-
Hey Guys, I’m back for another go.
Hopefully I will stay motivated a bit longer than last time. If I’m not careful I’ll have more comebacks than Johnny Farnham. lol.
To try and shake off this wretched malaise I recently upgraded all my PB guitars with bone nuts, and fitted some Tonerider ACII pups into my “Tele Thinline”. That got the creative juices flowing again.
So I finally started on the STA-1M kit which has sat untouched, in the box, for about 6 months. I must admit to being a bit disappointed with the Ash body. Not quite the figure I was hoping for, but I intend to grain fill, so hopefully that will do the trick.
Seeing as I have already built two standard “Strats”, I thought I would do something different and go with a HSH Pickup configuration on this one. Not sure yet exactly how I will wire it up but I will be coil splitting the HB’s and run with only master volume and tone, leaving a spare hole in the scratch plate for a 4PDT switch.
I started by taking out the black plastic fret dots and replacing them with Pau shell. First time attempt so I made heaps of “rookie” mistakes but as the maple neck will have a few coats of Tru-Oil I think I might be able to get away with it. If it was a rosewood fretboard I think I would have to take them all out and start again.
I also leveled and dressed the frets and replaced the plastic nut with a bone one. I will have to wait until the guitar is assembled before I slot the nut, but it has been filed down to size.
Today I started exaggerating the belly and forearm cuts. We’ve got to make each guitar unique, haven’t we?
Some photos of the progress so far.
Cheers
rob
Photos - before-during-after
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con.../sxej0-002.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con.../9k5yu-004.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con.../jo25y-001.JPG
-
welcome back Robin, good to have you on the forum again building. Dot inlays look choice
-
Great to have you back Rob.
-
Thanks Warren and Scott, hopefully I will last a bit longer than last time. ;)
As mentioned earlier I was a bit disappointed with the figure of this Ash kit. I had plans to try something a bit different but as the wood is quite plain I decided to just grain fill, sand down to 600 grit and slop on a few coats of T.O.
Hopefully she will look OK, but as I have said on previous builds, for me, playability and sound are far more important than looks. I dearly love all my guitars and this one is going to be no different.
Cheers guys, I'll keep you posted.
rob
Photo of body ready for first coats of T.O.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...m1qq-001-2.JPG
-
Hey Rob, good to hear from you again,agreed normally the ash kits have more figured grain but sure it will come up nice with a few coats of TO.
Please keep us updated as the clear coats go on
-
Great to see you building again Rob. The shell inlay looks great. Another GOTM in the making!
Cheers,
Gav.
-
Thanks Gav, but a GOTM contender? I don't think so. Lol
Still not motivated enough to be bothered to stain it, thinking that the natural look would be OK. But with just a couple of coats of T.O. it has just turned a nondescript dull brownish blah colour. I haven't seen a colour like this before, so its certainly going to be unique. I'm hoping that by the time I get a heap more coats on, it will darken up a bit.
I'm not too worried as this guitar will probably be a bit of a test bed for trying out pickups and wiring options. I think the pickups I have got may be a little mismatched so I have got heaps of wiring options running though my head at present.
Me, a soldering iron and electricity? What could possibly go wrong lol.
Cheers mate
rob
-
looking forward to the pics Rob :)
-
Looking good already Robin - great to see someone else trying out dot replacement. Doesn't look like too bad a job Robin!
-
Thanks AJ and Brendan. Really appreciate the encouragement guys.
Well, with 4 coats of TO she has darkened up a little, but still not a striking colour. With a dozen or more coats to go she may end up looking OK, here’s hoping.
It’s a shame that all the good figure in on the back.
Cheers guys
rob
Photos - before and after the first few coats of TO
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...3u94-001-2.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...f1jt-001-3.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...50ct-002-3.JPG
