anyone have fret issues?

[Updown]

10 necks since january 2011  :icon_biggrin:

One (my 1st) needed the 8th fret lowered, was sitting to high to all the rest  :sad: was a Maple / Maple.

Other wise all the other 9 were perfect in every way ....  :hello2:  very playable, straight out of the box.  :icon_thumright:
After any (pro's) needed adjusting ....

Have used both types of fret wire.
But .... Will always go with SS Frets from now on.

A lot of the showcase finished necks (even top class one's) DON'T have Stainless Steal Frets  :sad:
:icon_scratch: WHY ?
I find that very strange on those high grade one's.

I think to bevel the frets anymore is un-necessary, as thats a personal choice for each individual. 

TOP NOTCH  work I say  :headbang:

Thanks  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Stew]

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

+1  :icon_thumright:
... and my two Warmoth necks were both very playable right out of the box. Nice work you guys do there Caleb  :headbang:

 

[Torment Leaves Scars]

No complaints whatsoever with my W neck.  It's gorgeous.  The fret job is top notch.  I have had my W assembled for well over a year, and play it for at least 1.5 hours per day, and I have never had an issue with "fretting out."  I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the NECK.  The neck is, simply put, AMAZING.

Wanna talk about the quality of finish on the BODY, you may want to take cover before we get started.

 

[reluctant-builder]

Wanna talk about the quality of finish on the BODY, you may want to take cover before we get started.

I've seen you mention a few gripes about the finish on a body you ordered. Were you not able to resolve it with the company?

 

[Torment Leaves Scars]

Wanna talk about the quality of finish on the BODY, you may want to take cover before we get started.

I've seen you mention a few gripes about the finish on a body you ordered. Were you not able to resolve it with the company?

If you're asking if I'd ever spoken to Ken Warmoth about the issue, I had not.  Considering this happened nearly 2 years ago, it wouldn't be conducive to the situation, but if you're asking if I'm still a bit irritated, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't.  $245 isn't pocket change to most of us.  I worked hard for that $245.

 

[juwel1998]

Hey TLS,

$ 245.00 is too much, to see it being wasted like it was on your finish-job. No need to discuss the $ 45.00 I was bothered with.

Just wish you luck, that you won't have any more problems with the a finish done be W.
Especially good luck that next time you get a hold of another sales person on the telefone, than the one you had that time........

Bye  JULIA

 

[reluctant-builder]

Look, I'm not trying to exacerbate anything or incite a confrontation, I was merely curious if you'd gotten in touch with the company -- not Ken in particular.

The reason I asked is because I've seen other threads about finish issues that seemed to be resolved by the company's customer service, most recently one about an orange finish that wasn't UV resistant. That's all.

 

[juwel1998]

Hey reluctant-builder,

maybe he tried very hard to resolve the issue, but the person he had on the phone..........
Please end the sentence yourself. I just believe he is probably still annoyed a little bit about it.

Bye  JULIA

 

[Torment Leaves Scars]

Look, I'm not trying to exacerbate anything or incite a confrontation, I was merely curious if you'd gotten in touch with the company -- not Ken in particular.

The reason I asked is because I've seen other threads about finish issues that seemed to be resolved by the company's customer service, most recently one about an orange finish that wasn't UV resistant. That's all.

Hey, relax, I'm not getting all confrontational about it.  I'm just making a statement.  Sorry if it came off as confrontational. 

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Of course I am unsure of how much this would trouble the shop, but offering an X, Y, or Z angle bevel for a slight up charge on a neck would be a cool option.  I have a little file/jig thing to do it, but it is clunky at best, and I would rather that the shop that has the know how do it if it is only 5 or 10 bucks.  Otherwise, the frets and the necks that I have received are of excellent quality.  So much so that I really refuse to go elsewhere.  I don't think I am alone in that sentiment.
Patrick

 

[ptirman]

Of my three, two have outstanding fret jobs. My newest would fret out at the 14th fret on the B and E strings. I had a fret dressing and everything is perfect now.

 

[nemonster]

I ordered a Vintage Modern neck from the showcase a few weeks ago.  I took it to my regular luthier, who's also Fender certified to check the neck/frets and do some extra work to the fret ends.  For the most part it was OK, but he showed me 3 (all at various points of the neck) that were significantly higher than the rest.  He's in process on addressing that now.  If they do press and glue these, then somebody had their mind on something else that day, or maybe there was a good song on the radio at the time. 

I'm starting to think that frets should be an optional item like the nut.  I would actually much rather have gotten something off the price, and just had the frets of my choice put in here.  I'm almost kind of regretful I didn't just order the neck bare, and then just have my tech do ALL the fret and nut work.  I think it would have been a better end result, even with the expense.  All the things I've had him do would have been covered in the fret installation.  Live and learn.

Oh and I need to make an additional comment about sales practices in the Showcase.  The neck I received had a rather large and noticeable brown spot down underneath the headstock.  I saw it right away when I got it.  Justin pointed it out as well when I took it to the shop.  I think if this were a Fender neck it would have wound up as a second.  I chose to keep it, simply because under the circumstances it wasn't noticeable enough from the front to be worth the grief of fussing over, and I tend to have a certain function over form viewpoint.  But it would have been nice if this kind of cosmetic issue was pointed out in the photos.  I can't believe that no one there noticed it.  They take all kinds of extra pictures to show selling points.  I know you don't **have** to do this, but it's in the same vein as posting picture of a car with a dented passenger door taken from the driver side.  It's one thing to accentuate the positive - it's another to omit the obvious negative.  Once you have it, you need to weigh the cost in time and shipping if you don't like it.

