Custom Body: To Order or Not To Order?

[Cactus Jack]

I cannot help getting a feeling of déjà vu as the $600 versus $400, custom versus showcase discussion goes back to this thread from almost a year ago.

https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=31308.msg440673#msg440673

Realistically I would say that there is a slim chance your own personal expectations will be met. So unless there is something in the showcase probably better for you personally not to custom order.

That is not to say that the quality of custom orders is not good it just is your personal view of what you are looking for and expectation is different.

Yep, 100% agree. I said I wrestled with this exact issue during the first go around, and have said, multiple times now, that a custom order is not for me. My question has been answered.

If we want to continue this thread it probably makes the most sense for others to share their custom build experiences. I’d like to hear from folks who have purchased non-Unique Choice figured tops. Pics would be great too so we can collectively understand what one can expect. Is your top B or AAA grade? Is quality similar across the board or does it vary widely? For folks who’ve actually gone through the custom build process please share your experience.

 

[Cactus Jack]

Showcase price differential is there because:
- it's likely a great and needed source of cash flow. Not everyone wants to wait 2+ months for a finished body. The showcase is also a fantastic source of temptation for impulse purchases that would otherwise not happen.

- they need to move inventory, anything that sits too long is money lost had that space been taken up by something more popular. They can price them as high as custom orders but they would then all sit much longer. That's not a concern with custom orders.

- one-offs require more time spent at every step.
It may not be exciting to build 10 SSS vintage Strat bodies painted in solid black for company, but it's immensely faster than building 10 custom orders from different individuals all with different body shapes/routing/colors.

Great points. The Showcase really is a win/win. The variety of woods, colors, features is impressive. I understand about those impulse buys. Sometimes items pop up that I buy just because I might never see it again. In fact, I bought a one piece rosewood neck two days ago because they are few and far between in the profile I like. I’m using it for this last build.

 

[JaySwear2]

Just realized I've ordered some custom necks, but I think all but one of my Warmoth bodies have been from the showcase! Guess I'm just too picky. Ordering anything except a solid finish is just too much of a gamble. I did order one custom body with some unusual options, but I wasn't worried about the finish since it was going to be over swamp ash.

 

[Kostas]

Stunning! Is that a Black Korina body under there too?

Yes.

...Based upon my experience with other brands I incorrectly assumed all figured wood exhibited some form or chatoyance...

It's not the wood, it's the finish that gives the 3D effect to the wood. I really like their finishes, spalted maple doesn't have that but the other three of mine have it, especially the one I posted above. Shades of different colors blend together nicely and give that 3D effect when the body is moving.

 

[docteurseb]

Chattoyance is fundamentally from the wood, not the finish. A finish either kills it or enhances it, but it won't add chattoyance to a piece of wood that hardly has any to begin with.

A gloss clear coat, just like wetting the wood, will maximize that 3D effect as light moves around.
From there it only goes downhill:
- a translucent color coat will reduce the effect the darker / more saturated the color is.
- dyes applied to the wood like PRS and Warmoth's "dyes" affect it greatly and the type of dye, color, and process (single/double/triple stain) determines how much chattoyance you'll be left with. Lighter colored and single pass stains seem to preserve it best, darker ones will usually kill it.

It's pretty obvious on this one starting at the 40-ish second mark:
[youtube]https://youtu.be/srIvMt6HJ-E?t=42[/youtube]
Same wood, the darker part doesn't move at all but the lighter ones do.

Tiger's eye, copperhead, aqua marine aren't particularly good at preserving chattoyance (from owning a few); they all are high contrast finishes with multiple layers of stains+sandback.

 

[mayfly]

I was trying to think of which of my (many) warmoths has a custom order body.  I think there was just one:  a thunderbird bass that I made back in the day.  Everything else was from the showcase!

Sounds like we should have a poll

P.S. that thunderbird body (mahogany with tobacco burst) looked GREAT!  :icon_thumright:

 

[docteurseb]

Most of my bodies have been from the showcase, except the last 2 couple years as I got into dyeing bodies myself or having them finished in colors not offered by Warmoth.
Most of my necks haven't been from Warmoth, except the last couple years as well few builds since they were the only ones offering woods or features I wanted (tiltback and/or peghead veneers).

These were all showcase items at different price points since early 2000s ($600-$700 for the very figured ones,  $400-$500 for the other ones):

This red dye one showcase (good lighting and ever so slightly puhsed saturation/contrast) versus ambient light:

This Tiger's Eye had no chattoyance left whatsoever, awesome figuring though:

This one was unfinished in the Showcase, got it done in aqua marine:

This one was actually a custom order circa 2008. I don't think they had unique choices back then, but judging by the figuring I probably paid for a high grade curly maple (can't find the receipt):

 

[War_in_D]

Bruh, u are basically saying that jus cuz youre choosing various other features (not related to the lam top) which make the price go to $600 that u are therefore somehow entitled to a better grade of top.

you could be a washing machine with all that spin

I think (but could be wrong here), is that the OP isn't trying to get anything over on Warmoth or expecting "extra" while ordering a standard/non unique choice top but was basically trying to justify paying $600 for a custom ordered body that would be a toss up on on how figured it would be vs. what you can buy in the showcase for ~$400 where you can see it before you buy it..  Which I can't blame them for doing.

When you configure a body in the "Custom Build" application it shows you a representation of the body (examples shown below), this is what I feel you should get as far as a minimum of the quality of the figuring.  If you custom order, and get something that is significantly less figured than what Warmoth "represents" as their example.. then I would probably be tempted to send it back as well.

Hence, the reason why I generally choose bodies out of the Showcase..   

 

[PhilHill]

Just my opinion, but I don't think the problem stems from anything that Warmoth is doing wrong. Expectations ALWAYS run higher than realizations. It's just human nature. It's the reason that a book is better than a movie, you use your mind to read a book which makes it your perfect story. A movie is someone else's perfect story.
That, and pictures you see online are never exactly like reality, there's a reason that graphic artists and photographers pay LARGE prices for their monitors. ... :headbang:

 

[stratamania]

The bodies with figured tops I have ordered have been from the showcase.

The custom ordered bodies I have were for Floyd NFT routs, both alder one finished in metallic black cherry and the other I did the finish myself. Actually they were probably unfinished showcase bodies where I asked for the rout I wanted and finish if I wanted one done.

So to the point of the discussion for figured bodies, I have tended to buy from the showcase when something has caught my eye and they were top rout strat bodies. It might be at one point if I spec out something with less usual routs, binding or what have you I might go the custom rout with a figured top but I would have to go into it with the willingness to embrace the outcome and be pleasantly surprised rather than building up an expectation other than in general terms.

In terms of price of showcase versus custom, the showcase can offer a great value as they are bodies Warmoth has made as part of their schedule versus a one off ordered by someone. And occasionally some bodies that someone has ordered and returned. One off will always cost more than off the peg as it were. The costs also of someone returning something and it having to be sold in the showcase which may take time also need to be factored in to the custom up charge.