Thinking Of Choosing Orpheo Over Warmoth

[Snake Aces]

I have been hoping to order 3 Warmoth Regals since May. I was able to order one of them and I remain very excited for this guitar! Warmoth has been so great to me over the years, I love Warmoth guitars! If you are considering one, the answer is yes! Get one!

I realize times are tough, but, Warmoth still has not responded to my request to build a few more swamp ash Regals. I understand the circumstances and it actually breaks my heart a bit to even consider starting this thread. I had big plans for these Regals. But, it is what it is. In the process of ordering a custom singlecut Les Paul style bass from orpheo, I began realizing he can do so many things Warmoth cannot do. He truly builds premium, player's guitars and basses without compromise. He will listen to you. He will offer his expertise. He is awesome! Now, I want what he is doing for my bass, for my six strings.

The only problem? I do not know everything I want. However, I do know what I was going to ask Warmoth to do... However, from orpheo, I want the same inlay he is doing on my bass (I have not revealed this yet) and maybe some other things he can do. He is the expert. So, I do not know what I want from him, but from Warmoth I was thinking:

Guitar number one: Translucent blue chambered swamp ash Regal with swamp ash top (make that grain pop!), roasted maple neck and fretboard, 59 roundback profile, SS6100 frets, 24.75" scale, Duncan 78 set of pickups, push-push for single coil operation, no-load tone pot for neck humbucker, shielded if necessary, 10-16" compound radius, 22 frets, black hardware, regular gotoh/grover/TOM/Les Paul sh!t, 1 11-16" nut width, right hand player. (With oprheo, I would want a glued neck with his custom inlay we discussed for my bass)

Second guitar, make this one sing for the effin' devil: Translucent Red chambered swamp ash satin finish with a wenge neck, maybe bocote fretboard? Headstock veneer? Bareknuckles Rebel Yell pickup set. Other specs the same as the first axe.

Should I switch the order to orpheo? orpheo, your thoughts? What would you do? Only use swamp ash tops?

 

[Snake Aces]

My other thought was an ebony fretboard for the red one... instead of bocote.

 

[orpheo]

That's quite the spec brief! I will dive into some things in a moment and offer my views.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

I've agonized over custom guitar details for years, and yearned to have my perfect guitar built. Here's the kicker- there isn't one for me, or there are a bunch of them, depending on how you look at it.

The term "players' guitar" is an interesting one. To me, that means function over form, less emphasis on bling like inlays or finishes. If I was spec'ing a guitar now, it'd be a Strat, alder or swamp ash, surf green, roasted maple neck/board with no inlays, Texas Special or Tex Mex neck and mid, and a rails bridge. Then I'd have another one with 2 humbuckers in midnight wine with a rosewood board.

 

[orpheo]

First off, I'm honored you're thinking of me! Secondly, here's my lowdown of the specs, with a few ideas. I shoved some specs around to make it more legible for me

Guitar number one:
Translucent blue chambered swamp ash LP with swamp ash top (make that grain pop!),
Roasted maple neck and fretboard, 59 roundback profile, SS6100 frets, 24.75" scale,10-16" compound radius, 22 frets,1 11-16" nut width
Duncan 78 set of pickups, push-push for single coil operation
No-load tone pot for neck humbucker, shielded if necessary
Black hardware, regular gotoh/grover/TOM/Les Paul sh!t, , right hand player
With oprheo, I would want a glued neck with his custom inlay we discussed for my bass)

If you're gonna go with a maple neck, plus chambered swamp ash body + top, you might run the risk of having a headstock-heavy guitar, because *my* swamp ash weighs really, next to nothing. That being said, my swamp ash is tonally similar to old growth mahogany, because it is so light and soft. I can't speak for Warmoth's swamp ash, so no idea, but I do know what I have

Pickups: no problem. the '78s sound like hot, fat PAF's so that's cool. No-load, also easy. Good choice, since it will brighten that up a little.

Roasted maple neck: yeah, great idea. I've got a sweet supply if it! I'd recommend against the roasted maple fretboard, though. In fact, I prefer not to work with maple fretboards. What I offer as a substitute is olivewood. It's also a heck lighter in color than my stash of roasted maple. You can see that combination in my iron Maiden strat thread, or my tele 52 thread

Other than that, I see no biggies except for the radius. A 10-16 compound is not the best way to go because it's not a neat cone. There's an odd bump somewhere in the fretboard, hardly noticeable but once you've tried a 10-14 or 12-16, you'll know what I'm talking about. I can do it, but I don't recommend it. I spoke with Ken a few years ago and he agreed with my assessment but since everybody is familiar with that fretboard and since this is how they've done it for years and years, he didn't bother to change it (until this year, haha!!)

Fretwire: I use Jescar FW57110 wire. That's a Jumbo wire, stainless steel, but of Jescar. I wouldn't wanna fret a guitar without Jescar, to be honest. Works like a charm.

Second guitar, make this one sing for the effin' devil: Translucent Red chambered swamp ash satin finish with a wenge neck, maybe bocote fretboard? Headstock veneer? Bareknuckles Rebel Yell pickup set. Other specs the same as the first axe.

Chambered: see my previous comment. Wenge: yeah, cool 'n all, but I'd go with a multilam neck with wenge and padouk, to tie together all the colors of the body and neck. Bocote is a great choice but very... intense. The Rebel Yells are amazing,by the way, and work great in a LP style guitar.

