First Kit Build - Strat

Greetings all,

Yesterday I received my GST-1 kit in the mail, it's technically my second kit build - I built a LP kit some 10 years ago for a school project that is quite unplayable and I had a lot of help to assemble, so I don't really count that. Some background for the build, I play in a band where occasionally I'm playing bowed guitar with a cello bow, it gets sticky rosin all over the strings and guitar so whichever guitar I use for this I can't then use for regular playing, I've been using my American Standard Strat the last while but it's much too nice a guitar to only be able to play occasionally for bowing. So I've decided to build a cheap(ish) kit guitar specifically to be used as a bowing guitar.

https://i.imgur.com/xEOeeaXl.jpg

The goal is to build a vintage style olympic white strat with a mint pickguard, something like the below (I'm still contemplating whether or not to try some light relicing, which I'm sure might make many people's skin crawl to hear as I know it's a divisive subject!). I got the chrome hardware kit with the guitar but I plan to upgrade a number of these parts, namely the bridge, tuning pegs, pickguard (obviously) and, when the time comes to wire it all together, likely the pickups too.

https://i.imgur.com/mUucLQ3l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yQk8e7al.jpg

Look forward to hearing any thoughts people have on the build!

Cool! I like the colour combo you're going with; nice choice. And relic away, I say!

OW + Mint = 💖💖💖💖

Just play it lots and it'll relic right up. Love the colour choice, almost Malmsteen

Your guitar man, if you want it relic’d then go for it.
Cool project

Hi and welcome. I'm all for a light relic.

Welcome Nick. Enjoy the build.

My take on relic-ing is that it will happen naturally if you do a light finish and play it alot. This will also look much more realistic. Guitars need to earn their scars.

You'll need to use suitable finishes for some relicing. You'd generally head towards nitrocellulose, which isn't the most user-friendly finish to use. The main benefit of reliced guitars I feel is the attention given to the neck, with rolled edges making them very comfortable to play.

Wow !
Nice model ! ;)
I'll personnaly do a vintage white with tortoise pickguard JM-1, personnaly i'll use some nitro-cellulose varnish/paint but didn't put other varnish on it, so it'll naturally relic ! ;)

Sounds great Nick!

Relic away I say. Just not to the point of abused or dragged behind a car like some relic jobs.

That body's grain pattern demands a translucent Olympic White "Mary Kaye" style.

Attachment 24570

If you want to have a guitar that looks relic'ed then give it a shot. Some experimentation is part of the fun of kit building. As others have mentioned just choose your type of finish accordingly. Also don't over do it! You can always take off more finish, but you can't put it back on.

Well, you can put it back on, but it isn't easy and is normally easier to strip everything back and start again if you want it to look good.

Thanks for all the comments/tips everyone - surprised (and pleased) to see all the support for relicing!
I'm going to spend this weekend planning out the project and working out what hardware/paint etc to go for. Does anyone have recommendations on brands for hardware or paint as well as places to buy them from? I'm in Adelaide so if there's shops here then that'd be great but I'm guessing I'll more likely be looking at Australian online retailers

If you are set on relic-ing try and buy or borrow a copy of this book. He goes into detail on one of the builds on how to approach it, including ageing the hardware.

https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1...l/13196596.jpg

I've mentioned it before, but the workshop section of The Guitar Magazine's website has a lot of re-build and ageing projects and is well worth a browse. http://www.theguitarmagazine.com/workshop/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

I've mentioned it before, but the workshop section of The Guitar Magazine's website has a lot of re-build and ageing projects and is well worth a browse. http://www.theguitarmagazine.com/workshop/

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Good link, Simon. Cheers.

Would love to see if everything lines up and your feedback on this kit. Been eyeing off the GTL myself but have been waiting to see what pepole think about the kits from the new supplier! Following :)

Had a chance to do some work on it today. Started by shaping the headstock, used a coping saw and lots of sanding. There's a couple bumps in it where the coping saw got away from me a bit but it's largely pretty good and I'm happy with it. Also measured out the position for the bridge and have drilled two guide holes for the top and bottom screws ready to line it up when I have finished the body - hoping to head to Bunnings and get some wood filler tomorrow and make a start on finishing the body.

https://i.imgur.com/2BPsOILl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jvaUrfMl.jpg

A couple notes in case they help other people because I didn't realise these things prior. I bought vintage style Gotoh bridge and tuners. The block in the bridge is actually like a millimetre deeper than the body of this kit so it pokes out the tiniest bit (I'm not sure if this may be brought back to flush once I float the bridge when setting up). I usually take the tremolo covers off on Strats so doesn't bother me too much. For a reference the block on the bridge I bought is 42mm so anything less than that should sit within the body. I also found that the standard bushings that come with the vintage tuners aren't big enough for the holes that are predrilled in the headstock - these are 10mm so will need to buy the 10mm adaptor bushings to be able to install the tuning pegs.

Finally I'll end with a question – does anyone know where I can get a mint green strat pickguard? RealParts are sold out and the only ones I can find are overseas and cost like $40 or something ridiculous like that to get shipped here

Nice headstock shaping.

You mentioned 'wood filler' in your post above. Hopefully this was just a typo as you should be using 'grain filler' for the body. Wood filler is for filling holes and is coarser than grain filler. Grain filler, being finer, fills the pores better than wood filler. The smaller particles means it has less structural strength than wood filler, so you wouldn't want to use it to fill large holes. Horses for courses.

It will be fun build project. I've always liked the Strats, with one exception. The volume control gets in my way on occasion. Waiting for pics when your done. Best choice on the color.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Howard Connelly

The volume control gets in my way on occasion..

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Being strictly a fingers only player it does for me too, but also the middle pickup. Hence...Attachment 24721

Cheers, Mark

You could always get a custom pickguard made with holes for a master volume and master tone, with nothing in the normal volume control position.

King Casey, your Strat seems to have the volume control a bit further from the strings than a standard Strat and the three controls look quite bunched up. I take it that was deliberate?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

You could always get a custom pickguard made with holes for a master volume and master tone, with nothing in the normal volume control position.

King Casey, your Strat seems to have the volume control a bit further from the strings than a standard Strat and the three controls look quite bunched up. I take it that was deliberate?

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Yes Simon. It was a blank with just 4 screw holes so I could locate the pickups and volume/tone holes where I wanted.

cheers, Mark.

Ohhh man. I am super jealous of this kit. love love love it!:o

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Andy40

Ohhh man. I am super jealous of this kit. love love love it!:o

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I see a strat build in Andy’s future.