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MikeL
03-02-2013, 07:22 AM
My ST-1 arrived on Tuesday, it's now Saturday so I've had a few evenings of sanding already done.
I spent some of that time prepping so I could get the most out of the weekend.

I had three goals I was wanting to achieve today.

• Fit the body to my home made Rotate'o'tilt'o'matic.
• Get the body undercoated
• Shape the head

So my Rotate'o'tilt'o'matic works a treat. It's basically a broom handle stuck through a VW Clutch throw out bearing on a stand. It allows the body to be tilted and rotated without having to touch it.

Now that I have the body I had to figure out what to use as the counter weight. Turns out a 600ml Coke bottle full of wet sand weighs the same as a ST-1 body, go figure :)

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/7.jpg

A couple of pictures from the undercoating process. I chose to use' Dulux 1 Step', primer, sealer & undercoat. Watered down 25% for the Spray Gun. (Consistency of creamy milk is the rule of thumb for paint spraying)

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/8.jpg

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/9.jpg


Ok, now to leave that probably until tomorrow before I consider sanding it back before the second coat.


So now for the headstock. If anyone saw my concept image from a previous post you may have noted I already had an idea in mind. Once I had the actual neck to play with I changed the design slightly to leave more wood in front of the machine heads

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/0.jpg

Initial rough cut ( Adam, your kits just keep on giving, the thankyou letter you include also makes an excellent template )

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/10.jpg

And here's the completed version ( needs another 15 mins of light work to clean up a couple of areas but I'm happy with the result )

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/11.jpg

As a side note, for anyone sanding the edge of the head, a handy trick, if you don't want to use power tools, is to staple sandpaper over the end of a plank of wood clamped to your work bench. This allows you to hold the neck and sand flat sections cleanly in seconds whilst rolling the neck up as you sand allows for easy control on sanding curves. ( You can see the one I used in the last pic bottom right, it's just a sandpaper strip for my orbital sander)

End of day 1 ( please give me any comments, suggestions or feedback you may have )

Gavin1393
03-02-2013, 08:19 AM
Nice work! Good to see the tilto-whatsis-name in action. Looking forward to seeing how the headstock turns out! Thanks for posting on the progress!

dingobass
03-02-2013, 01:18 PM
Looking good Mike.

Love the tilto whatsit, if we had an invention of the month this would win it hands down!

Can I make just one suggestion, mask the rout outs for the neck and pickups before you add any more paint.
It can save you some swearing down the track when you do the build.

Paint in neck pockets can seriously mess with fitting the neck and you will have to do some sanding off of paint to get it to fit.

MikeL
03-02-2013, 02:23 PM
Quote from dingobass on February 2, 2013, 22:18

Can I make just one suggestion, mask the rout outs for the neck and pickups before you add any more paint.
It can save you some swearing down the track when you do the build.

Paint in neck pockets can seriously mess with fitting the neck and you will have to do some sanding off of paint to get it to fit.

Thanks DB, The pickups I hadn't thought about but the neck one I was purposely getting paint into as it has a bit of play in it, and after a test fit and alignment I do need it to lean one way a little more than the other, which will leave a gap on one side... not enough to be an issue but I'd know it was there.

One of the cool things about working for an engineering company is some of the laser alignment tools that like to spend the weekend with me :)

adam
03-02-2013, 10:13 PM
Nice work Mike. Your tilting system is inspired, but I couldn't quite make out the clutch. Can we have some close ups on the Tilt-O-Matic?

It also looks like you've got some good spray equipment. Looking forward to seeing the results.

yakkmeister
04-02-2013, 09:23 AM
It's the grey/metal ring between the two uprights that the broom-handle passes through.
You can see it just in front of the stool's seat in the first picture.
It's a bearing though, not a whole clutch :D

adam
04-02-2013, 09:52 AM
Quote from yakkmeister on February 3, 2013, 18:23
It's the grey/metal ring between the two uprights that the broom-handle passes through.
You can see it just in front of the stool's seat in the first picture.
It's a bearing though, not a whole clutch :D

Ahh, ok, got it. Thanks.

