STAF-1 Build

[Flyingpickels]

Hello all!

I decided to start my third Pit Bull build, A STAF-1! Seeing as I havn't seen to many build logs for this one I thought Id share my own.
Color scheme for this one is going to be black blue and gold.
Planned upgrades for this kit are:

Floyd Rose original Bridge / Nut.
HSH Pickup config, Likely EMG 57/66TW with a SAVX in the middle possition.
Hipshot Locking tuners.
Possible 18V battery mod / battery box route.
Recessed trem spring cover.

A question I have for the experts on here, has anyone stained alder and is it possible to pop the grain with stain like you can with other woods? I was thinking of highlighting the grain with black and then applying blue over top.
Finally a picture of my progress so far, The clear plastic pickguard has been 3d printed based on some lucky guesses. The holes for the humbuckers are going to be moved to the proper position once I've finished figuring out there positions in cad.

[Simon Barden]

Hi and welcome.

You can certainly stain alder, but it will take up the stain very evenly, so no way to really pop the grain (though different pieces may take up the stain in slightly different ways). In terms of the standard guitar woods, it's only really flame and quilt type maple where you can really pop the grain. And as alder is a closed pore wood, there aren't any pores that you can fill with a dark grain filler to highlight those and the general grain pattern. So as it goes, alder's a great wood for painting.

[Flyingpickels]

Thanks for the advice. I thought I'd give it a go and I really watered down the black stain and let it soak in and then sanded it back with some 320 grit. Then applied the blue over top. I call this look dirty blue jeans haha. Definetly going to knock back the blue once it's fully dried and try and level out the color a bit more.

[Simon Barden]

A few more applications and it should even out. You'll rarely get it stained with a single application.

[McCreed]

I have an alder strat body that I dyed late last year with blue alcohol based ink. It's a 2-piece and I had great difficulty getting it "just right".

I did multiple applications with sanding back to varying degrees and reapplying. This included spot sanding; increasing/decreasing the mix ratios; spot staining etc etc.
Whilst I got it pretty close to even, it wasn't good enough. There were two areas in particular that wouldn't cooperate. One was quite large (palm of your hand size) and on the front, so it just wasn't going pass muster. I ended up going with paint.

Sometimes, it's the guitar that decides what direction it's going to go in, and we just have to go along for the ride.
It hasn't been a total loss though, as I got to experiment with tinted clear lacquer for the first time.
It's well and truly cured now and just in need of wet sand & polish.

Based on this experience, the next time I want a natural/trans finish on alder, I'll spray it with tinted clear.

[Flyingpickels]

I definetly agree with you McCreed. This is where I'm sitting after 5 or 6 coats of blue stain with various amounts of dilution. The stains I'm using are Saman water based (108 Black and 106 Azure) their very opaque out of the bottle and diluting them with hot water really helped get them absorbed into what little grain the alder has. The green template sitting in the trem spring cavity is where I'm thinking of doing the battery box route and should miss the extended floyd route on the top. I'm also thinking of ditching the neck mounting plate and doing ferrules instead but there doesn't appear to be much wood on either side of the top most pair, would dowling the existing holes and moving the holes closer together cause any issues with holding the neck on / cracking? All of your input so far has been most helpful, Thanks!

[McCreed]

Those ferrule positions don't look problematic to me as far as splitting or compromising the structural integrity.
My only caution would be the drilling process. A really sharp forstner bit is what I'd use to avoid tear-out or chipping, but ithink it's doable.

Are those ferrules just mock-ups, or are you going clean then up and use them? I would suggest proper steel ones myself.

Ironically, I'm also using neck screw ferrules on my blue alder strat! However I have done an offset pattern to round the pocket corner.

[Flyingpickels]

The ferrules in the picture are just mockups, based off of the ones that stewmac sells. I plan on getting the black ones with gold screws. I think it would be a nice contrast to the blue. I wouldn't trust PLA plastic to hold up to the compression of the neck screws. The diamiter of the mockups is 15mm which is the recommended drill size for the stewmac ferrules. Rounding the neck pocket corners Is an interesting idea I'm sure it would improve access to the higher frets.

[McCreed]

The ferrules in the picture are just mockups, based off of the ones that stewmac sells.

That's what I figured. The only thing I'll add is that to ensure no problems drilling that close to the edge, I would not recommend doing it with a hand drill. A drill press is the only way I'd do it, but then, I have a drill press.

However if a hand drill is all you have, then I would suggest at least using a decent drill guide for it. Even with a guide it may be tricky without some reasonable jigging due to the hole locations being on the edge of the body.
Freehand drilling accurately with a forstner bit can be a challenge.

[FrankenWashie]

The ferrules in the picture are just mockups, based off of the ones that stewmac sells. I plan on getting the black ones with gold screws. I think it would be a nice contrast to the blue. I wouldn't trust PLA plastic to hold up to the compression of the neck screws. The diamiter of the mockups is 15mm which is the recommended drill size for the stewmac ferrules. Rounding the neck pocket corners Is an interesting idea I'm sure it would improve access to the higher frets.

Rounding off the corners is a mod that is done by a number of folk, it varies from a small cutting of the bottom corner through to some serious reshaping and relocating of screw positions.

case in point for the latter on one one of my current projects.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro