Brand new neck for a newbie - Neck ready from factory??

[Skyze]

So In the near future, I finally think I am going to get my first Warmoth neck.. I thought about getting one for a long time but I went with Carvin for my last 3 builds.. this time though, since Carvin doesnt do fender headstocks, figured I may try Warmoth if this is the project im doing.

With Carvin's though, you get a completely finished neck out of the box, perfect frets with no need for adjustment (other than the obvious attaching body/setup) - and thats what I want. I have no experience with fret work, and want to keep things simple.

Now reading a few threads in the past on various forums, people say when you order a Warmoth neck, they generally need some finishing work right out of the box, like fret polishing or leveling, nut work, truss rod adjustments.. etc.. Is this true or just myth??

Not really looking to do any work other than fitting it to the Tele body, shimming it and stringing it up, setting intonation.. Do I need to do anything extra with a new warmoth neck?

(I understand if something went wrong thru shipping that would throw things off.. but from my 3 Carvin necks going from California to Eastern Canada and everythings been perfect (except one neck that warped over the year, but when it arrived it was fine) - I dunno how much more of a drastic shipping change can be..)

 

[AutoBat]

Short answer: maybe.

I haven't had any work done to the nut or frets since the day I got my neck nearly 3 years ago.
YMMV, of course. There's always a chance a fret will need reseated and the nut is a smidge high on purpose so you can file down if you need. (I left it as is)
Fret ends may need some work, this depends largely on your playing style and how sensitive you are.

I highly recommend the stainless steel frets. They are shinier, wear considerably less, and has no effect on tone vs. traditional frets. (not available w/bound necks though)

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Updown]

Yep I agree totally with above post.  :icon_thumright:
ALL mine are how they came, straight out of the box and haven't touched them.
Except for the Warmoth Pro necks need adjustment before mounting to body ... see below.

If it's a maple fretboard the finish will be on the frets, can just wear off with use or can scrap / polish it off.
See here .... http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/NeckFinish.aspx

Will need truss adjust, especially with the Warmoth Pro Necks .... very easy to do !!
See here .... http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/SideAdjust.aspx

Nuts come in a standard cut, I've left all mine (10 necks) as there fine for me.
This is of cause a personal thing in your own set-up.

All my Necks have been shipped all the way downunder / Australia ..... Never had a problem.  :icon_biggrin:

SS frets are a must have  :headbang:
I'm totally in love with Raw Necks ....... Rosewood, Pau-Ferro, Goncalo Alves
Plus I usually go with Graph Tech Nuts

Warmoth in my opinion make a TOP CLASS neck, plus bodies too  :toothy10:
That can be used straight outta the Triangle Box  :icon_biggrin:

BTW .... Welcome aboard

 

[noname]

Depends on your taste. I did some (really minimal) fret level and had to dress a bit the fret ends.
Again it was minimal and the quality out of the box was not worse then what many brand names offer as a finished product.

Strongly recommend raw goncalo with pao ferro fingerboard.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

With Carvin's though, you get a completely finished neck out of the box, perfect frets with no need for adjustment (other than the obvious attaching body/setup) - and thats what I want. I have no experience with fret work, and want to keep things simple.

I'm assumuing you're referring to the kits Carvin sells (which are excellent - I still cherich my BK4).  As with Warmoth, getting the necks finished & ready to go out of the box is an option, not the default.  However, Carvin doesn't sell any necks made out of woods that don't need a finish.  Warmoth has plenty that are sufficiently oily so as not to need a finish.  If you get a Goncalo Alves with a Pau Ferro board (for example), and get a pre-slotted nut, you'd be able to just put in the tuners on, bolt it to the body & go.  There are several woods they offer that are like that.

It's also not even required to have a finish. . .  if you don't care about the warrantee.  :icon_scratch:

Now reading a few threads in the past on various forums, people say when you order a Warmoth neck, they generally need some finishing work right out of the box, like fret polishing or leveling, nut work, truss rod adjustments.. etc.. Is this true or just myth??

That partially depends on the options you select and how picky you are.  There's been some minor complaints about W's fretwork, but I've bought 3 necks from Warmoth with impeccable frets.  The pre-slotted nut can need work if you get strings that are a little big (my current .11-.52 flats are barely squeezing in the nut of my Firebird), but most players will have no issue.

The truss rod will (and this should be the case from Carvin as well) always need to be adjusted.  They ship it with the truss rod loosened, so that you can put on the amount of tension you want.  Shipping it with the truss rod already tightened is a disaster waiting to happen.  However, it's relatively easy to set up.  You know how clear the directions are with the Carvin kits?  Warmoths truss rod instructions are just like that.

