An attempt to visualize upcoming guitar (1st Warmoth project!)

[JonatanOTG]

Hello out there!  :redflag:

The decision is taken. The die is cast. I will build a Warmoth guitar. This is gonna be great!  :icon_biggrin:

This will be a quite long project, and the final product will not be finished until approximately a year from now. This is due to that I'll do this as a project in school (as I wrote in this thread http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=19495) and that isn't supposed to be finished until spring next year. But anyway, let's move on to the fun stuff!  :toothy12:

So, I've had a couple of ideas regarding the forthcoming guitar. I haven't decided all the things yet but here's my thoughts so far. Please keep in mind that I'm going for a more or less 'normal' guitar, rather than the ultimate-guitar-of-my-dreams-that-will-do-everything, you know. Again, this will be my first Warmoth.

Body
Super strat. I always prefered strats so this is written in stone, so to speak. The body will either be a strat or soloist, and it will be rear routed. I don't want the body to be covered up by a pickguard, and although there is a some interesting options (such as the 'UpDown mod'  ) I've decided that I'm going for a rear routed body.
I'll also go for a contoured heel. That's a funny thing because long before I discovered Warmoth I realized that the heel on strats are a major problem, at least for me. And when I found out about Warmoth, there was the contoured heel... Nice!  :icon_thumright:
Regarding the wood, I find myself struggling between alder and basswood, strange enough. But I'm after a kind of 'normal' sounding light weight wood and both seems to be decent options. I realize though that basswood might not look as good as alder in a transparent finish, so that I'll have to consider as well. A very interesting option would be a alder top on a basswood body, but then there's the financial part... So this guitar will be without a laminate top.

Neck
First off, I really don't want rosewood on maple since both my other guitars has this and I want something else this time. I like the look of a maple fingerboard so for now I lean towards a maple neck (maybe even a 1-piece...?). But I won't leave out those exotic necks, I've heard that some of these might not require a finish and that sounds good to me. Maybe if I find the right one, maybe...
What else about the neck... Well, the headstock will be a Fender style. I'm not a huge fan of an angled one, but I really don't want to use string trees, so we'll see about that. I might change my mind.
The frets. I like big ones, yes! This is another thing I'll have to do some more research about, but it's not impossible that I'll go with stainless steel. If so, the SS6115 looks nice to me... I'll see about that.
As for now, I think of a Vintage Modern construction with a compound radius, 22 frets. And I'll give one of those Graph Tech TUSQ nuts a shot, I haven't tried them but I like the idea.
The back contour. Guess if I've made up my mind yet? Nope!  :icon_jokercolor: Do I like thin necks? Yes I do. My main guitar, an Ibanez S470, has a Wizard neck and it's pretty comfortable to play. But for some reason, I always prefered the neck of my good old Squier strat, why is this?  ???  It feels as if the Squier has a thicker neck, but with thinner 'edges', so to speak. More like a V. The Ibanez neck is nice and thin, but the edge is thicker (more like a square than a V).
For almost a year, I just denied this and kept on telling myself that the Ibanez neck was better. But when I took the guitar to a store for a complete setup, the tech told me that he noticed the Wizard neck to be a bit asymmetric. This was not a big deal, but I remember he said that if anything, the neck should be asymmetric in the other way. Now this may sound strange, but I've tried to hold the Ibanez like a lefty and guess what, the neck feels better that way...   
So for my 1st Warmoth, I'll probably go for a standard thin. This might change though, you never know...  :cool01:

Bridge
Fixed. Both my Ibanez and my Squier has trems but I don't use them to much (in fact, I blocked off the Squier's trem!  :laughing7. So this time I want a fixed bridge. Don't know which one though. The Gotoh 510 looks nice but I'm not sure if it would work on a strat. I'm kind of against the TOM-look, but then I saw the string-through option, and that might, perhaps, work. I would love something like an 'ordinary' fixed bridge but without string-through, but I don't know if there is such a bridge, at least not on Warmoth's site.

Pickups & electronics
This guitar will have 2 wood mounted humbuckers, probably DiMarzio ones. I want the guitar to be pretty much right on rock'n'roll / plug & play, you know, so I don't want twenty different knobs and switches. But I still want some extra features to brave about... So maybe something like this:

• A volume knob with a 'treble bleed'-circuit on it (I've also considered it to be a push/push coil split)
• A concentric tone pot with individual knobs for both pickups
• A 3-way pickup selector wired for split neck or neck in parallel in the middle position

Well, that's pretty much it! This was my first attempt to 'visualize the guitar in my head'. Again, this will be my first Warmoth project and I'm so excited about it!  :hello2:  What do you say, could it work?

Thanks! 

Whoops, this turned out to be a pretty long post, sorry about that! :icon_jokercolor:

 

[Phinox]

What else about the neck... Well, the headstock will be a Fender style. I'm not a huge fan of an angled one, but I really don't want to use string trees, so we'll see about that. I might change my mind.

