ST-1 Revisit

[andrewdosborne]

Ok, back from another excursion into the wilderness and time for some more guitar work!

This time my first PB axe, an ST-1 will get some TLC (the last one in a long queue of upgrades). I think its about a year old now. It's played very well over this time but has revealed a few required tweaks

Plan,
1. Plastic nut off, bone on.
2. Kit tuners off, Gotoh tuners on.
3. I'll revisit the fret dressing (got some nice diamond files for xmas)
4. Neck plate /screw upgrade (no real reason to do so but I have spare)
5. Trem - I'll block this off with a wedge of wood. I'm just not a tremolo type player, they drive me nuts.
6. Input jack is a shocker, a nice Switchcraft jack to the rescue!
7. Upgrade all screws to high quality. Change over string trees to roller-type ones
8. And if all goes well, a capacitor, pup, pot & switch upgrade. I'm thinking H(bridge)-S-S
9. And if I'm feeling very brave change the fret markers ....

On the bench


Plastic nut & tuners off

[tonyw]

Looking good, i always block the trem as well, dont like them but i can see why some like one D Gilmore use them.
Decent pickups, wiring and a cap will make it sound so much better.

[wokkaboy]

nice plans for the revisit Ponch. Be interested to see how much better it sounds and plays after the upgrades.
Can't beat a humbucker in the bridge position.
I like the tremelo, so you could always screw the spring claw as far as it goes and remove the whammy bar. At least it is an easy conversion if another player likes the tremelo.
Was that wudtone surfer girl the stain ?
If you are buying a new pickguard for the HSS config how about a white pearloid may look cool ?

[andrewdosborne]

Yes this will be an interesting exercise, always good to have another project on the go! Colour is Wudtone Azure Sky with 50%white mixed in (it has aged nicely almost into surfer girl) . Could be a goer with the pearloid guard, good thinking!

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[wokkaboy]

ah ok azure with white, nice, looks very similar colour I did a surfer girl ST build.
It may be too hard to cut the existing pickguard for a humbucker, depends where the mounting screws end up. I'd order a white and pearloid white, pickguards are cheap

[gavinturner]

Sounds great Andrew. Would be great to get a sound comparison with the new vs old set up!

cheers,
Gav.

[wazkelly]

so you could always screw the spring claw as far as it goes and remove the whammy bar.

Agree with Woks as that is what I did on a previous Strat and it really improved the sustain too.

[Nickosaurus]

My STA-1M is still my favourite axe hands down. Been thinking about doing an upgrade along these lines. The nut from the factory is actually pretty damn good as far as adjustment goes but it could use a fret dress and better quality hardware.

[andrewdosborne]

Go for gold Nik, your Ash ST is sensational and upgrade would be the icing on the cake! Stock nut is good, problem with mine is that it was my first attempt (without fret files) in setting one up. Botched it a bit...

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[andrewdosborne]

Ok. Fretboard levelled. A touch concave so a small clockwise turn of the truss rod fixed that.



I used Gavin's forum guide for fret levelling and same tools. Worked a treat! The fretfiles cost an arm and a leg but have saved hours of time and nice clean job. My fret leveller was a spirit level with 360 grit taped to it.





And machine heads / string trees attached



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