DrNomis_44's Gold Standard STA-1M Build.

[DrNomis_44]

xmas time at Docs place! Nice haul!

Totally mate, Xmas did indeed came early for me, which means I'll be able to make some progress on my two guitar builds, the Gold Strat got the Sperzels, a set of six new Gold pickup screws, and some new Gold Scratchplate screws, the HotRod Strat got a new White Pearloid Scratchplate with pickup holes for a Humbucker, Single-Coil, Single-Coil pickup configuration, a set of Black Strat Knobs, a White Trem Spring cover, some new Chrome Scratchplate screws, A Chrome Jackplate with screws, and a Chrome Neckplate with screws, hopefully I'll get the HotRod Strat finished before the end of the year.

[andrewdosborne]

Nice aquisition Doc and love the Sperzels

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I guess it's time for an update, anyway, last week I decided to put the Gold Strat together so that it was in a playable condition, I did that because I was going out to my friend's place for a jam and I wanted to give myself a break from the LP Studio and the White Ibanez RG350DXZ, so I got the Gold Strat up and running, but found that I couldn't accurately intonate the low E-String properly, no matter how much I adjusted the String-Saddle towards the neck, the Software Tuner-App (called AP Tuner 3) I was using, kept saying that the 12th Fret note was flat compared to the 12th Fret Harmonic, I'll explain what the cause of the intonation issue was shortly.

After a bit of thought, I decided to try installing a fresh new set of strings, thinking that the new strings I had just put on were duds, so I go through all the setup adjustments, get everything right, check the intonation, and the result was the same, I ended up trying two more sets of strings before de4ciding to swap-out the bridge for a brand-new Chrome DR Parts Strat Bridge I bought from Sounds Of Music in Casuarina, along with two more sets of 42-09 gauge strings, I install another set of brand-new strings, get it all adjusted and tuned-up, checked the intonation on all the strings, the low E-String was still reading flat no matter how much I adjusted it, it was only after I stopped and had a good think while taking a break when it finally twigged, I had noticed that the 12th Fretted note sounded funny compared to the 12th Fret harmonic, more to the point, the low E-String sounded a bit sitar-ish, so I used a magnifying glass to have a close look at the nut-slot for the E-String, it looked fine, then I had a look at the pickups and noticed that the pole-pieces seemed a bit too close to the strings, I tried lowering the pickups but couldn't because they were already bottoming-out in the pickup-routes due to the noise-cancelling coils (the three pickups are the Entwistle ASN57 Noiseless Strat Pickups), as it turned out, the three pickup-routes in the body just weren't deep enough to accommodate the pickups, I thought about deepening the routes but there wasn't enough wood left, so I had to do some serious debating in my head and finally decided to convert the three Entwistle ASN57 pickups to standard ones by removing the hum-cancelling coil (it was relatively easy enough to do), once I did the conversion on all three of the pickups I re-installed them, after tuning the Gold Strat back up to pitch and setting it up, I found that not only had I fixed the low E-String sitaring, I also fixed the intonation issue and the low E-String intonated properly, it no longer kept reading flat, I was also able to get the intonation for the other strings spot-on too.


So, what was going on?, here's my theory, with the pole-pieces of the pickups too close to the strings, it was causing magnetic-drag on the low E-String, making it vibrate at a lower pitch than it should have vibrated at when plucked, this was causing the 12th fretted note to read flat regardless of where the string-saddle was set, which is surprising cause the Alnico V pole-pieces used in the ASN57 pickups aren't that strong, I would have expected that with Neodymium Pole-Pieces, anyway, the issue ended up being fixed and I was able to get the guitar in a playable condition in the end, the only compromise I had to make was to put up with getting some background noise.


Moral of the story, if you're having trouble intonating the strings on your guitar, and you are 100% sure that you have everything else right, and there's no issue with the nut, particularly if it is a Strat-Style guitar, check to see if you have the pole-pieces of the pickups adjusted too close to the strings, for Single-Coil pickups Fender give the following specs for the clearance-gap between the low and high E-Strings for all three pickups with the strings fretted at the last fret (apologies for the imperial measurements, I blame that on my Fitter and Machinist apprenticeship where we had to learn to work in imperial units):


Low E-String: 8/64 Inch.

High E-String: 6/64 Inch.