They make height compensated tuners that are shorter on the longer strings so you dont need string trees

 

[DustyCat]

+1 to the 1 11/16" width nut on my Warmoth Strat.

 

[mrpinter]

It sounds good Jonatan. Have you used the Body Builder on the Warmoth site to help you visualize? I took the liberty of doing that, using your specs as best I could, and came up with these images (I did a screen grab of the Body Builder then Photoshopped in the necks). This is an alder body, wood mounted Lindy Fralin pickups (diMarzios aren't an option on the BB), Gotoh 510 bridge, and one each of an all maple neck , maple and Indian rosewood, and all pao ferro necks. With that clear finish on the alder, I think the rosewood fingerboard or pao ferro looks better, but maybe that's just me.

 

[Tipperman]

Very kind of you to do that for him, Pinter.  :icon_thumright: The all Pau Ferro neck is the shiznit. If you go all Pau Ferro, Jonatan, you will NOT regret it. Not even once.  :cool01:

 

[sduck]

Have you considered swamp ash for the body? IMHO basswood and alder are junk woods that are used only because they're cheap, and I believe fenders choice of body woods evolved away from swamp ash only for the reason of economy. I have a warmoth strat with swamp ash and it sounds fantastic.

The neck - consider black ebony for the fingerboard - it's the best feeling and playing fingerboard wood there is, period. Everything else is a compromise. I also love love love 6100 frets. Definitely go with the graphtech nut, and even with the standard strat head you won't need string trees if you use sperzel locking tuners with the staggered heights or an equivalent.

Dimarzio pickups are great! My new green strat (see the entries in this months guitar of the month contest) has Dimarzios - Air Norton in the neck, Tone Zone by the bridge. I went with a fairly straightforward wiring choice - 1 volume and 2 tones, and a 5 way switch, with the normal choices in 1, 3 and 5, and bridge and neck outer coils together in position 2 and bridge and neck inner coils together in position 4. Nothing complicated, but a lot of sound options available.

 

[mrpinter]

C'mon now sduck; alder & basswood JUNK woods???!!! Please. They're perfectly fine tonewoods with their own place in the luthier's art. I'll use my Hamer T-62 as an example. It is pretty much a custom shop guitar. They didn't skimp on woods anywhere: birdseye maple neck, pau ferro fingerboard, and ALDER body. The thing sounds killer. They could have used anything they wanted for the body.

Same goes for your comment about fretboard woods, with "everything else being a compromise". I don't know where you get your information or your opinions, but Warmoth doesn't sell junk woods either! I just recently got the pieces to a Warmoth build I'm doing, and included was a neck with a wenge fingerboard - which I consider very much like, and certainly the equal of - ebony.

 

[pabloman]

Ever play a decent guitar with a basswoodbody and a maple top? Its good shit. You will notice some overtones not normally present. Far from junk wood. In fact junk wood is a pretty ignorant statement. Any wood that is being used for mass produced electrics will yield decent results. Its probably harder to make a bad sounding guitar now than it is to make a decent one.

 

[Updown]

I got a Basswood Aerodyne Strat, that sounds absolutely crap. 
But I gotta say …
It's the cheap and nasty original pickups that are in it. There pathetic !!  :tard:

I'll get around to putting something else in it one day.
Not sure what.

Have read about the place / web, that Basswood is better with higher / hotter pups.
:dontknow:

 

[Cagey]

I've not used it, but for as soft as Basswood is, I can't imagine a guitar made of it ever getting very bright or articulate. It's probably better for jazz or baritone setups.

Although it's generally true, "Hardwood" is actually something of a misnomer. It just means it's a broad-leafed deciduous tree, where softwoods have needles. Did you know that Balsa is actually considered a hardwood? Anyway, in terms of hardness on scale of 0 to 4000, Basswood has a Janka rating of 410, which is pretty close to the bottom of the scale. Ebony, on the other hand, has a rating of 3220.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

I have a wiring diagram somewhere for a 5-way switch on two humbuckers that gives:

1- bridge humbucker
2- bridge split and neck split in series
3- both humbuckers in parallel
4- bridge split and neck split in parallel
5- neck humbucker

Want me to dig it out?

 

[JonatanOTG]

Thanks for the fast replies, time to qoute!  :toothy10:

They make height compensated tuners that are shorter on the longer strings so you dont need string trees

That'd be great! I haven't seen such on Warmoth's site, but I'll look it up for sure. One problem solved!  :icon_thumright:

 

[JonatanOTG]

+1 to the 1 11/16" width nut on my Warmoth Strat.

Ok, seems like I have another thing to do some research about. :icon_jokercolor: (smiley indicates lack of knowledge) Would it be correct to say that 1 11/16 is 'standard'? Like as on an 'ordinary' strat, for example.

 

[JonatanOTG]

It sounds good Jonatan. Have you used the Body Builder on the Warmoth site to help you visualize? I took the liberty of doing that, using your specs as best I could, and came up with these images (I did a screen grab of the Body Builder then Photoshopped in the necks). This is an alder body, wood mounted Lindy Fralin pickups (diMarzios aren't an option on the BB), Gotoh 510 bridge, and one each of an all maple neck , maple and Indian rosewood, and all pao ferro necks. With that clear finish on the alder, I think the rosewood fingerboard or pao ferro looks better, but maybe that's just me.

