So my son is a huge Metallica fan, and has worn me out asking for an Explorer style guitar. I gave him the kit for Christmas, and we've had a great time building it so far...
He wanted to do a copy of Hetfield's "Eet Fuk" guitar, and when Mom put her foot down against that logo we found a compromise with her and decided on a 'tribute' version with a different slogan. We are pretty proud of what we've accomplished so far.
My boy sanded and sealed repeatedly with progressively finer grits until the body and neck were smooth. I blended the Olympic White using some acrylic craft paints I had laying about my shop and we put on about 6 coats with fine grit sanding in between.
I remembered to do a mock-up before we went any further, and sure enough the humbucker pockets needed some work as well as the holes for the pots and the switch.
We used several coats of Tru-oil for the finish which was super-easy and gave us great results. The graphics were printed using my computer printer and water-slide paper.
I was unsure of how to make sure the neck-angle was set properly, so we decided to go with a bolt-on instead of gluing the neck in the pocket. That way if it needs adjustment it's not a big deal.
I set and aligned the humbuckers today and when his mom wasn't looking, my son set the 'finger' stickers he ordered on the fretboard. As soon as I figure out how much of the powder coating I need to remove to get a good ground, I will attack the wiring (my Achilles heel) tomorrow.
Thanks for letting me share!