Candy Green Finish or Shamrock Finish?

ChrisPBacon

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Hey guys, does anyone have any pictures of Warmoth's Candy green finish? I'm trying to decide what kind of green would look best for my custom strat. I was thinking of having Candy Green or Shamrock green but I don't like the look of the Shamrock green as much. I have seen candy green from fender custom shop stuff, but I am not sure if Warmoth's will look the same or not. I am also wondering if I should go with a satin or a gloss finish on it. If anyone has any pictures it would be much appreciated.

If it helps, I'm going to describe what I have in mind. I want to make a Stratocaster with a green body with a gold pickguard. The inpt plate and trem would also be gold, and the rest of the hardware would be cream. I also might try to see if a cream pickguard with gold hardware might also work. The shamrock green would fit the "theme" more considering the name, but from the website options, the candy green is closer to the color I want I'm pretty sure. The guitar would look like the one shown here but it would be a less dark green and a less brown gold on the pickguard.

Any tips or advice on this build would be awesome as it would be my first build and warmoth definitely seems to be the way to go. Oh and if there is a way to get a gold competition/racing stripe through warmoth that would be cool too, but I might just tape it out myself.

The guitar is obviously going to be named "Lucky" btw.

Much appreciated guys and thanks in advance for your time!
 

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Click the 'Beast' link in my sig for an example of candy green. FWIW I have examples of Warmoth's candy red and candy tangerine and they're superb, but the green is something special.
 
The candy green is a very nice color. Look how outstanding it is on Pete's 'Beast'. It should look good on your Strat. Welcome to the forum.
 
Thanks for the input you guys! I figured great minds would think alike. Now the question becomes what kind of finish should I have on it? The gloss finish does look pretty good, but I wonder how the Satin finish looks as well. I understand it will leave a very matte color but I still dunno how it will look in person. I understand there will be a difference in feel, and I think I might prefer the feel of the satin finish. Any input for that?

Also if you guys know of any other brands that have compound radius necks that would be awesome. I'm just wondering what they feel like and the 9.5 radius on fender necks is just a little more round than what I am used to.
 
I like satin finishes, but there are two exceptions, candy and metallic/flake. I'd go with solid/transparent/burst if I wanted satin. But that's just one person's opinion on something that's purely subjective.
 
If one does prefer a satin finish, I can attest to Warmoth's version. I don't know what change was made to the finish material, but a year or two ago they changed it so now the satin finishes are very robust and remain consistent over time. They don't mark up like many do, or get shiny on you, or take fingerprints/handling marks.
 
I have a green finish in satin (Seafoam) and it's still flawless after two-ish years. Highly recommended.
 
I've played my satin black Tele about two hours a day for the the first year, and now swap it in and out of the rotation all the time. Year and a half later: Looks the same as the day I took it out of the box.  :icon_thumright:
 
I will say that I would love Warmoth to do a video showcasing more of the colors in satin finishes. They look completely different (the few I've seen) on video vs the website build pages.
 
Candy finishes always lose a lot of their depth with a matte or satin top coat, regardless of what the finish material is. You simply need the gloss to get the most contrast. That said, it's no contest that if your bare skin is going to be in contact with the body a lot, matte or satin finishes have a less clingy feel.

ChrisPBacon said:
Also if you guys know of any other brands that have compound radius necks that would be awesome.
Every parts company does compound radii, so if you know anybody else with any other parts build, you might want to check their necks; Mighty Mite are particularly well-known for their compound radius. As far as 'off the shelf;' brands go, Jackson use various compound radii on the majority of their guitars. Ibanez, ESP, Schecter, Gibson, Kramer, Epiphone, Charvel, and Carvin have all used a compound radius here and there on random models inconsistently. Fender have used a compound radius on a couple of US signature and deluxe models over the years.

Everybody has different hands and playing style so everybody will prefer one radius over another, regardless of whether it's straight or compound. You might not like the 9.5"-12" compound radius on one guitar but like a 10"-16" radius on another, or maybe you just like 12" straight. Bear in mind too that fret size, scale length, and neck width all play a big part in how the fretboard radius feels. A wide nut and shorter scale makes the radius feel more extreme than a narrow nut and longer scale, and larger frets often make everything feel flatter than small frets.
If you buy a very standard Warmoth neck off the showcase first then you can get a feel for it and if you don't like it you can sell it for at most a very minor loss. Alternatively you can do what Prince did to his guitars. He ignored the fretboard radius, had big frets installed and then filed them down to a radius he liked more. So his fretboard itself was something like 9.5" but his frets were leveled to around 18". He had a light touch so his fingers never touched the fretboard wood anyway and that tighter radius was irrelevant. If you like big frets then you can do the same and reshape the frets to any radius you want, ignoring the fretboard, if you find the radius you order doesn't suit you.

FWIW I personally find Warmoth's 10"-16" compound awful and only use 12" straight on 6-strings, but I do get on with Jackson's 12-16" compound on 7-strings. Everyone's fingers are finicky in different ways.
 
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