MikeL
04-02-2013, 11:23 AM
Day 2

Gardened and fixed computers mostly but did get the body sanded back ready for the second undercoat.

One of the things I'd noticed is that Basswood is a kind of fluffy wood, it doesn't seem to really like being smooth. So on a hunch I actually undercoated it while it was still fairly fluffy. It did have the result I wanted, it hardened the surface enough for it to be sanded smooth easily.

Naturally this approach will only work if painting, so I'm going to use it on my ST-1 and SV-1, as in my mind they're painty style guitars, but when I do an LP I will be trying Wudtone.

These pics don't really show anything but I took em, so here they are anyway :)


http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ht2t8-13.jpg

http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/c60v2-12.jpg

keloooe
05-02-2013, 04:05 AM
Quote from MikeL on February 3, 2013, 20:23
One of the things I'd noticed is that Basswood is a kind of fluffy wood, it doesn't seem to really like being smooth. So on a hunch I actually undercoated it while it was still fairly fluffy. It did have the result I wanted, it hardened the surface enough for it to be sanded smooth easily.

Yeah, when I got my LP-1, it was nice and fluffy...

MikeL
19-02-2013, 01:47 AM
Prepping took longer than I'd anticipated but like anything, you only get out of it what you put into it.
This guitar is for my wife, mine is in the shipment delayed until March so I have a little extra time to spend on this one but the weather in Brisbane has been crappy for painting... if it's not raining it's too humid etc.. Plus she wanted the neck pained too.. Blarghhh.

But anyway, after much sanding and 8 undercoats to get it butt smooth, here's the first colour coat.
It is actually purple but camera's just don't seem to be able to capture how vivid it is or the actual colour it is for that matter.

Another 3 colour coats and 3 to 4 of clear before a cut'n'polish.

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/12.jpg

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/13.jpg

stui
19-02-2013, 02:40 AM
Looking good mike! Can't wait to see the finished product!

MikeL
24-02-2013, 04:30 AM
Ok, base metallic purple is done and now so is the sunburst. It's still wet in this pic which has made the pic look a bit splotchy, it's not splotchy in real life.

I have grudgingly painted the neck, but am happy with the result, also sunbursted.

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/14.jpg

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/15.jpg

keloooe
24-02-2013, 05:35 AM
Seriously dude, this is going to be a big contender if you enter it for Guitar of the Month!!!

adam
24-02-2013, 08:39 AM
Nice work, Mike, that's going to look fantastic when assembled.

MikeL
01-03-2013, 02:16 AM
Ok, Lesson Of The Week

Please read this, I don't want you to make this same mistake!


Everything was good and ready for first clear top coat. I went too far trying to get a single thick coat and ended up with some areas that went smokey white... Not a major in itself, they just needed to be cut back a bit to remove the issue. However during the sanding of the problem areas, the surrounding areas were also being sanded and suddenly I had removed a chunk from the Sunburst itself.

So end result is a re-sanding of the whole body for complete respray and complete redo of the sunburst. I'm not overly disappointed as there were some minor blemishes that annoyed me... Probably not visible to someone else but I knew they were there, so I've addressed them.

So in short, for everyones benefit, slow and steady wins the race, if you try to sprint at the end you may fall in a heap.

keloooe
01-03-2013, 02:33 AM
Quote from MikeL on February 28, 2013, 11:16
Ok, Lesson Of The Week

Please read this, I don't want you to make this same mistake!


Everything was good and ready for first clear top coat. I went too far trying to get a single thick coat and ended up with some areas that went smokey white... Not a major in itself, they just needed to be cut back a bit to remove the issue. However during the sanding of the problem areas, the surrounding areas were also being sanded and suddenly I had removed a chunk from the Sunburst itself.

So end result is a re-sanding of the whole body for complete respray and complete redo of the sunburst. I'm not overly disappointed as there were some minor blemishes that annoyed me... Probably not visible to someone else but I knew they were there, so I've addressed them.

So in short, for everyones benefit, slow and steady wins the race, if you try to sprint at the end you may fall in a heap.

