anyone have fret issues?

[oldprospector]

I 'm just trying to find out if there is anything we can do to improve the fret jobs going out of our shop. Us guys here have really streamlined the fret shop. And we've got it down to a point where I'd like to see if we can improve in any way. I've only been here for close to a year but i'm always forward thinking and fine tuning/perfecting. Love to have feed back. I might regret this because i'll probably get some of you asking for a level and dress on all our necks.  But realisticly, in a production setting we just can't make that happen.

 

[stubhead]

Hi! It's great to have you aboard. The issue of fret end beveling comes up repeatedly. I know you're kind caught between a rock and a hard place; some people want enough beveling that they can play their Warmoth right after assembling it - without doing any fretwork or having it done at all. So a maximized bevel (35 degrees?) is the best way to please them. I do my own fretwork; my wallet is approaching a new neck shortly here and I'll probably ask for NO beveling, because I like the hemispherical "hot-dog" ends, and there's no way to get 'em starting from that much bevel. 
There was a post covering this about seven months back & a long thread:
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=15820.0

And it led back to an earlier post & discussion here:
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=13330.0

There were some necks that came out of the shop that simply were over-beveled, but fortunately after these threads the problem went away, or at least became less frequent. As mentioned in there and more recent threads, there's a simple mechanical issue with using vintage Fender bridge spacing (2 1/4") and a standard Fender width neck and really big 6100 frets. You just can't put a big bevel on those frets and expect to get strings with 3/32" clear of the bevel on both sides of the neck at the 22nd fret. Which is one reason the new Fender width (1 1/8") and tunematics get used so much. 

Now personally, what I'd like to see is the "superwide" option be offered on other necks than just the modern Strat and angled Strat; the neck I want is going to be a 7/8 24-fret conversion neck going on a Mustang. I'd also like to see Warmoth carry a tunematic that matches the compound radius neck, i.e. it needs to have about a 19" radius. A lot of people don't even know filing the tunematic's saddles is SOP for the best setup. Jackson and Schecter are shipping guitars with Tone Pros made for a 16" radius; they're out there - somewhere

Anyway, thanks for asking - I'm sure you'll find plenty more ideas! :hello2: and wait till the full moon....

 

[Cagey]

I'd like to see SS & "gold" frets offered on bound 'boards, but it's not a deal-breaker.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Who are you?

 

[stubhead]

He's the Warmoth employee who installs frets, quality control and all that - be very, very, very nice..... ccasion14:

 

[reluctant-builder]

He's the Warmoth employee who installs frets, quality control and all that - be very, very, very nice..... ccasion14:

:icon_thumright:

 

[back2thefutre]

Hi, how do you do the bevel? Do you use a jig of some kind and a belt sander or ......

 

[animal control]

The fact that Warmoth jumps in with open-ended monitoring server questions and is willing to triage them and explore answers just underscores my for their business model = relationship with them. I love this whole community. Real high quality bars, happy clients.

You go!

 

[mayfly]

Hi there - glad you've taken the time to post!

I've had very few issues, but I have several comments:

1 - overall, fretwork is great (but you knew that already)

2 - I do have one tele that frets out doing bends at the 14'th fret.  the 15'th fret is just a leeeeetle high.  Has not worried me enough to do anything about it.

3 - when I made Kashmir (a guitar so special I named the freaking thing), I got a custom warmoth canary neck for it.  That neck arrived with PERFECT frets!  In addition, someone at warmoth took the time to round over the sharp fret ends when doing the bevel - and they did a fantastic job!  It's an extremely comfortable guitar to play. 

If you are looking for ideas for things you could do in addition to what you are doing now, you could look into doing #3 as a pay for service.  That neck is very very impressive - even more so than a regular warmoth neck.

Yours,
Trevor

 

[lafromla1]

Of the three necks I've ordered, all with stainless steel frets, 2 came out perfect and one has very sharp edges, that eventually I will need to file down.  I've just been too lazy to do it.

Level-wise, I haven't had any issues that are noteworthy (or I am just not good enough to notice  :dontknow.

 

[oldprospector]

Thanks guys and/or gals for all the input. I'm just tryin to see where we're at with our quality. I really just posted this to hear from you and not really to start conversation. So thanks again.
-caleb

 

[Jusatele]

I have to admit, both necks I have received from Warmoth have had excellent fretting. A few minutes on the back porch working on the ends of the frets while enjoying the evening and having an adult beverage and they are ready for mounting. As far as fret level goes, well I find them very good. Not much work is really needed which makes set up simple, and I like my action low.
My Tech has had a few things to say about compound radius's, but then he is just upset with the extra work to level during setup.
I would like 3 things however
1. the option on total vintage necks to pick 12th sting dot spacing, this is a date specific item when making a vintage clone , 1963 they got narrower
2. the option to not have a skunk stripe, another date specific item on necks with maple finger boards. there are years they had no skunk stripes. in the 1960s maple necks, 2 piece no skunk stripes
3. Slab style rosewood finger boards, once again these are date specific but the placing of the truss rods is wrong on the Warmoth necks. Veneer is a 62 to 80 thing and pre 62 the truss rod rout touched the slab
but these are just a few things I have noticed and would like to see optioned for guys wanting to do clones.

 

[llmtelecaster]

All 5 necks I've ordered from Warmoth have had excellent frets. For Jumbo SS frets, they were all level and well-beveled.

The only thing I wish Warmoth would do is cut the nut slots a little bit deeper, but I know that's a totally different department. I just hoped mentioning it might reach the right person over there  :dontknow:

 

[Strat Avenger]

All 5 necks I've ordered from Warmoth have had excellent frets. For Jumbo SS frets, they were all level and well-beveled.

