Singulum's ST-1M

Hi everyone, greetings. This is my first ever build project in my life. So I'm not even close to be an amateur level guitar builder. Hope you can help me with any suggestions or warning. They all will be well appriciated.

My kits (the other one is also a ST-1M kit but it has a background story so I'm not ready to do both. It will have another diary a few months later) has arrived from a long way at 13rd of February but for work and time management reasons I couldn't give it a go for some time.

Please keep in mind that many of the supplies you have access to, is not available or not easily find here. Anyway, this has to be started. So here it is.

I did a mock up build first to see everything is OK and thanks to Pitbull Guitars, they were. I read many of threads and took some notes and made a list of materials to begin with. I got the materials and decided to shape the headstock first. There were many ideas about the design but keeping the traditional with a hand-drawn style was better.
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I drew the shape on the headstock by a pencil on both sides and with the help of my jigsaw I cut the rough shape. It's better to leave 1- 1,5 mm space from the drawing. It is needed to be filed or rasped before being sanded.
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This is the final shape before sanding.
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After this I dry sanded the neck very well (about 6 hours) beginning with 180 grit down to 400 , in six steps including 220 - 240 - 280 - 320 grits and since it is maple, I did not worry about fluffing . Put the neck away for now.

Next step was to begin the sanding of the body. As it is a basswood body I gave a rub with damp cloth through all surfaces to raise the fibres up. There was some fluffing too. I don't know if I did right but I start sanding without waiting the wood to dry. I began sading with 180 grit followed by 220, 240, 280, 320 and finally down to 400 grits. Between each grit I wiped the body with a clean damp cloth to see new fibres raised and/or clean the surface from dust even I did a good brushing.
Attachment 2332Attachment 2333Attachment 2334Attachment 2335 A little fuel for the engine. Attachment 2336

It was about 10 - 12 hours after I stopped sanding with 400 grit. Then the next week I did another sanding sequence 180 to 400 but this time quicker. 7 - 8 hours maybe? I don't know. My wife asked what was I doing all alone in the balcony since morning.
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And the next day again another sanding sequence.
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It is important that basswood is soft so any little knocks on the wood will cause dents. If it is small, it can fade away by sanding. If not then this forum has enough knowledge to handle it.

There are some different ways to sand the body. But all of them recommend to sand with the graing. Some say the movement is not important and you can sand back-and-forth, some say you should sand in one way and it is to be the water-flow of the grains.

Back-and-forth motion can fill the pores of the body which maybe considered as good. But I think ( I'm no expert here so I may be wrong ) it is better to apply one-way motion and keep the pores open for the base coat.

So after you sanded, sanded and sanded some more, you begin to think that you've sanded enough and that's when you should sand more till you're tired. That's when you should START sanding. Anyway, I checked the surface if it feels right and silky. Then I gave some rub to all surfaces with a pure-alcohol damped cloth to clean the pores from wooddust or any sanding remains.

I think it is ready to get to paint and finish but i need about 7 - 10 days to begin it. For job reasons...

Thanks, see you all...

Looks like good progress with the sanding and like the headstock shape. My wife often wonders what I'm doing in my workshop for hours especially when I'm using sprays etc (I'll be decked out in overalls and respirator). She now calls me Walter (Breaking bad)

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Great start, and great looking food. Hungry now. :)

hey Singulum,

The headstock looks great and it looks like you are making good progress on the sanding! you might want to consider filling the grain before spraying to give a nice mirror finish.

cheers,
Gav.

looks like you are doing a great job.
It also looks like I need to come and eat at your house!
Good work, enjoy