GST-1 build

Hello everyone,

This week my next (3rd) kit arrived, a beautiful gst kit. Nice ash body with a really nice Jatoba fretboard.

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My plan with this one is to have a finish similar to the below guitar. I’m going to use the Shou Sugi Ban method to darken the grain and Karijini red dingotone to get the red look.

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I’m actually a day late on starting this thread so I did a bit of work on it yesterday. These two body modifications have been on my wish list for a while and they work well on this kit- a larger arm contour and a reduced neck pocket heel thingy (what’s the proper name?). I’m happy with the forearm contour, that’s just smoothing out now, but the other I went further than planned due to a large sander. I hope it grows on me and hopefully it looks fine once sanded smooth.

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Here’s the other picture, couldn’t add it above

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I've done similar on a few of mine. Forum uploader only allows 5 pics per post. You can use Imgur and hotlink to get around that.

I’m back with some progress shots.

First off is the smoothed out sanding on the back- came out better than expected and feels very nice.
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Headstock has been shaped and I like it, somewhere between tele and strat.
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Then came the fun part- Fire! Using a blowtorch attached to the bbq gas bottle, I burnt the surface of the wood, darkening the grain and turning the wood a slightly darker colour. This Japanese technique is called Shou Sugi Ban and was actually originally used for waterproofing wood (once burnt and sanded it is sealed with a particular oil). I’ve seen it done a few times on guitars, Crimson guitars over in the UK have done it once or twice on youtube. Anyway this came out extremely well and after some wire brushing, became really textured and 3d. The extra curve on the forearm contour really shows off the burning and brushing.
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Tomorrow is onto staining with some karrijini red dingotone. Contemplating staining the face of the headstock to match, thoughts?

I love it! IMHO it looks much better than the mock-zebrawood. Similar effect and intent, but this looks more natural.

I had a successful morning adding colour to the guitar. I used Karijini red dingotone and man this stuff is nice to use. Definitely going to be using it again in the future.

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I stained the headstock face as well, it feels more complete and whole. I’m loving the colour and can’t wait to put the intensifying coats on as I’ve heard it works wonders.

For a long time I’ve wanted to replicate Jim Root’s jazzmaster (left) yet I prefer what I’ve done- more red and it feels cleaner (if that makes sense). I’m planning my next build and it may well be a jazzmaster in a similar style to this. Could be similar to kiesel’s raw tone finish (right) which I accidentally discovered while sanding this body. I used spray paint to indicate where I had sanded and where I hadn’t (removes highs and lows) and because I had wire brushed the body already, it came out like the below picture. Stunning.

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Oops. The stain on the headstock has come through to the back and seeping down the sides. I’m guessing I can’t sand it off? Does this mean I have to stain the whole neck? Can I with this stain kit, it’s not specified as a neck kit.

You can sand it off, as its oil based it will take a bit of sanding but it will sand out mate. I usually tape it off before staining.

Andy, I thought I couldn’t because the stain has travelled through the headstock and come out the back of it. Same thing happened on the body- applying stain on the back and it came through to the control cavity. If I sand, wouldn’t I keep sanding to it as it ‘fills’ the wood? I’d get rid of the surface stain but then the layer underneath would be stained as well.

Here’s the bottom of the headstock for some visuals-
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Problem- stain went through headstock and onto the back of it. Looked bad, hard to clean up.

Solution- stain the whole neck!

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I’m rather happy that I did this, it looks quite nice and brings out those shiny stripes (minor quilting i think).

Looks great. Nice solution.

I’ve started putting on the intensifying coats of dingo tone and it is looking great!

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It’s been developing little droplets of the stain all over it and I can wipe it away, is this the excess stain being rejected? Must I wipe it away or just leave it?

I can't help you with the droplets question, but that's looking great.
Should be quite stunning when it's done. Nice work.

Just had a thought though... maybe something to do with timber being burnt??? Activated some natural resin within the timber???

Thanks mccreed. It may be that or, along that train of thought, the fact it was in the sun most of the day, warming it up quite a bit.

You'll have a mix of components, so one probably liquefied before the others in the heat. Never a great idea to dry finishes in direct sunlight and letting them get very hot (unless you've got a UV curing finish).

Thanks Simon, I’ll keep that in mind.