DrNomis_44's Gold Standard STA-1M Build.

[DrNomis_44]

I've just noticed that my PBG STA-1M kit is missing the pots, knobs, and pickup selector switch, fortunately I do happen to have three
usable 250k CTS pots with brass shafts, I may have a spare 5-way pickup selector switch that I can use, and some knobs too, will have to have a good look for them.


The holes for the pots on the white pearloid scratchplate will need to be enlarged to enable the three 250K CTS pots to fit, no real biggie though.

[wokkaboy]

Doc the kit should have come with a loaded pickguard with all that. Send Ads an email.presume the pearloid guard was an extra you ordered?
Were there any pickups? Check the box

[dingobass]

O poo!
If you cant locate said bitz, let me know as I have one or two spares lurking around here....

[DrNomis_44]

O poo!
If you cant locate said bitz, let me know as I have one or two spares lurking around here....

I managed to locate three 250K CTS pots that look usable, also found a 5-way pickup switch but some of the contacts may be a bit iffy.

[DrNomis_44]

Doc the kit should have come with a loaded pickguard with all that. Send Ads an email.presume the pearloid guard was an extra you ordered?
Were there any pickups? Check the box

Yep, there are three Entwistle AS57 pickups in the box so that's okay, I'll wait till the morning to email Adam about the other missing bits since it's 12:57 am here in Darwin, cheers mate.


The white pearloid scratchplate was ordered as an upgrade to the stock white scratchplate.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Okay, I've decided that I'm going to go with the Coolangatta Gold MKII Dingotone with Gold highlights finish, firstly because from watching the guide videos it looks easier than doing a Solid Gold spray-paint finish, secondly, the consensus seems to be that I should go with it, thirdly, I'll be doing my first beta test.

[DrNomis_44]

I just did a quick little experiment out of curiosity, I remembered that I have a 22-Fret Mighty Mite Strat neck and thought I'd see if it fits the Ash body that came with my kit, turns out it does fit pretty well, even the neck bolt holes line up, so going by that, I might see if I can order another Strat body later this year and make a HotRod strat from it and the Mighty Mite neck, as you can see in the pic the neck does fit.

[stan]

Oh, nice with the mighty mite

[DrNomis_44]

Update, I've decided to start doing some work on the "Mock Build" today, first thing I'm going to do is see if I can get the headstock re-shaped to a traditional Stratocaster shape, so far I've used my template and a pencil to draw the outline on the front of the headstock, once the basic shape has been cut out I'll get to work with some files to smooth out any irregularities.


Here's a pic of the headstock with the penciled outline for the traditional Strat shape, I don't know if it's the 50's,60's or 70's shape but it should work fine:




It may be a bit hard to notice but if you look closely you'll see the outline drawn on the headstock.


Last night I thought I would use my two Radius gauges to check the Radius on the fretboard, turns out it's a 12inch Radius which is flatter than the 9.5inch that Fender normally used on their Stratocasters, original Stratocasters from the 50's used a 7.5inch Radius on their necks which made playing chords easy but when a string was bent up to pitch the string tended to buzz on the frets, the change to a flatter neck Radius was done to alleviate the fret-buzz when a string bend was executed.

[wokkaboy]

pencilled headstock shape looks good Doc. You will have to round off the edge where the line meets the edge opposite the A string peg hole.
I had a re-think about the finish and think stain is a wise option for first build. Less things can go wrong with staining than solid paint.

Cooly Gold with gold highlights should look great with the gold hardware.
If you didn't get a plain white loaded pickguard then I'm sure Ads or DB can send you one. It should have been included in the kit