First kit! STA-1

[MrFoster]

Alright peeps! STA-1 kit came in the mail while I was at work, good thing not much was going on or the suspense would kill me! I'm pretty pleased with the quality of it, especially the grain
I didn't get any hardware so dry fitting is a whole lot of wood




Like I said, the grain looks spectacular, I would have more hardware to put on there but I'm saving for the time being for an Ormsby some guy is selling to me



A full body shot. There's a slight (About 1/2 mm) in the neck pocket, could I get away with that?



Frets are nicely set, it seems. The fret ends can't be felt at all which is really nice. I also swear there's something pleasing about the smell of rosewood and maple together, damn it's great



And lastly, the back. If there's anywhere else you guys would want to see just say the word

[wokkaboy]

looks great Mr Foster, don't worry too much about a bit of neck play in the pocket, the pickguard usually covers any small gaps.
Tell us more about the Ormbsy guitar you are buying, got any photos ?
Also intersted to hear of the hardware you are eventually buying for this build and your stain plans

[pablopepper]

Tell us more about the Ormbsy guitar you are buying, got any photos ?

Yeah, this. I'm very interested to hear more about this.

Oh yeah, nice looking kit. Did you get the bare bones option?

[MrFoster]

@Wokka
Hey, didn't think of that. In that case I'm guessing there's room for a little error when it comes to the neck pocket? Even with how hard it would be to mess it up
As for hardware, I'm not 100% on the machine heads yet but for pickups I'm going with the Seymour Duncan YJM set with black covers on a black pickguard. I forgot to include the stain I got in the OP but I went with the Tarkine Green, I think it'll look pretty sweet.

As for the Ormsby, it's a 7 string fanned fret SX and he's asking for 2k. Here's the photos the guy provided on the page.

[pablopepper]

Sweet, 2k is a damn good price.

[wokkaboy]

nice looking 7 string Ormsby there MrFoster, if it includes the case sounds like a good deal.
I'd do a mock build of the STA-1 once you have all the hardware and see how much bridge movement you have. You want the neck heel hard up against the bass string side ie top of the guitar so clamp the neck in this position and make sure the bridge position will allow equal string/fingerboard offsets of the high and low E string.
This is my tarkine green STA-1 after the stain coats, its since had about 5 clear coats

[MrFoster]

@pablopepper

It really is, I can't wait to get it

@wokka
So it's probably a better idea to do the mock build like you said before I start staining?
That body is looking pretty nice, that's about the same colour intensity I was going to aim for, too

[wokkaboy]

Mr Foster, you can make a start on sanding and staining while you wait for the hardware.
I normally do the mock build when I'm ready to assemble the neck and hardware.
Give the dingotone about minimum 3 days curing between coats and a fine steel wool over before the next coat.

[andrewdosborne]

MrFoster, looking forward to seeing this build progress. You've whetted my appetite for an ash body guitar...

[Brendan]

MrFoster - welcome along - may be worth chasing down Mr Ormsby's contact details and dropping him a line - apparently he knows where each of the guitars has ended up - so should be able to confirm that its genuine. From the photo it sure looks the business, but a quick email will confirm. Like all good luthiers, he's very careful with his guitars to ensure that anything listed as an Ormsby is legit and I think he's offered in the past to confirm if something is genuine. He tends to be active on Facebook so maybe look for him there. Not wanting to downplay what someone else is doing, but there have been non genuine Ormsbys found and I'd hate for you to end up with a $2k pup.