Haematoxylin Statocaster (ST-1)

[DarkMark]

Headstock shaped. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

[DarkMark]

Found some glue spots and the edges looked a bit uneven, so I sanded the stain back and had another go. Some aspects are better than the first stain, some are not. Wood is taking the stain up a bit unevenly.

[fender3x]

Found some glue spots and the edges looked a bit uneven, so I sanded the stain back and had another go. Some aspects are better than the first stain, some are not. Wood is taking the stain up a bit unevenly.

This is why my first builds were sold colors...and I always hold the possibility of a solid color finish in reserve when I start a build ;-) There are a couple of things you can do that will help keep it even. It looks to me like it may not be absorbing quite as well in places that have been most highly sanded? It's usually recommended not so sand finer than 220, so that the stain is absorbed evenly. It may be that you can sand the whole body get the color mostly even before re-staining, particularly if you sanded the glue spots more than the rest of the body.

If both your clear and your stain are water-based, you could mix a little of the clear into the stain. I have only done this with General Finishes dye-stain and clear, which is where I got the idea. They recommend mixing 10:1 stain to clear if you are getting blotchiness...but to me it looks like you are getting the opposite of blotchiness which may mean that the pores are a bit more closed where the sanding has occurred.

If you have unmixed dye, you can also mix a bit of that into some clear to try to darken areas where the stain is lighter. I was able to do that with my most successful stain to date...

...but I should also say that I have a ways to go before claiming expertise in staining. YMMV, and always best to test, particularly before taking any of my advice! ;-)

[DarkMark]

3rd staining attempt. Tried to burst it a bit to take the edge off the dark side staining. Looks better in real life than the contrasting colour altering photo. This is probably the best I am going to get from it.

[fender3x]

Such a cool color. The pickguard is also going to cover most of the center part of the burst. It will be a thing of beauty ;-)

[DarkMark]

Such a cool color. The pickguard is also going to cover most of the center part of the burst. It will be a thing of beauty ;-)

Yes, the pick guard will hide some sins, as will the clear coats.
I know it’s close to Christmas, but I don’t see too much activity in the forums. Has kit building dropped off? Glad you’re still around fender3x helping out.

[Trevor Davies]

This is a lovely retirement gift! I love the colour, and your decals are a very nice touch!

[DarkMark]

This is a lovely retirement gift! I love the colour, and your decals are a very nice touch!

Hi Trevor, I see you got back to me in your thread regarding the intonation of these kits. Thanks.

[DarkMark]

Decal attached without issue. Many layers of wipe on polyurethane to follow.

[fender3x]

Looking good. There must be a story behind the decal. I get the "stat-ocaster". But there is more of a story there I am guessing? Benhur? patnwest? ;-)

PitBull is under new management, and I think a good bit of the posting slowed as Adam wound down, and as the new owner, Tim, has been spinning it back up. Traffic on the forum is slowly picking back up. Still a few die-hards that check in regularly ;-) From what I gather from folks who've made recent orders (as well as from the kit I got recently), the quality is still very good. Not sure how it is for people in other places, but the prices for kits of comparable quality in the US are competitive, even factoring in shipping. If its as competitive in Australia, things should continue to pick up.