DrNomis_44's Gold Standard STA-1M Build.

[DrNomis_44]

pencilled headstock shape looks good Doc. You will have to round off the edge where the line meets the edge opposite the A string peg hole.
I had a re-think about the finish and think stain is a wise option for first build. Less things can go wrong with staining than solid paint.

Cooly Gold with gold highlights should look great with the gold hardware.
If you didn't get a plain white loaded pickguard then I'm sure Ads or DB can send you one. It should have been included in the kit

Cheers wokka, you're right about that edge opposite the A tuner hole, should be relatively easy to round it off, I'm just in the process of roughly cutting the headstock shape out to remove all the unwanted bits of wood, maple sure is a hard wood to cut with a fretsaw, the blade in my fretsaw has coarse teeth but when I'm cutting through the wood it tends to want to wander to the right.


The more I think about the Coolangatta Gold the more I get intrigued about it, I'm on DB's beta-testers list so I'm pretty excited to be doing my first Dingotone beta test, been wanting a good excuse to give Dingotone a try.


DB is going to send me some bits when he sends the Dingowax I ordered with the kit, Adam let me know that he'd be sending the Dingowax once he received MkII from DB, I'm fine with that since it'll probably take me a while to finish the guitar kit.



This is bringing back all my memories of doing woodwork in year 8 at High School in Kununurra where I grew up, the years go by quickly, don't they?

[wokkaboy]

Hi Doc, a fret saw is probably hard work. A coping saw might be alot easier with a blade with much less depth will be easier to cut curved shapes of the headstock. Pretty cheap at the big green shed. They even sell cheap mini saws might work better too.

Yes the years go by too quick alright

[DrNomis_44]

Hi Doc, a fret saw is probably hard work. A coping saw might be alot easier with a blade with much less depth will be easier to cut curved shapes of the headstock. Pretty cheap at the big green shed. They even sell cheap mini saws might work better too.

Yes the years go by too quick alright

What I might do is see if I can remove as much of the unwanted wood as I can, leave it, and then come back to it next Tuesday after I visit the Big Green Shed, I'll see if I can buy a good coping saw and some wood blades for it, next week's going to be busy for me.

I want to make sure I get the headstock shaped right cause I only get one chance, don't want to muck it up.

[wokkaboy]

sounds good Doc, a fret saw won't cut curves very well. If you get within a few mm of the pencil line you could file the rest, have you got any harsh files/rasps ? Then when within about 1mm of the line you can sand it.

I can guarantee this build diary is going to be the longest ever ! Think Barge got to about 40 pages

[DrNomis_44]

sounds good Doc, a fret saw won't cut curves very well. If you get within a few mm of the pencil line you could file the rest, have you got any harsh files/rasps ? Then when within about 1mm of the line you can sand it.

I can guarantee this build diary is going to be the longest ever ! Think Barge got to about 40 pages

Lol...I think I remember reading Barge's diary, it was a long one, I'm going to document all the things I do while building my kit, might even throw in a soldering tutorial if any of you guys are interested in seeing how I do solder-joints, might be a good thing for all the other newbies, I watched the video guide on soldering and the guy in the video does it a bit differently to the way I was taught at uni.

I have a coarse 8mm Rat tail file and a pillar file that I recently bought from Stewmac, but I might see if I can get a couple of Rasps from the Big Green Shed, along with some sheets of sandpaper too, oh and the copper snail tape as well.

[wokkaboy]

Hey Doc the coarse rat tail file may do the trick to shape the headstock. Is it a circular/rounded or flat file ?
I would still use a grain filler (Timbermate) for ash grain is very coarse and will make sanding it flat much easier.
I like a dark grain filler will make the ash grain pop much more, I'd try an ebony timbermate is almost black in colour

[DrNomis_44]

Hey Doc the coarse rat tail file may do the trick to shape the headstock. Is it a circular/rounded or flat file ?
I would still use a grain filler (Timbermate) for ash grain is very coarse and will make sanding it flat much easier.
I like a dark grain filler will make the ash grain pop much more, I'd try an ebony timbermate is almost black in colour

Yeah, the coarse Rat-Tail file is a round (circular) one, that means I'll be able to use it to shape the curve adjacent to the B tuner hole, I managed to get most of the unwanted wood from around the rounded end of the headstock shape, just need to remove the rest of the unwanted wood that's left.


I wouldn't mind giving that ebony timbermate a go on the Ash body and see if I can pop the grain as per your suggestions.


I've got one of my cats supervising me while I work on the guitar kit, his name is Gengle, he knows way more than me about building guitars...lol.

[wokkaboy]

sounds good Doc, keen to see an updated pic of the headstock. I think you will be able to do most of the shaping with your rat tail file.
Just take off small amounts and don't get too close to the pencil line.
Glad Gengle is a guru and giving you good advice

[DrNomis_44]

sounds good Doc, keen to see an updated pic of the headstock. I think you will be able to do most of the shaping with your rat tail file.
Just take off small amounts and don't get too close to the pencil line.
Glad Gengle is a guru and giving you good advice

No worries and cheers, I'm using the fretsaw to cut out successive pieces of the unwanted wood, and I'll see if I can clean things up with the Rat-tail file, will definitely post an updated pic of the headstock once I get the shaping finished, might even install the locking tuners too.

I've got a 12V Ozito cordless drill I can use to drill the mounting screw holes for the tuners.

[DrNomis_44]

Here's an updated pic of the headstock, after alot of filing it's almost done.