Slow and steady is me right now... still havent got any sandpaper...

MikeL
01-03-2013, 03:16 AM
Quote from keloooe on February 28, 2013, 11:33

Slow and steady is me right now... still havent got any sandpaper...

That's not slow, that's deceased.... :D
How come ? Are you waiting on some special brand or something ? Any of the Sandpapers from SuperCheap are good enough, they have 120 upto 2600. I have had excellent success with them, especially the wet'n'dry.

GlennGP
01-03-2013, 06:22 AM
Quote from MikeL on February 28, 2013, 11:16
Ok, Lesson Of The Week

Please read this, I don't want you to make this same mistake!


Everything was good and ready for first clear top coat. I went too far trying to get a single thick coat and ended up with some areas that went smokey white... Not a major in itself, they just needed to be cut back a bit to remove the issue. However during the sanding of the problem areas, the surrounding areas were also being sanded and suddenly I had removed a chunk from the Sunburst itself.

So end result is a re-sanding of the whole body for complete respray and complete redo of the sunburst. I'm not overly disappointed as there were some minor blemishes that annoyed me... Probably not visible to someone else but I knew they were there, so I've addressed them.

So in short, for everyones benefit, slow and steady wins the race, if you try to sprint at the end you may fall in a heap.


Wow, that must have been a really hard decision. Takes a lot of balls (and bull-headedness, I suspect!) to decide to back up that far. Good on you!

keloooe
01-03-2013, 06:42 AM
Quote from MikeL on February 28, 2013, 12:16

Quote from keloooe on February 28, 2013, 11:33

Slow and steady is me right now... still havent got any sandpaper...

That's not slow, that's deceased.... :D
How come ? Are you waiting on some special brand or something ? Any of the Sandpapers from SuperCheap are good enough, they have 120 upto 2600. I have had excellent success with them, especially the wet'n'dry.
haha, deceased indeed!!! well, I was going to get sandpaper from NSW, but i will probably check out some more local stuff... That flame maple cap is just DYING for Wuddy!!!

MikeL
01-03-2013, 07:57 AM
Just to keep everyone up to date, Guitar is repainted, re sun-bursted and has 4 coats of clear on it. Two more coats today just to be certain and it'll be ready to cut'n'polish by next weekend.

It's darker than before because I didn't go back to primer. It kinda looks like deep purple water (with glitter in it)

Now if only I can cut'n'polish it without going down to the paint :)

MikeL
05-03-2013, 07:40 AM
Touch dry with all its clear coats. Darker than I anticipated but I like the result.
Cut'n'polish on the weekend and it's assembly time.
The photo's don't do it justice, what look like blemishes are just reflections.

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/16.jpg


http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/17.jpg


http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/18.jpg

adam
05-03-2013, 07:53 AM
Mike, I really like how this guitar is turning out and it will look amazing under stage lights.

pablopepper
06-03-2013, 03:22 AM
This is some stunning work Mike. It will almost be a shame to cover some of it up with the pickguard.

Gavin1393
06-03-2013, 04:51 AM
Could always paint the pickguard.....?

keloooe
06-03-2013, 05:03 AM
Quote from Gavin1393 on March 5, 2013, 13:51
Could always paint the pickguard.....?
Yea, you probably should!

WeirdBits
06-03-2013, 05:47 AM
Very nice finish, can't wait to see it polished..

How about a clear pickguard and then painting the underside just over the routed areas?

Or, not sure if this would work... match the colour and burst pattern for the routed areas in Photoshop then print that onto a transparency/clear printer film and sandwich that under a clear pickguard. Add some copper shielding tape behind the printed areas on the transparency and you'd have the complete package. I know it's kind of a weird idea, but if it worked it would make it very easy to tweak the colours in Photoshop for the transparency until you get an exact match/blend.

Gavin1393
06-03-2013, 06:21 AM
Quote from WeirdBits on March 5, 2013, 14:47
Very nice finish, can't wait to see it polished..

How about a clear pickguard and then painting the underside just over the routed areas?

