BUILDING A SAGA S-STYLE


From GuitarAttack:  From Bob in Michigan comes this killer Antigua S-Style.  Click on the photos for full-sized versions...they are killer.  This is a finish you just don't see every day.


Hi, I’m Bob from Traverse City, MI. I didn’t really plan to build a kit. I intended to buy a Squier ’51 from Musician’s Friend (for $99 bucks DELIVERED!) but I procrastinated and the deal went away!

I’m an old garage-rock keyboard player now just fooling around in the basement “studio”, needed something cheap that I could use for occasional guitar fills. So since I blew the $99 deal, the new challenge was to find something else for minimum bucks! This website helped inspire me to buy this ST-10 kit. I paid $105 delivered from the Online Guitar website. Fast delivery, and all parts were in the kit except the picks.

I saw a Strat with an “Antigua” finish on the Warmoth website. I had a bunch of lacquer dregs in the garage leftover from past car and motorcycle projects, including some black and white and yellow acrylic lacquer to make the cream and grey Antigua colors. Most of this paint must have been ten years old, but lacquer doesn’t seem to go bad. You can reconstitute it with enough time and lacquer thinner!

The guitar body was almost ready for paint right from the kit. I gave it a light sanding then put on the cream color right over the factory sanding sealer using an old jamb gun. Applied the grey burst with my ancient Paasche H airbrush. That was a little bit of a challenge because (1) at some point the airbrush had been dropped on its tip so the pattern was a little irregular and (2) its old woven hose leaked more air out of the hose then went through the tip! Eight coats of clear, then rubbed it out after two weeks. I didn’t paint the pickguard. That’s just too much Antigua!

Neck was finished with a few coats of clear lacquer. The fingerboard is unfinished.

Assembly went very well with no surprises. After setting it up, it’s very playable. It’s really fun to play through an inexpensive DigiTech modeling pedal.

Everyone has suggestions for building the kit, here are mine:

1. Plan on enlarging the route between the jack and the pickup cavity. It’s too small. I drilled it out about ˝” diameter; it would have been easier to do before the body was painted.
2. Don’t strip the screw heads. Use nice new Phillips screwdrivers. And use the right sizes. There are #2, #1 and #1/2 Phillips screw heads on the guitar.

After assembly, I sent a picture of it to my friend Larry who is a real guitar guy. He says “hey, I bought an Antigua P-Bass new back in the seventies…” Oh, really! I didn’t know that Antigua was a Fender finish that was offered back in the late seventies. Apparently, it is NOT universally beloved. As it ages it can start to look like a rotting avocado.

The quality of the kit was surprisingly good, and the guitar plays well. Total cost including two sheets of sandpaper: $106.80.

Again, I’m NOT a guitar player, but here’s a track of me fumbling around with the “SortaStrat”: http://webpages.charter.net/mittpro/Rumble%2084.mp3


Great job, Bob -- Beautiful Guitar!

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