G-Axe's Second Build - EX-1

[G-Axe]

So after getting a bit of Christmas money, I thought I'd splash out on my second PBG kit - an EX-1, and it has a tough life ahead of it.

So here's how it looks:




The fretboard has very pronounced striping in the grain. Looks pretty cool.

Everything is in pretty good order. There's a couple of small dings and glue spots, and some black smudges here and there, but it's all cosmetic. The neck fits very well, nice and snug - and the scale length seems right on the money. All of the other hardware should fit too, so I'll get cracking on the irrevocable changes.

First of all, I've never been a huge explorer fan, but picked one up randomly in a music store last year and found it ridiculous comfortable to play. So I'm going to do a bit of reshaping - I'm going to give the bottom horn more of an iceman shape, and then make a few other alterations to fit the theme. It won't be quite like the Destroyer/Iceman hybrid that bloke from Mr Big used to play, but it won't be too far removed either.

For the finish, I'm going with a custom vinyl decal - with a graphic black and white pattern, and I'll be making a purfling cutter to trim the decal back to about 6mm in from the edge to expose some red paint underneath to give it a border like a binding. I'll use a bit of leftover vinyl on the headstock, and do the neck in cheap nasty satin black from the green shed.

Oh, and I'm going to be gigging with it next weekend, so it's not really going to be properly finished. But it's sure going to have some character!

First stop, scroll saw!

[cade711]

Sounds like an interesting look coming up and a busy week!

[wokkaboy]

your plans sound cool G-Axe, look forward to see how the vinyl comes up. My very first kit was a EX-1.
How do you plan to be gigging with it next weekend surely you won't finish it by then ? the old golden rule is take your time !

[wazkelly]

Good to welcome along another member to the ever expanding Explorer owners club.

Geez, aiming to be finished in a week is ambitious given the amount of sanding and then set-neck curing time required because if you tension that baby up too soon it may end in tears.

[G-Axe]

Yeah, pretty amibitious/foolhardy, and I'm going to be sent to the naughty corner multiple times throughout the week. The only thing I wont be taking liberties with is setting the neck.

Photos soon. Yesterday I picked up the vinyl and finished shaping the body. And of course my phone battery ran out as soon as I tried to take a photo.

Today, sanding, sanding, sanding.

[G-Axe]

Shaped and sanded to 120 grit. The bulk of it was done on a scroll saw. The Basswood is nice and soft, so that tiny little blade went through it like butter. To make sure my curves were nice and clean, I dusted off my hole saws and whipped up a handful of sanding drums by bolting together some circles cut out of MDF and gluing sandpaper to the outside.

Next step is to throw some Zinssers on it, let the end grain swell up and then sand it back again, then recoat and sand back to a nice high grit. Hoping the 37 degree weather in Canberra does me more favours than harm. Paint is drying between brush strokes.



I've also resprayed the chrome hardware with the same Duplicolor Metalcast "candy" coat I used on my strat build as a smoky burst. It's given it all a nice gunmetal grey sheen. While the Zinssers dries, I'll be wiring up the pots on a bit of cardboard. I've also just discovered that ordering with no pickups also means no pickup rings, so I've jumped on eBay to get a set express posted. My worst case is screwing them straight into the timber with an appropriate spacer, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.

[wokkaboy]

looks cool the re-shaping G-axe, that lower horn is very Iceman ! Also cuts on the bottom and top edges look good too !

I would round the sharp edge on the lower horn closest to the neck pocket a little, but that's personal preference

who did the decking the screws aren't very aligned !

[pablopepper]

Looks like there's a step there bro.

Shaping up very nicely..............ha.

[Simon Barden]

Just be aware that spraying the bridge will probably mean that it's going to be hard to get a good ground connection for the strings unless you scrape some of the paint away.

[wokkaboy]

good tip Simon, as long as the bridge makes good metal contact with the bridge posts should be fine. Depending if the earth wire comes from the tailpiece post make sure strings make good contact with the tailpiece.

Almost 9am in UK so you usually chime in about now Simon, been a dead quiet day on the forum todaz !