DrNomis_44's Gold Standard STA-1M Build.

[DrNomis_44]

Hey Doc, sounds like a plan. Best get the cut and polish from an Auto store. Try and get Meguiars are good

No worries, I'll put that Meguiars Cut and Polish on my shopping list then.

Feel free to check out my progress with the HotRod Strat when you get some free time, I just gave the body a light sand and I'm going to give it a third coat of the Metallic Blue paint shortly.

[Zandit75]

If you big green shed is set like mine(They all are set up to a similar plan) below where you find the normal square cut pieces of sand paper, you will find some plastic wrapped rolls of paper about 10-15cms wide. there is a 1200 W&D available in the roll which is about 1mtr long. Should only cost you about $3.

[DrNomis_44]

If you big green shed is set like mine(They all are set up to a similar plan) below where you find the normal square cut pieces of sand paper, you will find some plastic wrapped rolls of paper about 10-15cms wide. there is a 1200 W&D available in the roll which is about 1mtr long. Should only cost you about $3.

Cheers mate, I think I remember where i found the sandpaper in my local Big Green Shed, so I'll give that area a check when I go there next Tuesday.

[wazkelly]

Hey guys, the BGSFOS only stocks up to 1200 grit and you will need to buy 1500 & 2000 from an Auto shop such as Autobarn or Supacheap.

Wouldn't recommend going too hard at it using 600 or 800 as those babies will strip it bare in no time at all. Suggest starting with 1200 first and see how that goes and if it looks like a bit more cut is required then drop down a notch to the next heavier grit paper.

Surprising how much cut there is in 1500 too and don't forget to keep rinsing the paper in a bucket of clean water every few passes to stop things clogging up which can also lead to hard shiny spots then introducing unwanted scratches in the surface.

Just remember, slow and steady wins the race.

[DrNomis_44]

Hey guys, the BGSFOS only stocks up to 1200 grit and you will need to buy 1500 & 2000 from an Auto shop such as Autobarn or Supacheap.

Wouldn't recommend going too hard at it using 600 or 800 as those babies will strip it bare in no time at all. Suggest starting with 1200 first and see how that goes and if it looks like a bit more cut is required then drop down a notch to the next heavier grit paper.

Surprising how much cut there is in 1500 too and don't forget to keep rinsing the paper in a bucket of clean water every few passes to stop things clogging up which can also lead to hard shiny spots then introducing unwanted scratches in the surface.

Just remember, slow and steady wins the race.

Cheers, I'll make sure I remember that, I think I know where there's a Repco shop I could try to see if they stock any 1500 and 2000 grit wet and dry paper, they might not but it's always worth a try anyway.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

Finally did a big order of some stuff from Realtone Music, amongst the bits and pieces I ordered are a set of Gold Sperzel Trim Lock Tuners, they are a set of 6 Staggered-height Tuners with a 12:1 Gear Ratio, the Staggered-Height means that no string-trees are needed to get the brake-angle of the D and G, and B and E strings correct, this eliminates one possible cause of tuning problems due to friction, I also ordered a complete set of new Gold Pickguard screws, and Gold Single-Coil mounting screws too, I have elected to keep using the original gold Neck Plate, but I'm using a set of four Black Neck mounting screws cause I think they look cool on the back of the Gold Strat.

Hopefully all the bits I've ordered will turn up in the post by either the end of this week or maybe sometime next week, then the following fortnight is when the new Bladerunner Bridge will be ordered.


Exciting times ahead, cause the build process is going to be reaching it's conclusion and the Gold Strat will hopefully be playable again, will keep you all updated so stay tuned.

[Andy40]

Interested to hear about and see some pics of the staggered height tuners, im not a fan of string trees.

[DrNomis_44]

Interested to hear about and see some pics of the staggered height tuners, im not a fan of string trees.

No worries, when the new Sperzel Tuners arrive in the post, and they've been installed on the neck, I'll definitely post some pics, I'm not really a fan of String trees either, so if there's a way to eliminate them then that's something I'm definitely going to be interested in, I decided to give the Sperzel Tuners a go this time round cause I had been reading lots of good things about them on the internet, apparently they are the best tuners you can buy, they're used by lots of professional musicians so they must live up to their reputation of being good, I'm always willing to use the best stuff I can buy for my money, I had a chrome Supervee Bladerunner Bridge on my Mexican Strat and it was definitely a good upgrade from the stock bridge, it did make the guitar sound better to my ears, I'll document the installation of both the new Sperzel Tuners and Bladerunner Bridge with pics of the installation-process too so you can see what's involved.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Went to the Big Green Shed to buy a few things and realized that my budget was a bit tight, anyway, I was looking for the cans of White Knight Super Gold so I could buy another one and found out that they were sold out, and someone had bought the last two boxes that were in the warehouse, so, I had to come to a compromise and ended up buying a tin of Gold Paint that was of the same formula as the Super Gold, the downside is that it has to be applied with a paintbrush rather than sprayed on, but the upside is that I have enough paint to do 20 odd coats, I managed to get some 1200 Grit wet and dry sandpaper, a couple of paint brushes, and a bottle of Mineral Turpentine for cleaning-up, I might see if I can do a coat of Gold Paint on the Gold Strat body tomorrow after I've given it a light sand to smooth out any un-evenness.

[wokkaboy]

Doc no idea how the finish will look with a brush, would have been worth waiting for the spray can, you must have a few green sheds in Darwin you can check for stock ?
Also the mineral turps has some nasty chemicals in it, best get gum turpentine is much safer to use