CNKXU1 ST1 build

Dan, lots of cheap stuff available from ebay, probably seconds and excess stock but suits my purpose. Only spent about $100 on almost three guitar builds worth of pickguards, pickups, machine heads, tremolos, 500k push-pull pots, string retainers, strap buttons, screws, copper shielding. Helps if you are handy with a soldering iron and can rewire things. I can get it going with cheap stuff to give a basic idea and then upgrade as required.
I am probably going to stick with the black pearl and vintage yellow neck and headstock according to the original plan. I can always swap back to some chrome bits to lighten it up. But the red does have a certain appeal.

[DanMade]

Cool, that combo sounds great.

I figured you must of got a few bargains on eBay.

Back again after finding my account had been deleted. Thanks Adam for the explanation and the quick response.
Just saw Glenn's tele removal of plastic nut and it got me thinking about a bone nut and Gavin's comment. Might as well investigate doing it properly, so I will delay the neck finish. Maybe post a few more mockup pics this weekend of all the variations I have available.
I also have my copper tape now so I can start shielding the cavities.

[cnkxcu1]

Been away from the project for a while with other distractions but I have now completed the neck and shielding of the ST1. Stuck all the copper tape wherever I could. I put a small bolt and nut with the bridge earth wire through from the rear to the front and that connects the front and back cavity shielding and the wire on the bridge tensioner, so I do not have to disconnect the earth wire if I remove the pickguard. Covered the underside of the pickguard with aluminium foil, rearranged all grounds to a star arrangement connected to a tagstrip mounted on a pot body to hold all the earths to prevent ground loops with a separate shield earth, added a 0.47 uF high voltage capacitor from shield to earth to prevent electrical shock from faulty amps, added separate capacitors for neck and bridge tone and rewired the switch so tone controls are independent and there is no middle tone control. Should withstand anything except a direct lightning strike.

[gavinturner]

Wow great work on the shielding and electrics. Can't have far to go now!

cheers,
Gav.

[cnkxcu1]

Thanks Gav - I can make a project last years. Just discovered the pickups are grounded through the signal earth wire, so a change to the cable with two cores and a shield. Then I started thinking should I rewire to make the pickups switchable from humbucker to single with a push pull switch for the tone pots. No, stick to the plan and get it finished.

[gavinturner]

Well, a build is a double edged sword. You want to finish it so you can play it, but you don't want to finish it because building is so much fun. Know exactly how easily you can drag it out!

Cheers,
Gv.

[Brendan]

Nicely done! Dumb, ludite question - "0.47uF high voltage capacitor from shield to earth" - just running a wire from your earth via the cap to your shielding?

May be the photo, but is there a loose strand of wire on your middle tone pot where your cap is joined?

BTW - love the black hardware on the black body.

[cnkxcu1]

Gav, also picking up so many ideas for the next build, it is hard to resist incorporating them all into this one.

Brendan, I will try to draw up a schematic and post, but as far as a description goes: the high voltage cap is underneath the tagstrip and hard to see - it goes from signal ground to the shield which then goes to the strings, so any mains voltages that might appear on the signal or signal ground because of an amp fault will not be presented to the strings as the cap isolates them. The two tone pots each have a wire coming from the switch and a cap that goes to signal ground. I insulated the legs of the capacitors as they travel a fair distance and I did not want them touching anything else. There is a little bit of the cap leg sticking out where I have not trimmed it yet on the middle pot. Signal ground is the tagstrip terminal on the right and has the two caps, the signal grounds from the three pickups and a black wire going to the volume pot. I have not connected the output yet and that will have the live signal on the middle position of the volume pot and signal ground on the black wire.

[Brendan]

Sounds great - always looking for ways to improve what I do! Learning daily here!