Cost of Assembly

[whyachi]

Now that its coming down to the wire and my body should be here soon, I am scared to death of trying to assemble this bass. I can't solder and I've never even done a set-up before, I've changed my strings and swapped out normal strap buttons for locks before and that is about it.

I was amp shopping in this little mom-and-pop shop (which carries Mesa..  :headbang1 and got to talking to their tech, and I know the guy does good work as everything on the wall played perfectly, and he said if I brought him all the pieces he could fully assemble the thing for me for $250. That includes a set-up and any fret work that might need to be done.

What do y'all think? This is a fairly reputable shop and he has experience with Warmoth guitars. Does $250 sound fair to make sure its done right, if I provide all of the parts?

 

[-CB-]

Too much, unless he's charging $100/hr

Get a charge with no fret work - as you're not likely to need it.

Assemble it yourself - have them do the final electronics and setup

Have a bud help you with the electronics part (its not hard) and let the shop do the setup

Do it all yourself... yah... you can can do it, its not too hard and you got lots of great advice right here

 

[TJD]

I'm with CB...you can do it man!  That's way too much. Soldering is not hard--if you practice a little on scrap wiring and remember to heat the tabs and wires not the solder it flows nice. I just built my 1st and it took me a couple hrs to wire it up cuz I went slow and carefull. I was scared to put the neck on and wire it up. But it went perfect..it's really not that hard. If you assembleit and it plays like crap THEN get a set-up..$125 max even if you have fret problems. And you will have  greater satisfaction with the guitar having accomplished it yourself!

 

[Mor Paul]

125 max? Well, I did it for free. Basic setups are easy. Screw it all together, solder it yourself, and get him to do finishing setup.

 

[baskruit]

Soldering is fun.

Unless you use an old and dirty tip on your soldering iron..... Earlier this week I spent over 3 hours soldering (and cursing) an OBP-3 into a bass, nearly ruining an expensive stacked pot. The tip didn't get hot enough for the solder to melt properly.... Until I discovered that I actually had brandspanking new tips lying around. After that it was done just like that.

(I should take some pictures of the result. Two stacked pots and a push-pull pot in a top routed Jazz bass. Looks pretty badass)


You know what you should do? This is what I did: I bought a used Squier for 125,- and started screwing it apart, changed parts, experimented with shimming the neck, rewired the whole thing (funny thing: The OBP-3 preamp is more expensive then the whole bass was) and yesterday I ordered a router so that I can create a cavity for a battery box. I mean, if I mess it up, it's only a Squier..

I'm sure you can get a decent bass to practice on for way less than the 250,- the other guy is asking.

 

[bbl4ck]

Dude,
You can do most of it yourself...  I had GuitarElectronics.com [the website that has all the wiring diagrams] do the wiring  on my V just because time is a valueable comodity for me these days and I did not want to jack with it.  They charged $60 for wiing two humbuckers with a split, parallel, series diagram.  This included install of two mini toggles for this wiring.  Also, I think they charge $60 or $70 for a set-up.  All the rest is cake.  
GO for it..........

 

[tfarny]

It's about 2-3 hours of work if you know what you're doing. 2 days if you take the time to learn what you're doing first, practice, do it slow, KISS, measure twice cut once etc. The fun of doing it yourself is priceless though.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Install everything yourself, and leave the wiring and setup to someone that does that if you're not comfortable.  A standard P-Bass wiring job is simple enough for a pro.  One pickup, two pots and a jack, intonation and truss rod, maybe a nut filing shouldn't cost more than $125. 

 

[elgravos]

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but if you spent a lot of cash on the guitar and your assembly skills are slim to none then a new warmoth may not be the place to hone your skills... get a beater for that kind of thing.

With that said, $250 bucks is high end for that kind of service.  That's about what I paid on my last 2 builds but the guy who does them for me is a bit of a celebrity so he can get away with charging top dollar.  I think 150 to 200 is reasonable if fretwork is included and the guy is good.

 

[Mor Paul]

My first guitar assembly experience was on my warmoth. It's not a difficult thing at all. I mean, I'm bummed one of my pickguard screws went in crooked, but that's it.

 

[koshersteel]

$250 is in the high end of the ballpark but not unreasonable, especially if fretwork is involved. (yes, warmoth necks are great, they still need a light level/crown/polish to be "perfect") You could always counter offer $200 and he'll probably take it.  

If you know this tech and have a good feeling about it then I would say the peace of mind is worth the cost, knowing that everything is done correctly and avoiding any rookie mistakes.

assembling is half of the fun but if that's not what you're looking for don't feel like you have to do it all yourself. Cheers,

 

[mayfly]

I put my first warmoth Tele together on my desk at work over 5 lunch hours - including eating lunch.

It's dead easy - you can do it!!  We can help.  The key thing is to practice the steps that you're unsure of on scrap.  This includes soldering, mounting the tuners, the setup, the nut work, - everything.

 

[tfarny]

Send it to me, I'll do it for cheap! :icon_thumright: Return shipping and a case of beer (good beer, and it's NYC prices = $50). As long as there's no finishing involved or from-scratch nut making, which I can do but it takes a while. Speaking of which, I've got some bone to file.....

 

[hannaugh]

Just bite the bullet and do it yourself.  If there is something you have to do that you don't have a tool for or you know you can't do for some other reason, have the tech do that one thing and do the rest yourself.  It's really not that difficult, and it's fun.  If you're really not sure, order the Dan Erlewine dvd on assembling a solid body guitar and ask us lots of questions.

 

[-CB-]

If you send me a SASE, I'll even be glad to send you a bona-fido bullet to bite on......

 

[bbl4ck]

order the Dan Erlewine dvd on assembling a solid body guitar and ask us lots of questions.

That is a great DVD and really shows a lot of details.  That along with the book Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine and you will know everything you need. 
Good luck &  :rock-on:

 

[whyachi]

I think I'm going to take apart my sister's Squier Mini and see if I can put it back together. Might make it play better while I'm at it, right?

What should I look for in a soldering gun? I'm planning on building one or two guitars ever and not becoming the next tubby.twins here with a P-bass in every flavor, so cheap is better, but not too cheap right?

 

[hannaugh]

Good call.  I took apart my cheapy Ibanez and reassembled it (also replaced the pups and electrical components and did the rewire myself) a number of times before I did my LP.  It was good practice.  If you PM me with your email address, I can send you a nice pdf about how to solder correctly. 

 

[-CB-]

why not post the PDF so everyone can benefit?

Soldering - IRON, not gun. 

Something under 40watts... well under if possible.  I've seen little 18w irons, but they're a bit underkill.  Try something in the 25-30w range.  If you had to get 22w or 33w... no biggie.  Higher wattage - more heat, and you have to work FAST to not melt insulation.  On the other hand, too small an iron makes you hold it on the connection longer, and you melt insulation.  Getting a mid-heat range iron is a good thing. 

Keeping folded up wet paper towel (not sopping just very damp) handy is good to keep the tip clean.

Remember you'll have to scratch up the back of the pots to solder to them.  You can sand them, steel wool them, or use a synthetic scrubber, or a small wire brush (or even wire wheel). 

 

[TJD]

What are you thinking? You're Elastagirl...(Incredibles reference probably lost on you if you don't have kids)..I  mean Knucklehead! You can show this build who is boss. Get a soldering iron at the Depot not the  cheap red-handled one I bought --too slow. But the one that actually looks like a gun like I used to work with on cars. It stays hot but gets ultra-hot when you pull the trigger..it's only $10 more. Just please practice first like I told you before. Call me if you need to just post  for my cell# and I'll post back.