IS THERE ANOTHER WARMOTH?

[treyhaislip]

Re: IS THERE ANOTHER WARMOTH?

No, I found that the Brazilian rosewood is nothing special and went with ebony instead. As far as rosewood is concerned, I seem to like those really pale looking pieces that you find on 1980s Ibanez Roadstar IIs and on some modern Music Mans such as my Stingray classic.

I really like that neck, too bad I never had time to finish that Tele.

I wondered about that...when I built my HH Strat my luthier complained that the neck and body were both African Mahogany and not Honduran. He said "Gibson only uses Honduran Mahogany"...I think the finish and tone is awesome so it made me think that maybe my ears and eyes are not as sensitive to the difference between Honduran and African. Hearing you say something similar about the Brazilian Rosewood makes me feel better about my conclusion
That stinks, sorry you were never able to finish that Tele.

 

[uOpt]

Re: IS THERE ANOTHER WARMOTH?

I wondered about that...when I built my HH Strat my luthier complained that the neck and body were both African Mahogany and not Honduran. He said "Gibson only uses Honduran Mahogany"...I think the finish and tone is awesome so it made me think that maybe my ears and eyes are not as sensitive to the difference between Honduran and African. Hearing you say something similar about the Brazilian Rosewood makes me feel better about my conclusion

Gibson only using xxx of yyy? LOL. No. That's not gonna happen. Notorious liars, assuming it was even them claiming that and not the luthier repeating hearsay.

Gibson also makes some real stinkers lately. I just played a SG special anniversary something that was just terrible in every way, including a gap between neck and fretboard but not from separation. And no way they've been picky about the wood.

That stinks, sorry you were never able to finish that Tele.

Well I never sold the parts. Only a couple more decades until I retire, so no problem. All a matter of patience

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: IS THERE ANOTHER WARMOTH?

Gibson only using xxx of yyy? LOL. No. That's not gonna happen. Notorious liars, assuming it was even them claiming that and not the luthier repeating hearsay.

Gibson also makes some real stinkers lately. I just played a SG special anniversary something that was just terrible in every way, including a gap between neck and fretboard but not from separation. And no way they've been picky about the wood.

Well I never sold the parts. Only a couple more decades until I retire, so no problem. All a matter of patience

I love the Gibson Les Paul sound but don't like how they play...I built my all mahogany strat (body and neck) with Gibson Ceramic pickups to try to get a strat as close to that sound as I could (knowing full well that the bridge and different scale among other factors would not make it an exact match) because I really liked how they sounded. I don't really follow Gibson Electrics...so I don't know so much about their quality. The 2 Gibsons I owned seemed like they had good quality–they were both mid 2000's...

Well that's good that you can finish the project someday!

 

[NecroPolo]

Re: IS THERE ANOTHER WARMOTH?

Gibson also makes some real stinkers lately. I just played a SG special anniversary something that was just terrible in every way, including a gap between neck and fretboard but not from separation. And no way they've been picky about the wood.

I hear ya. There was a fresh faded SG Special that looked really sexy, the owner said a great price and the option of just exchange with some recording gear that I don't use anymore and he needs. Fair trade. He even offered the guitar for some test.

Well... It was like a 10 seconds test. It had the sound but was unplayable even after setting up for the best it could do. And there was that gap you're speaking about. I'm not flaming Gibson, I love their designs but any time a great trade is around, there is some ugly detail that scares me away. My luck.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: IS THERE ANOTHER WARMOTH?

I worked with a local guitar body on two projects. One used an AllParts neck and the other a Warmoth Neck. The Warmoth was by far nicer and IMO looked like better quality of work. Both of my bodies are ordered from Richard Saylor who lives in the North West. The bodies were very cheap because they weren't sanded. So if you are willing to do some sanding and staining/painting yourself then I would recommend his bodies. The AllParts neck is decent...but it feels like a Mexican Fender neck as opposed to the Warmoth that feels like an American Fender neck.

While I definitely recommend Warmoth and while they have a ton of options to choose from, they do not seem to be very flexible for anything outside those options. But they make a great neck and were spot on for the delivery estimate date.

Apologies in advance for those who dislike old thread bumps...but I feel I need to correct my old statement after several recent dealings with Warmoth.

On 2 occasions I was able to order a Roasted Quartersawn Maple neck–something not listed on their website (you can select Roasted Maple and you can select Quartersawn, but not Roasted Quartersawn.) Also, I ordered an Iceman Bass but needed a regular humbucker in the bridge position...something else that is not offered on their website (guitar humbucker routing on a bass.) They obliged on this request as well.

A couple of years ago I inquired about Roasted Swamp Ash and Alder. They said they could not build that at the time but were looking into it. Now they offer it and I've purchased 2 Roasted Swamp Ash bodies.

So...they are way more flexible than I had originally given them credit for.

 

[Mincer]

Re: IS THERE ANOTHER WARMOTH?

I understand Warmoth's inflexibility. Much like Fender itself. You can order a Custom Shop Fender, but you have certain specs you have to pick from. They aren't really a true Custom Shop. Since the majority of guitarists stick with a few tried and true designs, this makes sense for both Fender and Warmoth. There are certainly enough customers who want what they sell vs asking for something completely different.

 

[Jacew]

Re: IS THERE ANOTHER WARMOTH?

One thing has went unmentioned here that OP stated: Warmoth fills a niche between custom shop and guitar companies. Real custom shop has custom shop prices, so they're not comparable. I don't know how much actual competition to Warmoth, like USACG would cost. Because they only give you the basic parts prices, not cost of any piece in their catalog straight away like Warmoth.

Let's say I want all maple strat (which I "designed" some time ago). I could easily count through their website, that through Warmoth it would cost about exactly 1000$. No actual custom shop can compete that.

I tried to compare USACG prices, but couldn't because of the reasons I explained above.