Rohans ST-1

[Rohan]

My new baby!

So excited!

[wokkaboy]

cool good stuff Rohan, is this your 1st build ?

the mock build looks good and the grain on the basswood body looks good. You will get good browny points from Adam and DB for nicely displaying the Pit Bull logo's !

[DanMade]

Sweet. Some nice grain on that body. What's the plan for its Finish.

I'm hoping my ST-1 arrives this afternoon. Probably wont get it until Monday though. I hope my body is as clean as yours looks.

[Brendan]

Know that feeling!

[wokkaboy]

don't you hate it guys hoping your box will arrive Friday so you can work on it over the weekend !
what are you expecting Brendan ?
Dan, the grain on Rohans ST-1 are pretty standard, the basswood strats are generally made of 3 or 4 pieces of basswood. I've built at least 5 of these kits, so whatever wudtone colour you select should look great

[Rohan]

Yes, this is my first build so I am excited but also just a bit nervous!

I am not going to make the mistake of rushing into it. I haven't rushed out and ordered anything yet because I want to make sure I go about everything the right way and really plan it out.

As for the finish, pretty sure that Wudtone is really the only way Although I suspect it may be a difficult job deciding on a colour having never done it before so I will take another look through the archives and see what others have done. Are some colours easier to apply than others? (ie. ones that might be more forgiving of mistakes?)

[wokkaboy]

Hi Rohan,
the ST-1 kit is one of the easiest to build in terms of 3 solder joins and the pickups are pre-soldered and attached to the scratchplate. Probably the hardest step is drilling the neck holes, take your time to get the outside string offsets equal. Steer away from Black Magic Woman wudtone until you have build a few kits. Most other colours I've used (at least half the wudtone range) have been straight forward so choose a colour you like, but if you like red I suggest carmine gypsy or cherry flamenco. Have a look at Robin's ST-1 in carmine was his first build, shows you what you can achieve if you take your time. Heaps of other good colours browns, ambers, yellow and lighter colours.

[Brendan]

Rohan - totally stoked with DB's special blend for my bass - it's a dark(ish) red and forms a beautiful coat on the outside. It's a tough shell and while it's all waxes and oils, it cracked when I dropped the thing (check out full story in Brendan's PB-4) from 90+ cm onto a dirty concrete floor. Found the special blend pretty easy to apply, but would keep the following in mind:

First - sand, sand, sand, sand. Can't state it enough - the more it's sanded the better (clearer) the outcome. You'll find the bits you didn't sand enough when you apply the first coat, so be extra careful to get it just right. Be careful in the cutaways, as there can be tool marks in there that are a bit stubborn.

Second - on the first coat, I think it would be advantageous to work the colour from somewhere that will be covered by pickguard and then go into the parts that won't be - the first part you hit will tend to soak up the colour really quick and to keep everything even, you need to move it around a little. Once you've started there, when you reload your cloth, work from areas that already have some stain to those without - it'll help to reduce tidemarks, where things have dried (or been soaked up) more quickly in some areas...

In terms of colour - there are lots of amazing colours - are you looking for something natural (heard nice things about mahogany) or a bit more striking (amaranthine is doing the rounds and looks freakishly amazing (check some of Eliot (Bass Guy's) recent builds or Wokka's double neck SG). DB has also done a waxed ST-1 that I've seen in the flesh and it too looks beautiful with just the natural grain visible (no colour). Things I've heard to avoid as a newbie - sunbursts (bit more fiddly unless you're ready for it), or Black Magic Woman (BMW) - BMW is apparently one of the more fiddly colours to apply.

[DanMade]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on July 12, 2013, 13:03
don't you hate it guys hoping your box will arrive Friday so you can work on it over the weekend !
what are you expecting Brendan ?
Dan, the grain on Rohans ST-1 are pretty standard, the basswood strats are generally made of 3 or 4 pieces of basswood. I've built at least 5 of these kits, so whatever wudtone colour you select should look great

Well I didn't revive my kit this arvo so I will have to patiently wait until early next week. That's ok though, I just got home from a jam session and brought home my mates Squire strat to fix up for him so that will keep me busy. I had to ask him if he wanted me to leave the cobwebs intact. lol.

As for the finish on mine I'm going with a Dark Amber body with vintage amber neck and swapping the pick guard and back plate for a black set. That's the only mods I have planned. I'll wait to see how the rest of the hardware fairs before I decide to upgrade any of that. And I will probably make some simple wiring mods once I see how it is setup.

Sorry about hijacking your thread Rohan. I don't think you need to be nervous about anything it sounds like your planning the build with enough thought that it should all go smoothly enough.

[Rohan]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your comments.

I was thinking of using Carmine Gypsy for the body and I wanted to use a "more natural" coloured neck. However, it looks like a Basswood neck is not suitable for use with the neck kits.

Is there any way to get around this or should I just pick a lighter colour for the body and go for the Maple/Mahogany neck next time around?

Rohan.