I was somewhat surprised to see the recent interest in vintage Fender Jazz and Precision basses, because a large part of the high-end bass market was driven by the fact that old Fender bass necks warped like willows... bass players had Spectors and Foderas and Alembics out the wazoo in the early 90's, cause there were so few old functioning Fender basses. Now they're everywhere. Someone recently did a count-up in Vintage Guitar Magazine and among the online dealers, and found that at any given time there are roughly 10 times as many "authentic" 1958 and 1959 Les Paul Standards for sale as were ever even manufactured, and I suspect that it's even worse for Stratocasters, Telecasters & old Fender basses - they're so much easier to fake. There are Warmoths everywhere - just don't check the neck pocket, cause you just spent $8000.... In the early 80's a very few dealers like Gruhn has some old Fenders, now there are dozens of dealers who each have dozens of 50's and 60's Fenders.
Also, Warmoth & USA Custom do a sprightly amount of OEM manufacturing, those "Nash" and "Bill Crook" Telecaster repros come from places that don't cut all their own wood. Tom Anderson... A larger company like Warmoth can find more good wood, cheaper, than a guy working in his shed. Granted, the shed guy may have fabulous assembly & finishing skills - that's what it's all about - but he'd be crazy not to buy wood from the largest suppliers. It'd be like making computers and etching your own motherboards.
