Gavins Aqua Surfer ST-1

hi guys,

Received an exciting package this week - a new ST-1 kit for my neice's birthday in December. She has requested an 'Aqua' electric guitar, so the plan is to create a custom colour based on Surfer Girl and adding a little T-Bird to the mix. Very exciting stuff.

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This will be my first build with Wudtone, (trumpets sound!!) and my first attempt at mixing a custom colour, and a guitar that's going out as a present, so I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing. I have also ordered a Vintage Amber neck finishing kit.

I'm in the middle of putting together a dry-run build at the moment. The whole strat thing is a mystery to me, so I'm just working out where the springs go ;). So far I have managed to swap out the original scratch plate with a nice perloid one. Had an interesting time worrying about whether the selection switch knob would come off, but finally my puny IT arms managed to budge it ;).

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As soon as I am sure that I can correctly seat the neck, bridge and scratchplate (and those pesky tremelo springs) I'll tackle the sanding and Wudtone.

Stay tuned!

cheers,
Gavin.

Good stuff! I'm still deciding whether the ST-1 or TL-1 will be next up, but also looking to use Wudtone next. Very keen to see how you go mate :)

awesome Gav. Put Strat Trem Springs into Google and a bunch of pics, info and youtubes show up.

Great work Gav - good to see us IT types can achieve feats of strength :). Good luck with the colour!

Quote:

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Brendan on September 14, 2013, 20:20
Great work Gav - good to see us IT types can achieve feats of strength :). Good luck with the colour!

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Hmm, my wife may have loosened it for me. At least that's her story ;).

Cheers,
Gavin.

hi guys,

I should have been working today (that code's not going to cut itself), but I worked on the strat instead. Not a difficult decision that one. I managed to get the whole guitar assembled for a test fit and also shaped the headstock. The headstock isn't perfect - i might shape it a little more with sand paper before the wudtone starts - but I'm happy enough for now. Having not done a strat before, I sweated a bit over the bridge placement, but I think it nailed it with the help of the Stewmac fret calculator and my trusty metal ruler. Time will tell on that one I guess.

cheers,
Gavin.
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That pearl scratch plate looks nice. I'm contemplating the same on mine just not sure what colour pearl to go with.

hi guys,
More progress today. I finished sanding the neck with 240, 360 and 400 grit. I raised the grain at 360 with methylated spirits and again at 400. Managed to splash a little metho on the rosewood fretboard and the black dye immediately ran. Of course it ran straight onto the maple neck. Not too bad to clean it up, but I won't be making that mistake again!

With the neck sanded I was able to start applying the Vintage Amber Wudtone. I have to say this stuff is everything the experts here in the forum say it is. Of course all you guys already know this - it is me who is the late comer to this particular party! ;)

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One base coat is on, and now I have to wait 2 days for the next coat. The colour is not quite even on the front of the headstock (maybe I put too much on?) but i'm hoping it will even up on the next coat. While I'm waiting for it to dry, it's time to get the body preped for my custom 'Aqua' colour mix.

cheers,
Gavin.

Great! Look forward to seeing the body work!

hi guys,

A lot of progress in the last week. I have mixed my custom Wudtone colour by combining Surfer Girl and T-Bird in equal measure. The colour looks nice, but I'm having a devil of a time getting a good photo of it. Photos either look green or blue depending on the amount of light! I'm getting the Wudtone on, and trying desperately to resist putting it on too thickly (and failing I think). The finish is looking a little streaky as a result. Anyone have some sage advice? Here you can see coat 1 and coat 2. See the colour difference due to the lighting conditions? Wierd. It's the same if i try to photo the bottle!

http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...ei-coat1+2.jpg

Anyway, I attached my custom decal to the headstock and am applying the clear coats with a small brush. The second coat of clear went on very thickly (despite all care) and visible streaks have set in the finish (when you hold it up to the light). I'm thinking about wet sanding it back. Anyone have more advice for me on this score? I'm quite worried about this one as the headstock is a very important (ie visible) part of the build.

http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...4-20_small.jpg

cheers,
Gavin.

Looking great - nice job!

Headstock looks great... I am not into Strats normally but that looks very cool!!

hi guys,

Got the 6th colour coat on the body today. Looking pretty damn good. My neice should be pleased. No sure how many more coats to put on. Want a pretty uniform colour, but I would like to see a little wood underneath. One more and that'll probably be it.

cheers,
Gavin.
http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...44sl-coat6.jpg

looks fantastic Gav, she will love the colour for sure

Looks great Gav, the darker colour than surfer girl suits the strat for sure. Love the headstock and decal. One more coat should do it fine. Do you hang the body in the shower for curing ? good work indeed !!

Nice green, almost hear the surf crashing.

thanks guys.
@Wokka: yeah the shower is the only place out of the way that's clean ;). No chance of the kids bumping it there. BTW, I can't wait to see that LP-1 in Aramathine and Black Flames!!! Wicked.

cheers,
Gavin.

