Chuck’s ST-1M “Surfcaster” build

[Chuck]

wiring looks good Chuck, so how is it setup ? is that a mini toggle switch ? Maybe a tone bleed circuit saw a small resistor.

What pups are they ?

Pickups are Entwistle AS57s, I'll see how they go.

The big switch is a Freeway Ultra. Positions 1, 2 and 3 are neck, both, bridge. Positions 4, 5 and 6 are series in-phase, series out-of-phase and parallel out-of-phase. The little toggle switch is a simple bright switch.

My understanding from the folks at Freeway is that master vol works in all switch positions as does master tone. Bridge volume works in position 3, or adjusts the mix of the bridge pickup in pos 2, 4, 5 and 6. That's the theory but I guess we'll see when I get it hooked up!!

I've just put everything on the proper pickguard and have tried to lay it in place but I'm going to have to expand the Freeway switch cavity - there's just too much wire to fit in the original space I had made! I don't have a lot of room to play with but hopefully I'll find a way. Might leave that to tomorrow morning with a clear head!

[Chuck]

Nah, that just goes to show how active this place is!!

Too true - even I've been distracted on this one by my other builds!!

[wokkaboy]

thanks for the explanation of the wiring Chuck. I bet its wire central from the freeway switch !
Be careful not to damage the finish on the body when you enlarge the cavity !

[Chuck]

thanks for the explanation of the wiring Chuck. I bet its wire central from the freeway switch !
Be careful not to damage the finish on the body when you enlarge the cavity !

Yeah, good point. I've marked with a pencil just how far I can go, and I think I'll just go at it very slowly with the dremel to keep it as clean as possible. It's probably only a mil or two that it needs so not too bad.

[Chuck]

And we are pretty much done! Over the past couple of days I’ve polished up the body and put the whole thing together. In a nutshell, this build was motivated by the surfboard (kneeboard actually) that you see in the photos, and I’m pleased with the way it’s turned out. The build is based around a stock ST-1M kit with my normal bit of body re-shaping and a more surfy headstock shape. Instead of the normal pickups I ordered a neck and bridge Entwisle AS57 (more on that in a sec). The wiring was something of a challenge in that using a Freeway Ultra switch you end up with miles of wire to work out! What the Freeway provides is listed a couple of posts earlier.

And does it sound okay? Yes! My only issue is that in putting it all together I realised that the Entwisle neck pickup I received is incorrectly labelled – it’s actually a bridge. That means the pole spacing are out (should be 50mm for the neck but are 52mm like the bridge). Adam, in his always helpful way, is organising a replacement so that will need to be switched out when it arrives. There’s a little bit of hum too, so when I disassemble to do the pickup swap I’ll have a good look around to see what might be the cause.

Still, here she is (with her friend the "Surface" fuzz pedal built to complement her)!

[Chuck]

Oh, and in a nod to the kneeboard she's based on, the back of the headstock features a discreet Friar Tuck logo.

[Zandit75]

Nice work Chuck!!
It's a pity the trem cover didn't have the pinstriping continue through it, but I'm guessing that would have been near impossible to do.

[Chuck]

Nice work Chuck!!
It's a pity the trem cover didn't have the pinstriping continue through it, but I'm guessing that would have been near impossible to do.

I thought about it at the very start but I wanted to stay true to the surfboard thing: they have grip pads over the top of them so the trem cover is a bit like that. It was a conscious decision rather than a "bugger, wish I'd thought of that earlier!" kind of thing!

[Zandit75]

I thought about it at the very start but I wanted to stay true to the surfboard thing: they have grip pads over the top of them so the trem cover is a bit like that. It was a conscious decision rather than a "bugger, wish I'd thought of that earlier!" kind of thing!

Well there's your solution, get some really thin surf board grip material, and put that over the trem cover!!

[wokkaboy]

looks awesome Chuck, love the collection with the surfboard and FX pedal. Now you got to try get a photo of you surfing and holding the guitar hahaha
Can we please see a pic of the back without the trem cover Chuck ? the pattern may look more continuous.

Only one thing you need to do, remove the white stickers on the back of the tuners ! Or have you left them on intentionally ?