Yes I use the Body Builder frequently, it's a lot of fun!  :icon_biggrin:

Wow, you didn't have to do that, but thanks, that's very kind!  :kewlpics:
Yeah, something like that with 2 knobs and another body finish. I'll try that out in the BB myself!  :icon_thumright:
By the way, what do you guys think of the Gotoh 510 on a strat body? Looks a bit strange but I dunno... You think it would go together?  :dontknow:
I agree, with the clear finish it looks way better with a dark fingerboard. But I've done a couple of BB-bodies with... I think it was transparent red or something similar, and that might look nice with a maple neck. I can't seem to find a way to upload pics directly on the forum but nevermind, you get the idea of transparent red.

 

[JonatanOTG]

If you go all Pau Ferro, Jonatan, you will NOT regret it. Not even once.  :cool01:

Ok, but there's this tiny detail you know... It's the fact that pau ferro is, well... Not maple...  :icon_jokercolor:

I gotta say though, that I really like the thing about a raw neck that doesn't require a finish. So we'll see what happens, tough decision coming up!  :-\

 

[JonatanOTG]

Have you considered swamp ash for the body?

Dimarzio pickups are great! My new green strat (see the entries in this months guitar of the month contest) has Dimarzios - Air Norton in the neck, Tone Zone by the bridge. I went with a fairly straightforward wiring choice - 1 volume and 2 tones, and a 5 way switch, with the normal choices in 1, 3 and 5, and bridge and neck outer coils together in position 2 and bridge and neck inner coils together in position 4. Nothing complicated, but a lot of sound options available.

In fact, yes I have. But as far as I understand, ash would be heavier than basswood or alder. Also, I've heard that alder bodies are more 'even in quality' from one to another. I mean, average there is less differene between two alder bodies than ash bodies. That would be a good thing, at least in my opinion.

Yeah I like DiMarzios as well!  :icon_thumright: Btw, that is a sharp looking strat, I love it!  :toothy10:

One thing I forgot to mention, I really don't want a 5-way switch on this guitar. I've got 5 ways in both my Ibanez and my Squier and yes, they give me some nice options. But I can't seem to keep my fingers away from the switch! This may seem ridiculous, but I find myself having a really hard time using just one sound when I've got 5 options available. 'Man, I think I need some more bass for this riff, gotta switch to the neck pickup. No that's not right, let's get some strat quack instead. Nope, that didn't do it, back to the bridge...' Perhaps a bit overacted but you get my point. I really want to keep things simple for this guitar. I even considered just a push/push volume pot for the  pickup selector...  :toothy11:

 

[JonatanOTG]

Ever play a decent guitar with a basswoodbody and a maple top? Its good shite. You will notice some overtones not normally present.

A friend of mine has one of those Ibanez Premium guitars with a maple top on basswood, but he refuses to put a new set strings on it so I'm afraid I haven't been able to hear what it really sounds like (I believe those strings are the stock set from the factory...  :-\).

Overtones are nice, and if Satriani can pull out those harmonics from a basswood guitar, then it's proof enough for me!  :laughing7:

 

[JonatanOTG]

Have read about the place / web, that Basswood is better with higher / hotter pups.
:dontknow:

That's an impression I got as well, most people seem to use hotter pickups for basswood. I guess the only way to find out is to actually get myself a basswood body and put some different pickups in it!  :laughing7:

 

[JonatanOTG]

I have a wiring diagram somewhere for a 5-way switch on two humbuckers that gives:

1- bridge humbucker
2- bridge split and neck split in series
3- both humbuckers in parallel
4- bridge split and neck split in parallel
5- neck humbucker

Want me to dig it out?

Thanks, but no thank you. I'll keep things simple on this one so there won't be a 5-way switch. It will be something like this: http://www.dimarzio.com/sites/default/files/diagrams/2h1v1t_1ep1111_reversepolarityB.pdf I'm not totally sure yet, but as long as I can get rid of the 5-way switch I'm fine with it...  :toothy11:

 

[Cagey]

Ok, seems like I have another thing to do some research about. :icon_jokercolor: (smiley indicates lack of knowledge) Would it be correct to say that 1 11/16 is 'standard'? Like as on an 'ordinary' strat, for example.

I don't know that I'd call 1 11/16" "standard", but you'll see that and 1 5/8" nut widths the most often.

The Showcase on Warmoth's online catalog is a good source of data for doing your own impromptu polls. They've been doing this for a while, so they know how to play the numbers when it comes to building speculative necks/bodies that will sell fairly quickly rather than sit on the shelf and waste labor/capital. For example, if there are 200 Strat necks in stock and you filter on 1 11/16" nut widths and get 150 hits, you can conclude with a high degree of confidence that that's what 75% of people will want.