Or, not sure if this would work... match the colour and burst pattern for the routed areas in Photoshop then print that onto a transparency/clear printer film and sandwich that under a clear pickguard. Add some copper shielding tape behind the printed areas on the transparency and you'd have the complete package. I know it's kind of a weird idea, but if it worked it would make it very easy to tweak the colours in Photoshop for the transparency until you get an exact match/blend.



Last paragraph is the way I'd go!

MikeL
06-03-2013, 07:24 AM
After a test fit I have to say I like the plain white or perhaps a pearl :)

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/19.jpg

pablopepper
06-03-2013, 09:07 AM
Quote from MikeL on March 5, 2013, 16:24
Or, how about I fit the routed section with copper sheeting including the sides so it's a nice clean copperlined look, add some purple LED's and put a semi tinted clear scratchplate over it all so you can still kinda see inside......

Firstly I'll put the white one on just to see what it's like tho, before I go crazy :)

EDIT

Actually I like the white :)

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/19.jpg

I'm surprised, but I like the white too. It's funny how big a part the pickguard (or lack thereof) plays in the overall look of a guitar.
Had a moment last weekend, final fitting of hardware, the guard was the only thing missing. Decided, f%#@ it and cut a pickguard out of some HDPE I had lying about. Totally different colour than we had agreed on and I would usually have used acrylic, but it totally works and its staying on!
I love it when a plan (or lack thereof) comes together.

keloooe
06-03-2013, 08:09 PM
Quote from Gavin1393 on March 5, 2013, 15:21

Quote from WeirdBits on March 5, 2013, 14:47
Very nice finish, can't wait to see it polished..

How about a clear pickguard and then painting the underside just over the routed areas?

Or, not sure if this would work... match the colour and burst pattern for the routed areas in Photoshop then print that onto a transparency/clear printer film and sandwich that under a clear pickguard. Add some copper shielding tape behind the printed areas on the transparency and you'd have the complete package. I know it's kind of a weird idea, but if it worked it would make it very easy to tweak the colours in Photoshop for the transparency until you get an exact match/blend.



Last paragraph is the way I'd go!
Yes, I would agree with Gavin's choice there, having like a copper - decal - pickguard sandwich!!!

MikeL
07-06-2013, 09:35 PM
Been a while since I posted anything on my ST, unfortunately work and life got in the way but it's now polished and ready for final assembly to start this weekend.

Although I'm happy with the result I know all the imperfections there are on it and have learned a lot from this kit that will benefit me on my next kits.

If you're new to guitar kit building and planning to purchase your dream kit straight up, I would seriously consider getting a practice kit first, as I know for myself, the second kit I'm doing, the SV-1 L is going to be 5 times better and probably 5 times faster too.

I've also decided that once I've completed my next kit (SV-1L) to try something funky. I have an electronics background so designing and building that side of a guitar is cake... The neck I'll buy pre-made coz for me, that's the hard bit. Get a nice bit of wood for the body and the end result will hopefully be something kind of resembling an Eastwood Airline '59 Custom 3P

Imagine this in Dairy Blonde or Goldenrod

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4719623311_9dc1cdafa9_b.jpg

Gavin1393
07-06-2013, 09:48 PM
Might be a bit difficult to strum..... ;)

MikeL
07-06-2013, 10:01 PM
Quote from Gavin1393 on June 7, 2013, 06:48
Might be a bit difficult to strum..... ;)

Strumming is overrated, just look at the thing :D (To me, this is my Les Paul, it's retro funky)

pablopepper
08-06-2013, 12:47 AM
Aren't these guitars made from fibreglass or something?

tcjbrown
08-06-2013, 12:54 AM
Mahogany.

pablopepper
08-06-2013, 01:03 AM
Yep, you're right the Eastwood re-issues are mahogany. The original Airlines are hollow fibreglass (Res-O-Glas).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_%28guitar%29

Fretworn
08-06-2013, 05:46 AM
There is a company in the US that will sell you the fibreglass shells if that's the way you want to go. Can't remember where I found it though.

