Warmoth VIP Body Template...

[axtrick]

Hey Folks, new to the board but have been searching and reading for awhile. Well, I have decided to build my very first electric guitar. I have been playing for years now and have played many different guitars but the closest I have come to the right axe for me is the good ole Fender strat as far as fit and feel, of course, with some mods and a certain neck. Now, I am looking to build one that fits my style and playing to the tee.. I was able to aquire a very nice piece of thick walnut from an old barn beam that has a lot of feathering in it with deep grains and would like to use it for the body. I have already plained, matched, glued and sanded the material. I still like the strat body and feel but was looking at the Warmoth VIP body and really like it. I haven't been able to find a template that is close to it. The closest I could find was the PRS body style but since I am looking at doing a bolt on neck and the PRS is a glued on neck it won't work..Yes, I could probably modify it but even then it isn't an exact. Was wondering if anyone knows of a source for the VIP template or if you have one and could copy the body for me? Thanks!

[newey]

axtrick-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

The VIP is Warmoth's own design, so I doubt they'd be willing to give you access to anything resembling a template. It is similar to the PRS but the body seems a bit wider through the upper bouts. Warmoth probably changed it just enough to avoid any complaints from PRS.

Note that Warmoth makes Tele and Strat bodies under license from Fender, for which they pay. The numbers of those bodies they sell justify the cost of the license for those models. Other body styles, much less so. I suspect they're not willing to pay PRS for the few VIPs they sell.

I don't know anyone who has one, either. My best advice would be to use graphics-based software. Get a photo of the body shape, import it into the program, render it as an outline, trace in the control routs, then enlarge it to life-size.

This gives you the basic shape. You will then need to calculate the proper bridge location, depending on your neck, add that into the template. From there, figure the pickup locations based upon distance from the neck heel and/or bridge, and add those as well.

It won't be perfectly alike to the Warmoth, but it will be close enough that your shaping and sanding can take care of the rest.

Bear in mind that I have never done it in that way, although I've done a similar technique to do a pickguard layout for use in cutting a custom pickguard. So, I'm just throwing this out there. Someone else will probably have a better idea. . .

[cynical1]

Yeah, I've gotta go with newey on this...PRS was definitely the inspiration for this one.

No worries, there are PRS templates out there to allow you to cut your own.



Just go to www.guitarbuildingtemplates.com/Shop-now.html and scroll down to the two PRS kits. That's for the 22 fret PRS. They also have a 24 fret kit. They'll run you $65.00 for the laser cut set.

You can just set up a quick jig to do the neck pocket routing for the bolt on neck. One consideration is that PRS uses a 25" scale, where Fender is 25.5" and Gibson hovers around 24.75". I don't know what the Warmouth VIP is, but before you route for the bridge verify your scale dimensions.

Probably your best option, as I'll grow hair before Warmouth comes off of that template.

That help?

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[axtrick]

Thanks Folks! I had been toying with getting the template for an Ibanez JS 1000 and doing the mods to it to get it as close to the VIP as possible. The cuttaways look more like the VIP than the PRS as far as how they match up to the neck. I am also planning on using a Schaller Floyd Rose Tremlo. The one thing I would have to reconfigure is the belly which is more like an LP on the VIP. The other thing I would have to mod is the neck cavity because the JS 1000 has offset neck bolt holes. Now, the neck I am looking at is a 25.5" scale like the strat and I'm not sure what the JS 1000 neck scale is but I can figure that out along with the bridge placement and the pickup placement. What do you all think?

[newey]

I think Cyn1's link for the PRS was from Guitarbuildingtemplates.com. They also sell JS1000 templates for $65.

While it's really just a question of which style you want, and of course modifications are possible to all these things, it appears that the PRS-style templates are made to utilize one of those necks with the "tongue" that extends under the neck pickup. So that might require a lot of re-jiggering to fit a regular neck heel.

[axtrick]

Newey, I think you hit the nail straight on the proverbial head. I just spent about an hour comparing the 2 designs side by side and the PRS template is more like the VIP design. I would really have to take much more time to even get the JS 1000 close and it even looks like I would have to add to it. Where I thought the cuttaways were more like the VIP it isn't exact and the body just isn't close. I think with the addition of the neck cutout to the PRS I can make it work with just bringing the curvature up sooner into the extra neck backing. The VIP is a scaled to a 25.5 scaled neck, just like the strat so I'll have to make some modifications as expected, since the PRS is designed to a 25" scale. I just read a guitar building tutorial online and the builder took a pic of the PRS body and blew it up until the body met the size that would fit the neck, pickups and the bridge. He also modified it so it would except a bolt on neck. So, I have a couple of options as far as buying a template or developing my own. It looks like my next purchase will be the neck...and put the rest of the harware on hold

[axtrick]

Well, just received guitar plans from Guitarplans of a PRS McCarty with a neck and bridge HB. I just emailed Jamie to see if he could switch out the neck and middle single coils for the neck HB and he said no prob. Thanks Jamie!. Great Plans! From here I'll use these to make templates. Now I have another question to ask.....