Gav's STA-1

[Nickosaurus]

so much want. I've already got 2 strats hanging on my wall.. A third might be nice. :P

[keloooe]

Thanks for the kind words @rob! I'm slowy building some finishing skills, but still a long way to go. Learned a lot from this build about lacquer over bare wood.

@andrew, LOL thankfully this axe isn't red!! :P maybe callum could post a video of this?? TBH i'm a bit ignorant of hank and his footwork so I better do some youtube research!!

cheers,
Gav.

Maybe, might just have to keep your eyes open
Damn Gav, absolutely amazing job *applauds Gav's work*! Only downside I can see is the amber neck, just like Wokka pointed out, clear would be better although it does suit the build a bit with the gold bling. Still I'd drop it a point or two if I were judging.

Other than that, stunning build mate! Also Nicko, yeah, I'd like a third Strat hehehehe

[oli4vd]

Sweet looking thing!

[gavinturner]

Thanks guys for all the kind words. Callum - dissing the Amber neck?? Man that's harsh! 😜 it's Vintagy goodness!! But dude, I agree with you. Don't tell the GOTM judges I said that!

cheers,
Gav.

[dave.king1]

G'day Gav,

Firstly, bloody stunning

What did you use to get the grain to pop like that under the stain, I'd like strong but filled grain in the STA which in its still in the box state is very pale.

I have a choice of either neutral and teak timber mate in the shed with which level the grain to get a glassy finish but hope the finish is similar to yours but with an ebony rather than blue tone.

My mongrel Tele had very strong grain to start with so in that instance I just rubbed the stain on until I had a solid colour and then sanded it back and then cleared and polished.

[gavinturner]

Hey dave - thanks for the compliment. Still not perfect, but I'm learning!

For this build, like my Ash LP, I filled the grain with Timbermate. Ebony in this case, Walnut for the LP. The darker the Timbermate the better the pop you will get. I used Ebony in this case to go with the blue, and Walnut to suit the more earthy tones of the tobacco burst on the LP. The effect was the same, and I really like the look.

Now here is the caveat. In both cases, the grain was still evident after my ministrations. The reason for this (i believe) is that in the process of rubbing on several passes of dye (be it to get a strong blue colour, or to do my bursting), the Timbermate was getting wet and re-activating. Each dye pass was slowly drawing the timbermate back out of the grain. I havent had a problem previously, but usually this involved only a single dye pass.

The upshot is that I caused myself problems with the lacquer because in the end the grain wasn't perfectly filled. It took a lot of work to get the grain filled with lacquer, and even then there are some pin holes evident. Just something to be mindful of!!

I wonder if anyone out their in PBG land has an answer to this issue? How can we grainfill for stain without it being re-activated and dragged out by the dye? Of course the easy answer is to tint the lacquer rather than rubbing the dye, but that's impossible without the correct equipment. Is there a simple answer I'm not seeing? Anyone got any suggestions?

Far too many words, but I hope it helps.

cheers,
Gav.

[stan]

top job Gav, the amber neck is fine mate.
I think you are spot on about the reactivation of timbermate. Any dampness seems to be enough. I tried to wet sand it once, big mistake.
I cant think of another grain filler that would still allow the penetration of dye/stain.
I have heard of , wait for it, egg whites being used. And it seems to work well. Dont know if that goes mucky with wet stains though

[andrewdosborne]

Awesome work Gav, another tip top axe, love it. Good question about the grain fill, I'll do some research.

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

[WeirdBits]

Maybe alcohol (metho) instead of water for your stain/dye?

[dave.king1]

Thank for the comprehensive reply Gav, gives me more to ponder