Adjusting the clearances to those specs should ensure that the strings play cleanly and intonate properly.




Update 2:

A few days ago I had to sand-back some of the Gold Paint finish on the body of the Gold Strat, due to the paint still being soft after well over a week (maybe even a fortnight) of drying, after the sanding I gave the Gold Strat Body a couple of new coats of Gold Paint and have left it to dry for a week or so, hopefully the paint will dry properly, one thing's for sure, the Gold Paint I'm using seems to like drying in it's own time.


Note: One thing to avoid when using White Knight Super Gold paint is to avoid touching the surface with your fingers when it dries, the softest touch tends make the paint tarnish, and you end up having to spray a fresh coat on it to get that shiny lusture back, what a frustrating pain...oh well, I guess I'll get there in the end.

[wazkelly]

Note: One thing to avoid when using White Knight Super Gold paint is to avoid touching the surface with your fingers when it dries, the softest touch tends make the paint tarnish, and you end up having to spray a fresh coat on it to get that shiny lusture back, what a frustrating pain...oh well, I guess I'll get there in the end.

Maybe you might need to wear gloves when handling it, same as what they do for the Melbourne Cup Trophy too haha.

[DrNomis_44]

Maybe you might need to wear gloves when handling it, same as what they do for the Melbourne Cup Trophy too haha.

Hahahaha....it could be worse though, if I was using some 24 Carat Gold Leaf to cover it and it got all torn-up, just imagine how costly that would end up being.

[wazkelly]

Sure you haven't spent that much already???? (only kidding)

It is a Gold Member after all so you need to treat it as if it was 24 carat.

[DrNomis_44]

Sure you haven't spent that much already???? (only kidding)

It is a Gold Member after all so you need to treat it as if it was 24 carat.

I would treat it as if it was 24 Carat Gold, but my Gold membership barely covers it (pun fully intended)....hahahaha...., I'll have to work really hard to earn that Platinum membership, that means living on two-minute noodles for a few more months just so I can get all those frequent-flyer points needed to get that Platinum membership....lol.



As a side note, this forum has given me plenty of opportunities for exercising my sense of humor, which is something I'm always working on, where would my sanity be without it?....lol.

When it comes to building guitars, my two cats are my worst critics, Holly's the worst of the two, since she's very pedantic and hard to please, Gengle isn't as pedantic, but he's argumentative, he always thinks he could do better....whatever that means....hahahaha, I tend to take his advice with a pinch of salt...lol.

[Zandit75]

I'll have to work really hard to earn that Platinum membership, that means living on two-minute noodles for a few more months just so I can get all those frequent-flyer points needed to get that Platinum membership....lol.

I was thinking of following in your footsteps of becoming a supervillian, but this is starting to sound like a tough gig!!
I'll stick to being a musician!!!

[DrNomis_44]

I was thinking of following in your footsteps of becoming a supervillian, but this is starting to sound like a tough gig!!
I'll stick to being a musician!!!

Believe me, being a Super-villain is tougher than it sounds, the saying "Crime doesn't pay" is so very apt it's not funny, all the money I make goes into hiring new henchmen, and there's hardly even any left to make any kind of profit-margin, the good-guys get all the girls, prestige, gadgets, etc, that's what I get for hitting the books and getting straight A+ Distinctions in all my subjects in school and college,might see if I can get together the budget to build that retirement hideout on a remote deserted Island that I've always said I'd build, might even create my own Nation, and set up a fair system of Government so that no one has more money than anyone else, of course I'd need some kind of system to prevent any high-level corruption, still working out all the finer details with the Constitution that my own nation would adopt, you know how it is, I'd probably give it a couple hours of deep thought, then decide to just do some seaside fishing while lounging under an umbrella on a secluded beach, sipping the world's finest Pinacoladas, and Daiquiris, while watching Hawaiian dancers and eating coconuts, that old chestnut, oh, I might even do some chestnut-roasting on the beach over a fire, after cooking a hangi....traditional-style, of course, then I can just chill-out and remenice about old times when life was so much simpler.

And then, out would come a huge plateful of cooked, and battered, oysters, mussels, scallops,succulent fish with salted-chips, the works, and there would be some good feasting.

[stan]

Some nice hardware there Doc

When you get your island retreat sorted, I'd love a dinner invite