Suhr Modern body template or sketch needed.

[Adam]

Hi, I'm planning on doing a Warmoth build in the future. I was wondering if anyone has a full sized drawing/sketch or template of Suhr's Modern body or if anyone with a Suhr modern could make a full body sketch (minus the neck) for me as Warmoth needs a full sized body sketch in order to do a custom body shape. Any help would be much appreciated. The reason I'm doing this is I don't want to pay something like a billion dollars to make a Suhr, where I am limited to what Suhr offers when I could pay about half to a third of the price to make a Suhr looking Warmoth with my own features and specifications. Thanks for any help in advance!

[newey]

I could pay about half to a third of the price to make a Suhr looking Warmoth with my own features and specifications. Thanks for any help in advance!

Suhr makes high-end guitars and charges accordingly. But beware of thinking that you will save money by building your own guitar. Warmoth says their custom bodies start at around $350- the key word being "start". That's going to be for a slab-style body of your desired shape, probably in ash. If you want contours, if you want a sculpted top, if you want fancy flame-top veneers, you go up from there. Although I haven't priced a custom body from them, it would not surprise me in the least that you'd double that $350, or perhaps even triple it.

And, of course, if you're going to spend that much on a body, you'll want the other parts to be quality as well. You're not going to put $20 pickups on an expensive body.

You may not put yourself in Suhr territory, cost-wise, but you'll be at a cost where there are quite a few very nice guitars you could have for the same money- and with set necks, not bolt-on.

Have you set a budget for this project?

[Adam]

Sept 28, 2013 7:20:17 GMT -5 newey said:

I could pay about half to a third of the price to make a Suhr looking Warmoth with my own features and specifications. Thanks for any help in advance!

Have you set a budget for this project?

I'm going up to around $2,000 AUD on this.

[b4nj0]

You could confirm this level of outlay at the Warmoth (or American Guitars) website.
I'll just give the following $0.02...
I have a Schecter Hawaiian Koa one piece "Strat" married to a Warmoth maple neck. Schecter will not supply parts these days so out of interest, I priced it up at Warmoth and it was very much no change out of $1000 and that included the despatch costs.
Too, most manufacturers are fiercely protective of their headstock profiles but not nearly so with their body shapes. I don't know the reason why that anomaly should prevail, but I don't think that Suhr would be particularly impressed with Warmoth if they consciously produced a body shape at your bidding knowing it to be of Suhr's design. Warmoth have a licence to manufacture Fender necks. I seem to recall reading that they also made some of the high end luthier bodies and necks, and Suhr may well be one of them. I imagine that they don't have a licence for Suhr though?
I think that Warmoth state as such somewhere on their website.
I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, I just wonder whether Warmoth would agree to the commission.
It's really difficult to avoid making this sound like a lecture (or including instructions such as "understand (this or that -or whatever) which doesn't translate very well into British English. Phew!)
Good luck with whatever you decide upon, you'll have a ball and there are plenty of peeps on this forum better qualified than myself to help you along the way.

[Adam]

You could confirm this level of outlay at the Warmoth (or American Guitars) website.
I'll just give the following $0.02...
I have a Schecter Hawaiian Koa one piece "Strat" married to a Warmoth maple neck. Schecter will not supply parts these days so out of interest, I priced it up at Warmoth and it was very much no change out of $1000 and that included the despatch costs.
Too, most manufacturers are fiercely protective of their headstock profiles but not nearly so with their body shapes. I don't know the reason why that anomaly should prevail, but I don't think that Suhr would be particularly impressed with Warmoth if they consciously produced a body shape at your bidding knowing it to be of Suhr's design. Warmoth have a licence to manufacture Fender necks. I seem to recall reading that they also made some of the high end luthier bodies and necks, and Suhr may well be one of them. I imagine that they don't have a licence for Suhr though?

Hmm wouldn't Charvel get destroyed for making a Guthrie Govan prototype, which is based off a Suhr modern? The body shape is pretty much identical and Charvel doesn't offer it. Just a thought.

[b4nj0]

Good point well made!
As I said, enjoy the ride.

[newey]

Hmm wouldn't Charvel get destroyed for making a Guthrie Govan prototype, which is based off a Suhr modern? The body shape is pretty much identical and Charvel doesn't offer it. Just a thought.

Headstock designs are one thing, because Fender (and Gibson, and others)have trademarked those designs, just like a corporate logo is trademarked. The legal battles of the 1970s over MIJ copies of US guitars were largely fought over headstock designs- because prior trademarks made the US manufacturer's legal position strong. The end result was that Japanese companies had to stop using the headstock designs, but were allowed to continue to make guitars which were otherwise close copies.

Body shapes are another matter. Back in the 1950s, no one thought to trademark the shapes. A few years ago, Fender tried to litigate the issue, claiming that, even though they had no trademark, that the body shapes of the Stratocaster and Telecaster were so unique that the shapes had become, over the years, so identified with Fender that it was unfair competition for other companies to copy the body styles. The US Courts shot Fender down on that one. Since then, everyone pretty much assumes it's open season on body shapes.

Besides, Fender owns Charvel. Suhr had Govan under contract as an artist, but they let him get away, to Charvel. Presumably, Suhr has no contract dispute to press with either Charvel or Govan, and litigating a body shape would seem like sour grapes on Suhr's part to a Court. Fender's lawyers would squash Suhr like a bug if Suhr tried to raise the issue in Court, the same way Fender itself got shot down before.

If Warmoth were worried about this issue, they wouldn't offer to do custom bodies.

And Adam:

I'm going up to around $2,000 AUD on this.

So, about $1800 USD. As I said, that will buy a lot of other fine guitars. But far be it from me to discourage you. I do think that, to stick to that budget, you ought to roughly lay out what you will spend for the neck, bridge, pickups and tuners. Then you'll know what fraction of the total can go towards the body. If, as b4njo said, it's going to be close to $1000, that may dictate scaling back your expectations.

[cynical1]

OK, you've got two thousand Australian dollar to spend...and you're looking to spend a sizable portion on shipping charges to the States.

You have a first class builder down there. For giggles, check out Ormsby Guitars

That's my two cents...

HTC1

[Adam]

So, about $1800 USD. As I said, that will buy a lot of other fine guitars. But far be it from me to discourage you. I do think that, to stick to that budget, you ought to roughly lay out what you will spend for the neck, bridge, pickups and tuners. Then you'll know what fraction of the total can go towards the body. If, as b4njo said, it's going to be close to $1000, that may dictate scaling back your expectations.

From using Warmoth's neck builder: I have a Warmoth pro construction. Maple neck, ebony fretboard, 1-11/16" nut width, right handed, standard thin back contour, 10-16" compound radius, 24 frets, stainless steel jumbo frets, sperzel tuner holes, regular cream inlays, graphtech nut and no finish (I'll do that myself) and that comes to $267 not including shipping. That gives me roughly $700 to blow on a body. Another $700 or so on electronics.