robs STA-1M (Lyn #8)

[robin]

Hey Guys, I’m back for another go.

Hopefully I will stay motivated a bit longer than last time. If I’m not careful I’ll have more comebacks than Johnny Farnham. lol.

To try and shake off this wretched malaise I recently upgraded all my PB guitars with bone nuts, and fitted some Tonerider ACII pups into my “Tele Thinline”. That got the creative juices flowing again.

So I finally started on the STA-1M kit which has sat untouched, in the box, for about 6 months. I must admit to being a bit disappointed with the Ash body. Not quite the figure I was hoping for, but I intend to grain fill, so hopefully that will do the trick.

Seeing as I have already built two standard “Strats”, I thought I would do something different and go with a HSH Pickup configuration on this one. Not sure yet exactly how I will wire it up but I will be coil splitting the HB’s and run with only master volume and tone, leaving a spare hole in the scratch plate for a 4PDT switch.

I started by taking out the black plastic fret dots and replacing them with Pau shell. First time attempt so I made heaps of “rookie” mistakes but as the maple neck will have a few coats of Tru-Oil I think I might be able to get away with it. If it was a rosewood fretboard I think I would have to take them all out and start again.

I also leveled and dressed the frets and replaced the plastic nut with a bone one. I will have to wait until the guitar is assembled before I slot the nut, but it has been filed down to size.

Today I started exaggerating the belly and forearm cuts. We’ve got to make each guitar unique, haven’t we?

Some photos of the progress so far.

Cheers
rob

Photos - before-during-after

[wokkaboy]

welcome back Robin, good to have you on the forum again building. Dot inlays look choice

[WeirdBits]

Great to have you back Rob.

[robin]

Thanks Warren and Scott, hopefully I will last a bit longer than last time.

As mentioned earlier I was a bit disappointed with the figure of this Ash kit. I had plans to try something a bit different but as the wood is quite plain I decided to just grain fill, sand down to 600 grit and slop on a few coats of T.O.

Hopefully she will look OK, but as I have said on previous builds, for me, playability and sound are far more important than looks. I dearly love all my guitars and this one is going to be no different.

Cheers guys, I'll keep you posted.
rob

Photo of body ready for first coats of T.O.

[wokkaboy]

Hey Rob, good to hear from you again,agreed normally the ash kits have more figured grain but sure it will come up nice with a few coats of TO.
Please keep us updated as the clear coats go on

[gavinturner]

Great to see you building again Rob. The shell inlay looks great. Another GOTM in the making!

Cheers,
Gav.

[robin]

Thanks Gav, but a GOTM contender? I don't think so. Lol

Still not motivated enough to be bothered to stain it, thinking that the natural look would be OK. But with just a couple of coats of T.O. it has just turned a nondescript dull brownish blah colour. I haven't seen a colour like this before, so its certainly going to be unique. I'm hoping that by the time I get a heap more coats on, it will darken up a bit.

I'm not too worried as this guitar will probably be a bit of a test bed for trying out pickups and wiring options. I think the pickups I have got may be a little mismatched so I have got heaps of wiring options running though my head at present.

Me, a soldering iron and electricity? What could possibly go wrong lol.

Cheers mate
rob

[AJ]

looking forward to the pics Rob

[Brendan]

Looking good already Robin - great to see someone else trying out dot replacement. Doesn't look like too bad a job Robin!

[robin]

Thanks AJ and Brendan. Really appreciate the encouragement guys.

Well, with 4 coats of TO she has darkened up a little, but still not a striking colour. With a dozen or more coats to go she may end up looking OK, here’s hoping.

It’s a shame that all the good figure in on the back.

Cheers guys
rob

Photos - before and after the first few coats of TO