Brendan
08-06-2013, 12:21 PM
Woah - looks like it could be fun to put together!

dingobass
09-06-2013, 06:25 AM
Man, that's a lot of knobs and switches..... You need to be an electronics engineer to work out what does what :)

Still, a really cool looking Axe.

rhay
11-06-2013, 05:57 AM
Jeebers, what a monster!

Wild design, I don't think anyone would realise that the donor guitar was an ST.

MikeL
11-06-2013, 07:31 AM
Wild design, I don't think anyone would realise that the donor guitar was an ST.

Sorry, you misread, that's my next guitar :) not my ST, my ST is stock :)

Analyst69
23-06-2013, 02:26 PM
Hey Mike

Theres a guitar that looks a lot like the Eastwood for sale on Ebay at the moment. Seems to be a copy made by a company called Harlem. Don't know much about them. Pretty cheap and could be useful if you wanted something to get your dimensions from (if you can't get plans for the Eastwood)...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/6-String-Harlem-electric-Guitar-Retro-humbuckers-/221243772528?pt=AU_Musical_Instruments_Instruments&hash=item3383280e70

Cheers

Darren

MikeL
24-06-2013, 04:51 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Analyst69 on June 22, 2013, 23:26
Hey Mike

Theres a guitar that looks a lot like the Eastwood for sale on Ebay at the moment. Seems to be a copy made by a company called Harlem. Don't know much about them. Pretty cheap and could be useful if you wanted something to get your dimensions from (if you can't get plans for the Eastwood)...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/6-String-Harlem-electric-Guitar-Retro-humbuckers-/221243772528?pt=AU_Musical_Instruments_Instruments&hash=item3383280e70

Cheers

Darren

Thanks Darren, I missed the close time by several hours but I don't believe it sold so I might contact the seller directly, and yes, it does look like a copy of the Eastwood 2P.

Analyst69
24-06-2013, 05:48 AM
Theres a clip of someone playing one of these on youtube too....not sure that it helps to work out if its any good though...definitely an unusual looking guitar :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0V9o0_ZXJM

MikeL
22-10-2014, 12:05 AM
Ok, I took a year off from building because I got distracted by some other projects but recently pulled it back out of the box and finished it. Works perfectly apart from some fret buzz on 1st and 2nd by the nut but going to leave it a few weeks under string tension before messing around with it.

Here's a closeup of the paint job prior to screwing things together (Ignore the dust on the left)...
http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/y.jpg

And here it is all working
http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/x.jpg

wokkaboy
22-10-2014, 12:13 AM
looks awesome Mike, I remember this build ! Would be great if you could get some better daylight pics with it dusted !

zeromick
22-10-2014, 03:32 AM
bloody hell that purple is beautiful!

maxaxe
22-10-2014, 09:37 AM
Richie Blackmore woulda killed for this axe back in the day.
What a superbly blended burst and glassy finish.
How 'bout a photo of that nifty cutaway headstock too now that she's done?

stan
23-10-2014, 01:44 AM
very nice, lets see that awesome head stock...

mike
24-10-2014, 12:24 PM
That's one incredible guitar! Very jealous!
What did you use as the clear coat may I ask?

MikeL
25-10-2014, 01:49 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from mike on October 23, 2014, 21:24
That's one incredible guitar! Very jealous!
What did you use as the clear coat may I ask?

Acrylic white basecoat, then sanded to find imperfections, then re-basecoated.
2 coats of custom mixed large flake metallic purple.
2 cans of Tamiya Smoke, this is a translucent tint paint, one coat looks like sunglasses but I used that to build up the sunburst so the metallic can still be seen through it at any angle and catches the light.
Top coat is just 6 thin layers of automotive clearcoat (spray cans from Supercheap) with the final coat 1200 sanded, then cut, then polished twice.

MikeL
25-10-2014, 08:23 AM
Ok, some pics of it in daylight. I tried some in full sunlight but the metallicness of the paint messed up the photos.
If you click the pics open in a new window you can then click them to full size.

http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/t.jpg


http://www.dark-castle.org.au/pitbull/u.jpg

AJ
25-10-2014, 09:36 AM
mmm looks stunning