Does anyone have a Warmoth?

[RandomHero]

I'm heavily considering saving up for my DreamGuitar(TM). Of course it'll have to be a custom-shop deal, and it doesn't seem like anyone will give me as good of a price as Warmoth.

I want a 7-string baritone (28" 5/8ths) neck from Warmoth, with a lighter-colored Wenge fretboard, stainless steel frets, (or gold, depending on my choice of hardware color,) 13 degree angled peghead, flamed maple, spalted maple headstock veneer, Floyd Rose nut setup, abalone dots, and Grover tuners.

This will be attached to a CT-7 body with an H/S/H configuration, filled with DiMarzio Blaze humbuckers, bleached ebony pup mounting rings from Warmoth, a chrome Floyd Rose Original 7-string trem, a Hipshot trem-setter in the back, black binding and a flamed maple back. If I can pull it off with Warmoth, I want the spalted maple top and peghead veneer to match the shade of the Wenge fretboard.

Now, as much as this seems like my dream guitar, I need to know...

IS WARMOTH WORTH THE HYPE?

I've heard a few good things about them, but not enough to justify a $1K+ purchase. Do any of our beloved members have experience with Warmoth they'd be willing to share? Of particularity:

How are they with finishes?

Is their compound-radius fretboard really that great?

I've read on their site that they DON'T do fret dressing on their OWN new necks... besides being a total ripoff, do their necks really need it that bad?

I've also read that the compound-radius fretboard and stainless-steel frets should pose -no- problem at all for a luthier to work on years down the line. Of COURSE Warmoth would claim that, because their sales would be very hurt otherwise (seeing as how they don't service their own products, it seems.) Is this claim true, or a load of balarky?

Thanks in advance, friends!

[sumgai]

RH,

Lots of questions, my friend, gonna have to contemplate what I say here. Hmmmmm (needs a beard-scratching smilie)

Warmoth has been around for what, three decades? Usually that's a sign of doing something right, keeping the customers coming back as it were. It happens that I live about 45 minutes up the street from them, so I see lots of their stuff in player's hands. No one's complained so far, except for maybe the prices.

Let's face it, wood isn't getting any cheaper, so it's a waste of time to try and beat them on that, all the other suppliers (of good woods) are charging just as much, or within only a few percentage points. Where Warmoth shines is they can do custom work for a very friendly price. Want a Gibson body with a Strat pickup route? No sweat. The list of what they can (and will) do is enormous.

Let's address your neck concerns. Warmoth was one of the first 'independent' makers to proclaim that no neck is finished until it has been adjusted and set up to the needs of the owner. This caused quite a stir in the late 70's, but many big-name builders have gotten on board with that message. Not all, but many of them. What it means is that they don't know you, they can't see you (your hands on the neck), and they don't have the assembled guitar to work with anyway. That's what a guitar tech has, those three things that are needed to make final setups and adjustments to personalize the guitar to the owner/player. If for no other reason, the string gauge, and attendant string pull, will alter the amount and kind of fret dressing that the tech will do for you.

Warmoth will service what they sell, but they are not in the adjusting and setting up business. They make things, and sell them, that's all. Their warranty service can be spotty, according to some reports, but I think that's due more to a misunderstanding than anything else. If they say you have to finish a maple neck, and you don't, you really shouldn't try to beat them up for a new neck when yours twists like a pretzel for having no finish to protect it from humidity, etc. But they see things like that all the time.

The one neck I've played more than a few minutes was a compound radius jobbie - I've got to have one of these for myownself! Nice for rhythm work, barre chords are a breeze.... upper register blues bends are also no sweat, much easier than my $1k+ Strat. (In fact, my favorite guitar tech is the one who set up that compound radius neck, she says they're no problem to work on.)

Ya know, I think I just talked myself into upgrading my Strat to one of these things. Curse you, RandomHero, my wallet's gonna be pd off at me!! ;D


sumgai

[jester700]

I've had 5 Warmoth necks now, but they were all on early 90's Yamaha Pacifica 900 series guitars, so my comments only apply insofar as those OEM necks were made the same as Warmoth's retail ones - and I don't know this extent.

I LOVE the 10-16" compound radius. My fave, bar none. I LOVE the profile on my necks, but it's not standard. It was made for Yamaha, and is somewhere between the Warmoth standard thin and the Wizard profile. My main axe now sports a Carvin neck (with a 12-15" compound radius), but only because I could get a tilt back headstock, abaone blocks, steel frets, and ebony board much cheaper than I could from Warmoth.

Now, IME and that of others, Warmoth had problems with frets coming up. I had this issue with a couple of the 90's necks. They specifically state that they now glue the frets down, and though they don't say this had been a problem before, from what I've seen and have heard, I bet it was. Shouldn't be an issue on a new neck, though.

Another option is www.usacustomguitars.com/

[RandomHero]

USAcustom looks like a Warmoth in their infancy. I'm sure they do good stuff, but they have no love for bass-o-philes like myself, who -have- to have a baritone 7-string. (Where did my parents go wrong, anyway?)

I'm planning on stringing this baby up with fairly light strings, .009 to .052, (keep in mind that's .009 to .042 on a 6-stringer, with an additional .052 on the low B,) and tuning it to standard. I Think a 7-string already facilitates low enough sounds for me, but I want the baritone neck for a few reasons.

