Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

[iamthesuck]

Hey all, I'm going to be possibly building a Warmoth Mooncaster. It's swamp ash with a quilt maple top. I'm at a loss about what to do for the neck. I want a very smooth, fast neck with good tone. I was thinking roasted maple due to its low weight (to match the hollow body) and no need for finish. I also thought an ebony fingerboard, warmoth style headstock, standard thin or wizard (extra thin), 25.5" scale length, 1 3/4" nut width, compound radius, etc. I was also thinking about other woods such as bubinga or purpleheart to stand out and have a smooth, fast feel. My ideal is a suhr I played that was the Another quality I'm looking for is sustain, just to mention. I would be open to a USA Custom Guitars neck but I have no experience with them. Let me know what you guys think!

 

[YeRedHouseOverYonder]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

If I was putting together another swamp ash guitar, I'd go maple/pau ferro. Pau ferro has the smooth bend feel of ebony, but is slightly warmer. No finish needed either (a plus on your end). It sounded great with singles and humbuckers.



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[treyhaislip]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

My thoughts would be just a 1 piece Roasted Maple neck–Quartersawn if don't mind paying a tad bit more (Warmoth did Roasted Quartersawn for me but it was an upcharge that I had to request.)

Maple+Ebony seems like it would be more on the bright side with that wood combo (IMO Ebony is better with darker tonewoods such as Mahogany...but some don't believe wood affects tone so I am just putting my opinion out there.)

What tone/sound are you trying achieve with this build?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

Well, I think maple would be 'correct' for the body type, but I bet roasted maple would be a great choice too.

 

[Archer_of_Fish]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

Roasted Maple. I now have 2 guitars with roasted maple necks and fingerboards and the difference is pretty awesome.

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

Full Scallop/Rev Hdstk...

 

[iamthesuck]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

I'm going for somewhere between Jerry Garcia, Trey anastasio, and Wino. Weird I know. My early dream tone was informed by the old doom metal tones of smooth, "ooh" sounding leads and full heavy riffs. As I got more into jam music, I found myself wanting some more clarity while keeping that smooth, fluid lead tone. I just hate that harsh high mid/treble that feels like an ice pick in the ear drum.

In terms of fingerboard woods, would something warmer like say zirocote or goncalo alves work better? I don't know how much a fingerboard contributes but I like a guitar with a smooth attack and lots of sustain.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

I think a fingerboard actually contributes a lot. Go with warmer sounding woods, and pick the look you like.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

I'm going for somewhere between Jerry Garcia, Trey anastasio, and Wino. Weird I know. My early dream tone was informed by the old doom metal tones of smooth, "ooh" sounding leads and full heavy riffs. As I got more into jam music, I found myself wanting some more clarity while keeping that smooth, fluid lead tone. I just hate that harsh high mid/treble that feels like an ice pick in the ear drum.

In terms of fingerboard woods, would something warmer like say zirocote or goncalo alves work better? I don't know how much a fingerboard contributes but I like a guitar with a smooth attack and lots of sustain.

I don't have any experience with either of those woods so I can't comment there.

Is there something you don't like about Rosewood? That's a tried and true warmer tonewood for fretboards...

 

[iamthesuck]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

I find rosewood to be a little grainy. I have it on quite a few of my axes but I have ebony on a WGD and it just feels better. I love the hard, smooth feel everywhere my hand or fingers make contact with the neck. I've heard ziricote is pretty good so I may look more into that here soon.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

I find rosewood to be a little grainy. I have it on quite a few of my axes but I have ebony on a WGD and it just feels better. I love the hard, smooth feel everywhere my hand or fingers make contact with the neck. I've heard ziricote is pretty good so I may look more into that here soon.

Ofcourse its grainy–it is real wood. lol jk Ebony has super fine/tight grain so I understand where you are coming from.

I have seen some Maple+Ebony combos for necks so if you like Ebony then perhaps you should give it a go. From my experience, Semi-Hollows tend to be warmer any ways and you can always put warmer pickups in the guitar.

 

[iamthesuck]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

Just to be clear it's a fully hollow. The mooncaster doesn't have a center block like a 335. Yeah I was thinking that I may just go with ebony. I emailed warmoth about maybe getting kingwood or ziricote as a suitable fingerboard, but I'm leaning ebony. Of course now I've found out about wenge as a back wood so I may give that due diligence. Hopefully I'll have everything good to go by the end of the month and can actually build the sucker.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

Just to be clear it's a fully hollow. The mooncaster doesn't have a center block like a 335. Yeah I was thinking that I may just go with ebony. I emailed warmoth about maybe getting kingwood or ziricote as a suitable fingerboard, but I'm leaning ebony. Of course now I've found out about wenge as a back wood so I may give that due diligence. Hopefully I'll have everything good to go by the end of the month and can actually build the sucker.

Are you special ordering it fully hollow? All of them I've seen have had a center block and even Warmoth's announcement claims it is a Semi-Hollow...

I think Kingswood would be a great one–similar smooth feel like Ebony but more warm sounding like Rosewood.

 

[iamthesuck]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

Super weird, here they list it as "hollow/carved top". I suppose I should call and ask because that's weird they would have that conflicting information. See below

http://www.warmoth.com/Showcase/ShowcaseItem.aspx?Body=2&Type=92&Path=Mooncaster&i=MP543

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

Super weird, here they list it as "hollow/carved top". I suppose I should call and ask because that's weird they would have that conflicting information. See below

http://www.warmoth.com/Showcase/ShowcaseItem.aspx?Body=2&Type=92&Path=Mooncaster&i=MP543

Definitely give them a call but that sure looks like a Semi-Hollow.

Here is the Mooncaster without pickups:

That sure looks like a block...

Here is a Hollow Body without pickups

 

[iamthesuck]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

Fair enough, they may have labeled it wrong? I'll give em a call but that's a weird thing to miss on their end. Doesn't really affect my willingness to purchase it but good lookin' out!

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Building a Warmoth, what do for neck?

Fair enough, they may have labeled it wrong? I'll give em a call but that's a weird thing to miss on their end. Doesn't really affect my willingness to purchase it but good lookin' out!

Well, I think they label it as Solid, Chambered or Hollow for their body types...could be wrong on that but I don't think they offer a fully Hollow body guitar.