I thought I would start this build diary in anticipation of my first ever PBG kit which I'll be ordering next Tuesday, I've chosen the PBG STA-1M kit for my first kit build, firstly because I used to own a 2010 Fender Mexican Strat that I traded for a Chibson Angus SG, so I thought it would be cool to build a replacement Strat rather than shell out another $999.00 to buy a new one, secondly it looks like an easy enough kit to build, the actual wiring will be fairly easy for me to do.
Okay so here's what I've got planned for this build:
* Upgrade the Chrome hardware to gold.
* Upgrade the scratchplate to white pearloid.
* Upgrade the stock pickups to a set of Entwistle XS62N's.
* Upgrade the stock nut to a pre-shaped and cut Bone nut.
* PBG sticker for the headstock, or get Andyport to make a custom decal.
* Upgrade the Gold tuners to a set of Gold 6-in-line Grover Mini locking Rotomatics.
* At a later stage upgrade the Gold Bridge to a Gold Babicz Bridge.
* Buy a set of Ernie Ball Strap locks for the guitar and install them.
Finish:
I had initially planned on spray-painting the body metallic red, but after seeing one of wokka's gold finish builds I remembered seeing some cans of metallic-gold paint in my local green shed (Bunnings), yeah I know....automatic sentence to the naughty warehouse, it's okay I'll take my punishment like a man....lol.
The cans of Gold paint I saw had tops on them with a really shiny gold colour with a metallic lusture, I was originally going to buy a can for one of my many pedal builds but thought that the colour would look cool on the guitar.
The body will be clear-coated after the paint has fully dried.
The neck is going to be clear-coated with the front of the headstock spray-painted metallic gold, I'm just wondering how I should finish the fretboard.
I decided to call my STA-1M the Gold-Standard Strat, it's Gold Coloured, and a standard Stratocaster, hence the name.
Rather than wire up the pickups and controls as a typical Strat, I thought I would wire it up the way Eric Johnson wires his Strats up since it actually makes alot more sense to me, and he happens to be one of my favorite guitarists because of the tones he gets.
Here's how a Standard Strat is wired:
Master Volume.
Pickup Selector Switch:
1, Neck Single-Coil + Tone 1.
2, Neck Single-Coil + Tone 1 + Middle Single-Coil + Tone 2.
3, Middle Single-Coil + Tone 2.
4, Middle Single-Coil + Bridge Single-Coil + Tone 2.
5, Bridge Single-Coil.
This is how Eric Johnson wires his Strats:
Master Volume.
Pickup Selector:
1, Neck Single-Coil + Tone 1.
2, Neck Single-Coil + Middle Single-Coil + Tone 1.
3, Middle Single-Coil.
4, Middle Single-Coil + Bridge Single-Coil + Tone 2.
5, Bridge Single-Coil + Tone 2.
He also changes the stock Strat tone-cap to a 100nF cap.
I've previously tried the Eric Johnson Strat-wiring schematic on my Mexican Strat and I really liked how the guitar seemed to sound better to my ears, so I thought I would do the same for this kit build.
I almost forgot to add that I'll also be going with the traditional Strat headstock shape for this build, I happen to have a spare Mighty Mite Strat neck that i can use to make a template from.
For those of you who don't know, Eric Johnson is a well-known American Guitarist who lives in Austin Texas, well-known for his instrumental tune, the Grammy-winning Cliffs Of Dover.
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