The only thing I wish Warmoth would do is cut the nut slots a little bit deeper, but I know that's a totally different department. I just hoped mentioning it might reach the right person over there  :dontknow:

Since they have no idea what string gauges will be used, it makes more sense to cut them shallow and let the end-user have it custom-tailored to their needs.

 

[Kostas]

Only by luck a neck will be perfect for a body. Warmoth is a parts company, not guitar company. A great guitar is great because of the quality parts used but also of the final setup & fret dress. Of the four necks I have ordered one was perfect, one was OK and two needed fret dress. Last two had a fret dress recently and they are excellent now.

While we speak about frets I'd like to see the option of bound necks with SS frets for all necks, not just PRO necks.

 

[Cagey]

They won't even do it on Pro necks. My understanding is it can be done, but you have to undercut the fret ends so the tang clears the binding, and that's a pain in the shorts with SS. Apparently, there isn't a tool available that'll do it and last more than one job. Regular nippers get ruined right away, so you have to grind the tangs. That's pretty time-consuming, so a production shop isn't going to do it.

 

[Johnfv]

I 'm just trying to find out if there is anything we can do to improve the fret jobs going out of our shop...

I've bought 4 Warmoth necks (3 Pro, one VM), overall the fret jobs have been very good. I agree, if anything the edges have been my issue. My first neck was maple fretboard so I had it milled/dressed by my tech (to deal with the finish over the frets). He said it was one of the best factory fret jobs he had ever seen. My Tele neck (Maple with Pau Ferro) I bought unfinished, it was a little sharp on the edges but as I was finishing it I kept working the edges with steel wool and it ended up fine with no fretwork required.  With my most recent build, the VM Strat neck (Goncalo with Kingwood) had fret ends uncomfortably sharp - my tech has the guitar right now for a mill/dress job. I also have a new maple/rosewood Strat neck that has not been installed on a guitar yet but the edges feel good in the hand. It does seem the nuts are purposely high with shallow nut slots, I understand that. FWIW, I have a Mighty Mite neck that had terribly sharp fret ends.

 

[B3Guy]

I just got a neck, and I must say, I think you're doing all you can. You don't want to bevel the ends stop much, because the amount and style of bevel is a very personal preference. The frets all seem to be seated properly, etc. I've not had it in a guitar yet, but I expect that it will be playable somewhat out of the box. However, I think it would be unrealistic to expect a perfect neck out-of box. You get the frets VERY close to perfect, but a good setup is always going to be necessary no matter how much you try to finish 'em up. IMO, just keep doin' what you're doin'.

(oh, and offer SS frets on bound necks, however high the price jump is. Its one of those things, like a carved, figured top. Sure, it might be expensive to put SS frets on a bound neck, but finding amazing figured wood for carved tops is too. they're both things you should at least have, whatever the cost. It'd be on my list if you offered it, especially if you started binding the headstocks too.)

 

[stubhead]

I wonder if there's a business model permitting a "floating" luthier there - the guy who would, for a price, level and crown the frets, the guy who would carve a boatneck that went from .870" @ the nut to .940" @ the 12th fret, the guy who would undercut the SS fret ends and mount them in bound necks, the guy who would (for a HEFTY premium) bang out the Unholy Grail - yes Virginia there is such a thing as a thinline Starcaster body! The woods are there, the tools are there, the requests are seemingly endless (though whether we'd PAY for our dreamboats, and how much, is not an idle thought).

I've been reading Premier Guitar magazine for several years now and for some odd reason they just love to review all the $3,000 - $7,000 totally hand-crafted super-premium boutique electrics; when the economy tanked I had the distinct impression that there must've been at least 50 guitar makers (and another 50 boutique amp makers) who had just decided the market could bear another $5,000 git at EXACTLY THE WRONG TIME, DUDE.... the world has gotta be awash with excess graduates of Roberto-Venn and Southeast Technical who are at best sanding bodies at Gibson and at worst holding down the night shift at 7/11 and wondering what the hell they're gonna do with their skills... there's probably a few dozen in Seattle/Tacoma alone!

When I got deep into catering in Miami there was a whole bunch of us putting together jobs in a shifting assortment of ways, but one constant was renting out a kitchen from midnight until dawn - they're just sitting there empty and there sure was enough demand for catering. Whackness abounded - the three-day convention for 1400 Southern Baptists we catered out of the "unused" kitchen in a totally topless/bottomless strip joint in the nasty part of town...  :icon_thumright:

SO: Could Warmoth mount a swing shift of nocturnally-pale, furry luthier/mole/vampire people, banging out the ultra-premium Super-Warmoths from midnight till dawn?  :icon_scratch: :headbang: :blob7:
(hellzbellz i'll move to seattle and cater the thing meseff, alli needs is...)

The woods are there, the tools are there, the requests are seemingly endless & I'm dead sure the talent can be found too. Dog knows there have been/still are a pile of people who are trying to build a business on Ebay assembling "parts guitars" but if that was going on under the auspices and supervision of Warmoth themselves it'd be a mindhumpin' killer move. So, how can I make absolutely CERTAIN this gets to Ken Warmoth? IT'S NOT JUST A GOOD THING, IT'S A GRRR-RR-REAT THING!!

hmmm, no... O.K. - MY GOLDFISH IS GOING TO EAT THE WATERBABY IF YOU don'...

O.K, I got it. I'M not going to kill this kitten, my kitt'n be up in the Space Needle Right NOW!

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[reluctant-builder]

I got my body and neck last Wednesday and just got it all assembled. I'm seriously impressed with how playable it is. No fret issues, whatsoever. This is before a set up or any additional attention. Top notch, Warmoth.