Gold strat build - now complete!

Megii

sawyer said:

I always seem to do soldering when slightly hammered Dutch courage ha. Slightly hammered as we speak! Nowt to solder though:)

Whatever works for you @sawyer - I like your style. In my case, if tired, or indeed slightly hammered, I do stupid things like attempting to hold the soldering iron by the wrong end...

Not sure if I will finish the job today now, as a family emergency this morning ate up several hours I'd planned to use for soldering purposes. Still, it's underway.

Megii

Got the soldering done, mostly on Sunday, but had to do a bit Monday evening also. Not saying it's the loveliest job in the world but I hope I can say it's tidy, and should be reliable:



And not forgetting connecting an earth wire to the trem claw:



Another little job left to do was fitting a string tree - was going to use a modern Fender style, but changed my mind and went for a Graphtech - I kind of like the eye shape it has:



And another last job was giving the rosewood fingerboard a clean with naphtha, and applying a little light oil (Almond oil) - this has turned the wood noticeably darker. A bit surprising, as I've used Almond oil on fingerboards for years and not seen such a big effect before. I'd say it looks better overall for my taste (and more like the Suhr I took inspiration from for the build) although the figuring and colour variation in the grain is a bit less noticeable now.

Megii

All of which means I got the build finished this afternoon! Will take some better pics when I have chance, but just a few "duvet" shots for now.




And having said it's finished, it does seem to have come out well, and I'm thinking I may treat it to an immediate upgrade and fit a set of nice Gotoh locking machines. Also, I have a plan for a headstock logo - but this is it for now basically - I still have to see what kind of sounds it can produce, which I will be finding out shortly. It does sound nice just played acoustically, so I think it will be good.

munckee

Looks really nice. How will you do the logo?  

Megii

munckee said:

Looks really nice. How will you do the logo?  

Thank you! Re the logo - I have some transfer paper stuff you can print on. I'm just going to do my three initials in black using a modern/futuristic kind of font I've found. I've read things on the web that lead me to believe this should work on a Tru Oil finish, and that I can apply a layer of Tru Oil over the top to finish the job. If it doesn't work, it won't be too hard to sand back, and then I'd have to think of something else - I have an idea if it comes to that also, but hopefully, the transfer will work out.

Roland

Don’t use Tru-Oil directly onto the logo. The transfer will expand and bubble, then crack. I spray a single light coat of varnish over the transfer, let it dry, then apply the oil finish.

Megii

Roland said:

Don’t use Tru-Oil directly onto the logo. The transfer will expand and bubble, then crack. I spray a single light coat of varnish over the transfer, let it dry, then apply the oil finish.

Noted, appreciate the tip, cheers @Roland ;