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I want to get a limba wood explorer type guitar and I think ordering a custom one online would be cheapest but I wasnt sure what company I should go to. Would it be good quality and would the bridge/tailpiece make a difference in tone depending on where I get it? Or does anyone know of a brand that makes or made limba explorers that were good quality. I heard that the epiphone ones werent limba all the way through the body.

One other thing I was wondering if I were to custom order it was what tuners were good quality and should I get locking tuners?

Well, if you have a lot of money ($3000) I would say ESP. If you don't ($1000), do it yourself with Warmoth.

I'd go Warmoth - I heard they were one of the best. I think they will make absolutely anything. The cost, however, I am not sure about.
check em out at: tailpiece is for sure gonna have an effect on the sound. I'd go with aluminum TonePros.

You do not need locking tuners on a fixed bridge guitar. Just get standard sperzel or gotoh tuners. If you learn to string up your guitar properly, you don't need locking tuners. Just check out Scott F's thread in the vault on stringing your guitar.

yeah but locking tuners makes string changes super fast, every guitar should have them.

You say you want an explorer with a limba body. Is that the extent of your specifications? Do you want a bolt-on neck 'cause if you go Warmoth, you're probably gonna have to go with that. Personally, if I get an explorer, I don't want a big ol' neck flange from a bolt-on neck. If I'm getting a quot;customquot; guitar, I probably don't want to compromise on issues like bolt-on vs. set necks.
As someone who's had a guitar built to his specs (and a second on order), my advice would be to first figure out what the intent of the guitar is. It's critical that you know exactly what you want to get out of the project. Do you want a visually stunning instrument, a guitar to create some target tone, or a super-versatile sonic Swiss Army Knife? Once you have a specific goal in mind, set the specs for the guitar down to the nitty gritty details.
Price out the guitar as you spec'ed it. If you're going the parts route (e.g., Warmoth), make sure you figure in the cost of a qualilty finish and the cost of a competent tech assembling it (including a fret level/recrown). If the price is too high, you might be able to cut some costs here and there but do not compromise on anything that diminishes the guitar's ability to fulfill the project goal.
If the guitar isn't going to satisfy the itch you're trying to scratch by building it, don't waste your money. Either walk away from the project or save up to do it right. The only thing worse than making a big investment in one-off guitar that doesn't suit you is taking it in the shorts when you decide to sell it (as is generally the case with one-off guitars).
My final piece of advice is to make sure that you're cool with the Explorer body shape. I'm not just talking about playing one in a shop but living with it on a day-to-day basis and schlepping it to jams/rehearsals/gigs. Such guitars tend to have poor balance and the ergonomics are not for everyone. You probably can't fit one in a gig bag so you're stuck with hard cases. If you haven't lived with an Explorer, I'd strongly recommend getting a used one to live with prior to dropping major coin on a built-to-order guitar.

shamray looks like the place to have your guitars custom-made. extensive options and reasonably priced. lots of folks raved about their quality. shipping cost is a drawback though.

www.shamray.net