First built - Custom EXA-7 (Dora the 7Xplorer)

[Juanito]

I did try to play with truss rod and action, but recently checked the frets again and I did a lousy job crowning them. I started the fret work on the 24th fret and went backwards, so I started very badly and got better as I progressed. I don't know why I didn't check them before assembling the whole thing, but I'm quite happy with this being my first built. I made other errors along the way, but I'm not going to share them here heheje

[Simon Barden]

The headstock is angled back, so you shouldn't need to fit a string retainer bar. They are needed for flat Fender-style headstock with locking nuts, but the headstock angle should be sufficient to hold the strings against the top face of the locking nut. Just undo and remove the locking bits. If the strings are touching the nut at the front and rear edges, then you're fine. If the strings are partially lifting off the nut on the headstock side, then I'd fit a retainer bar and screw it down so the strings are touching the rear (headstock) edge of the nut.

This lets you tune the guitar properly and set up the fine tuners at a suitable mid-point in their travel and he string clamps should not then affect the guitar tuning when they are done up. Plus all the clamping force is used holding the strings in place, with none wasted in also forcing the string on to the nut. It does keep the strings locked tighter.

[Juanito]

Thanks again, Simon. After doing some maintenance toy other guitars, I decided not to bother too much with Dora and only changed the strings. I think it helped a lot with the buzzing, and and whatever is left is on an area of the fretboard that I won't use too much.

I think the springs that came with the Floyd Rose were for high tension because only two of them pulled too much, but now with thicker strings, I put the three of them and it's well balanced.

In some distant future, I may get a luthier to carve the body a bit to reach the highest frets, because at the moment, they are very deep in the body. However, I'm happy for the moment and if I need to play very high notes, I may just use one of my 6-strings.

It's been a fun journey.