 

[AprioriMark]

That partially depends on the options you select and how picky you are.  There's been some minor complaints about W's fretwork,

Allow me to be the voice of the MAJOR/minor complaint, which was fret ends.  I've bought dozens of W necks, both guitar and bass, and I've only had a handfull of problems.  All of those problems are nothing worse than what you'd see on a production guitar of a non-customshop variety.  On a few necks, the fret ends were sharper than the rest of my W necks.  Obviously, this is something that should be addressed in the final setup of any guitar.  My problem was consistency.  It bothered me that there wasn't a standard for the finishing of fret ends.  It might be one way, it might be another. I will say that all of my recent W necks have been very uniform and very playable out of the box.  Personally, I like more rounded fret ends, so they generally get that after they get to me.  My only other issue was a high fret on a pau ferro/pau ferro bass neck, which was solved by... umm... finessing it into the slot with a wooden hammer.  Those super hard raw hardwoods... gotta keep them in line.

All in all, I'd put W's quality above Carvin's.  I have never seen a warped Warmoth neck in the nearly 20 years I've been using their products.

-Mark

 

[Cagey]

Carvin makes some nice necks, especially at the price. But, I still prefer the Warmoth parts, even if they do require some attention after receipt. But, to be fair, I like my frets levelled/crowned/dressed/polished as though it's going to be a "thrasher" guitar, even though that's not usually how I set them up. As good as Warmoth's necks are, and they're always very good right out of the box, they're not that good. But, I just like my frets to have no anomalies whatsoever. Call it an idiosyncrasy, but I want that variable eliminated. When the neck is flat, I want less than .001" clearance anywhere on it up to the 15th fret or so, after which there should be a slight dropoff. Once you're there and you're polished up, you can set the neck up however you want and you never have any problems. If you have a dual-action truss rod and stainless frets, you may go years without ever having to touch the thing. It'll always be golden.

Thing is, you're never going to get that kind of accuracy out of a production part so you go with what works. Carvin necks are good that way. They're already dressed nice, so a little polishing is all they need. But, they're also all maple and unfinished, and that's a pretty good-sized elephant in the room. Finishing the wood is not a trivial task, which is why they can sell the things for what they do - they don't do that.

So, you pays yer munny and you makes yer choice. You're going to pay one way or another. The only real difference is who you pay. You can hire out the finishing (frets or wood) or do it yourself, or have the manufacturer to it. In the case of Warmoth, you can get a highly professional finish, but no fretwork. In my experience, that's the way to go. There are a lotta hungry luthiers out there who own those expensive files and have the talent to use them. I'm lucky, in a perverse sort of way, to be one of them.

 

[stubhead]

There's been some minor complaints about W's fretwork, but I've bought 3 necks from Warmoth with impeccable frets.

I don't have any complaints about Warmoth's frets, but I do finish them. There is no way that a fret can be merely beveled and be considered "done" as far as I'm concerned. There are any number of professional manufacturers using Warmoth necks - certainly over 30 - but to have a guitar finished to a high, professional standard the fret ends at least need some attention. You may find that they don't bother you - some people don't mind. Or you may find that just the ends need attention - and you could get that done fairly cheaply by a competent luthier/tech. I have never had to level Warmoth frets right out of the box, but I don't even see a point in doing that until a neck has been through at least one climate cycle and has "settled down" anyway. I have had one high fret - once, and I do believe that an eventual level, crown & polish once the neck settles makes my guitars better. With Warmoth's double truss rod, you have to adjust it once you've settled on a string gauge, once again around a year in, and once again in a couple of years. And then maybe never?

This may sound catty, but from the ones I've seen, the biggest difference between Fender's and Gibson's standard-level offerings and their multi-thousand-dollar "custom shop" models is a decent fret job. And there are any number of really expensive guitar that are basically Fender copies, made with the exact same stuff you can buy, but mostly, with a really good fret job. DeTemple makes $7,000 copy guitars, although they do have a Mastodon ivory string retainer...
http://www.detempleguitars.com/temp/CATALOG_ITEMS/DeTemple_Jazz_Pricing.php

Now reading a few threads in the past on various forums, people say when you order a Warmoth neck, they generally need some finishing work right out of the box, like fret polishing or leveling, nut work, truss rod adjustments.. etc.. Is this true or just myth??

Not really looking to do any work other than fitting it to the Tele body, shimming it and stringing it up, setting intonation.. Do I need to do anything extra with a new warmoth neck?

I make my own nuts, but from what I understand, Warmoth's are slotted a little high. Which is a good thing, because a nut doesn't work perfectly until it's set up for whatever string gauge you choose. I'm not sure why someone wouldn't want to add a few skills each time they made another guitar, there's nothing magic about nuts and frets. It's just attention to detail, same as finishing, soldering - and playing music. Buy Dan Erlewine's "Guitar Player Repair Guide" for $25 - FIRST - and figure out what to tackle, one at a time.