Re: Warmoth LP bolt-on?? Haha, I thought it might be sweet...
Ok, here's the deal...
IT SOUNDS INCREDIBLE!! Wow, just wow. It's so warm yet does not shy away from articulation even (GET THIS>>>) with my Big Muff Pi!! I've never made a big muff sing so clear!! Note for note and it's like Santana is playing through my Traynor...
I was thinking did I get better or something?
On top of that where this guitar really shines is on clean tones. I love the warmth of the 59 in the neck; especially the clean 59 sound! However, in this hollow korina it's almost like taking swamp ash and mahogany to create a perfectly balanced tone. It just sings and never gets muddy. That doesn't mean there isn't a monsterous low end though... there is, it can be FELT through your chest on my Traynor YCV40 1X12 at a volume level of 1. 1, ONE, 1. That's incredible. However when I crank it up it never gets too boomy!!
Anyway, I've only got about 12 hours playing time on it so far and I've got a bit of work left to do on it, or so it seems.
I've been a tad frustrated with the common and usual job of a custom parts guitar set-up. First of all the standard thickness of the bridge HB mounting ring just will not cut it with a two point trem, I pretty much have to sand it down to the thickness of the neck ring just to avoid too much magnetic pull on the strings from the bridge humbucker. In it's stock form the bridge ring would force me to jack the bridge up like a ghetto '64 on bags just to get a 1/32" clearance!! That's taken me about two hours of work and I still don't have the 1/8" bass side to 3/32" treble side clearance I want on a JACKED UP two point bridge. Granted I've never owned a two point trem before and I've especially never tried to balance a trem on a carved top guitar but I know plenty about setting up a standard Les Paul and a vintage 6 hole trem Strat where I think I will be able to figure it out. (EDIT: I'm pretty sure I already got it, it's playing pretty nice right now!!)
I have a compound radius neck (10 - 16") so I set the strings to a 16" radius; it's comfortable to the picking hand but something isn't matching up all the time with the fretting hand towards the nut. Sure, the strings do feel a tad high at the nut, but I don't have files for that so I'm leaving that up to my friend who does have them (when he has some time).
Right now my relief is fine (.008) but the fret rocker rocks like a cradle up and down the neck, it's sad (so who knows if my relief at the 7th fret is actually even .008!!). I need a dress and level so bad it actually depresses me! That doesn't make matters any better... That will need to be done, but I'm flat broke for a while after buying this baby. The buzzing is minimal but extremely noticable at the 15th and 17th frets (which is due to low frets, it's expected on a non-leveled fretjob).
Blah, blah blah. The bottom line is the tone is angelic. I couldn't have picked a better combo for my personal taste, that's fo sho. It even stays decently in tune, which I've never had with a trem-equipped guitar!!
For now the intonation is right and the tone is beautiful so I will just suck it up and play it like this til I can afford the final set-up of the frets and string height at the nut. I can't wait for that though!!