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!

 

[mycroftxxx]

Count me in on the “don’t finish the roasted maple neck”. Instead, burnish it with a progression of 600-800-1000-1200-1500-1800-2000 grit paper (Super Assilex and Super Buflex work great) and in 90 minutes or so, you’ll have the guitar neck of your dreams!

 

[stratamania]

An observation on this thread. It is not a build in progress but contains multiple questions about parts, wiring, etc etc

I have asked for the post to be moved to either tech talk or general discussion.

As a guideline it is easier to answer questions if they are focussed and in separate threads in the relevant sub forums or at least separate posts in the same thread.

 

[db82]

Tuners + Filing the Nut :
- What gauge strings do you plan to use? 13-72? 20-90?
You need to know or estimate in order to ensure the holes in the tuners posts are big enough. Most modern guitar tuners start to choke around 70 - some less. You will either need strings with tapered ends or to expand your post hole with a file in these cases. Gotoh has plenty of mechanical drawings on their site that show exactly how large or small their post holes are.

For filing the nut, you will also need to have a sense of the gauge if you want to purchase actual nut files. Music nomad makes a pretty good set with a lot of gauges that work for both bass and guitar but you're looking at ~$250 US. There are plenty of other DIY methods (i.e. torch nozzle cleaners, round jeweler's files) but getting a conical/round bottom slot shape and using good technique (backfiling the slot, etc...) to ensure the string "rests" at the front of the nut is important.

Frets :
Warmoth's "you may need to do fret work" seems to be more of a disclaimer than a reality in my recent experiences. If a brand new set of frets is properly installed/seated, you really shouldn't need to do much, if any leveling. Rounding fret edges is all I've really had to do and that's a preference, not a requirement to play them.

Roasted Maple :
100% preference. You don't need to finish it, correct, but whether you want a finish/burnish, leave 100% as is, is up to you and no one here can tell you what you're going to like. If you don't have access to stores with instruments with roasted necks you can go try, I would personally start no finish - if you don't like that try burnishing - and if you don't like burnishing, finish it.