I'm going to hold off on the overall assessment until the guitar is all together and I've lived with it for a bit.  On the whole, I'm cautiously optimistic, since for the most part everything seems OK so far.  But it does bear repeating for someone going in this direction that whatever modern manufacturing and presentation  technologies are being used, there's still a lot of room for variation and that the consistency is not necessarily what some (not all) on the forum would have you think.  Like I said, nothing you can't deal with, but something to consider when you are deciding between build or buy.

 

[Cagey]

Even if you ordered the thing fretless and had them installed locally or did it yourself, you'd have the same issues. New necks do somewhere between no and a lot of fret rejection. They'll also change bow/relief on you, again somewhere between not at all and a lot. It's just the nature of the beast. It's wood, not titanium. It has some response to pressure, tension, temperature and humidity, again somewhere between not at all and a lot.

That's why Warmoth doesn't make any claims as to fret height accuracy or finish integrity. All they do is install the frets, trim and bevel them, and where you go from there is up to you. If you wanted them to start guaranteeing some level of performance there, you'd have to wait a lot longer to get the things and pay a much higher price as labor keeps getting added. Even then they may not "guarantee" it, because they're up in Whoknowswhere, Washington. The environment there isn't likely to be the same as where you are.

On the plus side, they'll install the things for somewhere between nothing and $30, depending on what you want. So, why pay a luthier $150 to punch them in? A week or two later, he'll have to level/crown/dress/polish the things (for an additional $150-$250), so how is that a win? Let Warmoth do it. You'll enjoy the economies of scale that they can bring by being all set up for it.

 

[AprioriMark]

Even if you ordered the thing fretless and had them installed locally or did it yourself, you'd have the same issues. New necks do somewhere between no and a lot of fret rejection. They'll also change bow/relief on you, again somewhere between not at all and a lot. It's just the nature of the beast. It's wood, not titanium. It has some response to pressure, tension, temperature and humidity, again somewhere between not at all and a lot.

That's why Warmoth doesn't make any claims as to fret height accuracy or finish integrity. All they do is install the frets, trim and bevel them, and where you go from there is up to you. If you wanted them to start guaranteeing some level of performance there, you'd have to wait a lot longer to get the things and pay a much higher price as labor keeps getting added. Even then they may not "guarantee" it, because they're up in Whoknowswhere, Washington. The environment there isn't likely to be the same as where you are.

On the plus side, they'll install the things for somewhere between nothing and $30, depending on what you want. So, why pay a luthier $150 to punch them in? A week or two later, he'll have to level/crown/dress/polish the things (for an additional $150-$250), so how is that a win? Let Warmoth do it. You'll enjoy the economies of scale that they can bring by being all set up for it.

I agree 99%.  It's not Whoknowswhere, you clownshoe, it's Puyallup!  The best place on earth.  All the cool people live here.  We invented Cascade hops, and have both Warmoth AND USACG here in town.  Also, I'm here.

-Mark

 

[Cagey]

I don't know if it's the best place on Earth, but it's pretty neat. I fell in love for the 5th or 6th time down in Tigard, OR, which as you know isn't far from there. It was a good year, that way. Spent a good amount to time there, and a good amount down in Puerto Rico where I could have fallen in love all over again if the pickins weren't so plentiful, and basically missed one of the worst winters Michigan had seen since about the '60s.

 

[stubhead]

I don't actually even think it's a good idea to get super-finicky about the frets until the guitar has settled for at least six months, or at least been exposed to a winter/summer cycle in your home. When I see a company advertising that they "Plek" all their new guitars, I wonder how long they're been aging the wood, already cut to necks, under full string tension. Yes, of course they all are... :doh:

I do attend to the fret ends first, I'm not worried about getting a further round of dried-out-sharpies from being too dry - I live in the armpit of the Chesapeake Bay, our humidity right now at midday is 73%. I have had one high fret once - glued that way, there was nowhere to pound it to* - and it was the 23rd fret of a 24 fret seven-string neck, which I suspect may have been because the machine can't press 24, only 22. There have been a few other problems with those last few high frets elsewhere. But I would rather have a machine build my guitar, all that "hand-crafted" foolishness doesn't guarantee anything except inconsistency. If you've ever worked in any kind of factory, you're not pouring love and mojo into every last little dixie cup, hide-a-bed sofa and titanium 12-volt vibrator you make, you're trying to make them all come out the same as the final, last best prototype.  fudging mojo...

As far as "Plekking" goes, I would love to see a company that would rip you a fine, perfect fret job - a year later, under a free warranty, when it makes some sense. Which brings up the main point to me - nut work, action height, truss rod setting AND fretwork are ALL maintenance issues to me, not manufacturing issues. And they should be viewed as such, it's not a problem that the nut's cut high, the trussrod is loose and... the wires aren't hooked up! WAAAA ~ Warmoth sucks! People can get help - HERE - to the limits of our ability if they ask nice, but there's a Squire or Epiphone waiting out there to match every possible level of slothful indifference. 

*BORIS LIKE POUND! GIVE BORIS HAMMER AND SPEEDBEAVER, BORIS PLEK YOU GUTTER! BORIS PLEK SHZITZKIES OUT YOU GUTTER!​

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou6oLP_Rxkg&list=PL5147DB091551F668&index=12&feature=plpp_video