new project sta-1m

Hello everyone, I am new to this site, just ordered a sta-1m kit from Adam this week. I have built a couple of kits last Christmas various other suppliers whose names shall not be mentioned, one sg style for my son and an lp style for myself. I have found this forum most helpful and informative, and not bad for a laugh also. I am planning to put this build on the forum so any advice would be great, hoping the kit will turn up next week, until then I will try to work out how to post photos of my two other builds. Attachment 3209Attachment 3210Attachment 3211Attachment 3212

Welcome DK, plenty of friendly advice here.
But from the look of your builds, you'll probably be giving it !

Welcome to the forum DK. The ST is a great kit looking forward to seeing this progress.

Thanks Andrew, big fan of your es-1 cant wait for the st-1 to get here. just have to remind myself to take time with this one.

Hey D.K welcome to the forum! Nice SG and LP!
My Strat came out beautifully under a nice stain, I'm certain the ash will really pop if you can get a really nice colour scheme!!

Cheers,
Callum

Thanks Callum, that strat of yours did come out nice. Haven't decided what colour scheme yet , thought I would wait and see what the grain looks like when it gets here. Would like to try the black dye to pop the grain then a mahogany red dye with a gloss clear finish and a light stained timber or aluminium pickgaurd, or possibly a lightly stained body and a darker pickgaurd not really sure yet

Both sound like good plans DK! Also cheers for the comments about my Strat!
You could do anything over a black grain pop, just not black... Maybe try a red / mahogany burst? Might need to add another colour in between them to get the blend better.

I agree with Dad(D.K) your guitar was pretty good callum

Welcome to the forum Matney (and cheers for the comment)! The Strat I built wasn't perfect I'll have to admit, the only real flaws in it were the headstock shape being a little rough and I misdrilled the holes for the string trees, but other than that the kit is great for starting out. Plus the stocl pickups will sound better than you think.

We went with the stock pups in the sg kit and they sound pretty good for stock. The lp has got a set of entwhistle X3's in it with a push/pull 500k volume pot for coil splitting that sound pretty cool, although my playing doesn't do them justice [only been playing six months].the finish on the paul isn't great but will enjoy redoing it at some stage. I was planning to put a set of lace pups in the strat but will have to check out the stock pups now that you have said that.

Welcome DK & Matney!

welcome DK and Matney,
the SG and LP builds look fantastic.
The STA-1M kits are great. Start a build diary when it arrives and look forward to pics of the mock build

kit arrived in the mail today, yaaaaay. I have to say thanks to Adam for the fast delivery, body grain looks real nice, only a small amount of movement in neck pocket(not even enough to be concerned about), pickguard and tremolo fit nice with no real gaps, very happy :o. Only problem now is trying to work out how I am going to finish it. Too many ideas going through my head since the grain is so pretty.

hey DK, awesome the kit arrived.
Please post some pics of the body/neck and let us know what stain plans you have. These ash kits look great in any colour from what I've seen on the forum and built myself.
Grab a Dingotone stain kit, start sanding and go from there !
Take your time, best builds are done slowly

Attachment 3258Attachment 3259Attachment 3260Attachment 3261

looks great DK.
Just glad the factory hasn't put a veneer on these like they have with the other ash kits latest IB-5 and TLA-1 models

yeah it's nice to know that you can't sand through a cap or veneer, one less thing to worry about.

Started planing down some pine today for a pickguard idea. Thinking of recessing the body for a flush stained timber unit, down to about 5mm from 19mm so far, still a bit more to go and a huge mess in my shed for Matney to clean up.Attachment 3279Attachment 3280 sorry the pics are a bit blurry but you get the idea.

that kit looks great, enjoy guys

Nice plan DK! Always get the son to do all the hard work... Don't worry Matney, my dad makes me do stuff all the time...

wow thats alot of planing DK, so you lost 14mm off the thickness ? could you have bought a thinner piece of pine ?

good workout though !

yeh Wokka but it was an electric planer and I was just playing around with stuff layng around in the shed . Besides Matney just loves all the cleaning up.

When it's my starcaster I'll be do the cleaning, this is your mess D.K!;)

Hey everyone, finally got a whole day at home to play with my st1. The pine pickguard I'm making was giving me all sorts of greif, spent three hours making a template perfect only to have the depth adjustment on the router slip and gouge the template and picckguard while doing my final route, managed to save the pickguard (just a touch smaller than original). Took one photo during cutting the pickup holes, then Matney went to his mates place and took the camera with him. Pickguard now finished, body sanded to 240 grit and grainfilled. Can anyone tell me a drying time for Timbermate when used as a grainfiller, I live in Townsville NQ. so not cold here.

Depends on the wood, but Timbermate is known for having quick drying times.

Attachment 3318Attachment 3319
just worked out how to upload photo from my galaxy s5, timbermate touch dry already, should be ok by morning I think

Nice job on the pickguard!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks Andrew it took some work

Yeah I second that! Pickguard looks awesome DK. Well worth the hours you put into it!

cheers,
Gav.

Welcome along guys - looking great so far.

Hi DK, that pickguard looks sensational well done, I can only imagine how many hours went into it !
I'll be in Townsville 9-14th July for the V8 Supercars so may even pay a visit if I can get to your place. I'll be staying on the southern side of Castle Hill (can't remember the suburb)
As for timbermate should cure in a few hours so overnight will be fine to sand it

Beautiful pickguard DK! Looks really nice!

looking good, love the pickguard

Thanks for the great feedback guys, if it turns out half as good as the strats I have seen you blokes produce I will be stoked. Finished sanding grain fill, still tossing up what to do with body thinking of a more natural finish now though.
Attachment 3331

Yeah DK I'd go natural on that beast, if you didn't already do the grain fill I would have recommended some dark Timbermate to pop the grain, but I think you already filled the body... Anyway, natural would be really nice!

Thanks Callum, I did put some mahogany colortone ito the grainfill just for that subtle pop, I didn't want anything too dark, I used a dark stain on my spalted lp and it almost hid all the grain, wanted this one to be light and bright.

Wait till you see me Frankenpester when it's done DK (if you haven't seen it, it's in the "Non Pit Bull Guitars Gear" subforum), I'm going to use ebony Timbermate on an ash body, did a quick test yesterday and it shall look pretty sweet!

Oh don't worry Callum I've been keeping a close eye on your Frankenpester, very keen to see that one rocking. Okay so I stained yhe pickguard with a jarrah stain and it came out alright, the body I did with a Baltic pine and it came out a little darker than I wanted so I gave it alight sand with 400 to lighten it up a bit, fairly happy with it now, should be able to get a coat of clear on it tis afternoon.
Will post pic shortly when camera wants to play.

picsAttachment 3332 ready for clear

Very nice DK! That grain is gonna pop once the clear goes on. Love the contrast in the pickguard.

cheers,
Gav.