Good work Gav u must take all measures necessary to keep the axe safe.
Yes looking forward to the LP-1 kit arriving and starting the black stripe/ama combo, should turn out well, those kits are great value for the finish you can get on them

Hi guys,

I finally finished the Wudtone clear coats (high gloss no aging) a week ago and have been waiting (im)patiently for the finish to cure. Ok, so I waited a week. A month would have been better, but hey, who can wait that long?? :P Anyway after 6 coats of clear the body was looking pretty good. There were a few subtle streaks in the clear finish (I probably put it on too thick) but in general it set strong, hard and flat. The finish wasn't a 'mirror' finish by any stretch but it was, um, shiny. Obviously more work was required to buff it out. Not a problem! With my trusty Stewmac ColorTone Polishing Compounds to hand, I set to work.

I successively applied the Medium, Fine and Swirl Remover compounds to the body using good old elbow-grease and a piece of old t-shirt. My shoulders were aching by the end, but the result was worth it. The finish is quite a deal shinier now and I'm pretty happy with it!

http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...2495_small.JPG

The next step (Wudtone purists please look away at this point) is to add a coating of poly over the top of the finish. To be honest, I'm pretty happy with the finish as it is (Wudtone comes up trumps!), but a few coats of poly will protect the finish a lot better during it's hard life to come. As I found with Eben's flaming monster, you can't have enough protection on a kid's guitar. I mean it's hard to get a guitar through the doorway when it's on the strap and you've got a peanut butter sandwich in one hand and a laptop in the other. It's basic physics.



cheers,
Gavin.

looks great Gav, looks like its glossy enough with the poly over the extra gloss wudtone. DB may send you to the naughty corner for doing that, but hey it looks good.
So you should have this bolted together for November GOTM ?

Thanks Wokka. Actually the poly hasn't gone on yet. The gloss should deepen substantially with it on. I might make November, who knows! I have more work on the Wudtone neck kit to do, and I really should let the poly cure as well once it is on (I'll probably only last a week there too) so I shouldn't make November but probably will. ;)

cheers,
Gavin.

yer I'm the same Gav, don't like waiting for curing time, hence I have 5 projects on the go at once !

Looking good Gav another nice looking axe

Ok change of plans.
I'm going to use deluxing compound to provide an outer finish rather than poly. Has anyone tried this with Wudtone before?

Cheers,
Gavin.

Last coats of protective poly are on now and I've left it a couple of days to cure. Today I got the shielding finished in the pickup cavity and the output jack. I used copper foil to line the cavities, and it took quite a while to do that whole swimming pool the strat sports. still need to run some foil along the edges to contact the scratch plate shielding (and create the complete faraday cage), but I'll do that after I finish final polish - stewmac medium, fine and swirl remover compunds, one after the other. To make sure the cavities are electrically joined, I also ran a wire from the main cavity to the output jack and soldered it in. That's the beauty of this foil - just solder straight to it. Love it. Anyway, this baby is almost ready for assembly. Just some rubbing and a couple of sore shoulders and it will be sweet.

http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...58tz-image.jpg

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Cheers,
Gavin.

looks great, that sure is some neat shielding

Looks fantastic! So the ColorTone Polishing Compounds from Stewmac make the Wudtone finish even more shiny? Or just smooth things out?

Also with the Poly, what is it exactly and how did you apply it? I'm quite happy with the Wudtone finish but wouldn't mind that bit of extra clear/shine? Just not sure how to do it!

@Matt: yes I had good success polishing up the Wudtone gloss finish with my Colortone polishing compounds. You can get a really nice shine this way.I did, however sand to 400 grit before starting the Wudtone. This may have played a part but I can't say. I don't think you could go wrong with polishing compound. I would not recommend poly over Wudtone usually - it kinda defeats the purpose. Only doing it this time because the guitar is going to a young kid and protecting the finish was deemed more important that the tone. Having said that, the poly over the already polished Wudtone is very shiny indeed!

CHeers!

I should have been cutting code today, but instead I started polishing at 8:30 and by 4:00 the strat was all but complete. I polished with the Stewmac Colortone compounds and then slowly added all the hardware. It's really come up nicely.

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Now back in the early eighties, I was a happy go lucky high-school lad. Unfortunately, a little band called Dire Straights and their 'Money for Nothing' release cured me of ever wanting to wield a strat til the end of my dying days. However, I am pleased to say that this build has been the cathartic experience I needed to wipe away the horrors of a bygone millennium. This baby sings. It's stock from end to end (except for the perloid scratchplate) and it's a pleasure to play.

My niece will be stoked with how it's turned out. This is my second build in a row that isn't ending up on my wall and I must say I'm gutted to be giving this one away. I'm definitely going to have to build one for myself now!

cheers,
Gavin.

More pictures

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cheers,
Gavin.

I am sorry I don't understand the language i am 71 & have been sick .I just when it is arriving. Itried to google Phil Andrew & all i got was problems . Jim

@ Gav, wow that looks sensational, love the colour and the finish is superb. You really need to start building for YOUR collection !
@ Jim, not sure I understand what you are saying, are you trying to contact Phil ?

wudtone product specialists .

Jim, if you are trying to contact Phil, email him at dingobass@pitbullguitars.com
he distributes the wudtone in Australia/NZ and other countries I'm not sure about

great Gav, makes me want to play surf guitar music

Hey Gav, that looks stunning, absolutely stunning. Love the way the body and the neck set each other off. Man!

Very good job Gavin.

Very nice! It looks like a solid colour at some angles!