DrNomis_44's Gold Standard STA-1M Build.

[king casey]

You know, it could have been worse, it could have been a platinum one...hahahaha.

Could have been shameful bronze.

cheers, Mark.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

I managed to spend quite some time last night working on getting the new bridge installed on my Gold Strat and have got it all finished and working as it should, I'll post a pic of the bridge installed in the guitar soon for you guys, after some time trying to get the high B and E strings to intonate properly, I realized that I needed to install a string-tree in order to create a better break-angle over the nut, so I looked amongst my bits and pieces and managed to find a black plastic string tree with rollers on it, then I drilled a small mounting hole in the headstock and screwed the string-tree into place, not only did it fix the intonation problems it also made the high B and E strings sound better.

Once the guitar was all set up and tuned to pitch I gave the new trem system a test run, I had set it up so that it is floating to allow pull-ups and dive-bombs, and one thing I noticed is that it is very sensitive to how much you move the trem arm, you don't need to move it a lot to get a fair bit out of it, I'm putting that down to the fact that the trem arm is held pretty securely in it's socket, once the little tension grub-screw is adjusted, there's very little play, or slop, in the trem arm like you get with a screw-in arm, yet you can still easily move the arm sideways so that it is out of the way of your picking hand, it does take a bit of time to get the individual string height and intonation adjusted correctly but once it's set you can lock it all in place by tightening some grub-screws with the supplied Allen keys, adjusting the intonation is much the same like on a conventional Strat bridge.


Here's a pic of the new bridge installed on the Gold Strat:



Here's a pic to show how I've set the bridge to float:



And here's a pic of the string-tree I needed to install for the high B and E strings:




Update 2:


Here's a little tip for those who are building, or have built Strat style kits and are having trouble keeping the guitar in tune when the bridge is set to float as per how I've set the bridge on my Gold Strat, if the low E and A strings seem hard to keep in tune it's probably due to friction in the nut slot caused by the break-angle of the string when it goes over the nut being a bit excessive or too steep, this causes the string to pull down into the nut slot under string-tension which in turn increases friction, to remedy this consider winding the string "Up" the tuner shaft rather than "Down", I know it sounds counter-intuitive but I found that doing this to the low E and A strings on my Gold Strat improved the tuning stability of these two strings, and they still sustained properly without buzzing like a sitar.

Next, once you have the offending strings winding up the tuner rather than down, tune each string on the guitar up to pitch, then give the trem arm a good workout, then tune each string back up to pitch, repeat until the strings no longer go horribly out of tune when you give the arm a good workout, they may all go slightly randomly out of tune but that's okay, as long as they aren't going horribly out of tune, I've got it to the stage where I can do some pretty aggressive trem-abuse (almost what you can do on a Floyd Rose equipped guitar) and the strings only go very slightly out of tune (less than about 5 cents +/-), so light Surf Chord shimmers should be fine to do now.

Here's a pic showing what the strings should look like when wound up the tuner shaft:



Notice how the break-angle for the low E and A strings looks a lot like the high B and E strings?, this is what you should aim for in order to remedy tuning stability issues with your Strat-Style trem when it's set to float to allow pull-ups and dive-bombs, this worked for me after trying graphite and lubricants in the string-slots failed, I guess if I combined winding the strings up with nut-slot lubricants it'll produce even better results, but I haven't tried it yet, might do later on though.

Note that this is assuming that the tuning-stability issues you're having isn't being caused by the string binding in the nut-slot due to the slot not being wide enough to allow the string to move freely through it.

[Andy40]

That bridge looks very floaty!!!!

[DrNomis_44]

That bridge looks very floaty!!!!

Believe it or not, that's actually how Leo Fender originally intended the trems on his Stratocasters to be set up, my Gold Strat definitely has that Stratocaster sound to it, might see if I can record a new demo of the Gold Strat tonight so you can hear the new trem in action, I've got a great fender amp plugin that I can use to do the recording, so stay tuned.

[FrankenWashie]

Floaty McBridge Face? This might be one of those things that we've all done a certain way because that's how everyone does it, but everyone does it wrong.
It does look a little off, but if it keep it in tune who gives!? Great little mini set up tutorial Doc.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Thought it was time for an update for this thread so here we go everyone.


Rightio, since completing the finishing work on the body of my Gold Strat, I've come to realize that I made two mistakes that ultimately affected the finish on the body, the first of the two mistakes I made is simple, I under-estimated how long it would take for the primer, spray paint, and clear gloss to dry, the second mistake I made is also simple, I became impatient, the result of the two mistakes I made is that the paint wore-away from parts of the guitar body so I could see bare wood, not only that, the once shiny Gold Paint has turned a yucky grey-brown colour that's a bit of an eye-sore, so, I've got two ways I can fix it so that the guitar is nice and shiny as I originally intended it to be, I can either start again with a new body and re-do the finishing work, or, strip back all the old finish from the existing body and re-do it, I really don't mind that the guitar will be in an un-playable state since I now have my new genuine Fender USA Standard Stratocaster that I can play.

I'm seriously thinking of just cutting to the chase and starting afresh with a new body and doing all the finishing work using a set of spray cans ordered from Stewmac, I can re-use the scratchplate and all the electronics though, but here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to wait till next year and start work on it maybe around February, allow a month or so for each layer of primer,paint, etc to dry properly before proceeding to the next step in the finishing process.

[wokkaboy]

Doc if you can afford a new body and or/neck I'd start fresh. Otherwise get some paint stripper and let is soak in a few times and the paint should come off pretty easily. It's very easy to rush a build but next time you will take your time. As you say you have all the hardware so see what Ads will do a new body for and if you need a new neck as well.

I can't stop laughing about a 146 page build diary bwhahahahah no one will come close - ever !

[DrNomis_44]

Doc if you can afford a new body and or/neck I'd start fresh. Otherwise get some paint stripper and let is soak in a few times and the paint should come off pretty easily. It's very easy to rush a build but next time you will take your time. As you say you have all the hardware so see what Ads will do a new body for and if you need a new neck as well.

I can't stop laughing about a 146 page build diary bwhahahahah no one will come close - ever !

You know what mate?, that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all, I'll have a yarn with Adam about it, maybe he has both a spare body and neck that he could do me a good deal on, I guess it can't hurt to ask him, but I'll wait till next year, and yeah, I am very surprised that this build-diary thread has reached 146 pages, I blame that on me being such a talk-alot....*rolls eyes*...hahahahaha.

[wazkelly]

Hi Doc, shame to put so much work in to then trash a good Ash body.

Maybe it could become a relic? Seriously suggest stripping back as that would end up costing least amount in the long run and all that sanding would bring things up nice and smooth for whatever finish you put on top.

Cheers, Waz

[ILRGuitars]

Despair not Doc. Removing paint is much faster and easier than applying it. You have all the parts ready to go...makes sense just to redo the body you already have!?! Plus, it will teach you patience, young Skywalker. I understand your frustration, but it is an easy fix. Good luck.