 

[Snake Aces]

First off, I'm honored you're thinking of me! Secondly, here's my lowdown of the specs, with a few ideas. I shoved some specs around to make it more legible for me


If you're gonna go with a maple neck, plus chambered swamp ash body + top, you might run the risk of having a headstock-heavy guitar, because *my* swamp ash weighs really, next to nothing. That being said, my swamp ash is tonally similar to old growth mahogany, because it is so light and soft. I can't speak for Warmoth's swamp ash, so no idea, but I do know what I have

Pickups: no problem. the '78s sound like hot, fat PAF's so that's cool. No-load, also easy. Good choice, since it will brighten that up a little.

Roasted maple neck: yeah, great idea. I've got a sweet supply if it! I'd recommend against the roasted maple fretboard, though. In fact, I prefer not to work with maple fretboards. What I offer as a substitute is olivewood. It's also a heck lighter in color than my stash of roasted maple. You can see that combination in my iron Maiden strat thread, or my tele 52 thread

Other than that, I see no biggies except for the radius. A 10-16 compound is not the best way to go because it's not a neat cone. There's an odd bump somewhere in the fretboard, hardly noticeable but once you've tried a 10-14 or 12-16, you'll know what I'm talking about. I can do it, but I don't recommend it. I spoke with Ken a few years ago and he agreed with my assessment but since everybody is familiar with that fretboard and since this is how they've done it for years and years, he didn't bother to change it (until this year, haha!!)

Fretwire: I use Jescar FW57110 wire. That's a Jumbo wire, stainless steel, but of Jescar. I wouldn't wanna fret a guitar without Jescar, to be honest. Works like a charm.







Chambered: see my previous comment. Wenge: yeah, cool 'n all, but I'd go with a multilam neck with wenge and padouk, to tie together all the colors of the body and neck. Bocote is a great choice but very... intense. The Rebel Yells are amazing,by the way, and work great in a LP style guitar.

Dude, as always, I love your ideas. I want to build them both. Which one do you want to build first?

 

[PFDarkside]

Absolutely have a luthier build your guitar!

You will be second guessing is your choices, so it’s something you know you will like long term.

 

[orpheo]

Dude, as always, I love your ideas. I want to build them both. Which one do you want to build first?

If both are to get the same basic specs, only a different neck shaft material (ok, ok, different fretboard material but that's a minor issue in this case) I'd rather work at them simultaneously due to having to rout the same inlay twice and filling it twice with the inlay epoxy. Depends on how you want to approach things, of course!

 

[Snake Aces]

If both are to get the same basic specs, only a different neck shaft material (ok, ok, different fretboard material but that's a minor issue in this case) I'd rather work at them simultaneously due to having to rout the same inlay twice and filling it twice with the inlay epoxy. Depends on how you want to approach things, of course!

Lol I would love to have them built at the same time. Consistency would be awesome... but paying for them both at the same time? Yikes! Haha. I better work harder!

 

[ErikH]

I gotta say, orpheo's work blows me away. I'm pretty simple when it comes to guitars. Overly blingy and fancy actually turns me away. I have an all Warmoth Strat here (soon to be HH config from single humbucker). Got the body and neck in the showcase, all the hardware from there. It all works for me. I ordered a new pickguard from them last week and it shipped on Wednesday, right in with their lead time on those. And that's with their Covid notice still active. When it comes to the bodies and necks, that's a bit more extreme so I can understand custom requests and such being delayed there.

Looking forward to seeing how these come along. I love seeing build progress. I'm no luthier but have built a few of my own (not like orpheo does from bare wood) and have a LP DC Jr here in the works. Got a lot of sanding to do this weekend to prep for paint.

 

[Mincer]

Satin red is one of my favorite colors. I would love to see that, no matter who builds it.

 

[dystrust]

I've agonized over custom guitar details for years, and yearned to have my perfect guitar built. Here's the kicker- there isn't one for me, or there are a bunch of them, depending on how you look at it.

The term "players' guitar" is an interesting one. To me, that means function over form, less emphasis on bling like inlays or finishes. If I was spec'ing a guitar now, it'd be a Strat, alder or swamp ash, surf green, roasted maple neck/board with no inlays, Texas Special or Tex Mex neck and mid, and a rails bridge. Then I'd have another one with 2 humbuckers in midnight wine with a rosewood board.

I'm in largely the same boat. I've thought about specs for a custom guitar for years, and recently determined that I'd actually like 3 guitars essentially based on this one:

2007 SG Standard ('50s neck) with the following mods:

• SD P-Rails w/ Triple Shot rings
• Bigsby B5 w/ VibraMate Short Tail
• Tone Pros roller bridge
• Gotoh locking Klusons
• TUSQ-XL nut
• 500K pots w/ .015 / .022 Orange Drops wired 50s style
• Dunlop Strap Locks
• Knob pointers
• Blank trussrod cover

I've got a Reverend Soft Touch Bigsby spring on order, and I'm planning to add push-pulls to the tone controls for a phase switch and to put both pickups in series. I'm also planning to refret with Jescar 57110-S, but that's probably a couple months out. I like the series and parallel options on the Triple Shots, but what I'd really like is to have a couple additional guitars dedicated to those sounds.

In this ideal world, the second guitar would be a mid-2000s SG Special in Blue/Teal Flip-Flop pickup-swapped to my double black Custom / Jazz set with push-pull pots for series operation and to split both pickups. The final guitar would be a red SG Standard with a zebra WLH set. Both of these modded identically to the black one except for electronics of course.

 

[Snake Aces]

That is one badass SG!

 

[Mincer]

I am always happy to see pics of that SG.