu...142725369133117

R45VT

Thats really badass. Love the beveling.

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Explorerbuilder

Thanks man.
Drilled the tuner holes, and cleaned up the back.

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Some of my guitars (photobucket)

Most of my newer guitars * also photobucket, click the albums on the right*

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gu...142725369133117

KrymsinViking

Wow, I love that head stock. I want one of your explorers so bad. Do you take orders?

Explorerbuilder

Thanks.
I no longer take orders and dont plan on ever going back to it. Too many bad experiences.

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Some of my guitars (photobucket)

Most of my newer guitars * also photobucket, click the albums on the right*

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gu...142725369133117

whoomit

What kind of bad experiences have you had?

KrymsinViking

Yeah, after I posted I combed through some of your past threads and saw the one where you said you were quitting. Understandable but a shame. That body and with the headstock flipped the other way would be sick looking.

Great work nonetheless.

Explorerbuilder

Just a lot of things, Woomit. People changing what they want last second, stuff like that.

It just puts so much pressure on me when i did commission builds. I will never do it again.

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Some of my guitars (photobucket)

Most of my newer guitars * also photobucket, click the albums on the right*

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gu...142725369133117

whoomit

That's a fair enough reason to retire from it. Probably the biggest downside I would guess. Can I just ask what other downsides there as to building as a living?

J_W

You should just build em how you want and sell them. I'm not the biggest fan of explorers, but I would rock the shit out of one of yours. They're awesome. Keep it up man.

Explorerbuilder

Well, there are quite a few.
Biggest one is that if you arnt building a guitar that is already sold or commissioned, there is no guarantee that it will sell or that you will make a profit.

Then, there is time to profit ratio.
I build probably 10 times faster than 99% of builders. But even then, 2-3 guitars a month at most is still not that much of a profit to do it for a living. around 400$ profit per guitar at most, IF they sell. So there is no way i could rely on it for a living.

JW,
That is what i mainly do and have done for the past 7 years. It worked quite well for a long time, but recently even my best guitars i have made are taking forever to sell or arnt selling at all.

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Some of my guitars (photobucket)

Most of my newer guitars * also photobucket, click the albums on the right*

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gu...142725369133117

whoomit

This is true. I think once I'm into building properly then I've got potential customers my first load of builds, could be an issue in the future though.

I'd like to get up to your speed, and will probably end up focusing on one or two designs (I feel like Explorers will be one of them, mainly because of you ) and I'm hoping that focusing on a small amount of designs will help me get speed up.

Although I'm not ready yet, I hope I can make this work in the near future. I've got money in the bank from my last job, and a small part-time job to keep me going for the moment.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

W4RP1G

It's kind of sad to hear stuff like that. But at the same time, it says a lot about luthiers who stick with their trade, despite not making enough money to survive from it. It's probably best for the end product to do it for the joy of building, rather than money.

Question(that you've probably been asked before), why Explorers? Do you like them so much that you can't get building them out of your system?

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Homemade pickup winder!

Explorerbuilder

Well, mainly because explorers sell the best. There is a huge market for them in the metal playing crowed. Mainly ESP and KL style explorers (which i am not allowed to make anymore)
James Het made the KL explorer and ESP explorer so popular, and there arnt really very many makers of GOOD explorers. So that is why they sell so well and i have always had great success selling them.

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Some of my guitars (photobucket)

Most of my newer guitars * also photobucket, click the albums on the right*

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gu...142725369133117

Boonnoo666

Oh wow.. Mouth watering!

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Schecter Damien FR
Kramer Imperial
Peavey Valveking Head
Marshall 1936 JCM900 lead cab

Explorerbuilder

Fretboard cut flush and grainfilled.

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Some of my guitars (photobucket)

Most of my newer guitars * also photobucket, click the albums on the right*

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gu...142725369133117

MG_Sora

What kind of wood is the gray-ish one on the back of the neck? Is that walnut?

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Explorerbuilder

Yes, it is walnut.

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Some of my guitars (photobucket)

Most of my newer guitars * also photobucket, click the albums on the right*

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gu...142725369133117

Speckled_Hen

Where do you sell your guitars? Do you just do it through word of mouth and ebay or is there somewhere else?

Also, that (zebrano?) fretboard looks amazing. The whole thing looks amazing really. Walnut's a beautiful wood, but I'm allergic to it and it gives me massive headaches

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Was lacking a decent sig. Still is.