Baritone Meadowhawk - help on future building

[savatage]

Hello everybody.
I apologise in advance for my English, I’m Italian.
I’d like to make my first build (the release of the Meadowhawk has been a very bad thing for my wallet), but I have so many question that I thought to do a big post in order to gather all my doubts, please tell me if this is against the forum rules, this is my first post and first visit, I had a look at the rules, but you know...
Before posting, I watched a lot of videos from Aaron and I read quite a lot on the website, but I’m still a bit confused.

I am trying to build a left handed-baritone guitar, at the moment I’m playing a superb Rivolta Mondata VII baritone, but there’s still some things that I don’t quite like.

I’ll start with the body (screenshots below with the specs):

​

I’ll wire it as follows:​

bridge volume (push-push)​

neck volume (push-push)​

tone - only for the neck​

is it possible to have just one tone and have the bridge tone 100% “open”?​

With push-push pots do I have a visual indication that, for example, the split of the pickup is activated?​

Bridge:​

I wanted a Gotoh 510, but I cannot find a left-handed one, so I gave up and I’ll go with this (both gold):​

- TonePros Tune-o-matic bridge​

- TonePros stop tail piece​

do they fit baritone strings? The option for the bridge route is correct?​

Jack route: I don’t understand what I should order/do, any advices?​

Pickups: I’ll decide later, but 90% they will be a Dimarzio Super Distortion and some kind of PAF. I’m looking for some Tim Shaws (I have them on my Gibson custom 1981) but they are hard to find. 100% I want them to be both splittable.​

I do not need to buy the F-spaced pickups, correct?​

​

Colour: on the bottom, “satin or gloss” option is missing. It will be gloss.​

I want something similar to my Schecter PT Van Nuys but slightly darker, should I get maybe roasted swamp ash? Does somebody has a pic of a (roasted) swamp ash build in transparent amber/red/vintage tint/brown?​

Neck (screenshots below with the specs):

I cannot find anywhere the length scale of a Warmoth baritone neck. 28 inches?​

Tuners: I cannot find locking tuners that will fit baritone strings, so I picked the Gotoh SG381 3+3 set (in gold), should be ok I guess..? No staggered posts needed right?​

Frets: I don’t understand if I will need to do a fret job after the next has been put on the guitar with strings or not even with stainless steel frets (probably just a language barrier).​

What exactly do I need to buy to file the nut for a baritone?​

Roasted maple: if I understood correctly, I DO NOT need to apply anything else (hard finish) more than the finish I want Warmoth to apply right? I just need to polish it from the frets and the neck is good to go…?​

That’s it I guess, thank you to everybody in advance.
As soon as February comes, I’ll place my order
Cheers from the other side of the pond.

 

[savatage]

forgot to attach the screenshots

 

[Tretgeraet]

Roasted maple: if I understood correctly, I DO NOT need to apply anything else (hard finish) more than the finish I want Warmoth to apply right? I just need to polish it from the frets and the neck is good to go…?

The whole point of roasted maple is that it does not need a finish at all. I you choose roasted maple AND a clear gloss finish you are paying double in a way.

 

[savatage]

The whole point of roasted maple is that it does not need a finish at all. I you choose roasted maple AND a clear gloss finish you are paying double in a way.

thank you, this is interesting, but I have a follow up.

Fender maple neck are finished with (copy/paste from Fender site) "Satin Urethane Finish on Back, Gloss Urethane Finish on Front"
I have the aforementioned Schecter with roasted maple neck and fretboard and it has the same feeling to the touch of my Fender strat with a (normal) maple neck.

I never tried one unfinished (the great luck of being left-handed)...
I'm scared of buying something that costs a lot from the other side of the planet with high costs for shipping and customs/import taxes...so i probably will buy it with the finish, but I still have a lot to learn on the subject so I'm open to any opinions!

 

[ragamuffin]

Welcome!

Wiring: Yes what you said is perfectly doable. Push pull pots will be slightly raised when you pull/activate them so that's the visual indication. It is very unusual though to to wire a tone knob for the neck pickup only; most people find tone knobs to be more useful for the bridge pickup. Is there a reason why you want only the neck pickup to be affected by the tone knob?

Bridge: Yes a Tonepros tuneomatic should be fine with baritone strings, no problem here

Jack route: 7/8" route is the standard/most commonly used and what I recommend. 1/2" is for use specifically with deep panel jacks. 3/4" is a tight fit for regular style jacks.

Pickups: For a humbucker to be split-able you need it to have 4-conductor wiring, that is four wires coming from the pickup. To my knowledge Gibson Tim Shaw humbuckers are not like this, they have a single wire with a braided ground wire, and so cannot be split. I would recommend something like the Dimarzio 36th Anniversary as a Dimarzio pickup that might have a similar sound and comes stock with 4-conductor wiring



Body wood: Roasted swamp ash turns much darker than you would expect when you put a finish on it. I would think vintage tint or even clear would be similar to what you are looking for. Amber would be darker and brown very dark. This is a picture of roasted swamp ash in clear satin, for reference.



Scale length: Warmoth baritone necks are 28-5/8" scale

Tuners: Those Gotohs will be fine. On my baritone I have Hipshot locking tuners. I use Daddario 13-62 "baritone light" strings and they fit fine. If you were to use heavier strings they might not fit.

Frets: Warmoth does a great job of installing frets, but they do not do any "fret work". Take that how you will. I always round off the ends of the frets and polish them. Some people will insist that Warmoth necks need to have the frets leveled, but I have never felt the need for this on any of my Warmoth necks.

Nut: On baritone neck nuts, Warmoth files the nut slots a bit wider than on their standard necks for the larger baritone strings. I did not have to file the nut on my baritone neck, but you might have to if you want to use heavier strings than I use. If you do want to file the nut you will need nut files. These are expensive because they are a specialized tool. Personally I decided to buy a set of nut files for myself, but most people would just take the guitar to a good luthier (who will have nut files) and have them do the filing.

Roasted maple: does not need a finish! I highly recommend leaving raw, but "burnishing" or "polishing" with super fine grit sandpaper. This makes for an excellent feeling neck shaft. Aaron did a video about this recently.

 

[rockandroller]

Yep +++++ also recommending no finish on the roasted maple neck!