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Posted

Hello forum,

I've always wanted an Explorer, but have also always liked the high neck access of an SG. I've gotten ahold of a G400 and I'm cooking up a conversion.

Plan A: Cut the upper and lower bouts off the G400 (keeping the neck and body all the way past the STP intact, saving on layout and routing work) and glue on thickness-planed matching upper and lower bouts (say, alder) that are cut to look like an Explorer. Route out control cavity. With an opaque paint job (I am thinking banana pudding), nobody will ever be the wiser, and I'll have an awesome SG neck on an Explorer body.

Plan B: Remove the neck from the SG body and make a new Explorer body. Fit neck to body. How to remove said neck without destroying it, btw?

Side details:

1. In this particular cheap G400, the neck-body joint (I think) is very flexible, you can actually hear the tuning of the guitar waver if you wiggle it front to back, so that might make me lean to Plan B.

2. The actual G400 body is pretty cheap wood, with a mahogany laminate. Not the best stuff. Again, points to Plan B.

In either plan, I would also plug the tuner holes, lay out new tuner holes, and cut a cooler-looking headstock than the G400's.

Thoughts?

Posted

seems way more work than actually building from zero.

but, If you decide to do it, i`d say make the explorer body, and inlay the guitar in it. Sgs are thinner than explorers. you could cut the body of the sg, make it a little square, with the neck, pups, and bridge and inlay that in the explorer body you built. you could even level everything and then glue some veneer on top of it.

crazy thoughts man. never heard of someone trying to do something like this. lol.

Posted

My first project was similar to this : I chopped down a telecaster, rebuilt the sides into the Bocaster (rectangular Bo Diddley style). With the paint on, you can't tell that it was ever anything but.

It's a perfectly doable project and a great idea if you really like the neck you'll be using.

Try to match the wood type, then you aren't required to go for a solid color.

Posted

Thanks for your thoughts, guys.

I'm thinking that, for a person of my skill level, not building a neck is easier than building a neck, especially if I have the neck I want sitting right here - hacking the headstock is simple.

So I have 1 vote for building the Explorer body, and 1 vote for embedding the SG into new wings.

Thanks again, I really enjoy this forum.

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