DrNomis_44's Gold Standard STA-1M Build.

[DrNomis_44]

Exciting stuff Doc, also looking forward to seeing the grain on this one.

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What's even more exciting is that I get to learn some new skills since I seem to learn more just by a hands-on practical approach, I always had a hard-time learning things in a classroom environment at school, most of what I know about Electronics was learnt by the practical hands-on approach.

[DrNomis_44]

I've managed to make a template for cutting out the shape of the headstock, I'm going for the traditional Stratocaster headstock shape rather than design my own, I used a spare 22-Fret Mighty Mite Stratocaster neck to trace the shape out onto some thin dark-coloured plastic I found, then I used a pair of scissors to cut the template from the plastic.


Seeing as I'm going over to a friend's place to practice some songs with him, I'll have to wait till next week to start work on building the guitar, but I will post some unboxing pics this week though.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


My PBG STA-1M kit is finally here with me, I just got back from picking it up from the Winnellie Post Office, and I'm looking through all the contents of the box.


Well, I have to say that I'm very impressed with the quality of the woods used in this kit, from a quick look over the neck and the body, I can't find any major or minor flaws, even the tuner holes on the headstock seem to be all in a straight line, I'll see if I can take some pics later on so stay tuned for more updates.

[wokkaboy]

wow Doc, CONGRATULATIONS you are officially a PBG builder, can't wait to see pics of the mock build.
Glad you are happy with the initial inspection .
Page 9 of the diary and the kit just arrived, this is going to be a long build diary hahah

[andrewdosborne]

Nice one Doc!

[dingobass]

Strap your selves in folks, this is gunna be a beauty!

[DrNomis_44]

Cheers mates, I'll see if I can organize some mock build pics for you, the image quality may not be the best since I'm yet to buy a replacement for my old canon A480 digital camera, so my Samsung Galaxy Y phone will have to do for the time being.


I'm really liking the white pearloid scratchplate, the quality of the Gold hardware is pretty good, I actually have two sets of tuners in my kit, the set from the Gold hardware upgrade and the Grover Lockers, I think I'll be able to find a use for the spare set of Tuners.


Will be interesting to see what the AS57 pickups sound like.

[DrNomis_44]

Strap your selves in folks, this is gunna be a beauty!

Yep, I am determined to build a great looking,sounding, and playing instrument from this kit, I'll post a pic of the body so you can see what the grain pattern is like, incidentally, the body looks like it's made from four pieces of Ash glued together, on the other hand, the neck seems to be made from a nice piece of maple, the fingerboard has some interesting grain patterns on it, I'm glad I chose to clear coat the neck and put Dingowax on the fretboard, should look cool.

[DrNomis_44]

Okay, I managed to take some pics of the body and the neck, let me know whether the grain on the body is worthy of a Dingo Tone Coolangatta Gold MkII finish with Gold highlights, check out the grain on the neck.


Firstly here's a pic of the grain pattern on the fretboard:






Here's what the grain on the body looks like:




And finally, here's a pic of the headstock with the Grover Locking Tuners on it, they are just losely fitted without the mounting screws:




As you can see, the alignment of the tuner holes is pretty straight, I'm happy with it.

[wokkaboy]

Hi Doc, kit looks good. The ash grain looks pretty plain compared to what I've seen so if I was you would stick to your solid gold paint plans. Those tuners must be the Grovers, they don't look perfectly in line but close enough.
The fingerboard has some nice grain !
How is the neck fit in the pocket fairly tight ?