The longer the scale length, the more complex and audible are the harmonics, the higher the string tension (thus less buzzing, thus able to have lower action,) the tighter, deeper and punchier the tone. A longer scale length is of particular importance when considering a low B string; my 25.5" Schecter does nicely, but there's a bit too much "choke" on that poor topstring! Instead of being rich and boomy, up past the 3rd or 4th fret it just sounds plunky and thuddy when it's struck.

I'm reconsidering having a black finish put on the back of this guitar and the back of the neck instead of flamed maple. To go with the whole "dark" theme. I definitely want it to look a bit sinister, hence the decayed, dark wood, the wenge fretboard, and just -mean- look of a baritone 7-string... but still elegant and sophisticated.

[sumgai]

Have to admit, usacustomguitars are nice folks, but they don't do the near the level of custom work that Warmoth will do. And what they will do, costs more than Warmoth, and I'm not talkin' about a latte's worth, either.

A luthier friend of mine swears that they use much better wood than Warmoth, but they're just down the street from each other (Tacoma and Puyallup, about 10 miles apart), so any wood that comes in will be sitting in the same temp/humidity conditions before it gets used.


sumgai

[ChrisK]

I have a number of aftermarket projects about and a'baking.

I've never had to fool with the frets on one. Setup of the 10-16" radius is easy if you extrapolate the radius cone to the bridge (it works out to aboot 18-20"'ish).

All of the bodies have had most excellent tone and sustain. Of course, I ALWAYS use fatback necks (physics is).

I've never had a CS issue, but I make real sure of what I order AND what it really means.


Strat copy, chambered top routed padouk body - no finish required. Padouk/ebony/SS frets 1 7/8" fatback neck-no finish required. DiMarzio VV pickups, Mike Richardson wiring w/ neck and bridge phase/tone pots. Wilkinson bridge. Done is. Pics on board.

Tele copy, all contour top routed swamp ash body (4# even), vintage satin finish. Wild birdseye/birdseye 1 3/4" fatback neck, clear gloss finish. Callaham hardware, Fender Vintage Noiseless bridge, SD Vintage Stack neck. Done is ('cept the wiring keeps changin' aboot). The "proper" Tele. Interim pics on board.

Strat copy, solid rear routed swamp ash body (3#2), all contours, not yet finished. Tele maple/ebony 1 3/4" boat tail neck, satin finish. Rio Grande Twangbucker bridge and pickup, lipstick middle, SD P-90 Stack neck. Done isn't.

Tele copy, all contour rear routed alder body (3#12), not yet finished ("tongue" oil, anybody). 3+3 headstock Tele heel maple/rosewood 1 7/8" standard neck (OK, so I lied), satin finish. SD TB-4 (F JB) bridge, SD- Jazz neck. Demented wiring afoot. Done isn't.

Strat copy, chambered book matched figured walnut/walnut rear route body (will be oiled). Maple skunk stripe 1 11/16" fatback neck, satin finish. Routed for 3 humbuckers, selection afoot from my box of many. Wilkinson bridge. Done isn't.

I also have two other 1 7/8" standard unfinished necks about.

[vjmodman]

Warmoth is a great company and I've never heard of anyone being unhappy, Except for the price...

Is it worth the high price? Thats the question you have to ask yourself. If you have the funds and you really wan't to build a guitar from parts with alot of "custom" options (ie a weird pickup/control rout) than I would say go with Warmoth.


The carvin bodys/necks/kits are a GREAT buy for the price. But they don't come finished. So if you wan't the high gloss finish you will go through hell trying to get it without a real spray gun and a nice spray setup (trust me, I would know -shudder-). If the idea of a natural type oil finish appeals to you, than I would seriously consider carvin. An oil finish is not necessarily inferior to a gloss finish, oil finishes can come out great depending on the peice of wood. That wenge guitar I did was an oil finish and it's really beautiful.


Some of stewmacs stuff
www.stewmac.com/
Is decent quality for about the same price as carvin only it comes finished.


You won't go wrong with warmoth but I would deffinitly check out some other options before spending your hard earned cash. And no matter who you go with for the body/neck please do us all a favor and buy all the BEST quality hardware/electronics/pickups you can find (stewmac is a great place to buy hardware, tuners etc)

[ChrisK]

I've wanted to use Carvin parts for some time. Carvin will do anything that you want, as long as it's limited to what they want to do. IMHO they use a lot of junk parts.

I've asked many times for things that they have but don't list, their CS response is often terse and condescending. Their necks are nice and wide (1 3/4"'ish almost), but way too thin for me.

They will not do a thick (aka fatback) neck. Period.

I've owned (past tense) a few of their guitars. I still have the six string walnut bass, but I won't own another Carvin.

Period.

[jester700]

Carvin's options ARE limited, so you can't really compare them with Warmoth. Basically, if what they offer is what you already want, great (this was my case). If not, look elsewhere. Also, the necks are SLIGHTLY thicker than standard at the heel, which usually necessitates sanding somewhere, either heel or pocket. They're 1 11/16" at the nut. I've had 4 now spanning 1993-2005, and they've all been this.

The only junk 've seen is maybe the pots and stamped metal stuff. The woodwork is excellent for the price, and the pickups are well made - if you happen to like their sound.

I finished my necks in either tung oil or wipe-on poly. Easy and satisfactory for me. But I only use their necks - if I used a body and wanted a high gloss finish, it might be a different story.